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This past weekend I jet-setted out to Toronto for 3 days/4 nights to play tourist and get my left leg tattooed. My flight over was rather smooth and uneventful. I had a weird lump in my throat from the time of boarding the plane until about 20 minutes after we had taken off, but my body hates me, and I'm used to not feeling 100% when flying. On my trip home I found myself chewing ice cubes to calm my nerves. I arrived on time and met up with Su after I collected my baggage. The original plan was to take a taxi direct to the shop, but Su went ahead and bought tickets to take the airport shuttle to Union Station downtown. That cut into our travel time a bit, but we were able to figure out the subway rather quickly and made it down to Seven Crowns Tattoo by about 7:45. We approved both of our tattoo designs and shortly after we were both getting tattooed.
We left the shop around midnight and followed by a mildly adventurous taxi ride, we arrived at our hostel for the weekend and settled in. The major task for this weekend, aside from Su and I not killing one another, was to attempt to get around Toronto with a swollen tender leg as comfortably as possible. I've resorted to walking like a pirate attempting to keep my left leg as straight as possible. Walking wasn't too difficult, but stairs are a slow challenge.
Bright and early Friday morning, after showering all the vaseline goo off our tattoos we headed out to start our sight seeing. First stop was CN Tower. It makes me wonder how much of a cash cow that attraction is. We purchased the Toronto City Pass, but had we purchased just the CN Tower ticket, we would have spent $30 for probably 30 minutes in the tower. The view is nice, but you must also remember, the view is of a metropolis in North america. We don't have a whole lot of old and impressive buildings to look at. After leaving CN Tower we started what would be our shopping day.
We made our way up to Queen street and checked out a few shops west of the MuchMusic building, slowly making our way towards China Town and Kensington market. I really liked the feel of the open street shops on Queen street and Yonge (which we visited twice during our stay). Downtown Toronto reminded me a lot of Europe except it was only a 2.5 hr flight from home. In Winnipeg you can go to one of the main "shopping streets" and find a mix of vintage stores, moderately priced independantly owned retail outlets and various chain stores that you find in the malls. But in Toronto, and like in Europe, there is an abundance of it.
The start of our shopping was the beginning of Su's spending downfall. I'm cheap. I get it from my mom. I can't help but be frugal with my money and I'm always looking for a good deal. The first 3 stores we had visited, Su had spent probably $80-$100. By the 4th store, I had spent $30, on 3 t-shirts, for $10 a piece. Not too shabby. For lunch we went to a sushi chain store called Ho Su Bistro. There lunch specials are very reasonably priced, although I wish I had opted out of the sushi/sashimi bento box I ordered for something simple like chicken teryiaki. The salad was delicious, I should have asked them what the dressing was because I couldn't get enough of it. Everything was fresh, but I found the sashimi pieces were huge and extremely difficult to eat.
Su's friend Dylan met up with us after Ho Su and we proceeded to walk through China Town and into Kensington Market. I wish we had something even remotely like the China Town they have in Toronto in Winnipeg. Or at least the same prices for produce. I purchased a box of strawberries for 99 cents. At home, it would have cost me at least $4, if not more. In Kensington Market Su and I split up to look around. I was really disappointed with all that the market is hyped up to be. I do like vintage, but the vintage I like is $3 jacket kind of vintage. Not vintage from the 1960's that I have to fork out $60-$100 for. I did find one local shop there with really adorable, all local DIY stuff, but of course, the prices were out of my price range.
From Kensington we jumped on the 505 railcar and made our way down to Eaton Place Shopping Center. It was nice to go indoors for a bit, but not worth really staying since majority of the stores there we have at home. However it was here that Su made her big purchase at Coach, some fancy overpriced purse store. I don't notice labels, nor to I understand the appeal of Coach. After killing probably an hour walking back and forth through the 3 levels of Eaton Place, we headed home. Dead. Sore. We walked way too much Friday and it probably killed us for the remainder of the weekend. My feet hurt bad...
continue shortly...
We left the shop around midnight and followed by a mildly adventurous taxi ride, we arrived at our hostel for the weekend and settled in. The major task for this weekend, aside from Su and I not killing one another, was to attempt to get around Toronto with a swollen tender leg as comfortably as possible. I've resorted to walking like a pirate attempting to keep my left leg as straight as possible. Walking wasn't too difficult, but stairs are a slow challenge.
Bright and early Friday morning, after showering all the vaseline goo off our tattoos we headed out to start our sight seeing. First stop was CN Tower. It makes me wonder how much of a cash cow that attraction is. We purchased the Toronto City Pass, but had we purchased just the CN Tower ticket, we would have spent $30 for probably 30 minutes in the tower. The view is nice, but you must also remember, the view is of a metropolis in North america. We don't have a whole lot of old and impressive buildings to look at. After leaving CN Tower we started what would be our shopping day.
We made our way up to Queen street and checked out a few shops west of the MuchMusic building, slowly making our way towards China Town and Kensington market. I really liked the feel of the open street shops on Queen street and Yonge (which we visited twice during our stay). Downtown Toronto reminded me a lot of Europe except it was only a 2.5 hr flight from home. In Winnipeg you can go to one of the main "shopping streets" and find a mix of vintage stores, moderately priced independantly owned retail outlets and various chain stores that you find in the malls. But in Toronto, and like in Europe, there is an abundance of it.
The start of our shopping was the beginning of Su's spending downfall. I'm cheap. I get it from my mom. I can't help but be frugal with my money and I'm always looking for a good deal. The first 3 stores we had visited, Su had spent probably $80-$100. By the 4th store, I had spent $30, on 3 t-shirts, for $10 a piece. Not too shabby. For lunch we went to a sushi chain store called Ho Su Bistro. There lunch specials are very reasonably priced, although I wish I had opted out of the sushi/sashimi bento box I ordered for something simple like chicken teryiaki. The salad was delicious, I should have asked them what the dressing was because I couldn't get enough of it. Everything was fresh, but I found the sashimi pieces were huge and extremely difficult to eat.
Su's friend Dylan met up with us after Ho Su and we proceeded to walk through China Town and into Kensington Market. I wish we had something even remotely like the China Town they have in Toronto in Winnipeg. Or at least the same prices for produce. I purchased a box of strawberries for 99 cents. At home, it would have cost me at least $4, if not more. In Kensington Market Su and I split up to look around. I was really disappointed with all that the market is hyped up to be. I do like vintage, but the vintage I like is $3 jacket kind of vintage. Not vintage from the 1960's that I have to fork out $60-$100 for. I did find one local shop there with really adorable, all local DIY stuff, but of course, the prices were out of my price range.
From Kensington we jumped on the 505 railcar and made our way down to Eaton Place Shopping Center. It was nice to go indoors for a bit, but not worth really staying since majority of the stores there we have at home. However it was here that Su made her big purchase at Coach, some fancy overpriced purse store. I don't notice labels, nor to I understand the appeal of Coach. After killing probably an hour walking back and forth through the 3 levels of Eaton Place, we headed home. Dead. Sore. We walked way too much Friday and it probably killed us for the remainder of the weekend. My feet hurt bad...
continue shortly...