Maple Leaf Blues
Trip Start
Unknown
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4
Trip End
Ongoing
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Friday, March 30, 2012
We had dim sum at the mall and then we went searching for charms to commemorate Toronto. Just outside the restaurant was a vendor selling portraits of Jesus - only, these were no ordinary portraits... Jesus was moving in the picture. I feel weird enough having "The Lord" looking at me as I do stuff, but having a Harry-Potter-esque Jesus picture hanging above my mantle was too much to even fathom. The Pacific Mall was not how I remembered it and had very few places where we could find things we'd want to buy. Maybe I just had much more inexpensive taste back then. Kristina referred to the mall as being "chintzy". I could not argue.
After that we made our way to Toronto in hopes of riding the guided hop on/off bus tour. After navigating our way through a harrowing parking garage (the ramps were so steep, I felt like I was driving off a cliff), we were informed that the last tour was half way through. We got on anyway. The tour guide had some interesting stories, we got off at the Distillery District.
There we tried sake rice wine at a sake tasting shoppe. This was the cold, unpasteurized kind and we had mixed feelings about it. Kristina prefers the warmer kind. I tried offering her some of the Japanese rice crackers, but the seaweed got stuck in her cheek and just made the bad sake worse. We then walked back the way we came to find the CN Tower.
Kristina really had to use the restroom (shocking) so we snuck into a children's community center. She wanted to ask for directions, but I told her that I was pretty sure we shouldn't be there. We snaked our way through the darkened halls and she found a locker room, close enough.
The CN Tower had some pretty good views and we could see out the elevator as we ascended, which you can't do at the Sears Tower. We went on the observation deck and I stood on the glass floor. Kristina closed her eyes and stood on one pane with one foot. On the way down, you can look at the elevator shaft, it reminded me of the tunnels in the Death Star. Where were the lasers and explosions?
Thus far, the trip was rather disappointing. Kristina wanted to cheer me up so she got a Canadian Kit Kat bar, she swore that it was a thousand times better than American. She was right, somehow... it tasted more like Belgian chocolate than the ones back home.
I suggested that we could go to Little Italy without the tour bus and find some dinner there. We ate at Marinella's Simply Italian on College Street. This is highly recommended. There, they have a 60 dollar boar dinner from snout to tail, five courses using boar. This is like something out of Iron Chef where the secret ingredient is boar.
They make their own bread, pasta, sausage, sauce and cheeses so everything was very fresh and very delicious. I had the Penne all Vodka and Kristina had the Marinara with Meatballs and Sausage. After that we had gelato for dessert: Pistachio, Ferrerro Rocher and Mango - they were all excellent.
We left with a bit of homesickness for the states growing inside our hearts.
