Canada,Toronto
5 juni 2015 - San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Canada! Toronto-GTA- and a small trip into the Wild
We added Canada to our world-trip, mostly to reunite with Candice –Pam’s partner in crime during their 3-year struggle with the ESP-physio study in Amsterdam. We were picked up from the airport by her dad John (Lenny). Candice’s family lives in Milton, just outside the Great Toronto Area (GTA). The GTA is basically the residential area around the city Toronto. The drive to her place from the airport was about an hour and there was a warm welcome with delicious Indian food prepared by Sofia – Candice’s mom. By the time we got to the house were starving, so there couldn’t have been a better timing. We wouldn’t be starving for the next 3 weeks for sure anymore!
Candice arrived a little later, and she, Sofia and Pam went to Hot Yoga right away. Pam got a 10 day pass. Sven refused to join the Hot Yoga, but instead would do his own workouts during those times.
The first two days were to settle down and explore the way of living Candice is used to. We did some cheap outlet shopping, drank sugary ice coffees from Tim Horton’s (competitor of Starbucks and huge in Canada) and went to a Drive-In cinema. Yes! A Drive-In cinema where you watch the movie out of your own car. Without a car, you can’t survive in Canada. Besides the Drive-In, you have drive-thru’s for literally everything, even a cashmachine/ATM drive-thru. It’s only waiting for the first drive-thru restrooms!
The first weekend we stayed in an AirBnB apartment in Toronto. For the first night, Candice arranged tickets for a Dance-party in club ‘Union’. After waiting in line for 40 minutes and struggle with security for another 20min, we did end up having a great night!
The next day we spent walking around the city, including a luxury lunch high up in the CN Tower (until 2007 the world’s tallest building), enjoying a very nice view over Toronto, and a boat trip over the lake. On our way back to Milton, we wanted to pass High Park to see the apparently most beautiful cherry-blossom trees given by the Japanese authorities after some kind of war in history. Big fail! As always, also this was for us only reachable by car, and unfortunately we were not the only visitors. It resulted in a huge traffic jam and after moving 200meters in 45 minutes and having seen 4 cherry-blossom trees, we decided to turn around headed back ;)
The next couple of days were again a bit more relaxed; Sven did some work, we sorted out some things and we had to get our final rabies shot. A few more Yoga and workout sessions but also a lot of delicious food again. Craig (Candice’s boyfriend) arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday we went to the Niagara-Falls. Candice had arranged a room on the 20th floor of the Marriott-Hotel with the best view of the Niagara-Falls.
We did a wine tour in the area, since this area has perfect conditions for winemaking. Especially Icewine is a fast-growing industry in the region. Icewine is a very sweet wine whereby the grapes need to freeze for a certain period before they are harvested (at -8 degrees). Canada is the only place in the world where the conditions allow the production of Icewine.
The Niagara River is the border between Canada and USA, and Tourist areas have grown around the Falls with lots of bars, restaurants, casinos and entertainment. We had dinner in a Jungle-restaurant, played bowling and Craig and Sven tried their luck at a Blackjack table.
Back in Milton there was again little time to be bored. We did some more shopping, went axe throwing and did an Escape Room. Axe throwing is a national sport in Canada with growing popularity. The name explains the activity and our pictures/videos will show our skills. ;) Escape rooms are a relatively new concept (also in Europe). You are locked up in a room for one hour, within you will have to solve riddles and find the right cues to escape: unfortunately we failed!
We had a trip into the wild planned for the following weekend. Together with Candice, Craig and Camilla (a friend of Candice & Craig), we prepared everything and traded modern society for wilderness, mud, moose and a lot of bugs and mosquitos. We went to Algonquin National Park (a 4 hour drive) and rented 2 canoes. We had a camping spot reserved which was only reachable via 3 different lakes and 3 portages. Portaging = crossing land carrying all your belongings and the canoe on your shoulders (translates to: VERY VERY HARD ACTIVITY). We discovered that we had way too much stuff with us and had to walk every distance twice. The first two portages were short (about 300m each), but the last one was a 2.6km walk of exhaustion, with mosquitos and lots of muddy ground. The whole trip from our car to the campsite took us about 7 hours, but we were rewarded with the view of a Moose right at the waterfront that had just given birth, and our campsite looked like it came straight out of a travel guide! We stayed there for 2 nights, did some fishing (not successfully!), chilling at the beach, had bonfires and in real north-American style, we had to eat S’mores: halve-melted marshmallows with chocolate sandwiched between two cookies. On our way back, we got the hang of portaging and also the canoeing went a lot better. This time the trip took us about 5 hours.
Although we had spent already much above our monthly budget due to all the activities, and we still had another weekend planned in Toronto for Candice’s birthday, Candice and Craig convinced us to also go to Wonderland. Wonderland is an amusement park known for its many rollercoasters. It was a quiet day and there were barely lines for the rides. Although this was great, it gave us little time to recover from the rides and it didn’t take long for people to feel sick. We used our breaks to try “Funnel Cake” and “Beavertails”: two typical sweet dishes containing about 2000 calories each ;)
As mentioned, we spent our last weekend in Toronto again to celebrate Candice’s birthday. This weekend was a special weekend in Toronto and many buildings were open to public or had special evening programs. We went to a party in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Besides the permanent historical and natural exhibitions, there were various food corners, drinks and DJ’s playing music on different floors. During the next day we went to a Blue Jays game (Toronto’s baseball team), and walked through Toronto’s huge underground shopping mall. Since the weather conditions in Toronto during winter are unbearable, they constructed the world’s biggest underground walking infrastructure, called The PATH.
The last two days in Milton were for packing and preparing our next destination: Nicaragua!! On May 27th we thanked Candice’s parents for the lovely hospitality and the delicious food and left to the airport. It was an amazing time in Canada and it was definitely not the last time we would see Candice and her family back there! xxx
We added Canada to our world-trip, mostly to reunite with Candice –Pam’s partner in crime during their 3-year struggle with the ESP-physio study in Amsterdam. We were picked up from the airport by her dad John (Lenny). Candice’s family lives in Milton, just outside the Great Toronto Area (GTA). The GTA is basically the residential area around the city Toronto. The drive to her place from the airport was about an hour and there was a warm welcome with delicious Indian food prepared by Sofia – Candice’s mom. By the time we got to the house were starving, so there couldn’t have been a better timing. We wouldn’t be starving for the next 3 weeks for sure anymore!
Candice arrived a little later, and she, Sofia and Pam went to Hot Yoga right away. Pam got a 10 day pass. Sven refused to join the Hot Yoga, but instead would do his own workouts during those times.
The first two days were to settle down and explore the way of living Candice is used to. We did some cheap outlet shopping, drank sugary ice coffees from Tim Horton’s (competitor of Starbucks and huge in Canada) and went to a Drive-In cinema. Yes! A Drive-In cinema where you watch the movie out of your own car. Without a car, you can’t survive in Canada. Besides the Drive-In, you have drive-thru’s for literally everything, even a cashmachine/ATM drive-thru. It’s only waiting for the first drive-thru restrooms!
The first weekend we stayed in an AirBnB apartment in Toronto. For the first night, Candice arranged tickets for a Dance-party in club ‘Union’. After waiting in line for 40 minutes and struggle with security for another 20min, we did end up having a great night!
The next day we spent walking around the city, including a luxury lunch high up in the CN Tower (until 2007 the world’s tallest building), enjoying a very nice view over Toronto, and a boat trip over the lake. On our way back to Milton, we wanted to pass High Park to see the apparently most beautiful cherry-blossom trees given by the Japanese authorities after some kind of war in history. Big fail! As always, also this was for us only reachable by car, and unfortunately we were not the only visitors. It resulted in a huge traffic jam and after moving 200meters in 45 minutes and having seen 4 cherry-blossom trees, we decided to turn around headed back ;)
The next couple of days were again a bit more relaxed; Sven did some work, we sorted out some things and we had to get our final rabies shot. A few more Yoga and workout sessions but also a lot of delicious food again. Craig (Candice’s boyfriend) arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday we went to the Niagara-Falls. Candice had arranged a room on the 20th floor of the Marriott-Hotel with the best view of the Niagara-Falls.
We did a wine tour in the area, since this area has perfect conditions for winemaking. Especially Icewine is a fast-growing industry in the region. Icewine is a very sweet wine whereby the grapes need to freeze for a certain period before they are harvested (at -8 degrees). Canada is the only place in the world where the conditions allow the production of Icewine.
The Niagara River is the border between Canada and USA, and Tourist areas have grown around the Falls with lots of bars, restaurants, casinos and entertainment. We had dinner in a Jungle-restaurant, played bowling and Craig and Sven tried their luck at a Blackjack table.
Back in Milton there was again little time to be bored. We did some more shopping, went axe throwing and did an Escape Room. Axe throwing is a national sport in Canada with growing popularity. The name explains the activity and our pictures/videos will show our skills. ;) Escape rooms are a relatively new concept (also in Europe). You are locked up in a room for one hour, within you will have to solve riddles and find the right cues to escape: unfortunately we failed!
We had a trip into the wild planned for the following weekend. Together with Candice, Craig and Camilla (a friend of Candice & Craig), we prepared everything and traded modern society for wilderness, mud, moose and a lot of bugs and mosquitos. We went to Algonquin National Park (a 4 hour drive) and rented 2 canoes. We had a camping spot reserved which was only reachable via 3 different lakes and 3 portages. Portaging = crossing land carrying all your belongings and the canoe on your shoulders (translates to: VERY VERY HARD ACTIVITY). We discovered that we had way too much stuff with us and had to walk every distance twice. The first two portages were short (about 300m each), but the last one was a 2.6km walk of exhaustion, with mosquitos and lots of muddy ground. The whole trip from our car to the campsite took us about 7 hours, but we were rewarded with the view of a Moose right at the waterfront that had just given birth, and our campsite looked like it came straight out of a travel guide! We stayed there for 2 nights, did some fishing (not successfully!), chilling at the beach, had bonfires and in real north-American style, we had to eat S’mores: halve-melted marshmallows with chocolate sandwiched between two cookies. On our way back, we got the hang of portaging and also the canoeing went a lot better. This time the trip took us about 5 hours.
Although we had spent already much above our monthly budget due to all the activities, and we still had another weekend planned in Toronto for Candice’s birthday, Candice and Craig convinced us to also go to Wonderland. Wonderland is an amusement park known for its many rollercoasters. It was a quiet day and there were barely lines for the rides. Although this was great, it gave us little time to recover from the rides and it didn’t take long for people to feel sick. We used our breaks to try “Funnel Cake” and “Beavertails”: two typical sweet dishes containing about 2000 calories each ;)
As mentioned, we spent our last weekend in Toronto again to celebrate Candice’s birthday. This weekend was a special weekend in Toronto and many buildings were open to public or had special evening programs. We went to a party in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Besides the permanent historical and natural exhibitions, there were various food corners, drinks and DJ’s playing music on different floors. During the next day we went to a Blue Jays game (Toronto’s baseball team), and walked through Toronto’s huge underground shopping mall. Since the weather conditions in Toronto during winter are unbearable, they constructed the world’s biggest underground walking infrastructure, called The PATH.
The last two days in Milton were for packing and preparing our next destination: Nicaragua!! On May 27th we thanked Candice’s parents for the lovely hospitality and the delicious food and left to the airport. It was an amazing time in Canada and it was definitely not the last time we would see Candice and her family back there! xxx
Foto’s
1 Reactie
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Karen:11 juni 2015Dank voor dit uitgebreide verslag! Zo kunnen wij arme thuisblijvers meegenieten met jullie reis. Candice heeft duidelijk haar best gedaan jullie zoveel mogelijk van haar leven daar en de omgeving te laten zien, geweldig zo'n host! En dan de Niagara Falls, de kanotocht, wat een ervaringen... Jammer dat het niet gelukt is je eigen vis te vangen, maar Sven, ik heb nu jouw viskaart ontvangen, dus wie weet??
