Lets head to Canada

We often make a vacation out of conferences, that I attend for work.  We look ahead and see where the national conferences are going to be held. If that’s somewhere we want to visit, we plan a trip.  So, when it headed to Toronto, so did we.  This is the second country we had visited.  This trip was planned around the national physician assistant conference.  My husband’s mom went with us on this trip.  She loves to travel, but not alone.

We flew to Toronto; I saw NY city out the plane windows.  I had always wanted to know what New York was like.  All the hype and all.  I have not been back, not that I would not like to see it on the ground, but just that we have not traveled that way.  We landed in Toronto and there was a hotel shuttle to take us to our hotel.  We normally stay with Marriott and this time was at Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel. My husband worked for Marriott for a while, but they are just a good company that cares for their associates.  Our hotel was 3 blocks from the conference center, where I would spend the next 5 days. 

Each day was new and exciting. I have never lived in a place, that you would walk to work.  The busy streets, cars honking at each other all the time.  They yield to pedestrians all the time.  Very different, at times, from the US.  We did not rent a car while there, we walked and took the double decker bus around town. 

The first few days, we got up, my hubby walked with me to my conference and then he returned at lunch, and then the end of the day.  It was fun, new, exciting time for both of us.  His mom would not walk over as much.  We found that there was a theatre and you could get free tickets at 11am.  So, a friend who attended the conference also and I walked over to get tickets. The theatre show for that evening could sell out if we did not get there in time.  It was to be the four of us to attend. We were able to get 4 tickets, but not next to each other.  It was to be a fun evening.  My hubby did not feel well and walked back to the hotel. I did not realize he went back and thought he had gone into the theatre.  So, needless to say that was a little distracting but the play was great!  Hubby, was good when we returned to our hotel.

We bought a 3-day pass for the double Decker bus, for the last 4 days that we were there.  The bus had 21 stops throughout the city and you could get on and off as you wished.  We were able to stay on as long as were would like.  We chose to ride the entire routes a couple times to get somewhat acquainted to the city.  Then we would get off and venture out. 

We attended a fun festival at the city Centre park, walked around shops, and saw homes and factories.  As we were walking in the park, we noted they were giving away a car.  We could not sign up, because we did not have a Canadian address.  We were however, able to enjoy the rest of the Italian festival.  We tried gelato for the first time.  Booths with businesses, crafts, and music.  It was a fun afternoon. 

We took a bus tour from Toronto to Niagara Falls.  This is a vacation destination for both, the US and Canada.  We were I think lucky to have been on the Canadian side.  I have not seen it from the US side, but it appears that it may not be as great of a view.  There is a bridge that takes you from the Canadian side to the US side.  We did not walk the bridge as it was a long bridge and we were limited on time.  So, all my story is from the Canadian side.  Our bus took us from our Hotel to Niagara Falls.  We stopped in Niagara, Canada. This is a town on the edge of the falls.  We walked around and stopped to eat lunch.  We tried poutine for the first time.  I loved it, my hubby, not so much.  There were great little shops, the roads while straight, were up and down hills.  These were not just small inclines; they were HILLS and steep ones. 

Next was the park at Niagara Falls. We got off the bus to the mist coming from the falls.  Glad we had ponchos.  We took a tour on a boat called maid of the mist; we were able to get up close to the falls.  It was massive.  So much water, such a force.  Back to dry (well misty) land and the gift shops and viewpoints.  This is a trip I would recommend, it is hard to imagine, even with pictures. 

Back on the bus to the vineyards, we stopped to have a tasting of frozen grape wine.  Did you know that when grapes freeze there is only a two-week window to harvest them?  Each grape only gives a couple drops of juice, to make into wine.  Imagine the number of grapes, in the bottle of wine.  I am not an alcohol drinker, but I did taste one.  Not for me, my hubby and his mom did like the dry ones, but not so much the sweet ones.

We then headed back to the hotel and up early to catch our flight back home.  Hope you enjoyed this trip to Toronto.  Our lives are still not the same with the stay at home, still in many places.  If you enjoyed this trip please share!  Sign up for our email list if you would like to have updates on new post.