Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

We only went into Toronto for a day...what I didn't realize was that it was a holiday weekend and Monday was a holiday...many places were closed for the holiday weekend.....not the important ones..the yarn shops..but many...

We took the bus into Toronto from Hamilton, about a 50 minute ride...but we did not need to worry about driving in the city or finding parking..and I'd done enough research to know there was good public transportation....

So we got to Union Station....which was under construction....all I had was a subway map, and some addresses....so we walked..and walked...and walked...and then we stopped and took the streetcar.....but with the walking I found the original Hudson Bay building...that was COOL!


The driver of the streetcar was a bit of a crank...I wanted a daypass...he didn't carry them...so I paid the fare and we got on....we went to the first yarn store...and then went to get on the second streetcar to take us to Kensington Market...same driver...but he let us on for FREE!  Awesome!

We ended up getting off and walking through Chinatown...(which was again ripped up with construction..it looks like they are putting in more streetcar access)
And by the time we got to the next yarn stop, we were tired.....so we got on the streetcar...it took us to the Metro/subway.....our streetcar tickets got us on the Metro...and we took that back to Union Square...where we wandered around lost for a bit, trying to find the bus back to Hamilton (because of the construction)..we got back on the bus..and we back in Hamilton by 3:30....
The subway had some plush seats...

But we saw some cool buildings and again..lots of street art....Hey I go to NYC all the time and see street art....but nothing like what I saw in Canada...it was way cool...




The Hubs is not fantastic with heights, so didn't want to do the CN tower....I would have loved to walk the glass floor....but walking around the city was fun..we popped into some shops...looked at and smelled strange things in Chinatown (I lost him once, as he was looking at stuff)...

So even though we didn't do the "tourist" things, we did enjoy wandering around the city...

http://bonnieroseblog.co.uk/2014/08/favourite-travel-film.html

4 comments:

Tammy@T's Daily Treasures said...

Setting out on foot if you can is certainly the way to go if you really want to see the city. I loved all the street art we saw last month in Colorado and New Mexico. I did some historical walking tours on my own which was nice, too. I did a glass floor thing somewhere, maybe Sears Tower, Chicago ??? Scary! :) Have a great day.
Tammy

Holly Hollyson @ Full of Beans and Sausages said...

Rubbish some of the stores were closed :( I am glad you got to the yarn stores though! I love Chinatown - especially the strange smells!

Camila said...

Oh Toronto can be very boring on days off - everything is shut down and it's so inconvenient! And those construction - I was trying to find the bus to Hamilton once and was so lost!!
But walking around is the best way to see the city, and I love all the multicultural neighbourhoods as well! So much to offer! :)

Jessi (Two Feet, One World) said...

Oooh I like the street art you spotted - always the best bit about wandering around a city without a proper plan!