Toronto

We decided, pretty much at the last minute, to join the lovely Seanna on a weekend trip down to Toronto. On our first stay in Toronto we were stuck out in the suburbs with absolutely no money, so we figured we'd give it another shot. Strangely enough, it was almost exactly a year ago we were last there! Fruit flies like a banana, etc...

So, we hopped in the car straight after work on Friday evening, and arrived in Toronto at about 10pm. There's something thrilling about driving in to a big city - seeing the crowded skyline and the flashing lights; something seductive about the energetic pace. I'd bet not everyone would agree with me, but I'd like to live in a big city at least once in my life, just for a year or two. The biggest city I've ever lived in was Adelaide (snicker), which I'm not sure counts. Actually, I'm really really sure it doesn't count.

Anyway, the drive in to Toronto from the east at night is pretty impressive... at one point you cross a semi-gothic bridge across a deep, wooded river valley, against a backdrop of skyscrapers. Just a little bit larger-than-life.

We had organised to stay with someone we had met in Cambodia, Ted. We met Ted on a bus from Bangkok to Siam Reap - possibly the worst road in the world. It took us over ten hours to travel 150km due to the appalling state of the road. The rumour is that the airlines pay the Cambodian government to keep it the way it is to encourage flying from Bangkok, rather than driving.

Ted in Cambodia...

Due to this shared experience, everyone on the bus became quite good friends. (The exception was the three Japanese girls who boarded the bus and immediately fell asleep, despite the complete lack of suspension on a road where the potholes were bigger than the bus itself. The girl in front of me was repeatedly smashing her head against the window without waking up - I had to put my hand against the window to 'catch' her head and save her from braining herself, and I had bruises to show for it. Crazy.)

Anyway, we wandered around Angkor Wat with Ted and some other people from the bus, and then repeatedly ran into them at random places throughout Vietnam - in the mud baths of Nha Trang, on the streets of Hanoi, etcetera. I guess when you're going the same direction through a relatively narrow country it's bound to happen occasionally, but it was funny at the time.

Ted in Toronto! Far left is Seanna, far right is Jess.

So, fast forward to last week - we knew Ted was back in Toronto, so we organised to stay with him and catch up. We had a couple of beers with Seanna and her good friend Jess on Friday night, and then on Saturday he took us to his private ski club, where his family had their own chalet! Very swish - we put all our gear on in the chalet, and then walked 50 metres down the road to the first lift!

Toronto had 50+ cms of snow a couple of days before, and it was absolutely fantastic. We skied for six hours straight, with a break for a pretty decent lunch in the clubs eatery. Ted is a phenomenal skier, having skied since he was four or five, including competitive racing, instructing etcetera, so he tried to teach us out of the bad habits we've developed by teaching ourselves (well, mostly me).

Ted did it... should I?

On Saturday night we met up with Seanna and Jess again in an underground bar called C'est What?, which managed to be cool but laid-back at the same time. They had a whole bunch of micro-brewery beers - Elli tried the Chocolate Porter, while I had a Coffee beer which was much nicer than it probably sounds. We played a couple of games of pool, but we were pretty exhausted from skiing and sleeping on a crappy blow-up mattress, so we didn't last too long.

On Sunday Seanna and Jess took us out to brunch in the trendy 'Distillery' district, which consists of a whole bunch of converted distilleries (strangely enough). It was pretty cool - all the streets were cobbled, and the place we ate had the original brick walls and wooden flooring, albeit polished and restored. Ted came and joined us half way through - he described the party he had not returned home from the night before as 'wonderful'. After fooding we wandered around the trendy galleries and craft shops, including a pretty audacious glass sculpture place - I think the cheapest item we saw there was CA$5000. Ouch.

We were supposed to meet up with Iain - one of Elli's cousins - after that, but he piked big time. It had been his birthday the night before; I've never seen a hangover conveyed over SMS so effectively. Was quite amusing. Too bad Iain... I was itching to show you my Sens ear muffs :).

Instead, we said goodbye to Ted, and Seanna and Jess took us on a little tour. Jess works for A Big Company as a... I forget the exact job title, but it's essentially scouting out locations for new stores. This means she knows a hell of a lot about the real estate and development market. Seanna, on the other hand, has been involved with (either directly or through professional interest) a lot of the environmental assessment and restoration projects throughout the city. Between the two of them we got a very interesting tour - they both had an intense interest, and an obvious connection with the place, something that I all of a sudden became quite envious of - I don't think I've ever really felt that about anywhere I've lived.

Seanna in a waterfront park in Toronto... in the background is the CN Tower, apparently the tallest tower in the world.

Jess being eaten by a bear.

Anyway, after that we said goodbye to Jess and partook in more fooding at Seannas' favourite Sushi place, which was very good indeed. Then we began the journey home, back to freezing Ottawa.