Toronto: A Travel Log

Warning: Long post!
We had a busy but fun weekend in Toronto as we played tourists all around the city. Since we got in fairly early on Friday (thank goodness it's only 3 hrs from Rochester), we walked down to the Distillery district which is an old Whiskey distillery that has been renovated into little shops and restaurants.

Ethan was thrilled to be out of the car and his stroller.

Ethan and a giant millstone.

The streets and building were neat backdrops for photos as we saw a couple wedding parties and an engaged couple taking pictures there.

Next we headed back downtown where we passed a good view of the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame and made our way through a protest held by the Tamil Tigers. The hotel we stayed at was pretty close to Dundas Square, which is like Times Square in NYC. Even closer to our hotel was Chipotle where we had dinner that night. Delicious as always, and we can't wait until it makes it's way out here early next year.

Check out that view!

Hockey Hall of Fame (which I will refer to as HHOF from now on)

It was getting pretty late, but we took advantage of the indoor pool at our hotel where Ethan and Ben took a dip. Ethan was pretty apprehensive at first with all the teen kids splashing around, but warmed up to it eventually.

After a long slumber we trekked out to the Royal Ontario Museum. We decided to buy a City Pass which is a ticket that gets you in to other attractions all over the city. By the time we got out of the museum, it was starting to rain so we decided to head back to our hotel so that we could drive to our other destinations. About midway through our walk it started to pour. Ben and I both had rain jackets, but Ethan was getting drenched just sitting there, so we improvised.

The one thing I forgot this trip were pajamas for Ethan. He survived though.

The ROM.

An umbrella stroller with an umbrella.

One of the attractions available was Casa Loma, or as I now refer to it, Casa Lame-o. Oh man, I don't know how I do it! It was pretty on the outside, but a little run-down on the inside. Totally not worth the $17 admission price, but it did have a nice view of downtown. Luckily it was on that City Pass thing we bought.

The guy who built it loved Medieval Times... not the Dinner/Tournament.

Downtown Toronto from Casa Loma

Since the weather was a little overcast for doing the CN Tower we decided to do our retail shopping which consisted of Costco and Ikea. Hey, we don't have any of these things in Rochester, so we HAD to take advantage! So Costco was a bust because after we got all our items and got in line cashing out we discovered that they didn't take our American debit cards. Seriously?!?! C'mon! I was so excited to buy bulk Kinder Buenos, so we decided that we'd come back the next day for our purchases with Canadian cash. Ikea was a successful trip. We got some neccessities and some un-neccessities. I love that place. By the time we were done shopping the weather had cleared and the sun was setting which would have been perfect for the CN Tower but we were starving, so dinner took precedence. We found a place called Mr. Greek which I was happy about since you know I love a good gyro. And good it was. It was delicious. After dinner we headed back to our hotel and took some detours cruising the town at night.

After getting back to the hotel we lounged around and I watched an episode of Canada's Next Top Model. Mr. Jay is the host of the show (I'm slightly embarassed to say I watch ANTM), and it was super lame. The girls weren't even that pretty which is pretty shallow of me to say, but it's true. Anyway, we all crashed for the night and woke up early so that we could check out and catch a couple more attractions before heading back home.

This morning we went to breakfast at a place that reminded us of a Vegas breakfast buffet, but not as good. Since it was close to the HHOF we just walked on down after breakfast. After waiting in line for a good half hour, as soon as we got to the ticket counter I looked at our city pass and realized that the HHOF wasn't one of the listed attractions. Seriously, I waited all that time to look at the pass. To my credit I was confused because the map we had been using had the City Pass advertised with the HHOF on it, but I guess they wanted out of the city pass, so the newer reduced priced tickets we got didn't have it available. Oh well. I can only name a couple hockey players anyway and I don't think Emilio Estevez counts.

Next up was to find an ATM to get some cash for our Costco trip later on. Who knew that it would practically be impossible to get cash in this town! For some reason half of the machines didn't want to take my debit card. Anyway, after a couple unsuccessful attempts we went to the CN Tower to take the tour. I waited in line for about 15 minutes only to find out once I got up front that because I had the City Pass we could have just gone straight in. Boo. Anyway, after a minute ride to the top we got to view the entire city of Toronto about 1,200 feet above ground. It was a great view and a good attraction to end our visit of Toronto.

Ethan and Dad with a view of Lake Ontario.

This boy isn't scared of heights.

On our way back to pick up our car from the hotel we were able to FINALLY get some cash at an ATM and made our final stop at Costco where I was able to get my bulk Kinder Bueno. And they are oh so bueno! There are only 20 so we'll see how long they last.

Well, that's it! Our last minute trip to Toronto was an overall success and we look forward to going back someday.