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Published: January 3rd 2009
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Happy New Year
Wishing everyone a Happy 2009.
My new year’s was spent in Toronto
I didn’t really get up to anything special in Toronto - the winter holidays meant that the city come to a bit of a stand still when it comes to music, festivals, galleries and the like for which the city has a plethora of during warmer months.
My first night was a ‘pub crawl’ that ended up comprising of myself and two guys and a girl from the hostel (all from Nova Scotia in Canada) going for a few beers. The night ended far later than I had planned but we had a good time and it was good to make some new friends on my first night.
The next day I made use of the beautiful weather (very cold but clear blue skies) to take a walk along the harbour front, the downtown areas and Chinatown / Kensington Markets. I especially liked Kensington Markets area with interesting street art/murals and all the cool fashion shops in old terrace style houses - definitely not your typical bland shopping mall.
The area also boasts lots of cute little organic/vegetarian cafes so
I couldn’t resist visiting a couple.
The Allen Gardens offered a chance to check out a great Christmas themed floral show - a floral haven in downtown T.O.
That night I met up with some Toronto based friends of friends. Greg and Jenny took me to the cool West-end of the city which again boasts lots of interesting little shops, cafes, bars and restaurants.
On Tuesday I ran into my Monday night drinking buddies and decided to join them on a tour to Niagara Falls. On the tour we made friends with a Perth guy (now livening in London) and a girl from Brisbane.
Niagara is less than two hours from Toronto but by the time we made stops along the way (a cool winery to taste some delicious ‘Ice Wine’ and other interesting touristy spots) we didn’t arrive until later afternoon.
Niagara Falls certainly need to be seen but the area is awfully touristy (Casinos, big hotels, neon lights and all that) which detracts from the natural beauty - though the overwhelming power of the falls still managed to impress me.
New Year’s Eve was spent at a few house parties (one on
the 38th floor, offering great views of Toronto by night). A bit of dancing and good times made for a fun way to see in the new year.
The rest of my time was spent checking out sight-seeing and eating at more vegetarian cafes (Toronto’s Vegetarian Society puts out a free vego guide that made it really easy to find somewhere interesting to eat.
I’d have to say that all the great vegetarian cafes (especially Fresh and Urban Herbivore) were the highlight of my time in T.O. Other, more touristy, highlights included the CN Tower (which I refused to pay $21 to go up), the Royal Ontario Museum with its strange mix of modern and old styles and the Ontario College of Art & Design which was probably my favourite building in T.O.
So yeah, definitely enjoyed my time in Toronto, next update from New York …
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