TravelRibbon

Hi,

I just returned from a 7 day visit to Toronto for the first time. I rented a studio via VRBO.com. I had a great time and did not a lot of "must sees" (had to save something for next time).

My goal is to write up the report during the weekend (it's a holiday weekend here in the US).

TR

Morningglory47

Looking forward to reading your report.

buckdog05

I'm also interested.

Morningglory47

Yoo hoo - where's that trip report?

TravelRibbon

Sorry, sorry. I thought I would have the time over the Memorial Day Holiday weekend to write the report, but I wound up helping a friend prepare to move to Mozambique. But, I'm taking the night off from school so here goes. . .

A bit of background information: I typically go to Paris for my birthday, but this year I decided to save that trip for the Thanksgiving holiday. So, I thought about where I wanted to go and Toronto came to mind. This was my first visit to the city, but not my first visit to Canada. I traveled solo and had a somewhat loose agenda of things I wanted to do.

Day 1, May 18: I awoke at 5:15 a.m. to get a workout in before heading to the airport. Yeah, probably not the most brilliant thing to do, but oh well. I flew Air Canada from Boston to Toronto's Pearson International. The flight to Canada had some bumpy parts to it.

I arrived at the airport and got some CAN$ so I could take a cab/hired car into the city. Of course, we hit the traffic trying to come into the city. My flight landed at 12:38 p.m. so it was a bit unusual to see that much traffic. Oh well. As stated earlier, I rented a studio apartment. It was located in 1 King West. The only thing I knew about this particular property was that it had been recently renovated. The owner did send pictures and the studio looked exactly like the pictures. It was a very spacious studio. I unpacked and got ready to head out to explore Toronto.

So, you all might think I'm a bit mad, but as I walked up Yonge Street, I stopped into Tim Horton's and had lunch. I'm not much of a foodie, but was hungry. I discovered Tim Horton's last summer while visiting Ottawa. I had also discovered their iced cappuccinos. Yummy. They're different from what we have in the States. The weather was a bit cool, but sunny. As I approached Yonge-Dundas Square, I found the Eaton Centre, Hard Rock Cafe, and the hop-on, hop-off tour bus. I decided to do this since I really had no other plans and thought it would be a good way to see Toronto. The tour was about 2 hours. Not a bad tour. It was windy up on the top of the bus, though.

We returned to Yonge-Dundas Square and went grocery shopping. Food for breakfast and something for Victoria Day. It was fun shopping. There was a Metro Grocery store not far from the apartment (on Wellington).

I was rather tired and stayed in the apartment once the grocery shopping was done. I have to admit that Toronto was a bit overwhelming at first. There is so much to see!

Day 2, May 19:
Today was an amazing day. The weather was gorgeous! On my agenda for today was a tour with a Toronto TO guide. I found about this service via one of the many websites I used to do some research. We were scheduled to meet up at the New City Hall info desk at 10:00 a.m. As I was still trying to get my bearings straight, I found the New City Hall only after asking a gentleman if I was headed in the right direction. Mind you, I was standing in front of it, sort of. I felt rather foolish after that particular exchange.

I met up with my TO greeter - we'll call her J. She had a loose idea of where she wanted to take me. I was agreeable to almost anything. What transpired next was simply nice and fun. We walked and walked. We stopped in Osgoode Hall and saw the restaurant. The room was amazing. We walked up Kensington Avenue and saw the market vendors. That was an interesting trek. We stopped at a cafe to have some iced coffees and to take a breather. We marched onward through parts of the U of T as well as parts of one of the 3 Chinatown's. (BTW, these are not in the order in which we visited these.) We popped into the ROM's gift shop and then from there we took a bus down Bay Street. J was full of information about the various places we visited. She was flexible when I wanted to take photos of things and overall, I had a great time.

While on the bus, she convinced me to head to the islands that afternoon. I didn't have anything set in stone so I thought, why not. She told me what stop to get off at and which island to visit. I wound up visiting Ward's island only. There was a rather big group waiting on the ferry so I found a seat and just waited. The ferry came and we all hopped on. I was able to find a seat on the upper deck; however, it was a bit chilly. I forgot to bring a sweater.

I got off at Ward's Island and made my way to the Rectory for lunch. J had mentioned this place (and I had read about it in my guide book). I had a grilled chicken club sandwich. It was good - what I can recall of it! I overheard a conversation between the manager and some other guests about the lack of chips (french fries). Apparently, there are some strict rules about living on the island.

I stayed on the island for about 3 hours. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed walking around admiring the houses and the gardens. I came upon 2 cats sitting on the front steps and one cat who was up after spending some time on the road! I also saw 2 ducks in someone's front yard. I did cross the Algonquin wooden bridge (the name escapes me).

It was a smart move to visit the islands during the week. I took the ferry back to the mainland and headed back to the apartment to do some homework. It's not a lot of fun to do homework while on vacation, but it couldn't be helped. Oh well.

After doing the school work, I headed out to dinner. I walked up King West to see if I could find the Roy Thompson Hall. Prior to my departure, I found out that Itzhak Perlman would be playing with the TSO while I was there. I purchased a ticket and needed to pick it up. I found the Hall - it was gorgeous and busy with patrons waiting to get in for their event.

I wound up eating at Elephant & Castle. I'm no foodie, have I said that yet? I was happy and ate their fish and chips. There were some men at the bar discussing the NHL hockey matches. Since I'm from Boston, my ears perked up when one guy said something about the Bruins. It wasn't complimentary.

I came back to the apartment and crashed. I wanted to get some rest for the next day. I reserved a car and was planning to go to Niagara to the Butterfly Conservatory and possibly Niagara on the Lake. Little did I know at the time at how much of an adventure I would have!

Next: a SMART car, getting lost, and finding out about the death of a friend.

TR

SandyBlandy

Thanks for your trip report, TR. I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to the next installment!

TravelRibbon

Thanks for the encouragement SandyBlandy! I realized after writing the first installment that my writing somewhat mirrors the way I would retell my trip to a friend.

Day 3, May 20:
Today was the day I planned on renting a car to head to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara. I reserved the car from Hertz and chose to pick it up at Union Station. I saw Union Station during the bus tour, but that's about it. I had no idea where the actual desk/counter was though. I confess, I did get lost on my way to the Hertz counter. However, I asked an officer and she was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction.

I made it to the counter and went through all of the paperwork. One of the papers the agent gave me was a map showing me how to access the garage where the cars were parked. I don't know where they were originally, but since construction was going on in the original area, they moved the cars to the Brookfield Place garage. So, with my trusty map in hand, I proceeded toward the garage and got promptly lost. Of course, this all occurred while the morning commuters were disembarking from their respective trains! One lady took pity on me and asked me where I was headed. I showed her the map and she pointed me in the right direction. However, I must not have paid 100% attention because I got lost again. Ugggh. By this time, I was very frustrated. I finally found the elevator to the garage and found my car. I was surprised to see that it was a Smart car. I think the agent told me I was going to get a Smart car, but I was still surprised when I saw it. It was very cute.

I got in and started the car. There was a persistent bell dinging as I started to pull out. I couldn't figure it out, but decided to drive anyway. I pulled out of the garage and realized I had no clue as to how I would get to the proper expressway to get to Niagara. Ugghh. Very poor planning on my part. As I stopped at the red lights, I turned the car off and the dinging went away. It came back as soon as I started the car again.

Why I thought the following, I'll never know, but what I thought was that I needed to head west to get to Niagara. I did exactly that - happily cruising on various highways, passing huge trucks, and praying that I wouldn't get crushed in my little cute car.

Well, I started to wonder if I was headed in the right direction so I got off in Ajax and pulled into a Super 8 Motel. The front desk agent and a member of the housekeeping staff were most helpful, if not a bit shocked at how far I had gone out of my way! They wrote down the directions and I was ready to go. Another positive outcome of stopping in Ajax is that I figured out what the annoying dinging was. Apparently, I had not closed my door properly. D'oh!

I got back on the road and finally made it to the Butterfly Conservatory. The front desk agent told me that it would take 2 hours to get there from Ajax, but I think that I made it in less time.

It was a bit odd driving to the conservatory because I saw the Border Patrol for entry into the US. Odd. The butterfly conservatory was not very big, but it was packed with butterflies. It was quite muggy inside, but that didn't damper the fun I had snapping photos of the butterflies. One of my goals this time was to get a photo of the elusive blue butterfly. I visited the butterfly conservatory in Victoria, BC and was unsuccessful. This time, though, I was able to get a photo of one. It was just resting on a rock. Now, most of its body was in a shadow, but I was pleased. And, even better, one landed on my leg, but I was too slow to react with my camera.

I thought about going in the gardens, but didn't want to push my luck with the timing. I decided to go to Niagara on the Lake - thanks to the encouragement of J and the apartment owner. It turned out to be a good thing.

This time, I followed signs to Niagara on the Lake. I stopped first at Queen Royal Park. A very lovely green park on the lake. Quite stunning and breathtaking. I rested a bit and walked around.

I was trying to find "main" street which is Queen Street. I happened upon it by accident so that was good. Parking was metered, but I was able to find a street to park on that didn't require permits nor have meters. That was all due to the waitress at the Shaw's Bar & Restaurant. I ordered a Chicken Cesar Salad that had bacon pieces in it. It was expensive, but it was really good. I liked the added touch of bacon.

I walked around Queen Street and went into a few shops. I found a Christmas ornament that had scenes of Niagara on the Lake on it. I stopped in for ice cream - I can't recall the name, though. I had the Messie Bessie and another flavor. It was advertising that it was voted the best ice cream in Canada. It was really good.

I didn't stay long in the town and headed back to Toronto shortly after my ice cream snack. I made it back OK, but spent most of my time trying to find a gas (petrol) station to fill up the rental car. I had agreed to turn the car back in at 7:00 p.m. I finally found a petrol station and proceeded to heads towards the garage. The same map that the agent gave me to get to the car also had a picture of how I could enter the garage to return the car.

It would have been easy had I not come back during the evening commute home. As some of you know, there are certain streets that you cannot make either a left hand or right turn onto during the hours of 4 to 6 p.m. Ugggh. I think I circled around a couple of times before I was able to do a U turn to get into the garage. I cannot tell you how relieved I was to turn the car back into Hertz.

I headed back to the apartment to check email and just chill out from a rather crazy and somewhat stressful day. When I checked email, I found out that one of my friends (and pastor of the church I attend) had lost his battle to cancer. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in 2008. I was very, very sad. He was only 1 year older than me. He left a wife and 3 young sons. I was bummed.

I headed to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. I had chicken fajitas and an amaretto sour. Even though the Canadiens-Flyers hockey match was on the TV and the music was blaring, I was tearing up during my meal. I left early and the email stated that he had passed away at 8:42 a.m.

I returned to the apartment and crashed. I was tired from the craziness of the whole car rental as well as from tearing up during dinner over my friend's death. Tomorrow, I had planned another "adventure" with Hertz. This time my destination was Stratford, ON.

Next: Driving was better, but I learned some directions are only meant for one way.

TR

TravelRibbon

Day 4, May 21:

Today was the day I chose to visit Stratford, ON. In light of what happened yesterday, I wrote down directions and had a much smoother trip to the Hertz desk in Union Station. Yay.

I made it onto the correct expressway without issues and headed towards Stratford. This time around,though, my rental car was a Toyota Yaris. I was a bit bummed not to have a Smart car. Oh well. Oh, prior to leaving the Hertz desk, I asked the agent where the closest Petrol station was and that helped out a lot.

The drive to Stratford was very nice, but there were times when I wondered if I had taken a wrong turn somewhere! The town is out in the country. I passed a lot of green fields and even some horses! I arrived in Stratford and immediately thought it was a nice town. I found parking at a meter and made my way to City Hall. I read in one of my travel guides that you could get a free parking pass for one day. I was happy about that prospect. I got the free parking pass, but the challenge for me was in finding the approved lots. I found one, threw the car into park, and headed out to explore.

Most of all the stores are located on one street. I visited the Shakespearean Gardens and took lots of photos of the flowers. I loved it. It was on the Avon River and it was so peaceful. Even though there were a group of teenagers screaming, it was nice. I found a somewhat hidden wooden bridge. It sort of reminded me of the bridge in Giverny, France.

Apparently all of the flowers in the garden are mentioned in all of Shakespeare's plays. I'm so not up on my Shakespeare. Oh well. I ate lunch at Othello's. The one place that I wanted to try out was closed for lunch. Oh well. I ordered the chicken pad thai and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. It had a bit of a red spice added to it. I did enjoy the food, but couldn't finish it. Othello's was empty. I think a lot of people were heading out early for the holiday weekend.

I headed to Sputnik and ordered an iced caramel macchiato. I read in my guide book that this place had good iced coffee drinks. And they were right. It was good. I continued to walk up and down the Ontario Street and popped into various shops. I found another ornament with the 2 swans and the bridge on it done by a local artist. I also found a pretty coffee mug.

I left Stratford in plenty of time to get back to Toronto and return the rental car. I kept seeing the signs for Toronto and was happy. However, after a while, I stopped seeing the signs for Toronto and saw a sign for AJAX -it was 10 km. I thought, no freaking way. .. I can't be back where I was yesterday. Ugghh. I was following the directions I used to get out to Stratford. One would think that I would be able to use those same directions to get back. But no. Apparently, I had to take the Don Valley Parkway to get into downtown Toronto. Of course, I found that out *after* I turned around. Traffic was a bit heavy getting into the city, but I was able to find the petrol stations that the Hertz desk agent gave me. I filled the car and headed back to the garage. I missed the first turn but was able to get into the garage the same way I did on Thursday.

I walked back to the apartment and decided to stay in for dinner. I had a bag of microwave popcorn and it was nice. I love being on vacation.

Day 5, May 22:

I awoke on Saturday morning and decided not to do laundry. The apartment had laundry facilities inside of the apartment. I was a bit lazy - I watched TV, read a little, and just vegged. The skies were gray outside of my window. Today's agenda was the first day where I had firm plans. I purchased a ticket to the Toronto FC v New England Revolution soccer match. For the evening, I was going to see Itzhak Perlman and the TSO.

I took the subway and then a street car to the BMO Field. I arrived about 30 minutes prior to the match. I was in a sea of red jerseys. I had an amazing seat - it was very near the goal and sort of on the field. It was awesome. My lunch was a burger with bacon and cheese. I forgot that bacon in Canada typically means ham and not the bacon that's common in the states. I was a bit taken back, but I ate it anyway. It was good.

The Revs lost (or Toronto won) 1 - nil. All of the spectators saw a woman get beaned by a soccer ball. She was sitting on the side of the field where there were tables and she was knocked off. It was a bit scary. She was wheeled out on a stretcher and passed us. She looked OK. She was smiling and waving. The match went a lot faster than I had anticipated.

I returned to the apartment and did laundry at this time. I tried to take a nap, but was unsuccessful. I got dressed for the concert and headed out. I at Le St. Tropez on King Street West for dinner. There was some confusion with the waitress at the beginning, but in the end, I managed to get the food and consume with time to get to the concert hall. Yay. I did the prix fixe menu with French Onion Soup instead of the appetizers offered. My plat was pork medallions and my dessert was a French pastry with vanilla ice cream. I ordered coffee as well. It was very good. There were 2 couples next to me who were heading to the same concert, but had to leave early before one of them was able to get her dessert. The service was a bit slow at Le St. Tropez,but if you had all the time in the world, it would have been fine.

The concert was amazing. The Toronto Youth Symphony played with the TSO for the first piece. They were all very, very good. The Hall was packed. I loved the way the Hall was designed. I had a good seat - slightly to the left of the stage. Then Itzhak came out. He played very, very well. I was moved. He did an amazing job. It was well worth the price of the ticket. The concert ended around 9:45 p.m. and I walked back to the studio along King Street West. It wasn't creepy at all.

Day 6, May 23:

It's Sunday. I found a church to visit and made my way out there. It was located at the intersection of Keele Street and Annette Street. I took the subway and then a bus to get there. I didn't eat anything before so I wanted to find some breakfast. I asked a couple who were also waiting and they pointed me to Dundas Street. I found the street and decided to go right instead of left. Wrong. I should have taken a left. I wound up purchasing a Mars bar and a bottle of juice. Not exactly what I had anticipated. Oh well.

After the service, I decided to walk back to the subway. It was about 3 blocks and it was nice outside. I got off at the St. George and made my way to the ROM. I was indecisive about whether to visit the ROM today or wait until Monday. I decided not to go in and just walked down Bloor Street. There were a lot of high end shops, but nothing I had not seen before. I made my way to Yonge Street and walked and walked until I came to the Eaton Centre. I probably walked down to a point and turned around.

By this time, I was very hungry. I decided to go into Eaton Centre and go to the Food Court. It was a gorgeous day and I was amazed at how many people were inside. There were a lot of people outside as well. It was just a busy place. I had a burger and fries and then went shopping. I was searching for something specific and wound up purchasing something I didn't need.

I left Eaton Centre - mainly to escape the crowds. I went grocery shopping at Metro and then came back to the apartment to take my mid-term. Uggghhh. I didn't do too well on it, but it was over. Yay. I went to the gym inside of the building and was treated to some amazing views. I didn't stay too long - it was too muggy inside of there.

Next: Victoria Day, the ROM, the Distillery District.

TR

Morningglory47

Fun to read - I never knew about the tour guides from City Hall.

SandyBlandy

Loving your report, TR, I feel as though I'm there with you, trying to figure out directions...!

As for the popcorn meal - I think one of life's pleasures is to go on holiday and throw your usual diet out of the window!

Sorry to hear about your friend passing away.

flyme2themoon

TR, thanks for sharing. We are going to Toronto and Niagara Falls and NOTL in September. From YYZ, we are heading to NF and NOTL first, then Toronto before flyfing out of YYZ to NYC. sort of backtracking. the getting lost part is something i can totally relate to.

Just a few questions: did you book your rental with hertz or did you book through a travel booking agent like hotwire, etc?

Returning the rental car after the end of your sightseeing day and renting anew for the next day is a great idea. Parking in downtown Toronto probably costs as much as a daily car rental. We're going to do what you did.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report. Thanks again.

TravelRibbon

Hi all: thanks for the encouraging words.

@flyme2themoon: I rented directly from Hertz via their website.

Day 7, May 24 (Victoria Day)

OK, I just realized that I may have miscounted somehow or another. If this is day 7 and I have one more day to write about, ooops. Oh well. Sorry for the blunder in the title.

I got up and made may way to Eaton Centre (they were opened on the holiday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) to return the item that I purchased on Sunday. The mall, at least at this time of the day, appeared to be less chaotic.

I then made my way to the ROM and was properly awed. This museum was tagged in my guide book as something for the kids. And it's true, but there is stuff for adults as well. They had interesting exhibits that were fun to walk through. During one point of my visit, I overheard a small child declare to her parents that she wanted to see the dinosaurs! It was too cute.

I made my way to the dinosaurs and was immediately happy. Although I'm not a huge fan, I was still in awe of these creatures that roamed this earth so many years ago. I have to admit that I searched out for the T-Rex and found him. Scary looking creature. There were also some other creatures that looked a bit scary as well.

After spending about 2 hours in the ROM, I ventured back outside in the heat and made my way up Bloor to eventually get to Cumberland. I somehow missed the side street, but wound up taking an alley that led me to the Yorkville Park. It was on my list of things to do on this day so it worked out perfectly. It was nice to take a rest in the shade.

I ate lunch at Sassafraz. I chose to eat outside and sat in the very warm sun. It appeared that there was only one waitress working the outside tables. Odd. Yes, it was Victoria Day, but I would have thought that there would be more waitstaff. Oh well.

I chose the BLT - meaning, Bacon, Lobster,and Tomato. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but was pleasantly surprised with the sandwich. It was good, IMO. Again, I'm not a foodie. Cumberland Street reminded me a bit of Newbury Street in Boston - a place to be seen and to see others. There were very expensive cars parked at the meters on this street.

I headed down Cumberland until I hit Bay Street. I then walked from Bay all the way to the New City Hall. It was a nice walk - not a lot of people out and about. I stopped in the Bay Store and purchased another item that I couldn't find at the other store. I made my way back to the apartment for a bit of a rest and then realized I had a really bad tan on my arms and on my nose (from my sunglasses).

After resting a bit, I made my way to a park on Wellington/Front Street. It was Berczy Park. It was really a nice park - had a fountain and seating around it. I had a chance to catch up on my journaling and just doing some people watching.

I then made my way to the Distillery District. I started to wonder if I'd ever make it. I felt I had walked up Front Street East for such a long time! I did pass a mural showing, I think, Toronto's history. I did make it to my destination and saw that they had tents up in the open spaces. There were a lot of local artists showing their wares. I found 2 beautiful glass pendants for my housemates. There were some beautiful things displayed. Too bad my budget and my suitcase didn't allow me to purchase more!

I came back after walking through the district and did some more laundry. I watched the Celtics-Magic basketball game as well as attempting to start the packing process. Gulp.

Day 8, May 25

It's my last full day in Toronto. I was a bit bummed. I had a rather light agenda today - the AGO and picture taking.

I woke up too early today. I had to check work email and was not happy with some of the messages. Uggghhh. Oh well. I headed out around 9:50 a.m. and noticed that things were a lot busier than yesterday as far as people traffic. Everyone had returned from their holiday weekend.

I wanted to go the Christmas shop on Front Street near Berczy Park to see if they had an ornament with Toronto scenes on it. However, they didn't open until 10:30 a.m.! Ugghhh. Oh well. I proceeded to walk up Front Street towards the Rogers Centre. I wanted to take a photo of the sculpture on the exterior. I made my way up Blue Jay Way and took a couple of pics. I turned around and walked down the street towards the AGO. However, I had to make short detour to take a photo of the Roy Thomson Hall. In my visits around that place, I somehow managed not to take a picture of the outside!

I also wanted to find the Canada Walk of Fame. It was supposed to be located in the Entertainment District near the Hall. I found it and took pictures of some famous Canadians. It was fun.

I then got back on track and made my way to the AGO. I walked up John Street until it dead-ended into Stephanie Street. I chose to walk through Grange Park. It was a nice break. I finally made it to the AGO and was surprised it wasn't crowded on a Tuesday.

The AGO is an interesting building. I did like their permanent collection and found myself writing down the names of the pieces that I liked the best. I wanted to see if I could find a print, post card, or something with the artwork on it. I had a very long list. The European Art Sculpture section was closed, though. I was getting hungry by this point and needed to eat. I checked out the menu for "Frank," the restaurant inside of the AGO and didn't find anything that made me want to eat there. They also had a self serve cafeteria,but I didn't see anything I wanted.

I decided to go out and made my way to University Avenue. I wound up eating at the Osgoode Hall restaurant. I had the crab cake and an organic salad. The crab cake was surprisingly good. The organic salad was just OK.

After lunch, I made my back to the AGO and went to the gift store. Thanks to a very helpful associated, I was able to find most of the pieces I wanted. They were in different formats - an actual print, a few postcards, and a few note cards. Two pieces, though, were not in stock. I was bummed. These were from 2 Canadian artists. However, all was not lost. The same helpful associate told me that I might be able to get the pieces I wanted. I had to go to the information desk and ask them to connect me to the Photo Resources department. I would be taking a risk since she wasn't sure if a specialist would be around to help me or not.

I was able to connect with S, the manager of the department, and told him what I wanted. He then sent someone from his staff, I'll call him T, to meet me. The guy came up and took me back into the bowels of the AGO. I told him what I was looking for and they thought I needed it for research purposes. I told him no - I just liked the pieces.

T was most helpful and very patient. I had not written down the exact titles of the 2 art pieces and was just giving him the descriptions! I had the artists' names, but not the titles. He was able to find them for me and said that they could print out a 5x7 for me. Yay! It would cost about $20 CAN in total. I was happy.

I was ushered to a work space to wait while the prints were being printed. I noticed that on the grounds of the Sharpe College of Art and Design a game of catch between 2 young men was happening. It was amusing to watch and helped pass the time quickly. T came out with the prints and told me that they would *not* charge me for them since they should have been in the gift store anyway. I was surprised and very grateful. The guys were so helpful. T packed the 2 prints between 2 pieces of card board so they wouldn't get bent when I traveled. I left the AGO very happy.

I went back to the apartment to drop off the packages and then headed back out to Berczy Park. I stopped at Tim Horton's and picked up an ice cappuccino and 2 donuts. Yum.

After resting a bit, I did go back to the Christmas store on Front Street and found some gorgeous ornaments. The one I wanted was very fragile and too expensive. So, I wound up purchasing a hockey puck ornament with a Santa hat on it. Someone had painted/written Toronto 2010 on it. I liked it *and* it was 50% off! Yay.

I can't recall if I had dinner or not that night. It could have been popcorn again. I started to clean the apartment and pack my bag. Ugghh. How did I wind up with more stuff than what I came up here with? It felt as if I did not purchase a lot of things, but I guess they add up.

Day 8, May 26

I got up early since my flight out of Pearson was at 11:55 a.m. I finished cleaning the apartment, taking out the trash, unloading the dishwasher, and making sure I didn't leave anything behind.

Now the fun part - closing my suitcase. I ran into a problem at this point. I had stuffed it so full that I couldn't zip it! I sat on it, flung my body across it, and did other moves that I thought would help. No such luck. I had to put things in my computer bag and thought I would have to check it. Ugghh.

I got a flat rate car to the airport (instead of a cab) from the apartment/hotel. I made to Pearson in plenty of time. I checked in and then proceed to US Customs/Immigration. This was new to me. As I was waiting in line, I started to take things out of my new "carry on" and managed to put it in my suitcase and other bag. Yay! I wouldn't have to check in 2 bags.

I made it through Customs & Immigration and went to my gate. Again, I stopped at Tim Horton's to get breakfast. This time it was an iced cappuccino and a bagel w/cream cheese. It would be my last Tim Horton's iced cappuccino for a long time.

I decided to get a 10 minute manicure since I left my nail care stuff at home. The 10 minute manicure turned into a 20 minute one, though. That was fine - I had plenty of time before my flight boarded. However, they changed my gate! After my nails dried, I made my way to the new gate location. Which was in the opposite direction from where I was located. Oh well.

The flight to Boston was nice and I had a good row mate.

Final Thoughts . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Toronto. It is a place I definitely will visit again. There were some things that I did not do on this trip that will need to be done. As a single, female traveler,I felt safe walking by myself during the day. With the exception of the Itzhak Perlman and TSO concert on Saturday night, I didn't go out all that much in the evening. I guess if I had someone else traveling with me,I may have done so, but for the most part, I was fine with returning to the apartment in the early evening.

Thanks for reading this trip report. I hope you find it helpful.

Cheers,
TR

flyme2themoon

thanks for posting the rest of the trip. i also have Tim Horton's in my short list of things to try while in Toronto.

how long did it take to get to Pearson Airport from your apt? seems you had plenty of time to kill when you got there. and there's a nail shop at YYZ?