It's a blue jay in Toronto

Toronto has quite a Chicago-esque feel to it - with tall skyscrapers and stone paved roads, it even has a nice waterfront without as much wind-chill.

In all, the place feels so much like the US, yet seems much more multi-cultural in practice. For one, I've never found so much and varied vegetarian food anywhere in the US and seen so many people of Asian origin milling around (but then, I haven't been to NY).

Downtown Toronto is quite pretty, with its Victorian style buildings blending into skyscraper-covered modernity. The Royal Ontario Museum is certainly huge and its coverage of Europe and Africa (and I must mention, the dinosaurs) is certainly the most comprehensive I've ever seen in a museum. Yet, it has so much to cover, that it would do well to learn some didactic skills from the Fields Museum. The Bata shoe museum, is yet another interesting place to visit and showcases the origin of shoes and shoe types from all over the world - quite a learning experience.

The Niagara falls is quite close, a 2 hour drive away. It's certainly the most awesome falls I've ever seen - when you're down its base in the ferry and you look up at the millions of gallons of water pouring down from such heights, its just awesome.

The CN Tower is yet another interesting place - one of the world's tallest structures and has a revolving restaurant atop. Now, the lift in Express Towers in Mumbai used to block my ears as it went up 20 odd floors; in the CN lift I could hardly feel anything and would not have known I'd gone up a few thousand feet had I not had glass around. The view atop, if course, magnificient.

And the weather, for now, is pretty much great in summer. The winter though, I hear is only for the locals.

(Blue Jays is the local baseball team)