My conclusion for the day : Toronto is a very pedestrian friendly city. I basically got to all corners of central Toronto on foot today and would have racked up many kilometres. I am glad I am traveling solo as I don't think many people I know could've kept up with me today. Started off early this morning and went straight down to St Lawrence Markets which is a fresh produce market. As it was Saturday morning, they also had the farmer's market across the road. This was actually indoors and had quite a few decent stalls. However, I was mightily impressed with St Lawrence and would definitely visit here whenever I wanted to cook anything. The quality of meats, vegetables and seafood was spectacular and the prices were good too. We are so deprived in ... read more

Well I have left mountain Canada and flew from Edmonton this morning to Toronto and I am currently at Niagara Falls. Edmonton airport isn't overly hectic and took me about 40 minutes to get there in the morning peak. Driving around Edmonton lately I have noticed that the government is spending HEAPS of money on road infrastructure. The number of new lanes, bridges and extensions to their freeways is staggering and contrasts with the stagnant nature of our roads back home. For only a city of roughly 750,000 they certainly have big ring roads and freeways, they can't help the layout of their downtown but get away from the city centre and the roads improve dramatically. Checking in was pretty easy and the line for security was pretty organised, plenty of people but there was decent ... read more

So this morning I bid farewell to the Canadian Rockies and it wasn't a nice very nice morning. Was cold and wet in Jasper so I was happy to get away. Went for a coffee run at Bear's Paw Bakery and did take out this time and this server made a much better coffee than yesterday's server. The past 4 days in the heart of the Rockies has been quite uplifting for me. Some majestic scenery, the peace and tranquility and the friendliness of everybody I met meant it has been an invigorating few days and I can honestly say that my mind has been completely worry free. i killed a bit of time back in the hotel as I didn't want to leave too early as it was only about 3 hours to Edmonton and ... read more

So I have arrived in Jasper, a much smaller and less touristy town than Banff. Jasper township is the hub for the Jasper national park which seems a little out of the way for most tourists who come out to Banff from Calgary and disappear back out of the rockies. Jasper is only about 250km from Banff and it is a very rewarding drive up the Icefields Parkway. There are many spectacular scenic viewpoints and mini hikes along the way. I have to say that there are much more vantage points if you drove south from Jasper to Banff. The majority of the lakes are still frozen and won't be melted for at least another 2 months. So if you like seeing water instead of ice, then July and August would be the time to visit ... read more

So today was my drive from Vancouver to Banff, some 860km by car! To say that it was thoroughly enjoyable is an understatement. I left at about 6:30am and arrived in Banff at 4pm local which would have been 3pm Vancouver time. That's pretty good progress and it is a testimony to the quality of the roads considering the majority of it was through mountainous terrain. The Canadians have certainly spent much money and labour in making the Trans-Canada highway viable, along with the rail line that follows it. I was carving my way through the rockies and at no stage was I forced to slow down to under 80kmph, instead of following cliff faces - they just built bridges and tunnels! The time passed pretty quickly as I was in the zone, had the Ipod ... read more