After visiting New York, Toronto was bliss. The food was affordable, the metro navigable and the place names familiarly British. From York University to Don Valley Trail, it was clearly Yorkshire folk who settled in the area. We arrived on a long bus from New York to Buffalo, changing onto another bus to cross the Canadian border late at nighttime. Being the only non Canadian or American citizens on the quiet bus, we did hold up the bus a little being the last back on.

Despite the cold, snow and mushy streets, it was easy to walk around the city. Its full of old style buildings next to huge new glassy skyscrapers and feels a little futuristic at times. The people were friendly and the atmosphere generally calmer than in US cities. No one told us about the potential bad areas where we may or may not get mugged. It very much felt to us in hindsight that spending more time in Canada would have been very rewarding and full of great experiences. That’ll be in the next trip.

 

Food and Beer

We ate well in Toronto. On Yonge Street there is a giant shopping centre with a massive food court on the lower level. Heading straight to the Sichuan style cuisine, the food was plentiful and delicious, but severely lacking in actual sichuan peppers. Later on we sought out a jiangbing place in Chinatown and was not disappointed. The “chinese savoury pancakes” tasted just the same as in China, a great treat to find. More and more I find myself craving the asian food we left behind, Toronto was perfect to seek out these foods. Though, of course, we did have to try poutine. It was tasty, but gravy on anything can’t not be tasty. Having been served a bucket of it, we promptly decided a salad was necessary to go with it. And yes, for some reason our water came in mixing jugs.

 

Toronto seemed to have several craft breweries yet our favourite was at the bottom of the CN Tower and inside an old roundhouse. The park outside was filled with train memorabilia, old carriages, engines and a platform building. Inside the old building we tried the Steam Whistle pilsner (it’s the only beer they make therefore they do it well, goes the motto) and enjoyed a couple of hours playing bilingual Sorry! and Guess Who.

Don Valley Trail

Mischa spotted the River Don on the map (no, not the one in Sheffield) and realised there was a footpath along the side of it to Don Valley Brick Works, a former quarry. For those who don’t know Sheffield well, the name Don Valley is well known there as it’s the old stadium where Jessica Ennis trained. It was a great walk on a warmish day, following the river, over bridges and tramping through the snow. It was a good hour walk from the city centre to the old quarry where we stopped for lunch and coffee in a nice but not that cheap cafe onsite. The quarry is now filled in and pools of water, currently iced, to attract wildlife to the area. We walked up to the highest point for city views, the CN tower just peeking out in the distance.

 

Graffiti Alley

Worth the walk north was this long alley filled with graffiti. Behind the streets at the backs of the buildings lies nearly 1 km of graffiti from different local artists. From mesmerizing to confusing, it was a long walk filled with other toursists with their cameras at the ready.

 

Toronto Raptors

One of the slogans for the Raptors is “we the north”, which is a little bemusing given the fact that the Minnesota Timberwolves are located higher geographically. Considering they are the only NBA team in Canada, perhaps the slogan refers to the country and not the city. There was no chance of a kind stranger swapping seats with us this time though, the arena was full giving us the best atmosphere we’ve had at a game so far. The game play (against the Timberwolves ironically) was pretty bad however for the first half but fans stayed on cheering and things picked up. The game was close, but luckily the Raptors won 109 – 104. Out of the four games seen so far, all the home teams have won. With tickets already bought for two games in Miami to see Mischa’s favourite team, let’s hope this trend continues.

 

Complete photos

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