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.

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.

I Went To Toronto!

I’ve been saying for a while that I am going to go to Toronto as it’s pretty close to the university where I’m studying. Yesterday was Homecoming Day, this involves sports and lots of drinking two things that I am not keen on. So therefore I decided that I wanted to just get off campus, and what better way to get off campus than to head out for a big city day!

I travelled via Greyhound which is new to me and a really good way to travel. We don’t really have anything like the Greyhound service in England. Not only was it a relatively quick journey but it was also a very comfortable journey, the Greyhound buses have a lot of leg room.

When I arrived I started in the Eaton Centre Mall, this is a really big mall with some great shops. It was good to wander around. I tried to restrain myself as I need to keep remembering that anything I buy over here is ultimately going to have to come back with me to England somehow but still I bought some stuff. (Of course I did!) I decided to have lunch in the Eaton Centre, I went to a Greek place in the food court which was really good value.

After I had lunch I walked over to the AGO (Art Gallery of Toronto). Over the years I have been to a lot of art galleries but I honestly think that the AGO is the best one that I have ever been to. It had such a good range of stuff on display. From paintings to sculptures to installations. The AGO has lots of ‘name’ artists like Picasso, Monet, Turner, Van Gogh, Brancusi, Matisse, Miró and Modigliani. Then alongside the classical artists there’s modern works that are both thought provoking and celebrating Canada’s First Nations Communities and the black community. I spent quite a while wandering around the AGO.

Afterwards I decided to walk down to the waterfront. It turned out it was a longer walk than I had anticipated. Although I found navigating Toronto on foot to be fairly easy, beforehand someone had hold me that everyone walks around Downtown Toronto and I can definitely see why. The waterfront is a really nice area. Had I not been conscious of the walk and the fact that I was going to have to do it again in order to get back to the bus station I could have spent a long time there.

Toronto is a great city, it is a busy city but it didn’t feel intimidating for someone on their own going there for the first time. I’d say that Toronto is fairly similar to New York in a lot of ways. However when I went to New York I found it to be dirty, bustling and a bit unwelcoming on the other hand I found Toronto to have more of a chilled vibe in comparison, once more Canadians prove the stereotype that they are generally genuinely nice people!

I really enjoyed my day in Toronto and I want to go again sometime. (Although even if I hadn’t enjoyed it I would definitely be going to Toronto again given DC are going to be filming there!) I kind of think of yesterday as a getting to know Toronto trip, it’s a big city and I only really begun to scratch the surface of it. I definitely want to go again so that I can get to know the city even better.