Our first taste of Canada - Day 3 - Distillery District and Toronto Blue Jays

[jocat]

Our first taste of Canada - Toronto and Niagara Falls

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Day 3 – Tuesday 26th May 2015

Martin woke up at 6:10 am, but I slept in until 8am. By the time I'd showered, dried my hair and painted my toe nails, it was about 10am before we left the hotel. We had even squeezed in time to FaceTime home too.

It was another beautiful day, so we decided to be outdoors for most of the day. Our plans were to visit St Lawrence Market and the Distillery District.

We stopped at a diner/restaurant called Fran's for breakfast. It had a wonderful patio area, but we decided to have breakfast indoors - it was hot already and we had the feeling we might need some respite from the sun today. The forecast was for it to hit 30 degrees. Not bad considering the forecast before we arrived was for us to have 4 days of rain!

Breakfast was a bargain - we had massive plates with eggs, bacon, home fries and toast for me, and the same but with sausage instead of bacon for Martin. Both of us had freshly squeezed orange juice to drink. The bill came to $28 which included a tip of approximately 18%.







We left and continued our walk towards St Lawrence Market, pausing to look at several unusual buildings along the way.


















Once we reached the market, we had a walk round and although we didn't buy anything, we drooled over the size of the produce inside. If only we hadn't just have finished breakfast!





The fruit was huge, especially the strawberries, and the thickness of the steaks looked superb. If we lived there, it's definitely a place we'd go to frequently, especially on those days you leave work and need to call and pick something up to cook for dinner that evening.

We left there and continued heading east towards the Distillery District. We enjoyed seeing different areas of the city on the way.









We saw a Dollarama store, which I had to call into. As a parent of a child who has just qualified as a teacher, I thought it would be ideal for her 'prize box' for pupils. About $10 later, we left, with a bag full of pencils, pens and rubbers.



We soon reached our destination and had a look around.













We stopped for a couple of cold bottles of water at Cafe Furbo, sitting in the sun on its small patio.





Eventually we moved from our little sun trap, having a look in a few of the shops in the area, and taking some photos. I loved the area, with its industrial type buildings. It felt completely separate from the city just a few steps away.





We decided to take refuge in a shaded patio at the back of Mill Street brewery. I ordered a large glass of wine and Martin ordered a beer flight, choosing two and letting the barman choose the other two. All went down very well.



We ordered another round, a small glass of wine for me this time, as I was feeling a little tipsy. Shameful at 2:20 in the afternoon, but as Martin reminded me, it was 7:20 in the evening at home. I blame the sunshine!






Don't think I'm the only tipsy one!

Over this time, Martin tried to explain the rules of baseball, ready for this evening's game. That's my excuse for needing a drink! Don't really get why you need 18 innings for a game of rounders! The game kicks off (no idea what it's really called) at 7:07pm, and Martin bet that I'd be bored by twenty past!

We saw a 'bride' and 'groom', although I'm convinced it was just a photo shoot and not a real wedding. For one thing, they only looked about 14, and they also looked miserable. There was a photographer with them plus one 'guest', who was just wearing jeans and a vest top. Definitely not a real wedding.





We finally left the bar at around 4pm. We called at the washrooms then walked down the Esplanade, passing a couple of parks on the way. We really needed to eat, and were both craving junk food. We found a section of the Esplanade that had a few bars and restaurants and looking at the menus Scotland Yard did the trick.

Martin ordered a Yard Burger and I ordered fish and chips. Mine was huge with about 3 times as many chips as Martin's.





He shared mine, as there was no way I'd manage it all. We ordered another drink each too, but I soon started to regret it and ordered a water instead.



Whilst sat on the patio we watched cranes set up for later, where the road was closing for filming for the movie Suicide Squad (it might be a new Batman film as there was a picture of The Joker on the news when they mentioned it). There had apparently been quite a bit of filming going on over the past few days, but we never saw any of it actually happening.

We left the restaurant and headed back to the hotel, where we had half an hour to chill before heading back out to the Rogers Centre for our baseball game. The Toronto Blue Jays were playing the Chicago White Sox - last night Toronto had beaten them 6-0. Tonight turned out to be completely different.






A different view of the CN Tower from our seats inside the stadium



The Blue Jays started well scoring a home run, but it was fairly even after that, until the last innings where the White Sox were leading 9-7. However, when the Blue Jays had their final batting session, it started well. They were creeping round the bases, with a player at 3rd base and another at 2nd. Finally, they finished the game how they started it, with another home run, winning the game 10-9.

We left and were back in our hotel room for just after 10:30. It was so good staying so close, as our feet were definitely aching.

Not a great deal of sightseeing today, but a fab day nevertheless.

[Melbatb]

Sounds like a perfect day! The fish and chips look delicious!

[Jesslydevie1]

What a great trip report , loving it so far.

[dolphinlou]

great report so far!

[Nikkinoop]

We went to Toronto last year and discovered the wonderful Frans breakfast too! :-) Thanks for the great trip report, which brings back fond memories

[Lovesholidays]

Loving reading your TR, thinking of going to Toronto next year, thought may would be too cold but your weather looks fab

[Slinky Malinki]

I worked there for 6 months a couple of years ago and that brings the memories flooding back. What a great place - it looks different in the summer, mind!

[Capt Wilko]

Really enjoying your trip report. Toronto looks like a lovely city to visit.

[sameeel]

Woo Toronto looks beautiful, and so does that burger ...

Another fantastic day thanks again for sharing

[jocat]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Sounds like a perfect day! The fish and chips look delicious!

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Thank Mel. It did a great job of soaking up some of the alcohol!

Originally Posted by Jesslydevie1

What a great trip report , loving it so far.

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Thanks for reading along. Hope to have the last two days up by the end of this week.

Originally Posted by dolphinlou

great report so far!

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Thank you. Glad you're enjoying it.

Originally Posted by Nikkinoop

We went to Toronto last year and discovered the wonderful Frans breakfast too! :-) Thanks for the great trip report, which brings back fond memories

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Fran's breakfast was really good and looked to have a lovely patio area too. It's a shame we didn't get to go back and enjoy it again.

Glad it's bringing back fond memories of your own trip.

Originally Posted by Lovesholidays

Loving reading your TR, thinking of going to Toronto next year, thought may would be too cold but your weather looks fab

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Glad you're enjoying it. Our weather for the whole trip was wonderful, although not sure how typical that is for May. I wouldn't hesitate to go visit at that time of year again.

Originally Posted by Slinky Malinki

I worked there for 6 months a couple of years ago and that brings the memories flooding back. What a great place - it looks different in the summer, mind!

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Would love to hear more about your time there - would love to experience 6 months in a city like Toronto. We're you only there during Winter? I can't imagine how cold it gets.

Originally Posted by Capt Wilko

Really enjoying your trip report. Toronto looks like a lovely city to visit.

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Thank for reading along. Toronto is defintiely worth a visit if you get chance.

Originally Posted by sameeel

Woo Toronto looks beautiful, and so does that burger ...

Another fantastic day thanks again for sharing

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Can't speak for the burger, as if it weren't for the photos I have no recollection of seeing it , but we thought Toronto was beautiful too!