Back in Toronto

Change of plans, as that day wore on, it began to snow. By about 6pm it was heavier than anything we had seen so far although seeing as we were hanging out in the basement we didn’t really notice but other people at the hostel gave us updates on what it was like. A few hours later it was mentioned to us that perhaps this would affect our bus trip to NY? We got on the phone quick and called around various numbers for Greyhound buses before we found the right one that told us that all buses to NY were cancelled, from anywhere. Apparently a fair bit of the state was just blizzarding. So we went to bed thinking to get up early the next morning to see if it was going then.

When we called Greyhound the next day it was still cancelling all buses and it was still snowing heavily outside. We decided that leaving our trip to NY ay longer was pointless and so we found a train to Toronto that was leaving that afternoon. We hung out in the hostel again (I was starting to get stir crazy) and caught a train at 6pm. So here we are safe and sound back in our original hostel in the city.

I like Toronto, it’s quite like Sydney I think and there is plenty to see and do. Our hostel is on the corner between the entertainment district and Chinatown which makes a nice mix and we are near a Tram stop (called a streetcar here) and a subway station.

Claire is quite sick, has been since we started. So we went to a doctor yesterday morning and stocked up on more medication at the Drug-mart. We then made our way via the subway to Casa Loma. A castle on the outskirts of the city built at the start of the 1900’s by a rich entrepreneur. Its gardens were dead and buried in the snow but again, as it seems to do with everything, it made it very fairytale. We could also climb all the way to the top of a tower for beautiful views over Toronto as the sun set.

Today’s entertainment was the Hockey Hall of Fame where we spent several hours reading about the greatest players and plays (I just thought that at the start it wouldn’t have hurt to put in information of the basic rules of the game, for those like me).

To get to the hall we used a route I might have previously mentioned. It’s called PATH and it’s a series of paths that line the underside of the city. It is where all the Torontonians are (we had wondered). The paths are mostly lined with shops, food stalls and general businesses and it is seriously warm! So we thought it was fantastic when we discovered these, a way to get across the city without freezing our feet? Amazing! But as of today, the comparison in my mind will always be of the labyrinths of hell. Overstatement? Maybe. But the thing is, the paths are underground, so there are no landmarks, they don’t have names, and they do not go straight and have many, many intersections and forks. Short story, we got lost and going outside was just easier. I think Claire was keener to go back underground once we figured out where we were but I wasn’t very excited by the prospect.

Gemma.