Nothing Short of Awesome IV
And here we are, finally arriving at Toronto. I cannot understand why it took me until February to write this up but at last that momentous day has come.
Having left behind the wonderful city of Montreal, along with our two good friends Koviell and Aevsivs, we set off for the last leg of our journey at dawn, taking a Via Rail train from Montreal's Gare Centrale and arriving at Toronto's grand Union Station five hours later.
I was pretty excited for this as I had never taken a long-distance train journey anywhere in North America. The long ride gave me chance to see the Great Lakes for the first time ever (Xolani has seen them before from Detroit and Windsor).
Having reached Toronto we still had most of the day for running around and seeing the sights. First dropping off our luggage for storage proved troublesome as with Union Station undergoing renovation certain sections were moved or closed. Eventually we did find our way and took off for some food, ending up at Boston Pizza on Front Street.
Toronto amazed me with its grandeur, skyscrapers towering over us everywhere made it feel like a real metropolis. Naturally the iconic CN Tower contributed to that as you can see it pretty much from every point we'd been to on that day.
Unfortunately, this time we had to give CN Tower a miss due to time constraints and the entry price, instead opting for the nearby Hockey Hall of Fame. It turned out to be a fantastic choice. The highlight was definitely the intricately decorated trophy gallery with exact replicas of all the trophies awarded in the National Hockey League, including the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe Trophy, Jack Adams Award, Maurice Richard Trophy and others. I am hoping one day the Vancouver Canucks will have their names engraved on it. Had to bite my tongue when I heard some guy saying it's going to be the Boston Bruins' turn soon :P
Apart from wandering around and admiring the Hall's wonderful collection of memorabilia, we also took part in a puck shooting game. Turned out I have a very good shot and was on target 7/7 times, scoring three times XD
Bummer part was there are no pics from that and anything else that followed because derp croc accidentally deleted that part of the pictures. Nevertheless, after the Hall we wandered down to the waterfront, past the Air Canada Centre, and then slowly moved towards Union Station to pick up our luggage and hop on a train to the airport.
Toronto Pearson International Airport is one of the biggest airports I've been to (I think only Heathrow beats this one). The spaghetti interchange on the way to one of the terminals was particularly impressive. Less so for the crowds and delays we had encountered on the way but in the end we made it for out flight with plenty of time to spare.
Leaving Canada was the sad part. Those three weeks were an absolute blast. Not a single day had felt like a let-down in some way. Every moment was used to the full, and I reckon Xolani enjoyed himself greatly. As did I. Now I hope we can come back to this wonderful land and explore it further.
Having left behind the wonderful city of Montreal, along with our two good friends Koviell and Aevsivs, we set off for the last leg of our journey at dawn, taking a Via Rail train from Montreal's Gare Centrale and arriving at Toronto's grand Union Station five hours later.
I was pretty excited for this as I had never taken a long-distance train journey anywhere in North America. The long ride gave me chance to see the Great Lakes for the first time ever (Xolani has seen them before from Detroit and Windsor).
Having reached Toronto we still had most of the day for running around and seeing the sights. First dropping off our luggage for storage proved troublesome as with Union Station undergoing renovation certain sections were moved or closed. Eventually we did find our way and took off for some food, ending up at Boston Pizza on Front Street.
Toronto amazed me with its grandeur, skyscrapers towering over us everywhere made it feel like a real metropolis. Naturally the iconic CN Tower contributed to that as you can see it pretty much from every point we'd been to on that day.
Unfortunately, this time we had to give CN Tower a miss due to time constraints and the entry price, instead opting for the nearby Hockey Hall of Fame. It turned out to be a fantastic choice. The highlight was definitely the intricately decorated trophy gallery with exact replicas of all the trophies awarded in the National Hockey League, including the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe Trophy, Jack Adams Award, Maurice Richard Trophy and others. I am hoping one day the Vancouver Canucks will have their names engraved on it. Had to bite my tongue when I heard some guy saying it's going to be the Boston Bruins' turn soon :P
Apart from wandering around and admiring the Hall's wonderful collection of memorabilia, we also took part in a puck shooting game. Turned out I have a very good shot and was on target 7/7 times, scoring three times XD
Bummer part was there are no pics from that and anything else that followed because derp croc accidentally deleted that part of the pictures. Nevertheless, after the Hall we wandered down to the waterfront, past the Air Canada Centre, and then slowly moved towards Union Station to pick up our luggage and hop on a train to the airport.
Toronto Pearson International Airport is one of the biggest airports I've been to (I think only Heathrow beats this one). The spaghetti interchange on the way to one of the terminals was particularly impressive. Less so for the crowds and delays we had encountered on the way but in the end we made it for out flight with plenty of time to spare.
Leaving Canada was the sad part. Those three weeks were an absolute blast. Not a single day had felt like a let-down in some way. Every moment was used to the full, and I reckon Xolani enjoyed himself greatly. As did I. Now I hope we can come back to this wonderful land and explore it further.