- Flight: Hour-and-a half flight from LGA to Pearson International Airport via Air Canada.
o (I wouldn’t recommend Air Canada, but you gotta do what you gotta do)
- Hotel: Courtyard Marriot Downtown
o A huge newly renovated hotel located downtown Toronto.
o It was very clean.
o It is located very close to the subway station on College Street and the tramway. Toronto is not like New York and is not a walkable city.
o Checkout of the hotel is at noon!
- Dinner: Fran's Diner
o Right next to our hotel. Nothing special, just a diner.
Friday:
- Brunch: Eggspectation (get the eggs benedict!)
- CN Tower: One of the tallest buildings in the world.
o City Pass: We purchased City Passes for $112 CAN which is about $88 USD which gets you into the Royal Ontario Museum, Casa Loma, the Zoo and the CN Tower.
- Royal Ontario Museum: The biggest museum in Canada. Lots of cultural and historical artifacts. We spent most of our time in the dinosaur exhibit and the animal exhibit. We did tour a bit of Egypt too.
- Dinner: Kensington Market/China Town
o Kensington Market is a neighborhood with tiny restaurants (take-out only). A transit worker told us that the best places to get food in Kensington Market was at Rasta Pasta, Wanda’s Pie in the Sky, Blackpie Bakery, Dipped, Golden Patty, and The Dirty Bird. When we realized all these restaurants were take-out only, we stumbled upon, by accident, another recommendation from our transit worker friend: Rol San, an incredible Dim Sum place.
o China Town: Rol San
§ Absolutely incredible food. Super-fast service. Every table was full. By the time we left, the line was out the door.
- Drinks: Distillery District
o We wanted to get a drink or two, but most of the bars (at 8pm) were closed. (It was kind of odd.)
Saturday:
- Niagara Falls
o Alex’s family drove from Chicago to Toronto, so they had a car, and we were able to drive from downtown Toronto to the border of New York and Canada to see the falls. The trip took us about an hour and a half each way. Pro tip: go early in the morning, so there are no crowds!
o This was the main purpose of our trip.
o The falls from the Canada side were incredible. Absolutely stunning. Breathtaking. I was speechless. Glad we listened to everyone and stayed on the Canadian side. If you go to the US side, you can't really see anything. Based on what I could see, it looks like the vantage point from the US side wasn't that great, because you are parallel with the falls. From the Canadian side you can see the US falls and the Canadian falls, also known as the Horseshoe Falls.
o The town of Niagara is cheesy and not worth staying in. There is nothing to see but the falls. I’m glad we stayed in Toronto and took a day trip. It cost $35 CAN to park all day on the Canada side.
- Brunch: The Flour Mill Scratch Kitchen
o The only brunch spot around. It was good. Very slow service though.
- Casa Loma Castle
o We drove back to Toronto and went to this former privately owned castle. The only castle in North America. The bottom floors of the castle showed the history of the house and how it was built and who lived there. The third floor was focused on Canadian military in all the wars over the years. You can climb to the top of the castle and see great views of the city. If you go below ground, you will take this tunnel to the garage and stables which is where there are a ton of wax figurines of all the famous people that have visited and used the castle for events or video shooting, including: Justin Trudeau, Drake, Hallie Berry, Hugh Jackman and more. The museum got cheesy, really fast.
- Dinner: La Cubana
o We found this restaurant and lots of cute other ones in this area of Toronto while on the hunt for the famous Bang Bang ice cream.
o The food was really good.
- Ice Cream: Bang Bang
o Every blog post I read about Toronto said we had to try this ice cream.
o It was delicious and creamy. And stuffed inside fresh baked cookies. YUM!
- Drinks: Bellwoods Brewery
o The boys went for beer and the ladies went for sparkling wine.
Sunday:
- Hockey Hall of Fame and Stanley Cup Museum
o We couldn’t go to Toronto without going to the Hockey Hall of Fame. The museum was really cool. There were artifacts from the hall of famers and also artifacts from various Olympics. There was a replica of a locker room. This museum was a little kid’s dream. There was a hands-on area where kids could practice their defense skills and shooting skills on fake-ice. There was a SportsCenter desk. Hockey helmets galore. It was a hockey-lover’s paradise. The coolest part was getting to see the Stanley Cup up close and personal. I didn’t know it traveled all over the world, so we were lucky that it happened to be back in its home base, Toronto, for us to see.
- St. Lawrence Market
o A farmer’s market, that I would’ve liked to visit for lunch or dinner, but we ran out of time. We did drive past it on the way to the airport.
- Home!
o The Uber ride was about 30 minutes from our hotel to the airport.
o The airport has its own terminal for travelers going to the US. After going through security, you go through US customs while at the airport in Canada. The line was long, but painless.
If I ever go back to Toronto, I would love to go to the Bata Shoe Museum and Ripley’s Aquarium!
