Discovering Toronto

Wednesday 4th September

Woke this morning to lovely clear blue skies and decided straight away that I would make the most of a clear day to go to the CN tower,  just in case it didn't last!

After breakfast, armed with my map and camera,  I set off.  I took a slightly detoured route passing through the University of Toronto.. The campus is massive and a real mix of old and new buildings.  What I forgot was this week is the start of term and today seemed to be the day when all the freshers were being 'recruited' into all the social clubs.. The grounds were packed with stalls from all the different societies getting sign ups.

I managed to work my way through them and headed for coffee.  Whilst Starbucks dominates,  there is one place which is a Canadian favourite,  Tim Hortons. Not only do locals love the coffee but they are also known for their donuts. I've got into the Canadian way and start my morning with a large double double. Basically filter coffee with double cream and double sugar.  Yup,  it's sweet but it's so good and really sets you up!

I walked for what felt like forever and eventually reached the CN Tower. It dominates the Toronto skyline and is the tallest free standing structure,  the 5th tallest building and also has the highest observatory. There are two levels.  The first is the main lookout that has a restaurant and all the usual stuff,  including a glass floor. Then even higher they have the sky pod. This is the highest observatory I mentioned and is some 446metres up.

They charge $32 to go up plus $12to go high up to the sky pod,  however,  if you have a reservation in the revolving restaurant, you don't have to pay the $32 and you jump all the queues. The restaurant had a 3 course pre fix menu for $55so I thought sod it and booked myself as table!

It was great,  food was good and as it was revolving you got the full 360view of Toronto! After eating a d looking about some more I headed down to the public ferries for a trip over to the Toronto Islands and the beaches. I docked at centre island and walked round to hanlan point... A good 4km walk.  I just made the last ferry back otherwise I would have had to walk the full 4km back to central island again!

Overall a long tiring day of walking.  Downtown Toronto is larger than Vancouver,  and has a very different feel to it.  It's much more a city here and fast paced. Whilst it's good,  I think I much preferred the more laid back Vancouver!