Quick Tour of Toronto and Reflections on Our Travels

If Montreal is Canada’s Paris, then Toronto is Canada’s New York City. Dundas Square instead of Times Square, grand old theaters, trendy shopping, great restaurants, a sea of skyscrapers, and lots and lots of people. There are cranes everywhere; apparently construction is booming.

Our hotel room turned out to be on the 20^th floor of the Holiday Inn. I knew it was a 4 person room, and had reserved it as such, but somehow the confirmation only said 2 people. We of course have 5. It felt like we were in a Mission Impossible movie as I tried to move the kids discreetly past the desk clerk. Not to mention the cooler, all of our luggage, and a sleeping bag. The room did have 2 double beds, but the online picture looked distinctly larger than the room that greeted us. Andrew is very adaptable, and he had the joy of squeezing his sleeping bag between one of the beds and the wall.

We knew we wouldn’t have much time, so our plan was just to walk around and check things out. Toronto boasts a wonderful zoo, a castle overlooking the city called Casa Loma, and there is also a fort that was built for the War of 1812. We saw none of these things.

But we did go see Dundas Square, where there appeared to be an Indian festival complete with Bollywood-style dancers. We looked for souvenirs in nice stores, like Roots, and in a cheesy souvenir store where Allison learned several new words when a homeless man came in, cursing and insulting the unsuspecting (and very alone) clerk. Andrew found a shirt there he couldn’t pass up—it says “Definition of a Canadian” on the front, and on the back it says “An unarmed American with health care. Heh heh…heh heh heh heh.” He may be starting a Canadian t-shirt collection, which started in Montreal with “Canadian Fast Food” on the front over stick figure drawing of a bear chasing a man through the trees.

There is the Gooderham Building, which is also called the Flatiron building—another similarity to New York City. But Toronto’s was the first. It is positioned on the dividing line between old Toronto and modern skyline—the juxtaposition shows up on many, many postcards of Toronto. Love it.

The clouds cleared just long enough for us to go up the CN Tower, an observatory tower/tourist trap. This outing cost us just slightly less than our hotel room. If we hadn’t already told our kids we would do it, we might have skipped out when we found out the cost. However, it is a great place to see the city lights, and there is a portion of the floor that is glass, so you can look straight down to the concrete far below. Allison was not sure that this was a good idea, and the sign’s statement that the glass could withstand “14 large hippos” was not reassurance enough. She managed to make her way into the middle of it, anyway.

The storm clouds were moving in as we stood there, and we could watch the rain make its way across the city. Dark and awesome.

Now that we are home, here are some things we learned on this trip.

1.     There is a lot living just below the surface in the ocean (see one of the previous posts for more information).

2.      You can save money, or you can save time. Rarely both. On the way home from Toronto, we needed gas about an hour out. Brian had just over ten Canadian dollars left, so he decided to use that up, then buy gas on the US side of the border because it’s cheaper. Unfortunately, ten dollars’ worth was not enough to get us to the US side—we had to stop just before Sarnia. And then he still didn’t want to fill up, still waiting for the cheaper gas. And so we managed to need gas 3 times in a 6 hour trip. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…grrrr….

3.     There will always be war in the world as long as men are in charge. This was demonstrated by the lengths that Brian and our friend Kurt would go to in order to dominate the license plate game. Kurt saw Hawaii and Alaska within moments of each other in Bar Harbor. He texted to gloat. Later we saw an Alabama in the parking lot we were in, which Brian knew Kurt was missing. He took a picture with his phone and texted the Alabama plate to Kurt in order to gloat. Kurt then drove directly to the parking lot he had seen us leaving and found it. Katy and I just rolled our eyes. I think Brian and I lost though. We still needed 10 states at the end of our trip. I guess I can understand, though, why people from Oregon and Washington would not bother driving across the country to visit a wet, green, sometimes rocky coastline.

4.      Natalie will try almost any food once. Definitely takes after dad.

5.      Everyone in Ontario sounds like Deanna and Jamie Smith. We kept thinking they were there when we stopped at the roadside Tim Horton’s. Kind of the way I’m sure Jimmy Nelson is in the room if I hear someone from Pittsburgh.

6.     A “camping” trip can cover a wide definition. If you stay in a tent for 8 nights and a hotel for 6 nights, it’s still camping trip, in my opinion, since the majority of the nights occurred in the tent.

7.     We are fair weather campers, at least as a family of 5. I am not hard core.

8.     A shower without sand or bugs or someone else’s hair is something to be profoundly grateful for.

9.   I've heard many people complain about the rudeness of people in France, though I never really experienced it myself. Perhaps aloof is a better way to look at it. But in French Canada, people went out of their way to help us in any way they could, in spite of the fact that we had clearly not showered enough in the last week and a half. Toronto was pretty darned friendly too.

10.  Whatever money you save on lodging by sleeping in a tent might just be lost on the laundry costs when you get home. Nothing that traveled with you escapes the particular smell of camping.

11. For all that I just said, camping brings an added dimension to a national park experience that is not easily explained.

       So we are home. Yesterday was Allison’s first day back at school, and our Japanese exchange student Iko came to join us in the afternoon; he’ll be staying until March. And so our adventures continue here at home! Thanks for traveling with us.