10th – 11th – Toronto

I had a flight out of Winnipeg a bit past noon which despite a half hour delay went smooth and uneventful. We arrived in an orderly fashion but did end up having to wait for our luggage for close to 45 minutes. 

I checked back into the hotel and retrieved my bag in storage, trotted about for a bit before getting a ticket for a late entry to the CN Tower and grabbed a train to the city center.

Walking around Toronto.

Nathan Philip's Square with the city hall to the left 

and a large city sign if you've forgotten where you are.

I had planned to have dinner while in town but I realized I wasn’t really hungry so I ended up just having a walk around in the fading light until around 2130 where I could get into the tower and enter the viewing platform. An amazing view of the city below and in the clear weather you could see quite far. The view was partially obstructed by the countless hand-, finger-, cheek-, forehead- and other sticky prints all over the windows. And due to the interior light and people using flash there was so much reflection. Apparently there is an outdoor platform you can walk out on without the glass, but it was currently closed due to renovation. Ascending to the top floor there were fewer people and therefore a bit less chaotic and noisy. Some of the windows were angled downwards so there were less reflection, but due to their angles they let a ton of light in from the colored lights lining the tower.

It is really annoying with all these viewing platforms where you’re stuck behind glass and I don’t know why I keep paying (often a good chunk of money) go gain access to them. Ah, well, vacation-me is less critical than after-vacation-me when it comes to spending money.

Leaving the tower at around 2330 I returned to the station to grab the train back to the hotel/airport, and thinking I had plenty of time I wasn’t in a rush. I arrived 12 minutes before the next departure which turned out to also be the last departure, so despite I had no problems making it in time I was very glad that I hadn’t spent more time getting back to the station.

The following day I went back to the center to spend the day walking around seeing the city. The sun was out and the temps were high, but the many tall buildings gave some nice much needed shade. There are a lot of large tall buildings in the center – many more than I expected, I think. The roads were pretty wide so it’s fairly easy to get a good view of them despite standing near them. I tried booking a spot on a night harbour tour to get the skyline from the water, but due to a power outage in that part of the city (I thought I was in Toronto and not Toroffto?) they only took cash. Too bad. I grabbed some delicious poutine at a small booth called NomNomNom Poutine – which certainly lived up to their name. Fries, cheese curds, meat and gravy – what’s not to like? 

Poutine. Way better than it looks.

Trying to get out of the heat and maybe resting my legs I spent the afternoon in the Toronto Aquarium. There wasn’t much you wouldn’t see in any other aquarium around the world, though they did lead the guests past the water treatment and purification systems which introductions to what the various parts did, which I thought was pretty interesting. 

Mandatory "jellyfish in front blue background"-shot.

For dinner I ended up in the financial district in a basement restaurant where I had a delicious burger (priced as one would expect for a nice place in the financial district) with a dessert consisting of an excellent pile of 5 small donuts. While they called them donuts I’d argue these were closer to donut holes stuffed with cream.