Whit's Travels: Toronto: A Lot Bigger Than Perth. Really!

Hey team

I realise I am sort of playing blog catch up, so I'm going to try and hammer out 2 posts relatively close together so I can get my posts and my locations matching up a tad better.

Alrighty so I am in the city of Niagara Falls at the current moment in time however I shall be casting my mind back to those days, just a week ago, when I departed the beautiful warm climes and friendly company of Phoenix, and hopped on a plane to return to the Great White North. As usual Air Canada came through with the TV system, 3 excellent episodes of How I Met Your Mother, my routine favourite on plane trips.

Touching down in Toronto was all good, knowing I had Vanessa's apartment and good friend Jay to get me there I was pretty stoked on how easy it was all turning out. Immigration (as always) a bit stressful. I felt kind of out of place being the only girl in the line. They always look at you with this incriminating stare. Despite what their eyes said, I managed to happily make my way into the country, making my way into my 2nd Canadian province and Fifth Stop on my trip.

The next day I arose and went for a bit of a shop, stocking up on the very bare essentials. I was pretty happy with my food budget, I probably spent less than or close to a dollar on every meal. That afternoon I decided to puzzle my way into town via the Subway. Thankfully a kind local put me on the right track just before I attempted catching a bus the wrong way. It was quite nerve wracking not knowing where I was, Squamish was the last place I had to manouver myself about and I knew it like the back of my hand. So I promptly invested in a map, and armed with the TTC tokens Jay gave me, made my way into the city. I originally was looking for a visitors centre, but shortly abandoned this idea when a lady at the library told me I would have to get back on the subway. However, a pocket sized map dispensed from some automatic machine thing ended up becoming my saviour and I never went anywhere without it stowed safely in my hoody pocket. Consulting my new found papery guide to the city, I saw I was not far from the Royal Ontario Museum. I figured any museum with 3 names must be pretty sweet so I hotfooted it down there.

Managing to sweet talk the lady to giving me a students fare even though I have no proof I am a student apart from the fact I look like a massive juvie was a good idea, as this was not a cheap attraction. Guess you gotta pay by the name. Anyhoo I was so glad I went despite the high prices. I got to see some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, thousand year old parchment that had many fascinating inscriptions. I even saw one that was an original script from the Bible! It was pretty awe inspiring to see words that had so dramatically influenced the world I live in today. Kind of makes you wish you could wield that same sort of power... unlikely. Unless you are Ron L. Hubbard. Anyway...
I headed home through the rain and dark (yes, it gets dark at like 5 here) and rustled myself up some mighty fine pasta with sauce and vegetable hunks. A couple of episodes of Friends later I was in slarpyland. Ah, the excitement of being underage and travelling solo ;)

The next day I left the apartment with a plan, to hit the southern part of downtown. Having new found freedom of mastering the bus and subway route that takes me from the apartment to the city, I strolled on down feeling like the king of Toronto. The greatest thing about trying to find the 2nd tallest free-standing building in the world is you pretty much just keep walking at it until you get there. It's not like something else is going to block it. The CN Tower was pretty darn sweet, the view from up there was amazing. The city sky scrapers were nothing on the tower. Lake Ontario stretching out as far as the eye could see. I even saw lightning at one point. But, to top it all off, I came face to face with the World's Highest Mailbox. Yep, that's right people. Life-changing experiences, that's what trips like this are all about.

The next stop on my small paper with pictures drawn on it guided tour was something I thought apt to visit, the Hockey Hall of Fame. As the NHL Team I have decided to pledge my support to is indeed from Toronto (YEAH MAPLE LEAFS!) it seemed fitting. It was really cool, so many jerseys, gloves, sticks, pucks, you name it, it was probably there. I learnt alot more about Wayne Gretzky (or, The Great One as I believe he is referred to here) and saw the current and original Stanley Cups. Managed to find 2 Australian ice hockey jerseys, I'm glad we could represent despite our fairly blatant lack of ice. Probably the coolest thing in there though was the complete set of Olympic medals from every single modern Olympics, both winter and summer, laid out in all its splendour. It was super cool to see which cities changed the medals completely and which ones reverted back to the traditional type.
My day, which had otherwise already been pretty darn good, was totally capped off by the fact I bought 2 homemade delicious muffins for $1.57. Yeah man do I live it up.

My final full day in Toronto I wanted to ensure I saw the remaining sites I had decided upon. So I was up and at it nice and early, busting out my mad public transportation skills. I must say there is something incredibly freeing about getting the system down, especially as the Toronto subway makes the entire city so easy to access. I felt like a Emperor riding his Chariot into the great civilisation. Except I'm not a dude, my chariot was not horsedrawn and smelt kind of funny.
My first stop was the centre of town, Yonge-Dundas Square. When I stepped out of the station I realised I had not yet actually been downtown as I thought I had and that in fact Toronto was exponentially bigger than Perth. At first I had wondered what all the fuss was about. Seeing that square pretty much straightened it out for me. I just wandered about it for a little bit, the many billboards, signs, lights and screens had me rather preoccupied for a decent while.
My next destination was sort of where I had just come from. It was called the Eaton Centre and is a network of over 27km of subterranean shopping malls. With the subway in there, you can actually arrive, do all the shopping you could ever want and then leave without having to surface once. I guess its pretty good when its like freezing cold out.
Third sight I decided to see that day came on the recommendation of Vanessa, my friend from work who let me stay in her apartment. To get to the Kensington Markets, I went on a nice stroll all the way along Dundas St. West. It was pretty cool, lead me through Downtown, then China Town, then the artsy district (complete with giant glass art gallery) before arriving at Kensington. The vibe there was super cool, like the Freo markets but actual permanent stores. However, they seemed just as ramshackle but lets call it character. Real sort of hippy ville, but the stuff there was awesome. I grabbed an organic fair trade mocha at Wanda's Pie in the Sky and scored Livi's Canadian present. A successful visit that was finished nicely by seeing an old car full to the brim of dirt and bursting at the seams with plants. The hood at even come off to reveal a small lawn. Definitely objectified the feel of the area.
My final stop on my marathon sightseeing trip was a decent walk north of town, that led me up past the University of Toronto. That is one large campus I must say. I arrived at my final destination after a good hour or so. Casa Loma, a huge castle home built by wealthy Canadian financier Sir Henry Pellatt. Unfortunately it eventually stripped him of his wealth, but it was pretty cool to look at all the same. The thing truly was a castle, complete with Gothic architecture, stables, a Great Hall and 2 massive towers. Certainly got some cool views from up there. It was so empty and creepy though, I have no clue how he and his wife could have lived there alone.

To sum it all up, Toronto was a super cool city, and although I'm generally not so partial to the whole city business, I did really enjoy my time there and am so glad I decided to tour Eastern Canada, which was never originally on the cards.

Here are the photographic images I managed to rustle up while I was there: