Back from Canadia

The past two weeks have been absolute bliss. To start, I quit my job on May 13th. I spent the next seven days sleeping late, hanging out with friends, shopping, and planning my next vacation. A week ago, Josh and I left to go to New York for Laurie's wedding, stopping to see Niagara Falls on the way to all the usual wedding festivities. After the I do's, we spent about 4 days in Toronto. The last time I was in Toronto was in 6th grade for a class trip, but the only thing I remember from it was the bus ride. I dunno... what does anyone retain from a glorified field trip at 11 years old? I was more concerned about who I was going to sit next to during lunch at McDonald's than absorbing any Canadian culture. Anyway, we had a great time just wandering around the city, even if it was a little chilly for the first few days. We "celebrated" Victoria Day, which was Monday the 23rd, by taking a Toronto harbor cruise at night to see the fireworks the night before. The original cruise we wanted to go on was sold out by the time we called, so the only other option was a cruise with the Party on the Boat. It sounded totally sketchy when I called to reserve tickets, and I was even more skeptical when we got there and I had to hold the carbon paper tight over my credit card so that the Captain could rub a pen over the raised number on the card so that it would show up on my carbon-paper receipt. But it turned out to be a lot of fun, and I got some decent shots of the Toronto skyline from the harbor.

So apparently what I didn't discover in 6th grade is that Toronto is a fantastic city. I had heard it described as a smaller, cleaner New York City, which I think I would generally agree with. People walk and bike everywhere, and even though driving downtown can be frustrating, most of that is expected since it is a major city. The Toronto subway is rising to the top of my list of favorite subway systems - it was clean, we got to sit down during every ride we took except one, and the maximum amount of time between arriving trains is 5 minutes. I think the longest we waited was ~3 minutes. I suppose the whole layout could be a little bigger, but the streetcars fill in most of the subway gaps. I liked the mix of U.S. and European influence on the city and people, and there are so many different things to do - museums, theatres, the symphony, lots of bars & restaurants, the harbourfront, Chinatown, Greektown, Little Italy...

My only complaint about Toronto is that it's apparently bad luck for the Boston Red Sox - they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in the game that we went to on Tuesday night. Otherwise, I approve.