Back to Canada

We were excited when we got up today because we were going to see two Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Buffalo NY.

The Martin house is huge. There are actually six buildings on one acre. The main house is connected by a beautiful covered walk to the conservatory, where there is a replica of the Nike statue. You can see the statue all the way from the front door. It is a distance of 180 feet, very impressive. www.darwinmartinhouse.org

The Martin family asked FLW to also design them a summer home on Lake Erie. We headed to Graycliff for our second tour of the day. This second house is nothing like the first. The house sits on top of a 65 ft cliff. There are stairs leading down to the beach, but they are not in use at this time. The house is intimate, with views of the lake from almost every room in the house, and ideal for a summer cottage. www.graycliff.bfn.org




Then we went to see a boathouse that FLW designed in 1905 and was finally built in 2007. Everywhere we looked, we could see his unique design touches. www.wrightsboathouse.org




After this we headed back to Canada, we paid the $3 toll, answered a few questions at customs, and drove north an hour and a half to Toronto, Ontario. We were too late to get a map from the visitor center, it had already closed. We got to downtown Toronto and stopped at Union Station. Bernie went inside and found a couple of maps.










As we got close to downtown we saw the CN Tower, the tallest building in the world at 1815 feet. Driving through downtown the first thing we noticed is that it looks just like Times Square in NYC. There are bright lights everywhere and huge advertisements and video screens. There was a concert downtown and tons of people everywhere.

We drove around searching for a place to park. After a while, we spotted a parking lot on a corner that looked empty. We went to check it out and it was perfect, surrounded by buildings and right next to a small park. The lot has free overnight parking and it’s only $8 during the day. It is located at the corner of Bloor and Bedford. The lot can be seen from Bloor but the entrance is on Bedford.

We decided to stay, we were exhausted. Without cell phones or internet access, we just read for a little while and then went to sleep.