O, Canada!

Day 4 found us on the long journey to Canada. We got up very early so we could make the trip. It took at least 2 minutes to go through the tunnel

and another 2 to get through customs. It seems that the customs people like to talk baseball so Lindy was in, even though the Canada guy threatened to strip search her for liking the Yankees.

I'm not sure if it was fate or karma, but the first thing we saw in Windsor was a Tim Hortons. We couldn't resist and got the sandwich, drink and donut special.

We stopped at the tourist info center and had a very helpful young lady point out interesting things in the area. I'm not sure if we look like cultured people or they push the culture on people, but all of these people always suggest the museums and arty places to see. I asked if there were any outlet malls around.
Windsor is a very nice town. We decided, however, to head toward the coastline of Lake Erie in the form of Point Pelee National Park. On the way we drove through countryside with acres of greenhouses. It seems this area, because of the moderate climate and proximity to many large cities, grows a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and tropical plants. Sorry, I didn't take a picture. We stopped at Leamington to get gas and cash. Gas was 1.23 per liter, so that is almost 5.00 per gallon. We visited the Real Canadian Superstore which is kind of like a WalMart only much nicer.

We proceeded on the Point Pelee. We made a left turn and there was the lake! Along the road were all of these funky looking beach cottages. I didn't take pictures, but I found these that give you an idea.

Once we got to the park, we realized that it probably wasn't worth paying the admission to see a beach, so the friendly guide directed us to Seacliff Beach. We didn't find it, but we found this spot.

There wasn't sand, but tiny rocks. We picked a few up and journeyed on.  Our next stop was Cedar Beach.

It was little scary because there was a sign that said there were high levels of bacteria found in the water and bathing was unsafe. They had brought in loads of sand to cover the rocks to make a sandy beach.

There were a lot of gulls sitting on the beach.

We picked up a few pebbles and were on our way. We decided we had had enough of searching for fake beaches and unsafe smelly water so we headed back to Windsor. I'm sure there are nice places on Lake Erie, but so far we haven't found them. 

Linda had read about a Little Italy in Windsor so we set our GPS to the corner of Howard Ave. and Erie St. E. On the way, I snapped a picture of our hotel which really dominates the skyline.

Via Italia was torn up with street repair, but we managed to find a place to park and do some walking. It is a single street, but about 13 blocks long so it is a pretty large area. We were surprised by the number of shops and restaurants. We had spent too much time on the beach so we missed some of the shops but found a great grocery market, La Stella Supermarket that had amazing stuff. There were also gift shops and cookware shops and clothing shops. We would definitely go back to explore there again. We asked around which would be the best place to eat. Most people said "they are all good".

The lady at the grocery mentioned a couple, but seemed to like Spago the best. It was really good! We were enjoying ourselves so much that we forgot to take pictures until our Campari at the end.

Next we went to the Casino at Caesar's. It was very big and very nice but there weren't many games we like to play. Linda manage to win half our money back on Invaders From the Planet Moolah so we decided to had back to Detroit. But before we could leave we had some Canadian money to spend, so what better place than Tim Hortons? 

Once we got back, we decided it was too early to go to our room so we found the Motor City Casino.

It was huge and very busy and didn't have many penny machines so we didn't stay too long. I can't believe the number of people that were gambling there. It was really kind of sad in a way because I think many of these people were coming in hopes of getting rich-which probably isn't gonna happen.

Back to our home away from home and off to dreamland.