Toronto was
definitely different than quaint little Quebec! We landed extremely early in
the morning and noticed right away how HUGE of a city it was! It also was the
first time we actually felt like we were in Canada, “aye”! We only had a few
days left in Canada so we tried to make the most of it. We dropped off our bags
at the hotel and went exploring right away. It was hot, humid, and raining so
we weren't really sure what to do. When I say humid, I mean dripping in sweat
humid! It was just awful, but we made the most of it by dipping into a Tim Horton’s
for a bit, enjoying donuts and coffee. It still just seems so crazy to me how obsessed
Canadians are with Tim Horton’s! It is instant coffee out of machine, I don’t see
what the obsession is other than it is cheap, but everyone drank it. I
personally prefer fresh coffee and not instant, but the place had air
conditioning and caffeine while we waited out the rain.
Once it
cleared up we made our way to the boardwalk to walk around and take in the city
views. We went to The Power Plant Contemporary Art Museum, which was very
interesting! They had a lot of interactive displays, which helped a lot as sometimes
I don’t quite get the whole “modern art” thing. We also went the Historical District in The Distillery and had some of the best ice cream at Gregs! We went
inside to attempt to cool down and the guy let us taste all the ice cream! He
made it all from scratch with unique flavors such as Anises & Oreo; which
sounds horrible together but was actually quite awesome! I didn't get anything
too adventurous, just coffee & cinnamon. It was such a treat after our hour
long, hot, walk from the Museum to the Distillery; our map was unfortunately quite
deceiving.
We ended up seeing most of
the sites in the two full days we had before going to Niagara Falls: The
Waterfront, Tim Horton’s, Eaton Mall, Power Plant Contemporary Art Museum, the downtown architecture walking tour, Toronto Island, St. Lawrence Market & the CN Tower. The two full days we had there I thoroughly enjoyed Toronto as it is a
very clean, huge city, filled with friendly people. Just like Montreal, it is
also a very multi-cultural place. First impression: Toronto was a clean New York
City, and like any metropolitan city we had similar experiences.
As it was a
very multi-cultural city, we took full advantage of Little India and gorged in
Indian curry. We went to this AMAZING little Indian restaurant called,
ironically, Little India and had a curry feast. One thing I truly miss about
England is all the curry houses we used to eat at. Curry does exist in
California, but we have been completely disappointed in the quality. However,
in Toronto we didn't let this opportunity pass us by. We ordered all of our
favorite things we used to eat in the UK, plus a huge glass of Kingfisher each;
you cannot eat curry without a big glass of Indian beer to really wash it down!
It was an amazing treat for us and completely delicious! Eating curry at Little
India probably was my favorite thing I did in Toronto. I LOVE food and sitting
in the restaurant, conversing, eating and drinking until I was about to throw
up was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had in the city.
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| tasting "ice wine" |
The second,
maybe a tied for first, best thing about our trip was the fact that we made new
friends. We booked a trip to Niagara Falls, which was the real gem of Toronto for
us. We were picked up in this super tiny, non-air-conditioned van and made the hot
2-ish hour journey to Wine Country for wine tasting; at 10 am! We tried the famous "ice wine" and it actually was pretty good! It was extremely sweet and I recommend only drinking it in small quantities, but it was not bad at all. I heard from my mother in law that it was horrible, but I actually quite enjoyed it.
I had a nice time at the winery, but I do LOVE wine. The wine connoisseur
did a great job getting to know everyone and made the connection that Jayda and
I, currently residing in California, were the same age as the Austrian couple
on our tour. They were on their honeymoon and were going to make their way to
California on a road trip. He didn't really introduce as so much as demand us
to meet… “Hey you!!! You California people!!! This couple is going to
California. Talk!” Well, I was very thankful for his bluntness as it was nice
meeting another young married couple.
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| wine tasting |
With our forced meet and greet, the four of us decided we would venture Niagara
Falls together. As soon as we got there, I have to admit, I honestly thought
that the Falls were going to be a lot bigger! Don’t get me wrong, they are
HUGE, but as being one of the “wonders of the world”, I thought they were going
to be more awe-inspiring. While my first glimpse was slightly disappointing, once
we got onto the “Maid of the Mist” I realized what was so unique about Niagara
Falls; its sheer force. The flow of the waterfall and its power was amazing. We
were getting drenched and could barely look up to see the falls as the power
of the water was consuming us everywhere.
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| on the Maid of the Mist |
We didn't get a good look of the
falls on the Maid of the Mist, but it was so much fun! You cannot go to Niagara
Falls and not go on the Maid of the Mist. Otherwise, you won’t get to experience
its overpowering force because even though we couldn't see anything, we felt it.
It wasn't until we were on top (still
misty and wet) walking towards the drop off, where we actually got to see the
power. We were looking down below at the tiny little ships that dared to get
close to the falls and at the same time watching the “water fall” down; it was
something!
While
exploring the falls with our new friends, one thing led to another and it was
discovered that the husband’s are both OBSESSED with airplanes. Needless to say
they hit it off instantly (and the wives hit it off making fun of their geeky-ness)!
We made plans to hang out that night in a part of Toronto we actually hadn't
been to yet; The Annex. We took the subway there and the few small hours we
were in The Annex, it became my favorite neighborhood of Toronto. It was so
cute and filled with local shops, boutiques, bars, and restaurants. We went to
a pub and enjoyed beers on the rooftop talking about our crazy tour driver of
the day and exchanging stories of all the different experiences we had
travelling abroad as couples. At the end of the night we exchanged numbers and
email addresses making plans to reunite when they visited San Diego. A few
weeks later we all made good to that promise.
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What I love
about travelling is that you meet people you never would have met while staying
at home. You make incredible friends while becoming even more inspired to
travel in order to go visit them in a different part of the world. Our new
friends came to visit us in San Diego and we plan on visiting them in Beijing;
where they will be living for the next few years. While travelling I have met
my husband, two of my best friends, and now plan on going to a different
country to visit new friends next year. When we went to Toronto we didn't plan
on making new friends, but we did. Friendship is just one of the many beautiful and fun parts of
the adventure!
