“So, why on earth are you in Canada if you’re from California?” The young man was standing just outside the Toronto Eaton Centre passing out flyers for something or other when he struck up a conversation between my sister and myself. We were heading toward the crosswalk and on our way to grab a couple of Canadian beers and pizza.
My sister turned to the guy with the flyers again. “We just wanted to visit for fun.”
The real reason falls somewhere between my sister’s weird obsessions with the Great White North and my desire to travel the entire globe. Canada was not my first choice, but I was curious to see how America’s hat actually lived.
We had hopped a plane from the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California and landed in San Francisco before boarding on an Air Canada flight that took us to Toronto, Canada on our first day. We ended up staying in a hotel not too far away from Ryerson University in Downtown Toronto.
It was cool, but because we were nearing the tail end of spring it wasn’t too cold. We managed to get by with light sweatshirts and jeans except for the next day of our stay when God threatened to flood the earth again beginning with our location in Canada. We utilized the easy-to-use metro when the rain poured or when a few of the places we wanted to see were a little farther out from our hotel and walked around for most of the trip.
My sister and I each had CityPASSes, which I highly recommend for those who wish to see all of the major sites the city they are visiting has to offer but who also want to save money, and were able to see nearly everything on our list.
That first day we figured out the Metro and went to the Royal Ontario Museum at Queen’s Park on Bloor St. West and Avenue Rd. and then made it to Casa Loma on Spadina Rd. and Davenport Rd. before it closed. If I had the chance to go back I would have signed up for the Escape the Tower event because the castle just looks like it’s haunted and would be cool to visit at night.
Later that evening we went to the Toronto Eaton Centre, and then hung out in Yonge-Dundas Square, sampled the locally brewed beer, and grabbed a bite to eat.
On the second day, we tried Tim Hortons (It’s not all that great) before heading to CN Tower. We took photos on the glass section of the floor at the top of the third tallest tower in the world and the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere at 553.3 meters high (1,815.3 ft.).
There was the Distillery District, Brookfield Place, and we also went inside the Hockey Hall of Fame. We grabbed Beavertails, which are these really good flat pastries with dessert topping on them, and my sister tried poutine, which is an—interesting dish made with French fries, gravy, and cheese curds. There was also the Harbourfront Centre, Kensington Market, and Graffiti Alley, near 513 Queen St W on Rush Lane, in Toronto, Ontario M5V 2B4, Canada. We also saw the Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips Square before heading to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls
It was a fun trip and I would love to go back again. I don’t really need to have Tim Horton’s again, but Canada was pretty cool.
Check out the vlog we made while we were in Canada below.
Jazzed About Stuff 