A Taste of Toronto, Ontario....what a big city!!

Go Train to Union Station in Toronto

Today we park at the nearby GO Lakeshore West Train station and catch the 9:48 am train into downtown Toronto. 

Union Station, Toronto

The ride in is just under an hour as we pass through Oakville and Mississauga before landing at Union Station in downtown Toronto. 

Inside the Historic Bank of Montreal building

Just down the street is historic Bank Of Montreal building where we plan to see The Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a beautiful old building but what catches our eye is a 'Freedom of Press' exhibit with outstanding photos from natural disasters around the world. 

Photo of a plane on a flooded tarmac in Brazil

Flood water house roof reflection makes the perfect Brazil flag

Hockey Hall of Fame

Toronto has many world class museums but we have seen so many over the past months. We love hockey and just pick this one for a fun experience. 

Edmonton Oilers 5 cups in 7 years

There are exhibits of every hockey icon from every place in the world. Obviously we are happy to see our Edmonton Oilers from the 1980's when we were in our early 20's. It's been far too long since the Oilers have won that cup :) 

Mark Messier - my favorite oldie

Most iconic Canadian Women's Hockey player

Original seats from The Maple Leafs Gardens

The 'Original Six' hockey teams in the NHL were the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadians. The museum has memorabilia from each of the original six stadiums. 

Old Boston jersey complete with moth eaten holes :)

Lord Stanley's Vault area

We head to the Lord Stanley's Vault area, which is an alcove off the Great Hall to see the original cup. 

The Stanley Cup :)

Edmonton Oilers names 1984-85

One could spend an entire day here but 1.5 hours flies by and we need to move on. We head to the waterfront. 

Halloween Sea-Doo parade

St Lawrence Market

We walk over to the St Lawrence Market. This place has been around since 1803 housing over 200 vendors selling diverse foods, local produce and artisan goods. 

Chris gets his Peameal Bacon Sandwich :)

The Distillery District

We quickly realize all this walking between places we want to see will kill us and we'll run out of time. Chris quickly loads the apps to rent the Tangerine bikes throughout the city and off we go to The Distillery Historic District, which is a National Historic Site and pedestrian-only neighborhood in Toronto. It was redeveloped into a hub for arts, culture, dining and entertainment. 

Vibrant Distillery District

We always enjoy live music :)

Tangerine Rent-A-Bike

The Toronto Blue Jays have made it to the post season of the MLB and it's almost game time for the first game of a series against the New York Yankees. The city is a sea of blue and though the tickets have long been sold out, we bike over to Rogers Stadium just to get a feel for the excitement in the air. 

Rogers Center

We land at the St Louis pub right across the street from the game where we can literally hear the crowd cheering. Super cool. 

St. Louis pub and The Blue Jays game :)

A Packed Stadium

Biking to Kensington Market

There is still one more neighborhood we want to see yet today so after the 4th inning, we quickly hop on the rental bikes and risk our lives in the crazy traffic to get to the Kensington Market, a vibrant multicultural Toronto neighborhood known for its global cuisines, vintage clothing and colorful shops. 

Old homes turned into little businesses of all varieties

Streets of Kensington Market

Pub in Kensington with The Jays game on

After a quick walk about we find a pub with The Blue Jays game on and catch the last 3 innings. The Jays play well and kick New York 10 to 1.  Whoot Whoot

Toronto's CN Tower

Once the game is over we have to bike all the way back to Union Station where we started our day and catch the GO Train back to our truck. We navigate the busy streets in the dark and catch the 8:20 pm train heading west to Oakville. 

Home by 9:30 pm after a long day.  

Toronto is such a big city with so much going on and so many iconic places to see that we just scuff the surface of all it offers. To enjoy it one really needs time to stroll the streets and enjoy the culture. Maybe another time but that's enough for us :)

Mount Nemo hike and Timothy's Pub in Toronto to meet up with friends

Pumpkin soup 

In the effort to use up as much food as possible that we have on hand, I decide this morning to make pumpkin soup out of the pumpkin we bought from a local farm about a week ago. I have one can of coconut milk left too, which is always a nice addition. It turns out to be a delicious lunch and supper :)

 

In the afternoon we head out to Mount Nemo Conservation Area, which is about a 30 minute drive for us to see some fall colors. 

Hiking a portion of the Bruce Trail again :)

Back on the Bruce Peninsula we hiked a portion of the Bruce Trail and even stopped at the trails end point in Tobermory. We knew the trail stretches 900 km along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara to Tobermory, but we didn't know we'd be hiking on it again today. What a cool treat :) 

Cool tree roots - Chris enjoys the view

There are many wonderful view points from the top. It is little more than a hill by Alberta mountain standards, but it's still a super beautiful trail. 

We think this is Mississauga on the horizon

Top blaze indicates trail is to the left

We saw these blaze marks along the Bruce Trail back on the Bruce Peninsula marking the way of Canada's longest and oldest marked public footpath, and it's nice to see them here again.  Basically you look to the direction the top blaze is on, this indicates the trail direction is to the left. It's plain to see the trail here on this hike, but not so clear in many more remote areas. I know we appreciated the blazes on the Bruce Peninsula :)

Rock walls along the way

Sheila, Chris and Tim :)

Tonight we make the drive into the west end of Toronto to meet up with a past school mate from our days at NAIT-Survey Engineering in Edmonton, AB. We had a lot of fun with Tim back in those days and we have kept in touch over the years. Tim moved to Toronto years ago and is now high up in the planning department for the City of Toronto :)   We meet at Timothy's Pub for some live music and a great catch up of many years. 

An evening at Timothy's Pub in Toronto

The band was so good playing all sorts of good old rock and roll. Tim brings along his wife Ingrid, and some of their friends for an evening of dancing and good tunes. 

Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Ontario - our Toronto and get ready for storage location

Dual screens helps with work :)

Today we barely leave the RV. It's a day to get caught up on work and start planning our exit. We are leaving our rig at a storage location about 20 minutes from here. Time to start figuring out logistics :)

Chicken souvlaki dinner

For supper we pull out the last of the meat in our freezer. Shopping day to day now. 

City of Hamilton and Bronte Creek Provincial Park

Thanks Strewn Winery for a Harvest Host stay - 1night for a bottle of wine :)

We leave our Harvest Host location and head to a nearby park for a morning walk. 

Tanker heading into Lock 1 of the Welland Canal

It turns out the park Chris picked is right along the Welland Canal so our walk takes us by a huge ship about to enter Lock 1 on the canal. Lake Ontario is just to the left but it isn't accessible to walk to. 

A friendly local :)

Everyone has been so welcoming to us on this trip and this lovely lady keeps the warmth coming. She just begins to talk to us along the path and before we know it we are talking about the Blue Jays and her favorite winery called 'Inniskillin'.  She has lived in the area all her life and walks the trails daily to keep her going. We tell her we'll buy a bottle from Inniskillin Winery and think of her when we drink it :)

City of Burlington across Lake Ontario

We head west along the north coast of The Niagara Peninsula on our way to Hamilton.  We are getting into serious traffic in this part of the world...ugh. We stop along the way and unload the bikes for a ride along the Waterfront Trail. Lake Ontario has some pretty big waves crashing in today. 

Factory of some sort :)

As we approach Hamilton, the factories I always imagined would be here begin to appear. There is a very diverse infrastructure of industries in the part of the world including steel production, automotive, aerospace and food processing. Apparently there are over 120 food companies with giants like Tim Hortons and Maple Leaf calling Hamilton home. 

Hamilton Harbor Waterfront

We head to the waterfront and again unload the bikes to continue the Waterfront Trail and see some sites. Hamilton Harbor is very nice

Hamilton Harbor coffee shop

Chris had read about Williams coffee shop so we take a break and enjoy a coffee and a tea with nice views.  

HMCS Haida proudly resting in Hamilton Harbor

One of the big reasons we stop here in Hamilton is to see the 'HMCS Haida', a National Historic Site and museum ship. The Haida is a preserved British-designed, fast and heavily armed destroyer that served in WW 2, the Korean Conflict and the Cold War. Powered by steam turbines it was unique for its era and it became the flagship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

We were wanting to tour it, but sadly it just closed for the season last week.  

Took this picture in the morning :) Dark arrival last night

For supper we pick a Vietnamese restaurant on Hamilton's well known James Street. 

Our day is getting away on us and we don't have tonight's accommodation figured out yet. We decide to do the drive over to Oakville in the dark where we have reservations tomorrow night at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. Traffic is nerve wracking even at this time of night. We pull into the campground for the night even though the front entrance is closed. We survived the traffic...whew