Blogs from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, North America - page 25

The Toronto Christmas Market runs from Dec 2nd to the 18th every year, and is filled with seasonal attractions including live reindeer, troops of singing Christmas carolers, elves making toys and over one hundred vendors and food merchants and mulled wine dispensaries. Santa is here and a tall Christmas tree, there is also a merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel attraction too. But more, the magic happens in the air. There is soft gentle holiday music coming from audio speakers and the sounds and smells of the season echo about the red brick courtyard and Victorian age buildings. Christmas is in the air here. Some backstory on the venue- this historic place has been preserved like a museum and that alone is worthy of a travelblog post. The Christmas Market is now permanently fixed at the url=http://www.thedistillerydistric ... read more

We started this blog in order to chronicle our "grand journey" and make it easy for our family and friends to follow what we are up to and where in the world we are. If you are reading this then you likely already know the background - we seized a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was presented before each of us at the exact same time and at the perfect juncture of our lives... so we made the difficult decision to leave good jobs in search of some incredible experiences. We packed up our belongings and left the place that has been our home for the past 2 years, and are now taking care of last minute details before we venture out to do volunteer work coupled with some ambitious leisure travel. There will be much more ... read more

My nephew Nikola asked me about Halloween and how people celebrate this holiday in Toronto. It's best described through pictures, and I've taken many, but I'll write notes in Serbian, as he is still learning English. To his mom, whose birthday is on Halloween: happy birthday Branka!... read more

Whenever I see an opportunity to see a museum a bit “out there” I take it and in Toronto you can go to one that can hardly be seen anywhere else in the world! No it’s not the ice hockey hall of fame. That wouldn’t make sense? No no. I’ll get to what it is later. The way you enter a country does play a big part of your trip and can leave a lasting impression on the country. Sometimes for the first few days, others last for a while. As I crossed from Detroit and into Windsor, Canada I was stopped by a female officer who was all padded up around the chest area and sitting behind a toll booth desk. She goes through the typical questions and suspected I am probably here to work ... read more

I don't think Gerry & I were prepared for how beautiful Ontario was going to be. Rolling hills, lush vegetation, lakes everywhere. And everything is so green this year. Not sure if this is unusual for the end of September, but it still looks like the middle of July. The houses are amazing - so many older homes, I'm assuming 100-200 years, made out of stone or brike, with turrets, high peaks, porches, fancy embelishments. No two houses are alike, and they are huge! Driving through the country side is spectacular - we try to miss the big cities as much as possible. Traffic around Toronto was ridiculous - even our GPS asked if we wanted to switch to "pedestrian" mode, as we were moving so slowly! We found another beautiful campground by Alliston, ON (one ... read more