Reading Week Toronto Trip

It’s reading week and yesterday I went to Toronto again.

As you’d probably expect, I went to the Eaton Centre when I arrived. It was more browsing than shopping this time round, as usual there will be a My Haul of everything that I bought this time in Toronto. I did have lunch whilst I was in the Eaton Centre. I had a really good burger which brought being vegetarian to an end because I’d decided that I wanted to go back to eating meat but only occasionally.

Next I went to the Textile Museum of Canada, which it turns out is literally just a block away from the Eaton Centre and yet until now I never knew that it was there. This museum is relatively small but it is worth a visit. They had this fantastic exhibition of decorative kimonos (pictured above) which were stunning to look at. Honestly the pictures really do not do them justice.

A Toronto Trip for me is not complete without a visit to The Black Canary comic café. I bought some comics, I had a BB8 to drink this time (not my usual Poison Ivy!) and I thought about what I was going to do next.

Monday was a public holiday in Canada so places were pretty busy with lots of families and tourists. It was also overcast and drizzling so not ideal conditions for wandering around and finding new places which is what I had been planning on doing.

However it did ease off on the drizzle enough that it was decent enough for me to go and explore the Chinatown area of Toronto. I didn’t realise just how close Chinatown was to the area that I usually explore. It was an interesting experience as you cross the street and suddenly everything just goes from being written in English to being in Chinese. It was definitely a fascinating area to explore.

I then made my way back to the Eaton Centre going a somewhat indirect route. If I had known it was a public holiday on Monday I probably would have gone another day. If the long range forecast had been more accurate about the weather I also would have chosen to go another day. But despite some setbacks I did have a nice day.

My Haul – First Toronto Trip of 2018

So I went to Toronto on Saturday, you can read all about that in this post. But here is My Haul to round up what I bought…

Eaton Centre Mall

I bought a few things whilst I was in the Eaton Centre.

Hallmark

If you’ve read any of my previous Toronto Haul posts then you’re probably expecting that I bought an Itty Bitty or two. Well once again I got two more Itty Bitty’s.

The newly released Pocahontas, she’s the last of the Disney Princesses to be released and the last one I want (for now). Pocahontas is one of my favourites and at this point I have a small collection of different versions of Pocahontas but I think this one might be one of the nicest.

I also got one of the 2017 Kitten Super Bowl Itty Bitty’s, it was on clearance with 50% off and I thought he was just too sweet to refuse.

Disney Store

I added another princess to my collection with the Elena doll. I had been considering her for a while but decided to only get her if I could find her on offer, well Disney had a special offer on, all dolls reduced to just $13 which is good value for a Disney Store doll. I am really pleased I bought her as I think she looks fantastic.

Black Canary

In the comic coffee shop I bought two comics. The latest volume of The Flash DC Rebirth series I have been reading and a Batwoman comic I got for 50% off due to some damage on the back cover.

First Toronto Trip of 2018

Last year I ended up going into Toronto for the day once a month. This Saturday I went into Toronto for the first time this year.

I traveled by Greyhound as I usually do and as usual my first stop once I arrived in Toronto was the Eaton Centre mall. I love the Eaton Centre, it really is a great mall. I browsed the mall and bought some stuff (there’ll be a My Haul post about what I bought tomorrow). I also had lunch in the mall, currently I am a vegetarian and I thought I might struggle to find something good but honestly I was spoilt for choice, there were a lot of great options.

Then I stopped by the Toronto sign, I know it’s touristy to go there every time and yet still I do!

After that I went off to my favourite coffee shop, The Black Canary comic coffee shop. I got a couple of comics and I had a coffee, as I usually do I went for a Poison Ivy. Maybe next time I will finally try a different drink.

Next I went off to try a new museum, the Bata Shoe Museum. It’s a fascinating mix of fashion, design and social history. I really enjoyed looking around the interesting and well laid out displays.

When I left it was raining and I didn’t want to go walking around Toronto in the rain. So I was looking for something to do and about a block away I found the Gardiner Ceramics Museum. My personal favourite display was the Mesoamerican exhibits. I was not expecting to do two museums in one day but they were both interesting.

At this point day was starting to become evening and so I walked back from Bloor Street to Dundas Street and the Eaton Centre area. I got some dinner, had a final browse and then went to catch my bus back.

I had a really good day, I have enjoyed Toronto every time I have visited but I think this one was a particularly good visit.

Toronto in the run up to Christmas

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas when I visited Toronto yesterday.

This was the last chance for me to visit the city that I have become very attached to before I fly home for Christmas break. My goal this time was to try and experience lots of wonderful Christmas things.

I got into Toronto slightly later than I usually do and it was close to lunchtime so I started off getting lunch at a Greek place in the food court of the Eaton Centre. I decided to save the serious browsing of the Eaton Centre until later on in the day though I did pop into the Disney Store and buy Sir Jorgenbjorgen from Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.

Next I went to Nathan Phillips Square (that’s the one with the Toronto sign) as there was a Christmas Market going on there. It was a really interesting market to wander around and it looked very festive. There was ice skating going on in front of the sign which I didn’t participate in but it was interesting to watch.

Afterwards I went to the Black Canary comic coffee shop, I have to go there every time I go to Toronto! This time I had a Poison Ivy to drink and bought a couple of comics.

Then I went down to the Distillery District to visit the Toronto Christmas Market. This market was fabulous! It was a really large Christmas Market, pretty much taking up an entire block. It was really nice to wonder around and experience all that was on offer, there was also free stuff which was good! The Toronto Christmas Market even had live music performances which I saw one of. I was there for around an hour and a half so that gives you an idea of how much there was to see and do!

I walked back to the Dundas Square area, as it was starting to get dark the city was looking really nice with all the Christmas lights coming on.

I went into the Eaton Centre and had a proper browse like I usually do in a morning. It was busier than in a morning but I think it actually worked better doing it in an evening.

I returned to the Christmas Market in Nathan Phillips Square as I had wanted to see what it looked like at night. The answer is it looked amazing, the photo above doesn’t do it justice. I sat eating freshly cooked fries (really fresh there was a guy in the food truck pressing the potatoes to order) and watched people ice skating.

After that I headed over to the bus station to catch my bus back. I had a really great day, it was as festive and as fun as I’d hoped it would be. If you get chance to experience Toronto in the run up to Christmas then I would certainly recommend it.

A Day Out in Toronto

Yesterday I went to Toronto for the third time though this was the first time that I have been with a friend.

As I did previously, we caught a Greyhound into Toronto. I think I have previously mentioned how good the Greyhound service is but it really is true. Also now that it has got significantly colder it is nice that the Greyhounds have the heating on at just the right level.

When we arrived in Toronto we got a Starbucks and then went off to browse the fantastic Eaton Centre Mall. I’d forgotten how much fun it can be to go round shops with a friend. There will be a haul post about what I bought coming tomorrow. We had a really good curry for lunch in the Mall food court and then went out into the city for an exploration of the city. 

As it is now November most stores are getting ready for Christmas and there were some fabulous window displays. We also went down to the Old Town area of Toronto which is a new one for me but is definitely worth going down to for some really interesting looking old buildings.

After all that walking we decided that it was time for an afternoon break so we went to my favourite coffee shop – The Black Canary, comic coffee shop! I love this place so much, it is just so cool! This time I had a Black Widow to drink. I also bought a couple of comics which I shall share in My Haul post.

Once we had re-caffeinated and felt refreshed enough we decided to go back out and see some more of the city. Particularly this time we wanted to find out about the PATH, which is an underground walkway that connects most of Downtown Toronto. After several failed attempts and wrong turns we eventually managed to enter the PATH, now that we know where it is I would say that it will be worth remembering for when it gets even colder later on in winter.

The day was starting to get on and before we knew it we were having to start thinking about finding our way back to the bus station. We had dinner, a quick final browse in the mall and then walked back. Toronto looked really nice in the dark last night.

Both of us had a really good day out in a fantastic city. I love going to Toronto and I definitely want to go again. I’d like to go again soon once all the Christmas stuff is properly out as I suspect it looks fantastic!

Toronto is Awesome

About a month back I went to Toronto. This weekend, to celebrate coming to the end of mid-terms I decided to go to Toronto again.

As with last time I traveled via Greyhound (which is a good way to travel). When I arrived I got a coffee at the Starbucks on the corner of the street where the bus station is and walked to the Eaton Centre Mall. The Eaton Centre is a really cool mall, honestly probably the best mall that I have ever been to. I had a browse around, bought a couple of things and had lunch there. There’s going to be another blog post coming up where I detail what I bought.

This time I decided to go to the Royal Ontario Museum (R.O.M). This is a fantastic museum that has an amazingly wide ranging selection of stuff. I like that it combines natural history (there’s dinosaurs) and classical civilisations (Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt for example). There’s a lot of eras that I have studied in history classes over the years but it is always interesting to see and learn new things. Also – as with the A.G.O which I went to last time – there’s a substantial selection of exhibits about the First Nations communities of Canada, it’s nice to see that the major museums and galleries of Canada are celebrating the people who were here pre-colonialization.

After that I decided that I wanted to get away from some of the more touristy areas of Toronto. I had a wander around Bloor Street and Yonge Street with the eventual aim of gradually making my way back towards the Eaton Centre. This ended being a longer walk than I had anticipated but I think it was worth it because I did get to see a different side to the city.

During this walk I came across what is probably one of the coolest places I have ever visited – a comic coffee shop! Of course somewhere I can get coffee and comics (two of my favourite things) is going to be a big hit with me! I bought a comic there and sat to drink a Poison Ivy coffee. This was a completely unexpected find but I am really glad that I came across it, definitely somewhere I will be going again.

I ended the day back in the Eaton Centre and the surrounding Dundas Square area. I just relaxed around there before I had to catch my bus back.

I had quite a busy day with a substantial amount of walking but it was undoubtedly a lot of fun. One of my aims this visit was to get to know the city of Toronto a little bit better than I had last time and I feel like that was something I managed to do. I definitely want to go again because Toronto is a really exciting and interesting city, even after two visits I feel like there’s still a lot more for me to do.