Lessons Learned

We had a bit of a lazy start to today since we are traveling with a 16 year old who loves his sleep.  While he continued to snooze, Danica and I planned out our agenda for the day.

First Stop - St. Lawrence Market

Walking in, Duncan immediately said that this was what he expected Kensington Market to be like.  Right away, we noticed Paddington's to our right and since it claimed to have the best peameal sandwich in Toronto, we decided this would be breakfast, not that we had any idea what a peameal sandwich was.

Let's be honest, though.  Duncan doesn't like eggs and had no idea what peameal was so he had a hamburger.

Next Stop - The Distillery District 

Afterwards, we walked to the Distillery District.  It was a rather warm trek and we were planning on finding a place to have a beverage but then found ice cream instead.  Duncan and Danica both chose 'It's Chocolate. It's Hazelnut."  Instead of a chocolate flavour which is usually my go-to as well, I tried the 'Cajeta Swirled Goat Cheese' which was truly delectable.

We wandered a little more and stopped at Spirithouse for a beverage.   To be honest, we were trying to go to the Spirit of York Distillery but got a bit tricked.

This is where our lessons come in....

1)  Large Objects are MUCH, MUCH farther than they appear.  Since we could see the CN Tower, we thought it would be a quick little walk.   Maybe there was a shortcut, but we didn't take it.  An hour and a half or so later, mind you we stopped in a couple of shops en route, we decided to go into the Boston Pizza across the street because we were dying of thirst and a bit peckish.   I should mention that we did have a bottle of water with us but Danica somehow dropped it into a garden and it was irretrievable without jumping fences and climbing into bushes.

On the way, we stumbled across this fountain I had read about but didn't know that we would be able to find.

And we walked by The Hockey Hall of Fame which meant absolutely nothing to my non-sports-loving kids. 

Danica had a chat with Glenn Gould too.

This brings us to:

Lesson 2)  Know when the Blue Jays are playing and time your visits accordingly.   At the exact same time as we left Boston Pizza to cross the street to see the CN Tower, 3 billion Jays fans left Rogers Centre to walk the opposite direction.   The kids were a little overwhelmed by the volume of people.   It was literally a sea of blue.

This was the thinned out crowd.

I have to say that our decision to avoid Union Station and instead go to St. Andrew Station to catch the subway back to our hotel was a good one.  It was still crowded but no one was touching us and we could breathe and hold on (my standards are low).

For dinner, we met up with my friends Rebecca and Ryan at a fun, quirky restaurant/bar for geeks that was a short walk from our hotel.  It was so great to catch up with them (I don't think I had seen Ryan in 15 years or more).  The atmosphere was great, the drinks were fun and my food was pretty yummy too.  The kids also enjoyed rolling the dice to determine what their Dungeon burger would look like and what it would be named - Chaotic Good for Duncan and Chaotic Evil for Danica. 

For the record, the bartender forgot to make my drink glow so the server brought Rebecca and I glowy cubes after.

My Appa Korean Fried Chicken Burger

Another fabulous day in the books.

I almost forgot lesson 3.  Of course, it may not actually be a lesson since we're clearly doing something wrong.  I meant to ask Rebecca and Ryan tonight bit forgot.   We bought 2-trip TTC tickets.  When we go to enter the subway, we have been using the 'exact change/ticket/token only' line since we don't have a presto card to tap.  We can't find anywhere to put our tickets but the gates just open for us as we enter.  After buying our tickets today, I decided to check our other tickets and they still have 2 rides on them.  Essentially, we have been riding the TTC for free, except that I have purchased tickets.  I may skip on purchasing tickets tomorrow since we still have 4 rides each left.  

From Kensington Market to Hogwarts

Kensington Market was the first thing on our agenda for today.  When we arrived, we decided to grab some lunch since most of us hadn't yet eaten.   Overwhelmed by options, I elected to copy Renee and get the pastor and chorizo tacos.  I was not disappointed though I must admit that my tacos look nothing like these ones.  To quote Chris, these guys know what they're doing.

The kids then hit up every thrift shop they could find until Danica finally found something she liked in the last store we entered.   I enjoyed strolling through the Blue Banana Market store and giggling at their funny wares, as well as checking out all the murals/graffiti and art installations in the area.

After 3 hot hours in Kensington, we headed to Chinatown for an early dinner.

As it was almost show time, we ventured towards the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre to find parking.  Then since we has about 45 minutes to spare, we wandered through Yonge-Dundas Square and some of us went to Winners while one of us sprinted through the Eaton's Centre. 

And on into the theatre we went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  It was magical with impressive special effects.  Danica loved it, Duncan seemed to enjoy it but less enthusiastically.  The adults were confused at the beginning but once we got into the story, we enjoyed it too.  

And that's it for Day 2....Chris and Renee dropped us back at our hotel, we said our goodbyes, they headed back home and off we went to bed...

Christmas in August?

A few years ago, I decided that we all had too much stuff.  To avoid accumulating even more unnecessary stuff, I started gifting experiences.  For Christmas last year, hoping that Covid was going to be but a distant memory, I gifted the kids a trip to Toronto.   Now, they've been to Toronto before and seen all the major tourist attractions during various visits, but we always stay with my brother outside the city and go in for the activity for this visit and then back to their place.  We have never stayed and explored Toronto. 

Miraculously, our flight not only departed but landed and arrived at the gate 6 minutes ahead of schedule!  For those unaware, Pearson has been rated the worst airport in the world for delayed and canceled flights for the past few months.  Once we landed, we navigated our way over to Terminal 3 to catch the UP Express train to downtown and from Union Station, managed to catch the subway to our hotel (albeit not quickly or smoothly enough for Duncan).  After dropping our bags in the luggage room of our hotel, we were off.

After grabbing some breakfast at The Croissant Tree, we headed back to the subway and found our way to Yorkdale mall.  We shopped for a couple of hours until it was time to attend the reason for us being at Yorkdale in the first place - the Friends Experience!

Along with too many others, we got to sit on the couch in front of the iconic fountain,

Pivot Ross' sofa up the stairs,

Wear all of Chandler's clothes a la Joey,

And hang out in Chandler and Joey's apartment. 

Of course we also got to help in Monica's kitchen,

Knock on the famed purple door,

And write on Chandler and Joey's Etch-a-Sketch.

But no visit to our beloved Friends would be complete without a rousing rendition of Smelly Cat

Or a visit to Central Perk.

After saying goodbye to our Friends, we headed to The Cheesecake Factory to meet Chris and Renee for dinner.  We managed to score free desserts because apparently we were waiting longer for our food than our server thought we should. 

Now it was time to actually check in to our hotel, The Anndore house, before heading to the Princess of Wales Theatre to see & Juliet.  What a fantastic show!  It was a reimagining of Romeo & Juliet; what would happen if Juliet didn't die?  It was laugh out loud funny, with bright, colourful sets and full of pop hits, like Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and even some Bon Jovi.  At times, I wasn't sure if I was enjoying the show or watching the kids smiling and laughing more.  Duncan actually started texting his friends about it after the show and now they want to see it too.  I highly recommend it (but it ends it's run Sunday before heading to Broadway).  Thanks for telling us about it, Mom!

We then dropped the kids off at the hotel before we headed for a drink at The Distillery District.   It was quiet but the company and conversation were good.  After a 23 hour day (we were up at 3am to catch our flight), it's time for bed...

Homeward Bound - June 13, 2022

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, but not before indulging in some Newfie Poutine at the airport!