Finally A Travel Post

This time last year I was counting down the days to my holiday in Canada.  Who knew that a year later I would be unemployed and finally writing about it - the holiday I mean.  Once again I am the mistress of procrastination.

In the spirit of complete honesty I am not the most adventurous traveller.  In fact I am the complete opposite.  I like a comfy bed and a nice room, preferably with room service and a hot tub; and if not at the very least a functional toilet.  No swatting in bushes, praying that some stranger won't come across you or being eaten alive by all things swarming for me thanks very much.  

I am also not a travel blogger.  My photos won't do any of the places I visited justice and are more likely to look lopsided than anything else.  I definitely won't have any insightful insights into what I have seen.  Instead my words will probably be filled with lots of pretty this and lovely that and all in all will read like a boring manual.

What can I say.  In my head I have all sorts of amazing words and stories but on paper it comes out kind of meh.  Which is kind of tragic really as I love reading funny, quirky travel memoirs so I'll apologise in advance for anything boring or meh.

Toronto was the starting place for our travels and is a pretty cool place.  It's a city with all the things a city has to offer. 

I went with very little idea of what I wanted to see, other than a visit to Niagara Falls (partner's choice).  Which was kind of good on one hand as it meant we just stumbled onto to things as we found them but which also meant that we missed out on some neat sights which I will definitely want to do, when and if I go back.

Getting around Toronto was fairly simple.  It's a surprisingly easy to get around on foot and public transport is there if you need it.   And if you're really stuck you can always try the Hop On Hop Off Bus, though personally I wouldn't recommend it.  You're probably just end up walking anyway if you do go on it as the buses on this service seem to take forever to get to stops and when they do they are usually full to bursting which means even more waiting until the next bus arrive.  We tried it once and went back to walking.

We walked everywhere.  Great for the fitness but not so great for the feet, which ended up being a throbbing mess by the end of each day.   My so-called comfy shoes ended up being not so comfy after all.  

As for things to see and do the Waterfront seemed like a nice place to start.  From here there are a myriad of things you can do, from going up the CNN Tower to visiting the aquarium or The Hockey Hall of Fame.  None of which sounded all that appealing to us so we opted for a walk along the Waterfront.

On a sunny day it's a pleasant walk along the boardwalk plus you get lovely views across the lake to the island.  Which is where we headed off to next.  We went on a Harbour Cruise which is totally cheesey and touristy but also seemed a nice way to spend a hot, sunny day.  Even better we could do a stopover on the island for an hour or so.  A perfect way to get away from the city and the crowds and still enjoy amazing views.

A day of sun and sea was followed by a day of history and food.  First up a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) which turned out a nice way to spend a couple of hours.  I recommend the dinosaur and the Egyptian exhibits which were fascinating.  Even better go and visit on a Friday after 4.30pm and you only have to pay half price. 

In fact many of the city's museums and galleries have free or half price admissions on certain evenings so I would definitely check these out if art, etc. is your kind of thing.

If you're like me and love looking at food then wandering around St Lawrence Market is another interesting thing to do.  Not only is it free but the food is mouth watering.  My only problem was deciding what yummy thing to buy.  It took me ages and even then I brought not one or even two but three totally-bad-for-me-but-totally-delicious bakery things.  Sometimes you just have to indulge.

The area around the market is also neat to walk around as there are some wonderful old red brick buildings to look at even for a non architecture person like myself and it was a great way to burn off some of those extra calories I had just eaten.

And that was Toronto.

A city of glass and steel and wonderful old red brick buildings and tree-lined streets.