Toron'o

"Pardon"

Although I felt my French didn't let me down too much in Montreal (I could at least order beer and basic food. My pointing was also top-notch!) it was nice to be able to talk freely without accidentally slipping into an awful french accent, like Thierry Henry on that Renault Clio add...Va Va Voom.

We got another ride-share from Montreal - Toronto with a driver who must have thought he was driving on an arcade game. Did get us there pretty quick though.

Due to a later than expected arrival, we spent the first night in a Downtown Hostel. This luckily meant we could meet up with the Danes we met in Montreal for some drinking, an activity the Danes regard not as a past-time, but a full blown commitment to their National pride. We got on well with the Danes!
We met them at their hostel, a much nicer one than ours I might add, and joined them on an organised hostel outing to a club. The club was impressive, the music not so and the drinks prices even less. Met some cool people though including Dave, a fellow Welshman who had packed everything in and was traveling the world for 2 years. Crackin'.

Ball(s) game.

The following day we caught the Toronto Bluejays baseball game. The tickets had been given to us by a couple of guys in Montreal who were meant to go but lost their car keys and so had to remain in Montreal for the weekend. Denied.

Spot the ball.

The game itself was immensely dull with 3 runs being scored in 12 innings. If these number mean anything to you, you'll appreciate the tedium. We did get to see a home run...after 4 hours. We left.

The Uxbridge Experience.

After the first day, we traveled an hour North to a small suburb called Uxbridge to stay with some family of Richards. Rick and Kim were both very welcoming and it's a shame the area itself wasn't quite so.

A pictoral represnation of the beauty of Uxbridge

We stayed there for a few days and were treated to pool, beer and BBQ steaks the size of the average American. A nice relaxing few days.

The Royal City.

A grander sounding name than the town itself I feel. Guelph is a University town where everyone we met seems to work in a bar and knows everyone else that also works in a bar which incidently, is everyone. We stayed with a distant cousin of Richards who was great to hang out with and show us the bar in which she and everyone else she knew worked.

A band we heard on the first night dedicated a song to us, I think it was a Beatles number...obviously.

The not-so Beatles.

We were given a tour of the university and were amazed by it having 2 ice-rinks. They take Ice Hockey seriously here. They also had a crazy art garden full of crazy art things...

Crazy artists.

The Chinese Cell.

For the last night in Toronto, we went back into Downtown and stayed at the Chinatown Hostel (this was the cheapest one going!).
A couple of picture to show what we [didn't] pay for:

Cell Block H

You may like to see what delightful picture they have put up for decoration:

Click to Enlarge.

And that pretty much concludes our Toronto visit. I'm not sure it ranks among my favourite cities. Things are too far apart and it doesn't feel as comfortable as previous big cities. I think if I were to ever go back, i'd stay in Guelph and get to know everyone, that is, everyone who works in a bar.

Our next destination was Chicago, with a short stay in Buffalo to sample their wings and visit the falls.