Toronto Bucket List

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Our Airbnb is awesome. Awesome location and so comfortable. It's great to have some space and the character of these old homes makes it such a warm place to stay. The street has an idyllic feel about it. The sky is blue, dogs are basking on front porches in the spring sunshine, pre-schoolers are singing in the front yard of a daycare and birds are chirpings in the trees home to busy little black squirrels. Toronto feels like it's awoken from hibernation this week and everyone is making the most of the weather. We promised the Fosters we'd bring the warm weather, but this is actually ridiculous. It is beyond great and the relief and joy is palpable. It's an unfamiliar feeling for us from the seasonless Brisbane.

Have I mentioned that we have a Cobs Bread on the corner of Waverley Rd. Cobs is the North American Bakers Delight and it's a bit like comfort food for the weary travelers. Jane greeted us with a Cobs pull-apart and we're working our way through their delicious bakery delights.

We take out time getting out of the house. It's been hectic and Millsy, while better is still not 100%. We browse through the cute shops of The Beaches and Jules enjoys a quality coffee from Buds coffee. We briefly chill back at the airbnb before we're on our way to meet the Fosters at the 501 streetcar stop on Queen St East.

Morley and Jane have everything planned and prepaid. It's such a relief to have local mates to guide us around and we dutifully follow them off the streetcar through an interconnected pedestrian subway (The Path) for about 10 blocks only to emerge at the CN Tower. A recommendation from our Canadian border guard and top if the Toronto attractions. It's something like 400 metres above sealevel and gives a panoramic view of Toronto. Lake Ontario is actually ridiculously massive and the city spreads out north of the tower. We go to the needle of the tower and the subtle swaying is somewhat disconcerting. We look down on a helicopter flying past and have a brilliant birds eye view of the BlueJays diamond inside the opened Rogers Centre roof. Morley doesn't think he's ever seen the roof open this early in the season before. Truly unseasonable weather conditions.

We're rocking about in T-shirts and we grab some hotdogs outside of the stadium. The faithful are already lining up for a 7.07 first pitch and it's not even 5 pm. There's a bobblehead for the first 15,000. It'd be a great souvenir but we prefer the comfort of the nearby Rec Room for a beer or two and a snack. Morley secures a table for 9 with views of the city and we wet our whistles and eat some more. The kids hit the amusement arcade while the adults catch up some more. The Canadian Red Ale is delightful.

The scale of the Rogers Centre is a little overwhelming for a first timer. It's a city inside a stadium. 55,000 seater with multiple levels all jampacked with eateries, bars and merch stalls. There's even a hotel above the centrefield homerun fence. You can get any type of fast food you desire - hot dogs, burgers, fried chicken, sushi, popcorn and candy. There's dozens of beer for sale and a cocktail bar in rightfield.

Morley's seats are insanely good - we are about 20 rows behind homeplate on the first base line. Crazy good seats. The kids are out in rightfield on the same level and these seats also have a great view. Morley and i circumnavigate our level and I can't find a bad view. There's a 5 storey high TV in centrefield that is 10 stories wide. They sing both the US and Canadian anthems and if you look closely you can see Jules and I behind the anthem singer on the big screen.

The game starts slowly as a bit of a pitching duel. Gausman goes 7 innings and only pitches about 90 pitches. Undeservedly he's behind 3-1 when he's retired. The bluejays tie it up at 3-3 in the 9th and we're going extra innings. Bluejays hold out the Tigers pinch runner at 3rd base. Bottom of the 10th and a perfect bunt advances the bluejays runner and he scores on a groundball up the middle. The players flood the diamond to celebrate and the crowd goes wild.

The Fosters and the Sharpies are high fiving. Milla confessed that she doesn't hate baseball anymore. She found it exciting and she even understands it now. I think we're all BlueJays fans now.

25,000 people evacuate the Rogers Centre in fast time. The public space outside the stadium reeks of pot and excitement. The baseball fans meld with the Raptors fans around Union Station. It's crazy that this is a Wednesday night. We navigate The Path and jump back on the TTC for The Beaches. A leisurely walk home from the Sreetcar, tired but happy. For some reason we watch Brooklyn 99 until 1 am.

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