Toronto
This recent road trip took us through parts of Canada that I had not visited before, and our first city after Niagra Falls was Toronto. We stayed at the 1 Hotel, which was in a nice location and had a really nice rooftop bar. We stopped in for a quick drink, chatted with the bartenders and we were able to get into our room early in the afternoon.
We started off our time in Toronto with a food tour, because why not eat our way through a city to find out about some of its history and culture. We enjoy doing food tours when we travel and have used Secret Food Tours at a number of cities around the world. It was a hot day and we walked two miles to meet up with our group. Turns out, we were the only ones to schedule a 3:00 tour, so we had a private tour – which was even better. We started out at the St. Lawrence Market, a gorgeous food market with tons of vendors in what was an old carriage house as well as a former prison.
We ate our way through the market and around town for 3+ hours with our guide, Paris. Starting in the market and ending in the Distillery District, both places that we would visit again if we had more time. I really wish that Ponte Vedra had a really good farmers market – or something that had fresh produce and good local wares. One of these days – but on this tour, we enjoyed smoked fish, specialty mustards, pea meal pork sandwiches, cheese, chocolates, chicken curry and beer and finishing off with poutine (my first ever)- we definitely did not need dinner that day!!
I always enjoy seeing local art – whether in a gallery or in the neighborhoods, even if it is graffiti. The second day in Toronto, Sam got up really early to drive over an hour to play golf at a course he had wanted to play – that gave me a chance to sleep in (yea!), then meander around the city for myself. I saw that nearby, there was an area in the local garment district called graffiti alley, so I set off on foot to explore. It was a really cool area that had a good local vibe to it and had a decent amount of street art. I took my time wandering around, taking some photos and just soaking in the local vibe.
Art is definitely in the eye of the beholder – and whether it is in a fine arts gallery, a museum or on the side of a building – I appreciate it in all its forms.
We ate a light lunch at the hotel and chilled after Sam returned from golf, then had a really nice dinner that night at a place called Enigma. The chef was from South Africa, but had trained in the UK and Norway and had earned his Michelin star in Toronto. We enjoyed an 8 course meal (plus amuse bouche and two dessert courses) along with a nice bottle of vino. It was a really nice experience – one that we don’t do all the time, but it is fun to toss in every once in a while when we travel. The place and the food was beautiful – great service and every course was spectacular. If you’re ever in Toronto and want to drop a bit of $ for a really great dining experience – we would recommend the place.
I tried not to be too dorky and take too many photos, but here are a few. Toronto definitely had a big city feel, but we enjoyed our few days there.
The next day we took off for Montreal – so I’ll do another post for that and Quebec City. Visiting cities is a different way of exploring Canada, as in the past we have spent time in Waterton Lakes National Park, Banff and Cape Bretton – which are more scenic and rural/remote. I did enjoy the city tour this time around – definitely gives a different experience.
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