Toronto was our first stopover on our Easter break to the US. Laney’s cousin, Carmen, had offered to put us up for the four nights were in town. This had its good points (staying with a local, cheap – free! accommodation) but also pitfalls (when staying with family you are kind of limited in the kinds of things you can do so we didn’t really get to party.) But having said that I had a lovely time in Toronto and most importantly I finally managed to tick big old Niagara Falls of my To Do List!

Photos photos photos.

When?	Beginning April
Why Go?	Culture (heaps of museums and art galleries … not that we went into any!), access to Niagara, to visit a relaxed “big” city.
Weather	Apparently at this time of year its normally still quite chilly but the temps had thawed out considerably for us so aside for a bit of a nip in the air it was relatively warmish.

The Experience

Day 1

Day 1 was kind of a mish-mash of events. Laney’s aunt came and picked us up from the airport and at the last minute we organised to meet her cousin, Heman, for lunch. He was coming off a late shift at his family restaurant so was still in bed when we arrived! To pass the time we went into one of the posher supermarket stores in the area. I mean, its posh enough to be selling $525.09 balsamic vinegar “Mussini Il Grande Vecchio 100 year old balsamic”! Food definitely looked good in there though!

Finally lunch was at Linda’s, Thai, where I had some very interesting food. First up was Meng Kum which served with peanuts, dry shrimp, shredded coconut, chilli shallot, aromatic leaf and special sauce may not sound all that enticing individually but when combined into one mouthful – wow it was definitely an explosion of flavours in your mouth. Apparently this is what Thai princesses eat so it was very appropriate for us to be indulging ….

My main was a baked young coconut with fried rice which I must admit I chose simply because it was going to be served inside a young coconut and I was not disappointed. Filled with rice stir fried with eggs, shrimp paste, coconut water, shrimp, scallop, and topped with sauce made from coconut milk and tamarind it was extremely filling but delicious.

Then a bit of sight seeing at the CN Tower with Heman. He used to work at the CN Tower ages ago and he was able to get us in for free. Bonus! (Since we probably spent all up of about 30 minutes up there!) The weather had turned a bit and had gotten gray so the views weren’t as fantastic as they could have been. You’re supposed to be able to see Niagara from what is supposed to be the third tallest tower in the world but it wasn’t clear enough for that. Security was tight for the tower and you had to walk through one of those weird puffing machines which determine whether you’ve got any sort of explosives/gun power etc. residue on you.

One of the best bits of the tower, if you can get on to it, is the see through floor on one of the levels. Its cool to look all the way down to the ground as if you were floating in air. Too bad the scuffs in the plastic/glass kind of ruined the effect but I’m sure it would still give someone a bit nervous about heights something to think about!

Next up was something that the locals do apparently and using some local lingo it was “getting juiced” in the Peace Garden outside City Hall – a great location because you can b.y.o. drink, sit out in the fresh open air and most importantly have access to a free and clean bog (inside City Hall.) Now technically it is against the law to be drinking out in public … at one stage Heman wandered off to visit the gentlemen’s leaving Laney and I with our tin of ciders. And just like a bee to honey this security guard came right over to us to check if we were drinking. We tried to fob him off with a – is this really alcohol? but it didn’t work 🙁 However he was quite reasonable and gave us two choices – tip it out or get in big trouble! Ha!

And as you do when you’ve been drinking you start to crave a little something bad for you and that something today was Poutine – a little serve of heart attack! It combines three of my favourite things: hot chips, gravy and cheese (curd).

Okay so this wouldn’t have been so bad if we hadn’t eaten it only 30 minutes before dinner! … which was at a restaurant called Amuse-Bouche! Heman, who is a budding chef, was very amused (pardon the pun) by the restaurant’s name. Ironically Heman then got for his meal a posh version of Poutine! Ha ha!

We decided to treat Heman and Carmen for a meal since Heman was taking us around and Carmen was putting us up at her flat. Actually Carmen was very surprised that we’d found this restaurant! I guess if you’re not into eating a places like this you would search it out.

The restaurant was really lovely and the food was delicious and included amuse bouche of Roasted Garlic Croquette and a pre-main course of Blood Orange Sorbet to cleanse the palatte. oh and of course the bread divine!. Its such a shame that there weren’t many other customers! As I passed the kitchen the chef/owner actually pulled me over to say thanks for coming. How nice!

Day 2

Day 2 in Toronto was all about the shopping. To get us properly energised Laney’s aunt made us crepes and cupcakes for breakfast. How sweet!

Eaton Centre is apparently the top tourist attraction in Toronto in terms of numbers with one million visitors per week! Well, thankfully those one million visitors weren’t all at Eaton Centre when we were there though the food court was pretty crazy. Admittedly we went at probably what was the peak moment but it took us about 25 mins to find a spare table and then the lines for food stretched out to about 30 people at each place!

It was a long day of shopping and how did we finish? By meeting up with Laney’s family for an all you can eat Japanese. It was hilarious and great. It was all you could eat sushi, hot food and dessert. There were about 10 of us so you can imagine that’s a lot of food. But the ordering was a little crazy as we didn’t know what everyone was ordering. I think we did pretty well to finish most things though it was a challenge.

The funniest thing was when they were ordering dessert. Sure they were moderate sized little desserts but to order over 40 of them for 10 people after feasting on all this sushi and hot Japanese food. Madness! It was clear this was not the first time this lot had been here. 😉

The night ended with me getting my butt whooped in Western Chess by Laney’s 8 year old cousin. I’m going to blame the fact that we had to play with random pieces and I kept forgetting what they were for! Hey – I got him back in Connect 4 …

Day 3

Day 3 was Niagara and the Niagara Casino! Wee hee! The drive from Toronto to Niagara is probably just about an hour and a half to two hours (depending on traffic) so Carmen though it would be a great time to teach us how to solve a rubik’s cube whilst Andrew (her boyfriend) drove. I tell you that damn rubik’s cube is addictive. I’m going to master it one way or another!

By the time we got to Niagara the first order of business was finding somewhere for lunch. This proved to be a bit of a problem with people pointing and looking in all different directions. However we ended up at a place right next to the Falls which was quite nice (but clearly touristy …)

Getting my first glimpse of the Falls I was mega excited. This big amazing feat of nature was so beautiful that I must have a taken a million photos which I shall now proceed to bore you with. Ha ha!

Before lunch:

At lunch:

After lunch:

Oh yes. Many photos taken! Then it was off to explore the rest of Niagara like the Hershey factor! Mmmm!

Before finishing the evening learning craps. What a fun game – though you can lose your money very quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing! The dealers were really funny when they were teaching us but really good about it.

My final view of the Falls:

Day 4

Our last day in Toronto was spent doing a bit of what I would expect locals do on a lazy Sunday (even though it was Saturday!). It started with breakfast at the Breakfast Grill. I was craving eggs benedict but I wasn’t expect to get 3 eggs! Hmm… 3 Eggs Benedict poached on Peacemeal Bacon, Topped with Hollandaise Sauce over English Muffins AND served with Home Fries. Delicious and so filling! Andrew and Carmen had waffles and pancakes and their meals were so large they came served on two plates!

The we walked off breakfast with a stroll through the Distillery district in downtown Toronto. Its quite a funky area with loads of cafes, stores and galleries and though it could be a bit touristy I still felt like there were heaps of local about enjoying their coffee/brunch.

But the best thing about it was the dogs. I was in dog heaven with French bulldogs, Labs, Bulldogs, Rottweilers, Sharpeis and Huskies all sighted. All my favourite types of dog. The only ones missing were pitbulls and pugs!

We then made a quick visit to St Lawrence Market to pick up some cheese for a cheese and wine evening. Hmmm cheese!

And check this guy who was trying to eat something like 6 big macs in 15 minutes or something like that. Didn’t sound like much of a challenge to me!

Then I don’t know quite happened to the rest of the day between buying the cheese at the market which was early in the afternoon and the end of the day as time just seemed to disappear. We did do a big walk up a shopping street but that was pretty much it because suddenly it was evening and we were enjoying Ice Wine and cheese. The Ice Wine is gorgeous. More like a dessert wine I could have sat there all night drinking it … but for my allergy.

Last Words

Toronto reminded me a lot of Brisbane. A small city feel in a big city? It kind of strikes me as the kind of place which is great to live in as a resident with a few touristy things to do on the side for visitors. I liked by vibe of the place and I’m sure its got a decent nightlife for those interested in that sort of thing. Something to try out next time … along with maybe visiting a few of the galleries or museums! LOL!