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Great White North, part II
Being the second part of the trip: Toronto.
We checked into the hotel and Steve took a shower while I went down to meet the local BOFHs and explain the delay. Big hello to Anthony, Chris, Chris, David, Steph, and Mike, and a big thank-you to all of them for their hospitality. We went to a place called, I think, C'est What, which had a nice beer selection and excellent food. Things wound down a bit before midnight and we went back to the hotel (stopping en route in a fruitless search for an open drugstore; sigh).
The next day was Canada Day, which meant we still had problems finding open drugstores, but most of the Things To Do were open. So we started with the Hockey Hall of Fame, where we spent a number of happy hours, and did some damage in the gift store. O Freude! I am the joyous owner of an old-style Sabres jersey with Hasek's number! It's been years since they changed the logo, and neither of us thought such a thing would be available. Steve also got a couple DVDs of Hockey Night in Canada, which they can get via satellite in the U.K. but we can't get here. Bah.
After that, we went back to the hotel for tea (mmmm...little sandwiches) and to plan our next move. We had a notion of going to Ontario Place to watch the fireworks, and started walking along the harborfront in that direction, but things were packed and we were moving slowly. And then we saw notice of a fireworks boat cruise, so we thought we'd do that instead. Got tickets for it and then just kept wandering around the piers, looking at shops and stuff. I bought a little black summer dress with red flames around the bottom (I said "I feel like some teenager's Firebird" but Steve said it looked good) and some good summery travel grown-up type clothes, which turned out to cost way more than I expected; the danger of shopping just as a store is closing. Also saw a lot of Native art stuff which was really cool--I am really wishing I had picked up one of the Inuksuk figures (there are lots of these for sale; many are in natural rock, but we also saw them in hematite, jade, starstone, silver, and green frosted glass which looked like an iceberg).
So, we went on the cruise, and they said there would be food but it turned out to be really bad, cold burgers. Sigh. But the cruise itself was enjoyable, with music and dancing on the top deck (have I mentioned how much better music is in Toronto?), though I did a number on my neck by too much headbanging to AC/DC. Again got back to the hotel around midnight, though with somewhat upset stomachs.
Next day, we started at the CN Tower; the weather was more than a bit hazy, but it was still nifty. Steve did not love the glass floor portion. We spent longer there than we intended to, so it was midafternoon by the time we headed out to Ontario Place. That was, alas, something of a disappointment; it was practically empty, half of the stuff in it was closed, and most of the things that weren't closed were kid-oriented. We did go in the Mega-Maze, which was neat. In the course of this exercise, Steve realized that a lot of what he remembered as being part of Ontario Place was actually stuff from the Canadian National Exhibition, which is at Exhibition Place right next door. Oh well. We had a nice walk, anyways...
Got back to the hotel, washed up, and went to Bardi's Steakhouse which had been recommended to us by David, and an excellent dinner it was. After that, we intended to go to the Brass Rail, but my neck was killing me and I was on the downswing of the whole self-confidence thing so I sent Steve along without me and I went to the hotel hot tub to soak. He did have a fabulous time, I'm happy to say. I would like to go back there with him at some point when I'm more steady about myself.
We didn't have much time in the morning, so grabbed a bite at the big shopping plaza that runs all over downtown Toronto and headed to the airport. I thought we would be able to get a decent lunch there. Boy, was I wrong...there was absolutely bupkis on the far side of Customs/Immigration. Two thumbs down for that. The flight home was uneventful, though we had a bad moment at baggage claim; two of our bags came out right at the start, whereas the third didn't come out for about half an hour, mixed in with stuff from a different flight. Ah, Newark. We finally got home around 5pm, where my darling pet was waiting with the house cooled and the kettle on. We ordered pizza and just kicked around for the rest of the evening.
Conclusions: My childhood impressions were borne out--I really love Canada. It's beautiful, the people are really friendly, the music is terrific, lots of interesting stuff to see and do. And a dollar goes a pretty long way. :) I definitely want to spend more vacation time in Toronto--two days is not hardly enough to get even the smallest feel--and I adore the Cohens' cabin, and hope that there will be more group invites up there. (We found we could afford one, but it's not really sensible to have your vacation spot a ten hour drive from your home.)
We checked into the hotel and Steve took a shower while I went down to meet the local BOFHs and explain the delay. Big hello to Anthony, Chris, Chris, David, Steph, and Mike, and a big thank-you to all of them for their hospitality. We went to a place called, I think, C'est What, which had a nice beer selection and excellent food. Things wound down a bit before midnight and we went back to the hotel (stopping en route in a fruitless search for an open drugstore; sigh).
The next day was Canada Day, which meant we still had problems finding open drugstores, but most of the Things To Do were open. So we started with the Hockey Hall of Fame, where we spent a number of happy hours, and did some damage in the gift store. O Freude! I am the joyous owner of an old-style Sabres jersey with Hasek's number! It's been years since they changed the logo, and neither of us thought such a thing would be available. Steve also got a couple DVDs of Hockey Night in Canada, which they can get via satellite in the U.K. but we can't get here. Bah.
After that, we went back to the hotel for tea (mmmm...little sandwiches) and to plan our next move. We had a notion of going to Ontario Place to watch the fireworks, and started walking along the harborfront in that direction, but things were packed and we were moving slowly. And then we saw notice of a fireworks boat cruise, so we thought we'd do that instead. Got tickets for it and then just kept wandering around the piers, looking at shops and stuff. I bought a little black summer dress with red flames around the bottom (I said "I feel like some teenager's Firebird" but Steve said it looked good) and some good summery travel grown-up type clothes, which turned out to cost way more than I expected; the danger of shopping just as a store is closing. Also saw a lot of Native art stuff which was really cool--I am really wishing I had picked up one of the Inuksuk figures (there are lots of these for sale; many are in natural rock, but we also saw them in hematite, jade, starstone, silver, and green frosted glass which looked like an iceberg).
So, we went on the cruise, and they said there would be food but it turned out to be really bad, cold burgers. Sigh. But the cruise itself was enjoyable, with music and dancing on the top deck (have I mentioned how much better music is in Toronto?), though I did a number on my neck by too much headbanging to AC/DC. Again got back to the hotel around midnight, though with somewhat upset stomachs.
Next day, we started at the CN Tower; the weather was more than a bit hazy, but it was still nifty. Steve did not love the glass floor portion. We spent longer there than we intended to, so it was midafternoon by the time we headed out to Ontario Place. That was, alas, something of a disappointment; it was practically empty, half of the stuff in it was closed, and most of the things that weren't closed were kid-oriented. We did go in the Mega-Maze, which was neat. In the course of this exercise, Steve realized that a lot of what he remembered as being part of Ontario Place was actually stuff from the Canadian National Exhibition, which is at Exhibition Place right next door. Oh well. We had a nice walk, anyways...
Got back to the hotel, washed up, and went to Bardi's Steakhouse which had been recommended to us by David, and an excellent dinner it was. After that, we intended to go to the Brass Rail, but my neck was killing me and I was on the downswing of the whole self-confidence thing so I sent Steve along without me and I went to the hotel hot tub to soak. He did have a fabulous time, I'm happy to say. I would like to go back there with him at some point when I'm more steady about myself.
We didn't have much time in the morning, so grabbed a bite at the big shopping plaza that runs all over downtown Toronto and headed to the airport. I thought we would be able to get a decent lunch there. Boy, was I wrong...there was absolutely bupkis on the far side of Customs/Immigration. Two thumbs down for that. The flight home was uneventful, though we had a bad moment at baggage claim; two of our bags came out right at the start, whereas the third didn't come out for about half an hour, mixed in with stuff from a different flight. Ah, Newark. We finally got home around 5pm, where my darling pet was waiting with the house cooled and the kettle on. We ordered pizza and just kicked around for the rest of the evening.
Conclusions: My childhood impressions were borne out--I really love Canada. It's beautiful, the people are really friendly, the music is terrific, lots of interesting stuff to see and do. And a dollar goes a pretty long way. :) I definitely want to spend more vacation time in Toronto--two days is not hardly enough to get even the smallest feel--and I adore the Cohens' cabin, and hope that there will be more group invites up there. (We found we could afford one, but it's not really sensible to have your vacation spot a ten hour drive from your home.)
Blame Canada
I am going up near the end of July, over a weekend. I'm going to check out Bardi's. Unsure if you read this frequently but if you do, I'm looking for someone who lives in Toronto who could join me for some festivities/shoppping etc?
Re: Blame Canada