**my apologies for my followers, due to the poor internet and then getting caught up in Philadelphia with family and friends, I am very late posting these**
After stressful drive in, we needed a day of relaxation. So we slept in, headed to breakfast in downtown Milton and then drove down to the outlet mall. There was a 40% chance of rain, but it turned out to be a nice day to walk around in the OPEN AIR Outlet Mall. Doesn’t it snow here? We thought for sure this would be an indoor mall. But the rain never came (probably because I carried an umbrella around). It was pretty crowded; I think everyone else had the same idea. The parking lot reminded us of the mall parking lot at Christmas. We were a little surprised by the “outlet prices”, although there wasn’t much on our wish list, but we were hoping to get some summer attire at end of season prices. But that was not the case, so needless to say the only thing we got was a pair of sneakers to replace my sneakers that were falling apart and that was only after visiting 6 different shoe stores. I didn’t want to spend the money, but Curt finally talked me into getting them reminding me it was Canadian money (but also Canadian taxes – 15%!) so I think that cancels it out.
Home to another quiet evening and a campfire.
Our trip to Toronto on Friday started early-ish, as we wanted to let the rush hour folks get to work first. Our first mistake was thinking we could stop on the way and get a Starbucks or Tim Horton’s (which are usually on every corner here in Canada—except for today), but as luck would have it, we did not see any and got on the train without breakfast (I, however, had my morning tea during my walk with Daisy). The train was long and the cars were split level, so actually had 3 levels: main level, mezzanine, and penthouse.
We did not venture off the main level, so not sure what was beyond the stairs—but during the trip we saw many a stroller head up the stairs. Sitting across the aisle from Curt was a college boy who happened to meet up with a girl who we think he worked with. So last night after work, they all headed out to a party and the boy boasted about how he was still drunk, and got only 3 hours sleep—oh the power of youth!! One of the fun things about riding the train is the people watching or in this case the people listening. We heard all about his party and the antics of him and his friends—but it did make the trip go faster. So remember all of the strollers, they all departed the train at the same stop—Canadian Expo. The Canadian Expo is the Canadian Fair according to our other next door neighbor. The theme of the Expo was Science so in addition to the normal animal exhibits, they had various science exhibits and of course the midway rides and fried everything food trucks. We don’t particularly like crowds (funny as we were heading into the city where 2.6 million people call home) so we steered clear of the Expo.
In two stops we arrived at Union Station—I think there is a Union Station in every big city, eh! Union Station was huge as expected, but we finally found our way to the street level and were on the lookout for the off and on tour bus. Using the knowledge we gained from watching 16 years of Amazing Race, the best place to get information in a big city is head to the Concierge desk at a large hotel. As long as they didn’t ask us what our room number was, we were good…and she didn’t! She even called the company and got us a reservation and sent us to the nearest stop, which happened to be right in front of a ….wait for it…Starbucks!! Finally got our Starbucks, the bus arrives and we are on our way. We have taken a double decker bus tour in several cities (DC and NY (on the coldest day of the year) come to mind) so we knew this would give us a good overview of the city without ever getting off the bus, which is exactly what we did—rode it all around. Also included in our ticket price was a harbor ride…it was a beautiful day for a boat ride—70 and sunny.
Some of our sites:
CN Tower – The tallest tower in the Western Hemisphere (used to be the world until the Dubai tower beat them out). It has a rotating restaurant and an observation deck that has a glass floor (we’ve been on one of them in Shanghai). You can also walk outside of the observation deck called “EdgeWalk” tooted as Toronto’s most extreme attraction. If you want to propose up there on the EdgeWalk, they will give you a plastic ring, so you don’t accidentally drop it and it gets embedded in someone’s head on the ground.
Hockey Hall of Fame – This is the home of the Stanley Cup. The tour guide said there is a superstition that if you touch the cup, your team won’t win that year, so she said if you root for the Toronto Maple Leafs—DO NOT TOUCH THE CUP, they haven’t won the cup since 1960 something. I really wanted to visit this, but we arrived about ½ hour before closing, so we only had time to visit the gift shop and take some photos, but no Stanley Cup sightings—sad face!
The King Edward hotel is where the Queen and any of the Royal family stay when they are in town. They have their own suite, which you can stay in for $2000 a night, but you had to sign a contract that says you will promptly move out if they happen to make a surprise visit to the city. This place also has seen celebrities over the years: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton stayed in the same room BEFORE they were married; the Beatles stayed here for a week and they had to shut down the street because fans found out where they were staying and camped out.
Toronto has 2 city halls an old one, which I took a picture of that has the clock tower and the gargoyles. The newer one is a futuristic looking building, but I didn’t get a good picture of it.
It was difficult to take pictures as you weren’t able to stand up because we were driving just below all of these cables for the streetcars (see photo below). This is a picture of a news van that was in an accident and instead of trashing the car; they made it into a “work of art”. The wheels of the van never stop to illustrate that news never stops.
Check out the Miami Dolphin taxi cabs!!
After the 2 hour tour, we hopped off when they said they were going to be at that stop for 20 mins or so. We set off toward the marina and went in search for a waterfront restaurant.
Had a nice cocktail and lunch before we headed to our Marina Tour. The boat we took on the tour was an open air boat, it actually looked like it could go very fast, but the Captain never took it out of NO WAKE ZONE speed. The Marina tour guide was not as informative as our Bus Tour Guide, but the tour did allow us to get a nice picture of the Harbor front and the Skyline (you could stand up on the boat with the only worry was a stray dropping from the seagulls above!
After the Marina tour we headed back toward the Hockey Hall of Fame, but like I said we were a little late, so we decided to head back to Union Station to find our way home. We had to ask 3 people and finally the third person I asked, a patient lady, gave me a tutorial on how to read the signs and find our track. It was weird because we knew what station we needed, but the train line was not written on the ticket. Once she told me what to look for we were ready, of course, another weird thing was the track does not get announced (or put on the board) until about 8-10 minutes before the train arrives—a bit nerve racking as everyone is standing around with their eyes glued to the screens and then when the board gets updated, everyone makes a mad dash for the stairs to get to the track. Be careful not to get distracted on your FaceBook, or you may miss your train.
Our trip home was a fun one. We sat across from 2 people who were headed to Milton (our stop) and the one beyond. We got to talking about Toronto, they have both lived here their entire lives and of course, we had to fill them in on our Canadian adventures. Come to find out as we were getting close to the station, the man turns to the women and asks her name, “I’m sure I know you from somewhere”. How about this for small world, they went to the same high school and she works with his sister.
Got home about six, had some dinner and enjoyed a nice campfire and conversation with our neighbors.
