Photo from WhistlerBlackcomb.com/photo index.htm

As we speak the Olympic Flame is making its way to its final destination of Vancouver in beautiful British Columbia, Canada where it will upon its arrival on February 12^th announce the beginning of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The Olympics, always entertaining and exciting on its own, will also highlight the rich diversity and spectacular destinations in and around Vancouver.

Photo by NDushesne

One of the most impressive parts of the Olympics for me is to watch the dazzling opening ceremony with all the pomp of lighting the torch and watching the athletes enter in the parade of nations. And equally inspiring is the closing ceremony where the flag is passed to the next country to host the games. All the days in between are filled with ice events, such as alpine skiing and jumping, snow boarding cross-country skiing, bobsleigh and luge – some taking place in metro Vancouver and Cypress Mountain and some in Whistler. The winter games are thrilling and my favorite to watch. For those lucky spectators who will be visiting during the Olympics, there is a plethora of sites offering  travel and ticket information and the NBC broadcast schedules.  Here’s a link  that will follow the events for the two weeks of broadcast.

                                                                  Photo by iShot

Whistler Village at Night by whistlergal78

But besides being a mecca for winter sport fans, Vancouver is touted as a world-class city and offers a range of amenities, cultural festivals, activities and must see sights. This link will show a wonderful overview of Vancouver with photos, places to go and things to do.  Also, are recommendations for shopping, accommodations and wonderful eateries and cafes.  Whistler, with a six month season, attracts skiers and snowboarders from all over the world. Whistler Blackcomb, world-class and host resort for the 2010 Games, offers outdoor activities all year long for adults and kids and people of all skill levels.

It looks like Vancouver is going to turn out to be an awesome choice for the Olympic game goers and tourists alike.  Let the games begin!

Vieux- Montreal…a city that stole my heart in a mere 24 hours. It is a city that feels more like a part of France, than a city in North America. Montreal is located in Quebec, Canada’s culturally French province. The people of Montreal were incredibly warm, friendly and helpful. It was the perfect romantic getaway that we will remember for a lifetime.


Saturday:
The drive to Montreal from Vermont takes about 6 hours, which included time for us to get lost, per usual. Getting lost this time though inspired us to start a list of rules to follow when traveling. One of which is to always have a good official map of where you are going. We will no longer be relying on tourist maps found at travel and information centers, as those maps don’t always show all the streets and even highways. We ended up traveling across the Pont Jacques-Cartier, the bridge that takes you to Montreal (which is an island from the mainland) twice before figuring out our way. Finally we arrived at our destination (which was kept as a surprise to me up until we arrived) around 2:30, to the Hostellerie Pierre Du Calvet, 405, rue Bonsecours.


25The Pierre du Calvet was built in 1725. Its décor is from the 1700’s .Beautiful, warm and inviting rooms with fireplaces, living area, 4-poster beds with gilded wooden frames and huge windows that open up to the cobblestone streets below.
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Nice common areas – library, sitting areas, indoor and outdoor with big comfortable chairs and fireplaces as well. Next door the Chapelle Notre-Dame-be-Bon-Secours, a beautiful, ornate chapel, (which houses the remains of Saint Marguerite-Bourgeoys), really lends a romantic flavor to the location.
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The ambience of the Hostellerie itself, plus its surrounding streets gives the place a very European feel. That was exactly what we were looking for, a nice weekend getaway that would transport us to a very different kind of place. Staying in a place like this, made that so much more possible and I would recommend it to anyone looking to stay in an authentic 1700’s home right in the heart of Vieux (Old)-Montreal. A real treat, indeed!The staff at Pierre Du Calvet is terrific. There are only 10 rooms in the Hostellerie so they give very personal service. Roberto had requested as another surprise that they have champagne and roses in the room upon our arrival. They accommodated that request perfectly, making us really feel like we were on a luxury vacation. They were also extremely helpful with directions and making sure our stay was very comfortable in every way. Staying there really made our trip so enjoyable and so decadent. There is also a 4 star restaurant that is part of the hotel called Les Filles du Roy, named after the original founders of Montreal. Montreal is still warm in September, and so after checking into the hotel and enjoying some of that delicious champagne, we were able to enjoy a delicious, late lunch at Jardin Nelson, 407 Place Jacques-Cartier. The restaurant is comprised of several totally outdoor dining areas, with live jazz most days. On Saturday afternoons they have a jazz quartet. The food there was delicious. We decided to make a meal by sharing several of their appetizers: French Onion Soup, Brie Fondue with pesto, pine nuts and toasts, breaded and baked calamari with cocktail sauce, and the house drink –a mix of Chambord, Rum and fresh lemon juice, very refreshing and delicious. The service was also great. They made great suggestions and we were served quickly, even though it was crowded. The weather was perfect that day, which made the experience that much better.

After lunch we took a long walk, trying to explore the main parts of Vieux-Montreal. The highlights were: The Old Port (a beautiful waterfront walkway where you can stroll along the St. Laurence River, or rent a paddle boat if you prefer), Place Jacques-Cartier(originally a marketplace, created in the 19^th century, which now is the heart of Old-Montreal, filled with restaurants and street performers (the most memorable being a magic show with magician Peter Snow) and the Basilique Notre-Dame (a beautiful Gothic Revival church built in 1829. It is full of gorgeous gilded and painted wooden decorations, sculptures and stained-glass).
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After this long walk we decided to see the rest of Vieux-Montreal via a horse named Buddy and his carriage. The ride took us mainly through the non-cobblestone streets of Vieux-Montreal. It was a lovely ride despite having to navigate roads that are traveled on by cars.
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Afterwards, feeling refreshed, we walked back to the Hostellerie and got ready for an evening out on the town. We were told by our carriage driver Pascal (who we suggest not to trust when it comes to dining experiences, (we should have known when she told us that she never goes to Old Montreal for entertainment) that Place D’Armes Hotel had a nice rooftop restaurant with good drinks and good food that was very affordable. The view was great, but the menu was mostly bar food, and we were looking for something with a little more of a European ambience and French cuisine. However, the front desk at the Place D’Armes Hotel was very helpful in trying to help us track down another restaurant. The Place D’Armes also seemed to be a nice place to stay – very modern and upscale.

The other restaurant recommendation we got was for Restaurant Le Bourlingueur. Bourlingueur which means something akin to “traveler”, in what I assume to be Quebecois, because after getting home I was not able to find it in any French dictionary. We did not know this at the time, but found it to be rather fitting that we chose to dine there. I ordered the roasted pork. The meal came with what I deciphered to be curried turnips and spatzle, cream of leek soup and a poached pear for dessert (which tasted like a pear from canned fruit cocktail). Roberto chose a salad with an assortment of cold seafood on top and the poached pear for dessert. He was also given a salad as a start to the dinner. The atmosphere was nice, it was very crowded, and so we were seated literally smack in the middle of two other couples, but it made for a lively dinner, and it was quite fun. If you are looking for something more romantic, I would chose a restaurant on Place Jacques-Cartier. Most restaurants there have outdoor eating areas and the lights on the square are very romantic. But we felt our choice was a departure from the norm, which in Montreal is romance, and instead had an experience.

After dinner we walked around a bit more in search of a more proper dessert. We settled on, Les Delices de L’Erable, which specializes in desserts and confections made with maple. We had gelato. I had Maple, and Roberto had Pistacchio. We continued our walk and ended up at A La Venture for drinks. We had a Zombie, a Chambly beer (locally brewed in Quebec) and a Cosmopolitan. The service there was great as well, and we were able to sit outside which is always a plus.

One can make a career of people watching in Montreal and it can go on until quite late in the evening. Bars that are also restaurants, like A La Venture are open until late, and people were being served full meals (like lamb with pommes frites), when we decided to head back at the hotel around 12:30. We both had a wonderful night’s sleep in our room, we used the gas fire place, and it gave the night such a warm and romantic feel. Again, we were feeling so lucky about our choice in accommodation.

Sunday morning we woke with a start. There was a bum sitting on some steps near the Chapelle yelling at people as they walked down the street. Then a brass band started playing on the grounds of the Chapelle. We never found out why, but it was definitely a way to start the morning. We were so jarred from our sleep by all the commotion that Roberto found it necessary to yell “Bon Soir!” out into the streets, which of course had us in stitches for the rest of the morning.We got another nice surprise when we went to take a shower and realized the shower head was as big as a dinner plate. Yet another reason that made us want to take up permanent residence at The Pierre du Calvet.We had a wonderful continental breakfast in the Hostellerie breakfast room. We were served choice of coffee or tea, orange juice, a croissant and a muffin with butter and jam. Our server was wonderful. We never got his name, but he reminded us of a French version of our friend back home, Jonathan. He was very friendly and chatted with us for a while about the history of the Hostellerie. We also chatted a bit about our personal lives, and when he found out that Roberto is a comic artisit he was so excited to talk to us even more! He is apparently a huge comic book fan, and it made the conversation go on for quite a while, which we really enjoyed. We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him, when we checked out, but we would have liked to.

After breakfast, with sad hearts, we went back upstairs to our room to finish packing our things so we could check out. We thanked the desk staff for making our stay so special and said goodbye to all the exotic birds that live in the Hostellerie’s glassed-in atrium.

We walked around our little part of Vieux-Montreal that we had come to love so much in such a short period of time. We visited the Chapelle and took a look at the Marche’ Bonsecours. The Marche’ is full of local artists and artisans. We were very impressed with all the beautiful local art in Montreal. Before leaving the city we made sure to have a Crepe – we shared one that was filled with ice cream, bananas and strawberries. While we were eating we were able to enjoy a spectacle on the square. One of the street performers, and older gentleman playing a harmonica, seemed to have taken a prominent location on the square, which caused many of the other street performers to become annoyed. Apparently getting the right spot on Place Jacques-Cartier is a constant war between musicians, balloon animal makers, clowns, and one Elvis impersonator who looks like he is made of gold. We had so much fun trying to decipher their comments. It made for some wonderful last moments in Vieux-Montreal.

After leaving the city, we decided on the way home to check out Montreal’s casino. From the brochures it looked really beautiful and we wanted to see it in person. The architecture is very striking in the skyline. It was a disappointment. Living fairly close to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut we have become spoiled. It was dark, dank and badly laid out. We lasted there less than an hour.

Crossing the border back into the States was fun! We were stopped by this very serious customs officer who asked us all sorts of questions, at the end of his 20 questions he said he had to ask me a very important question and then says: “Does this guy look like Johnny Depp, or what?!”, while waving Roberto’s passport. Then he goes on to tell us that he actually had met Johnny Depp once, whose bus had passed through his window once. We asked him if he was nice, and he said he was “kinda weird”. The officer then starts waving Roberto’s passport enthusiastically and yells over to the officer in the next booth: “Hey! I got Johnny Depp over here, want an autograph!?” It had us cracking up the whole way home.

Montreal is a wonderful city to visit in mid-September. It is past the tourist season, but the weather is still mild, and all the events and attractions are still going on. The people are great, and every hotel and restaurant we visited we had impeccable service. This being the case I would imagine most of the city is that way. While we were there we didn’t even venture out of the 10 blocks surrounding the Pierre du Calvet. We really were able to get a feel for the place, but would have loved to have spent a week there.

I feel totally confident recommending a trip to Vieux-Montreal to anyone looking for a little European flavour in North America.

203Our trip to Toronto was mainly a business trip with an added side of fun in between. We went for “Fan Expo Canada”, the yearly Canadian science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic convention. My partner, Roberto, is an artist who does a lot of coloring for comic, sci-fi and fantasy magazines. So we were invited to the convention by his agent and his operation, Udon. Udon is an affiliation of various artists that work on a variety of products for the industry. Roberto’s colleagues were wonderful people, mostly living in Toronto, who were a great help to us during our stay. Without them, we would have been truly lost.

Thursday evening we left for Toronto from Western MA. It was to be about an 8 hour drive, mostly through upstate New York. Driving there was far easier than driving in the city itself, once we got there. Toronto is a very clean city. About ½ hour from our first destination in Richmond Hill, a suburb of Toronto, we got stuck in a traffic jam…at 2AM…for street cleaning. Throughout much of our time in Toronto we saw many street cleaners.

Friday we spent most of the day at the Convention Center, downtown, next to the CN Tower, which we kept referring to throughout our trip as “the needle”. This may have lead to much confusion on the part of people we were asking directions from. The Space Needle is in Seattle, WA, but looks almost identical to the CN Tower.
Friday was kind of a slow day at the convention. Roberto and I mainly walked around checking out the exhibitors and doing the meet and greet. After being in the convention center for several hours we decided to take a walk and see what was going on outside. Much to our surprise we realized that there was no exit to the outdoors from the basement of the convention center where the “Fan Expo” was being held. We had to go up 3 escalators to get to the outside. Needless to say, when the fire alarm went off later in the day we were a bit nervous. That would have been a massacre trying to get all those people out of the building if there had been an actual emergency.
Outside was a nice surprise. There was quite a bit of green space as well as some nice food stands right outside the CN Tower. We decided to have some “Dippin Dots – the ice cream of the future”. I decided on Mango and Roberto had Banana Split. They were like little candy coated ice cream dots. Fun to eat and pretty tasty, if a bit chemically at times.
After we got back to the convention and broke down the booth for the evening we headed out with a group to Wayne Gretsky’s restaurant. The food was pretty good – burgers, salads, sandwiches and pastas. It was a satisfying meal. I had a grilled salmon salad. The salmon was served with a mango mayo which complimented the dish nicely. However, the salad itself came sans any dressing, which made it kind of bland. Roberto had handmade penne pasta with Italian sausage. It was probably the better of the meals.

Saturday we were on our own. Erik, our host, who’s parent’s house (mansion, rather) we were staying at had to get to the convention early. So we slept in and drove into the city ourselves. Bad idea #1. We missed the exit to the parkway, and got stuck on the expressway with no exits. We finally made it to downtown, at which point we relied on looking for “the needle” in the skyline to find our way to the convention center. As soon as we lost sight of that baby, we were in deep trouble. We got so desperate at one point, I rolled down my window at a red-light to ask the car next to us for directions. I am pretty sure the guy I spoke to was a French-speaker and we had a hard time communicating over the loud trucks and traffic around us. So I finally asked “which direction to the needle?” This of course created even more confusion. I finally got the info I needed. We were headed in the right direction. Needless to say, we got lost several more times that morning, but got a very nice, impromptu tour of the city. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the convention. Both Roberto and I have not so impeccable navigational skills, and so he kept twisting down all these residential roads to cut through the city. At each intersection I felt we needed to go the opposite direction he planned to go. But much to my surprise, whenever we asked a passerby for directions, I was always the one on the right track.
The convention was packed on Saturday. Tons of fans and geeks dressed to the nine’s in their anime and comic book character outfits. People were taking pictures of all these people getting their fifteen minutes of fame. It was an incredible experience for me, the person who Roberto was so proud to tell all of his colleagues “never even bought a comic book!” Due to his comment, people from the booth kept checking on me all weekend to make sure I wasn’t too bored. The day was fun though. Erik had brought his laptop to the convention and set it up for Roberto so he could work on stuff he was doing for Erik, while at the same time, showing fans the art of coloring a comic. The fans loved it, and I loved seeing him shine. That day he signed a lot of autographs for adoring fans. It was really nice to see.

Around 5 PM we decided to check into our hotel, where we would be staying for the duration of the trip. It was wonderful staying with Erik, but we were looking forward to spending some time alone and enjoying our little vacation part of the trip. A few days before leaving for Toronto, we learned the Toronto Intercontinental Center, a five star hotel was offering ½ price rooms to people who were affiliated with the convention. We thought that was a great deal, and the first time either of us had been able to stay at a 5-star hotel. So we were very excited. We had already found out at the desk, the day before, that check in time was 2 PM. We were scheduled to go with the Udon group to a restaurant that night with comic superstar Jim Lee at 7 PM. So we figured we had 2 hours to take a swim, have a drink at the bar and freshen up. Unfortunately, when we went to check in we were told, by the very unhelpful front desk person, that our room was not ready, and probably would not be for another 2 hours. We were then told that the hotel was totally booked and they were running behind with getting rooms ready. Neither Roberto nor I had stayed in a 5-star hotel, but we figured that this was pretty out of line. So we inquired what they were planning to do to compensate us, say free drinks at the bar? The answer was a firm “No”. We were told that “our hands are tied”. Coming from a customer service background myself, it is the rule to always give something to the customer when you mess up, but at a 5-star hotel? Their hands were tied? We were very disappointed. So we checked our luggage in at the desk, freshened in the public restrooms and went to have a drink at the bar.
188The Hotel restaurant, The Azure is a beautiful establishment. It has floor to ceiling windows looking out to Front Street. It is a very contemporary layout with private alcoves with a table and two cushy chairs. Each table was also outfitted with some tasty nuts with an Asian flair. The drink menu was also very inviting. They specialize in Martinis. I opted for the Wild Orchid Martini that was infused with mango juice and had a fresh flower in it. Unfortunately the bar was out of mango juice. Another unfortunate disappointment. How can a 5-star restaurant, in a 5-star hotel be out of mango juice, featured in a drink from their own menu? Well, probably, because they had so many upset customers in their bar waiting for their hotel rooms too, that they sold out. So instead I went for the Cote D’Azure, a blue martini made with rum and blue Curacao, which had not a flower but a raspberry floating in it. Roberto’s Sophisticated Lady, a martini with fresh raspberry puree did have a flower floating in its delicate purple liquid. The drinks were great and the ambience was lovely, but at $14 CAN a pop for the martinis and all of the troubles before it, it left us a little dry.
But that was not to be the only disaster of the evening.
Finally after about 1 ½ hours, at approx. 6:40 our room was ready. That gave us 20 minutes to drop our things in the room and get next door to the convention center…right next door…seems easy enough, right? It would be, except that the only way to get from the Intercontinental to the convention center was through Toronto’s Skywalk. A very lovely idea, but a ridiculous one to navigate. To get from the lobby of our hotel to the convention center, which as I might remind, is right next door, one has to travel up or down 6 escalators, and about 1 mile of walking through corridors. So we barely made it in time.
We get to the convention center and we catch up with Clarence, one of Roberto’s best buddies. Clarence is a great guy, and it seems like his 2 biggest goals of the weekend are to sell as many sketchbooks as possible and to make sure Roberto and I have a great time. So he is going to drive us and another couple to “The Owl”. He has directions, and we are off and running. Forty-five minutes later we are, guess what? LOST. This time we are with a Toronto native, so we aren’t feeling too bad about the morning anymore. Apparently the person who picked this restaurant did not give any good directions, and when we called 411 to get the address, they had no record of the place. But we were at the intersection on the hand written map. So we park the car and Clarence and Keith go foraging for Owls. They come back 15-20 minutes later – which felt like an eternity to us, because we were left alone in the car with Keith’s wife who is a big talker, and her favorite subject is herself. They come back with umbrellas because not only are we lost, but it is also pouring down rain. I am talking buckets. They escort us down the street to a hole in the wall restaurant called The Owl of Minerva. But you would only know that if you spoke or read Korean, the language it is all written in. Now to say “hole in the wall” you may think bad things, but most people who had dinner there that night, including famous Jim Lee, had a great time. Everyone, except of course for Keith’s wife who complained about everything, and threw an allergic fit in the restaurant when her lips touched Keith’s fork, which apparently at some point had touched pepper which could “kill” her. This is of course not to make light of people with severe food allergies. I work in the healthcare industry, and I know how bad this can be, but I somehow doubt that her’s was an allergy but more of an attack of “drama queen”.
Once we were able to figure out the menu, which was in a very bad form of English, and ripped around the edges and sparse (they could only supply each table with one menu)we were able to sample great authentic Korean food and lots of Korean alcohol, made from rice, I believe. After our experience trying to get to the restaurant, and running through the rain to our unknown destination we were a bit tense. So Roberto asked our waitress if they had any alcohol, she said yes to which he responded “give me the strongest thing you have!” Our table shared a bottle of it, and it was a wonderful compliment to all the wonderful dishes – pork bone and potato soup, kim chee with fried pork and bacon with spicy mixed vegetables cooked right at our table with a wok. It was a wonderful and lively evening. But it was still not over. We went with Clarence, Keith and Jessie to Mississauga, Clarence’s hometown, to one of his favorite spots, Playdium. A huge arcade full of all the games you could possibly want to play. After that he took us all out for coffee at a time honored Canadian establishment, Tim Horton’s, which he likened to Dunkin Donuts in the states for it’s being on every corner – which it is, but the coffee is better. He taught us how to order coffee like a Canadian – we had to ask for a “Double Double” which is a coffee with double cream and double sugar, and man did it hit the spot after they day we had. THANK YOU CLARENCE!

Sunday, we started our morning with our long trek to the convention center. We stayed for a few hours, Roberto did some more painting/coloring and then we did one of things I had come for – we met Juliet Landau, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Drusilla! She was so nice, and couldn’t believe we had traveled all the way to Toronto from the States “for this”. I told her that Roberto was an artist and we were at a booth a little further up, which seemed to make her feel better. We got our pictures taken with her, and she was very good about making sure fans got good pictures before moving on to the next. She was very gracious. After meeting her we left the convention for the day. Thanks to Noi, another colleague, and his girlfriend Sally, we were fully equipped with maps and Chinese pastries to get us where we needed to go. They were an endless source of information about places to go and things to see in Toronto. Our first stop was simple. Back to the delicious food stands outside the CN tower. One thing Toronto has going on is great cheap food. There are stands everywhere downtown selling sausages, hot dogs, and amazing french fries. Every stand also seemed to sell veggie hot dogs as well. We couldn’t figure out if it was due to the health consciousness of Canadians, or the large Indian population. Anyway I had a delicious beef hot dog with all the fixings – ketchup, onions, relish and even hot peppers. Roberto had a chicken breast sandwich that he didn’t love, and we shared some delicious, perfectly fried, hot, wedge cut fries smothered in ketchup. Of course after that we needed a dessert so we shared a crepe filled with nutella and strawberries. Yum Yum!
So we decided to take a walk, and just started up Spadina Ave towards the Fashion District that Sally had nicely drawn out on our map. After a while, we looked at the map, and realized we weren’t what seemed to be too far from Little Italy. We walked up through China Town and were getting tired so we decided to take a bus, the routes which were also on this lovely little map. At the bus stop there was what appeared to be a bus driver in uniform complete with matching hat. He was just missing a bus. So we asked him if this bus would take us to Columbia, the street Little Italy is on. He confirmed this. When the bus pulled up we found out they take only exact change in coins. We only had paper money so we told the driver to go on without us until we got some change. When the bus passed the driver without a bus asked us why we didn’t get on. We explained that we didn’t have coins. He asked us where we were from, and when we said Vermont, he said the next bus was coming and just to get on. He spoke to the driver and we were off. The driver made sure we got off at the right spot and as we were heading off the bus the doors didn’t open, so we were standing there looking at each other. At which point the entire bus, in unison says “just step down”. So we get off the bus and start walking towards Little Italy. The bus driver slowed the bus down, stopped completely, opened the door and stated “you are going in the wrong direction for Little Italy”. So he pointed us in the right direction and we were on our way, feeling a little moronic. Later we found out from Erik that earlier in the week someone had punched a bus driver for not being able to get on the bus, and so now, they just let everyone on. So now we aren’t sure whether the bus driver likes Vermonters or whether he was just scared of us!
As we were approaching Little Italy we heard talking over a loud speaker and it was in Italian. Roberto was thrilled and had fun translating for me. Apparently there was to be an Italian music contest and we were just in time. We got in with the crowd and enjoyed 2 performances until it started raining. So we ran under a store awning for a few minutes to listen some more and it was wonderful. We stopped in a couple of stores looking for imported salami, found out where the best gelateria was, and had some really good pistacchio. It was starting to get late, so we decided to get a taxi back to the convention center. We ended up getting a ride with an Iranian immigrant. We had a nice political chat about how corrupt the governments are, and how much of a shame it is that his country and mine will soon be at war for no good reason. It was a wonderful experience, and we were sad when the ride was over.
When we got back to the convention center we found out we were going to the big Udon farewell dinner at Le Maison Du Japon somewhere on the outskirts of town. And since they had to pack everything up from the convention, Erik needed Roberto and I to drive some people. Needless to say, we were not thrilled at the prospect of getting back in a car and trying to navigate the streets of Toronto. We had parked in the part of the lot with no in and out service just to make sure. But we wanted to help, so Erik hooked us up with a couple of really great young Udon convention volunteers. We all trekked to the hotel parking lot, (while Roberto teased them the whole way about having to ride bikes to the restaurant) popped in some belly dancing music and we on our way to all you can eat sushi, one of my personal dreams come true.
We had a great time at dinner, watching Clarence eat about 50 pieces of Salmon Sashimi dredged in wasabi without exploding. Actually I think he was more interested in the wasabi than the sushi itself. But it was impressive how much he could cram down! We had the great company of the people around us, and realized even though Toronto was not a city we loved, we had met some really great people, and that was what mattered.
After dinner we went back to the hotel and decided to get a drink at one of the local bars. Toronto is full of bums, one of which approached us as soon as we got out of the hotel. As if this was a better prospect, he explained that he in fact was not a bum, but had just been released from jail, and needed a few bucks for bus fare home. This was after he asked us if we spoke English. We should have just said no. So when in Toronto, if approached by a bum, just start speaking another language, even if it is made up. It will save you a lot of hassle. Our hotel was in a mainly commercial district, so there were not many nightly establishments. To reduce our chance of getting accosted by more bums, we went to the closest, Jack Astor’s. It was loud and the drinks were weak. It was our last night in Toronto and we wanted something with a little more ambience, but we didn’t find it and we were tired and had to head out on the long drive home the next day. So we sacked it and went back to the hotel and to bed.

Monday, we hit the road. But first we stopped in our favorite spot in Toronto, Little Italy, for some wood burning oven pizza, snails in a delectable red sauce with roasted veggies, mozzarella and tomato salad, espresso and of course, some more Gelato. But hey, we had walked so much over the weekend, we could afford the extra splurges! So getting lost in Toronto so many times was good for something, finally!
After getting out of Toronto we decided that we would get back into the States via Niagara. We spent a little time on the Canadian side driving around stopped to take a few pictures. Then we were ready for the long ride home.