Ah, the Great Toronto. This was my third visit, and Joel's second. We thought there would not be much left, but trust me, we had plenty to fill up a whole day still. Things not covered here but that you should definitely visit when you're there: the CN Tower, for the amazing view and the glass floor (maybe a drink, too), Koreatown for food and the Poop Café, the Royal Ontario Museum for its huuuuge collection of just about everything you can imagine, the Distillery Historic District for some of the best beer there is, and Casa Loma for more great views of the city and to get you dreaming from the architecture.
Moving on to what we actually did. Our first stop was Chester Hill Lookout, but because of the cloudy weather, we didn't get to see the CN Tower. It was fun walking along the street from the subway station, though, and now I definitely want a terra cotta guinea pig in my garden. The astrological wheel was kind of cool, too! We did a lot of walking on that day, so we got to see all of the beautiful trees in bloom in the city centre, and yes, we went to the Eaton Centre for food. Unoriginal, but we had the best crepes we'd had in a good while! 😋 Try Crepe Delicious next time you're there. Oh, and the biggest disappointment of the morning, the Squirrel Cult statue was merely a NUT! 😞 The squirrels had been removed, along with all other bronze statues in the park!
We kept walking and walking, and that TTC Day Pass was a real foot saver. Little bonus, if you're visiting on a weekend, you need only one pass for 2 people! So anyway, we found the 3D Toronto sign and got the traditional picture with Rhino, and then we went looking for the Bamboo Forest in the University of Toronto. That is definitely a place I would have liked to study in! We went to the gravity-defying room at the Fluevog shoe store, and gave some dogs a few treats at the Dogs & Coffee cafe.
Also, when looking for Ireland Park, a park to commemorate the Irish immigrants fleeing from the famine, we almost walked into an airport, and ended up just looking at the great view from the quay. The park was in a sad state, but signs everywhere told us it was a temporary situation. We really wanted to see Peace Garden, but in the end, it was so small and sad that we didn't even take a picture. The original must have been much better... Anyway, what better way to end an overall ordinary day than stopping at the Steam Whistle Brewery for a nice cold beer! Their new industrial chic biergarten was great, and we even had a seat looking right into the brewery. Having so many trains around was a nice bonus, and we finally had some sun to admire the surroundings and enjoy that cold beer.
And that was it for Day 1 in the 6ix! The next day was for visiting the rest of the places on our list that we couldn't reach as easily/fast with the TTC. First stop was Taber Hill Ossuary, the site of an Iroquois mass grave discovered when the city started developing farm land. It was so modest for the story behind it... We then went to Guild Park and Gardens, which ended up being quite a disappointment, probably due to the fact that there were still no flowers anywhere. One of the coolest things was the smallest house in Toronto, as you can see below! We almost missed it even if we knew where to look! After a while, we drove to The Monkey's Paw, where we tried the Biblio-Mat, a mysterious vending machine that will spit out a random book for you. We got an old book about psychology, and I almost bought one of Grey Owl's books.
The next stop was the SkullStore, which ended up being one of our favourite places in Toronto! They had all kinds of preserved animals, skeletons, dinosaurs, meteorites, you name it. The owner was so nice and passionate, and we even got to try on genuine space gloves! 😁🥰 It was amazing, you have to visit this place if you're in TO.
Our last destination in the city was BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, an incredibly impressive hindu temple right beside the highway. We were struck with awe as we approached and took in all of the details put into the creation of the temple and the sculpting of every single rock. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but I guarantee it's even more impressive inside. There was also a small museum dedicated to teaching visitors about the religion, the history of India, and the construction of the temple. Really a sight to behold! 😮
We had a quick late lunch in the truck and got ready to move on to yet another city, Niagara Falls! Of course, we got stuck in traffic big time, but hey, it was for a good cause. Stay tuned, folks! 💜
TL;DR: Since we had already visited the major attractions before, only smaller things were left for us to visit. The most fun was the SkullStore, the most impressive was the hindu temple BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, the most relaxing was the beer at Steam Whistle Brewery, the most disappointing were the gardens, and the most unique was probably the Biblio-Mat at The Monkey's Paw. Although the smallest house in Toronto was definitely worth the detour!
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