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Published: August 6th 2007
I couldn't quite make up my mind about Toronto. I couldn't figure out if I liked the place or not, somehow I found myself comparing it to some of the other amazing places I have been like New York;
Play it a Little Louder Frank, Boston;
Sporting Lore and a City of Contrasts: Boston and of course Montreal. Now I know the folly of comparing one city to another as each is different and has its own particular vibe but I just couldn't help myself. In a way it’s like Montreal but bigger, without the soul and without the French. I could read the signs on the walls and understand people’s conversations in the street; I think maybe I missed feeling like I was somewhere far away and exotic. It felt like a tourist city, once we had done the
touristy things there was nothing left to do really, I'm sure the cloudy, overcast weather all weekend didn't help.
Having said that though Toronto did have some pretty cool attractions to keep us entertained for the weekend, I was gallivanting around with Tom, a very good friend from home. This weekend also marked Tom's 21st Birthday so we celebrated that in what I hope was style but was much more likely to
be described by the impartial observer as drunkenness 😊
Our First Night We got drunk.
The First Day Me and Tom had no other initial plans apart from trying to find an establishment selling greasy, morning after burgers. We were successful in an area of town known as
Kensington Markets, a quaint little area home to an incredibly varied assortment of shops and eateries. It was obviously Toronto's resident "leftish, hippy" area due to high abundance of bead stores and little shops run by friendly Asians selling junk shipped in from overseas. We had a good wander around here and just checked out all the markets.
The rest of the day was spent aimlessly walking around and just checking out the different parts of the city. I bought some socks.
We had dinner in
China Town; which is very impressive. It’s a pretty big one and had some really cool little markets and some great restaurants. I highly recommend a walk through and then find somewhere to eat.
Our second day was a little more productive and we actually managed to check out some of Toronto's sights, namely...
The Hockey Hall of Fame Canadians
A Wall of Pucks
There were about 3 more of these huge sectionslive and breathe hockey and Toronto is no exception, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. One of the Original Six and have not won a Stanley Cup since 66-67, a source of great hilarity to anyone from Montreal =P The Hall of Fame is located not far from where the Leafs play and is absolutely stuffed full of everything of any importance to hockey. The sheer amount of stuff on display is staggering and each is accompanied by a little plaque detailing its significance. After wandering through there all I wanted to do was strap on a pair of skates and go and play. Some of the highlights included seeing the Stanley Cup (or maybe the replica I couldn't be sure), seeing Australia and Finland’s International Jersey, reading about Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and others and generally reading about the super cool sport of hockey. For the record the Montreal Canadians have won the title more than any other and as I live in Montreal I can safely assume an air of superior arrogance with regards to the sport 😊
Steam Whistle Brewing Situated at the base of the CN Tower this cool little brewery
Brewery
Us at the end of the brewery tour makes a lip-smackingly good pilsner and runs tours most days on the hour. The brewery is in an old railway roundhouse (where trains were repaired and turned around) in a building from turn of the century. The tour is pretty short but you get a good idea of the process that goes into making the beer and getting it from the raw ingredients to the stage where it can enter your belly. The highlight of course is the numerous free samples that you get when you go on the tour, of which me and Tom took full advantage! Afterwards we sat at the base of the CN Tower, had another beer from the six-pack we had just bought, talked crap and kept ourselves laughing. Cherished memories.
That night we went out to celebrate Tom's 21st birthday, we went to this little place in the basement of some building called "Underground." It was a cool little place with low ceilings, a suitably dark atmosphere and lots of posters and graffiti of the walls. It was pretty sweet as we headed out with some people from the hostel and had a merry old time. At midnight I bought Tom a dirty
pint, pint with a shot of whiskey in it 😊 It was a slippery slope from then on for Tom. The night ended with me telling some girl that I was a 23 year old actor and Tom having to lean on the bar to prevent himself from falling over! Ahhh good times 😊
The next day we did the thing you cannot escape in Toronto......
The CN Tower It is impossible not to eventually be drawn to the CN Tower, it is constantly appearing from behind other buildings and towers over much of downtown Toronto; even when we were far up town in Kensington markets it would suddenly be there as we turned a corner. You would probably expect this from the tallest free standing structure in the world, 553m at the highest point. We paid our money to get up and were treated to some spectacular views of the surrounding area. To be honest we were a little hung over at this point so we didn't spend too long up there but on a clear day you can see Niagara Falls 70km away and further. Some cool facts;
* This guy called Dan Goodwin climbed
No Skateboarding Allowed
I'm sure drinking is fine!
Taken at the base of the CN Tower the outside of it, twice, in one day!
* The first person to skydive off it was one of the construction workers, he was promptly fired.
* An egg has been dropped down the hollow interior shaft without it breaking.
* Some guy ran up the stairs, all 1760 of them, in 7 mins and 52 secs.
After this I headed back to Montreal and said goodbye to Tom who is going on a bit of a tour around the States. One uncomfortable bus journey later I was home and once again I couldn't read the signs and didn't understand people's conversations on the street =)
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deleted_15735
Australia does have an ice hockey team, but they suck
Great to see that beer played a fundamental part in this blog Dan. Although im sure that it was always a priority, it was never fully expressed until now. The Ice Hockey Hall of Fame sounds insane. Im finally going to play next week for the first time since coming back from Finland, i am almost orgasmic at the prospect (almost).