Finally (you might say), I made it to my last stop: Toronto. I had heard many things about the city – most prominently I remember the saying that it’s “like New York run by the Swiss”. I definitely had to go and check out if there’s any truth to that (although my judgement might be seriously impaired, since I’ve never set a foot onto the city of New York). Coming in late in the evening from Winnipeg, I checked into the hostel and made myself comfortable, enjoying a quite night on the hostel’s rooftop. It’s hard to argue with a view like that.
Being that the Hostel was right off Spadina Avenue, I spent most of my days walking up and down the road, seeing places downtown and having coffee, or even – and now get this – vegan food (you read that right).
Oh well. Canada tries to turn me into a vegan. Delicious try, but I’ll still get a burger for dinner. A photo posted by Fabio (@nummerus) on
A few guys and I did go to a music club, a few blocks down on College Street. They played all the tunes I used to listen to about 10 – 12 years ago. Amazing! And everyone just shouted along, danced like there’s no tomorrow. It felt somewhat surreal, it’s been a special night.
The highlight of my stay was clearly the visit to the “Hockey Hall Of Fame”, where there’s all sorts of memorabilia, even of the swiss league and obviously everything about the NHL. I felt like a kid in the candy store, seeing all those trophies, game pucks, game worn jerseys and other gear. They had movies playing, about the ’72 Summit Series amongst other things.
They didn’t let me hoist the cup ? #stillahappycamper #fabioinparadise #stanleycup #hockey #hhof #halloffame A photo posted by Fabio (@nummerus) on
Another highlight was the day trip to Niagara Falls – I was simply blown away by the majestic size of the horseshoe falls, right on the boarder of the United States and Canada.
Then, on the last day of my trip I took the ferry out to the Toronto Islands, where you get the perfect & famous view of the Toronto Skyline.
Little by little, Toronto is making me fall in love with this view. #toronto #ontario #canada #torontoisland A photo posted by Fabio (@nummerus) on
That large tower in the middle, called CN Tower, is the largest construct in western hemisphere – and second largest in the world – only surpassed by Burj Khalifa. I wanted to get on top of it as well, but the lines were either too long, or the weather sub-par whenever I was around the corner, so it never really worked out. I suppose I’ll have to go back to do that one day.
All in all, I liked Toronto, I heard many people say it’s downtown core is a lot like New York, which is in line with my idea of what New York is like. I can’t tell you how they figured it is run like the swiss would run it, though. There was lots of honking (all of the time & for no reason!) and it all seemed comparably stressed and hectic, not like the laid back atmosphere I know from other Canadian cities. The hostel though – I had an absolutely amazing time, with lots of awesome people, that either just moved to the city or were fellow travellers – everyone was easy going and ready to have a good time.