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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 Sydney, I can't think of any such place - Cabramatta would come closest with combination produce, meat and seafood shops but that's about it. On Nat's recommendation, I bought a peameal bacon sandwich which is a local favourite. Personally I just thought it tasted like lean fried ham. But definitely something you can say you did while in Toronto.
Next, I walked out to
the Harbour Front which is a collection of ferry wharves and eateries along the foreshore of Lake Ontario. Nothing terribly spectacular but there were heaps of people out enjoying a rare flawless sunny day in Toronto. The temperatures went above 20C which hasn't been seen here since last summer which is a long time in my book. The locals were definitely out in force. Whether it was taking a stroll, jogging, cycling or lazing around - everyone was outside today it seemed. I have been told I am lucky to have arrived on such a beautiful weekend. Toronto did look quite nice framed by the blue skies.
Next I decided to trek to Chinatown and Kensington Markets which was all the way up Spadina Ave. Most normal people would have caught the street car but I was determined to do it all on foot today. The sun was by now starting to burn/tan me wherever I didn't apply sunscreen. Saw some good sights along the way including CN Tower, Rogers Stadium, the rail lines leading into Union Station and then Chinatown. TOronto has a much better Chinatown than Vancouver in my book. There are many more eateries and had
a better vibe than Vancouver which definitely felt run down. It was crowded with shoppers being a Saturday morning and the area had a certain buzz to it. Just a block west of Chinatown is Kensington Markets, an area of cafes, specialist food retailers and bohemian boutique clothing stores. It was certainly different and there was an interesting mix of people and was a great area to sit back and observe the human race. Nat and Billy came to meet me at this time for brunch in a corner of Kensington Market at a small cafe which had a lot of character. The food wasn't great but we had a good time chatting while watching the passing crowds and soaking in more of the sun. Nat then took me to a Banh Mi Thit shop which sold pork rolls for only $2 each! That is a bargain and even thought they are much smaller than back home or in California, they make a decent snack.
From Spadina Ave, we then walked down Queen West which is another interesting strip which reminded me a little of Newtown. There were eateries, pubs, boutique clothing, furniture, art and stores selling interesting bits
and pieces. It was just much larger than Newtown and also had the equivalent of King Street traffic. I lost count of how many blocks were walked until we got to Trinity Park which is a public park where a ridiculous amount of people were just lazing around on the grass and benches enjoying the sun. I can safely say, you never see any such thing back home. We ended up staying there for a good 90 minutes and a couple of Nat's friends came and met us there. It was great just to sit, enjoy the good weather and not worry about the time - it's great to be on holidays! I decided to head back to the hotel to freshen up (another long walk) while they did a little shopping and headed back to hang out before dinner. I thought I could sneak in a visit to the top of CN tower before dinner but I was wrong as there was a queue that was at least 1 hour long - no thanks. There was a promotional fare on behalf of Parks Canada promoting all the great national parks and wildlife in this country. They had a free
concert and I enjoyed that for a while before meeting the others for dinner.
Dinner was back in Chinatown at a pretty good restaurant famous for its Peking duck. We ordered the duck (2 courses), oysters, double lobster, spare ribs and greens. It was good quality seafood and the oysters were massive and you actually needed to carve them up before eating. The lobsters were small but are dirt cheap, 2 live lobsters cost about $30. For 5 people the bill came at $155 after tips which is very good considering we had peking duck and lobster. Nat chose Chinese as she didn't think I'll be eating decent Chinese for the rest of my trip and I was happy for her choice as the meal was of good quality. After dinner we walked all the way back before parting ways and I am indebted to Nat and Billy for making the time to show me around and take me to some local eateries.
Off to Montreal tomorrow on ViA Rail which I hope will match Amtrak which makes for a pretty relaxing transit.
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