Hello everyone!
After having delicious yet expensive chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast from room service, I made my way to LAX. While eating lunch and waiting for my flight to Toronto, Kurtis kept me company on Skype. Before I knew it, I was walking through the exit gates and seeing my family again for the first time in months. Mum and I both bawled our eyes out. It was so weird seeing them in person again! Dad looked thinner, and Luke looked taller, tanner and more muscly! I got lots of big hugs, even one from Luke haha! We caught a shuttle bus to our hotel. Mum couldn't stop staring at me and holding onto my arm. She wanted to hear all my stories from the past 4 and a half months! Luke wanted to tell me so many jokes. I think he secretly missed me ;)
On our first day together we went to a restaurant called Eggspectation for brunch. They served so many options for all day breakfast. It was so hard to decide!
We then went shopping along the street and inside the Eaton Centre which is their main downtown mall. This is where I got my snow boots! I wore them every day for the next 3 weeks, such a good purchase! That night we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner then went to the Air Canada Centre to see the Toronto Raptors vs. Sacramento Kings basketball game. They lost 105 - 96. The cheerleaders were pretty crap too! Nothing compared to UBC's cheerleaders (Clara!) haha.
Eggspectation was so good that we went there for brunch again the next day! This time I had s'mores french toast and it was so amazing. It was two slices of french toast filled with nutella and marshmallows, then topped with maple syrup, chocolate sauce and strawberries.
We then walked through the city and saw some interesting architecture.
We went to the St. Lawrence Market which is a huge food market. We didn't buy anything though.
We then walked to the Harbourfront Centre. Along the way Luke and I posed in the snow and threw snowballs at each other. Oh sibling love.
The Harbourfront didn't really have much. There was an ice skating rink but it didnt have a wall around the outside to hold onto so I didn't want to go! I know, such a chicken.
We then got a taxi to the Ricoh Coliseum to watch the Toronto Marlies vs. Rockford Icehogs ice hockey game.
Our seats were in the front row right behind the wall on the side of one of the goals. It was so crazy whenever a puck or hockey player slammed into the wall right in front of us. It was scary and I screamed but I loved it! A few players got into full on fights where they took off their gloves and helmets. Sometimes the refs did nothing! Hockey is such an exciting sport. The Marlies won 5 - 2! Yay!
After the game, we walked around for ages in the cold trying to find a taxi. We finally found one and went back to the hotel. Mum and I quickly had Subway for dinner then went and saw the Wizard of Oz musical. It was so good! I really enjoyed it. Dad and Luke went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
After the show we took us photos in the plaza near our hotel.
The next day we walked past Nathan Phillips Square and saw people ice skating.
We then continued on and walked through Chinatown, which I thought was pretty dodgy, to get to the Art Gallery of Ontario. It had so many different kinds of art but our favourites was the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit, as me and Luke had learnt about Frida in art in high school, and the Evan Penny exhibit. Penny's works were sculptures made out of silicone and horse hair that seriously looked like real people. It freaked me out so much! I had never seen anything like it before.
We then walked through Kensington Markets. It kind of reminded me of Newtown in Sydney, but a lot creepier and dodgy. I felt unsafe there and wanted to leave straight away. We got a taxi to the Distillery District which was a much nicer area with fancy stores and cafes. For some reason a lot of stores were closed and the streets were pretty quiet. We walked around the streets and bought some chocolate, then went into a cafe for a late lunch.
Before heading back to the hotel we went back to the Eaton Centre and Luke bought some things.
I got to skype Kurtis then we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Joey's that we had been to back in Vancouver in August. We knew they had amazing desserts, so we made sure to save some room for them.
The day after, we went on a tour to Niagara Falls. Our shuttle bus picked us up downtown and we drove about an hour and a half to the falls. First, we went to the Skylon Tower and rode the elevator up to the observation deck where we could see Niagara Falls. They were really impressive. There was so much mist from the power of the water.
Our tour guide then dropped us off at the falls. We got to see them up close and take lots of photos, then walk along the path and see both the American and Canadian Falls from different angles.
We then had some lunch and walked around the town.
We got back on the bus and had a couple of stops to get out and see different views. One was of the water below us with fisherman, and another to see the hydro dam. We didn't really see the point in stopping to see them. Our next stop was in the town called Niagara On The Lake. We had a chance to walk around and check out the stores. They had Cow's Icecreamery there, which we visited in Banff, so Dad and I had to get some of their delicious icecream. In another store I also got a Christmas ornament. We then travelled to a winery. Mum and Dad tried some ice wine. Luke and I were given some virgin wine to drink, which was just juice but it tasted like wine to me, and wasn't very nice. We headed back to Toronto and chilled in our hotel room for awhile. At this stage I still had my Contiki cold, and I had given it to Dad. We went out to dinner at a restaurant called Bannock which was sooo good. We all shared chicken pot pie, pulled pork and macaroni and cheese quesadillas, and roast duck poutine pizza. They were all amazing.
On our last day in Toronto we walked to the CN Tower and went up to the observatory.
It was a bit cloudy but we still got some alright views.
They had a glass floor section where you could see all the way to the street. It was awesome! It didn't scare me at all, I was laying down on it haha!
We went up even higher in the skypod which was a much better view.
We then went to the Harbourfront Centre again and Mum and Luke went iceskating. I would have constantly fallen over without the wall so Dad and I were the photographers.
We then went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and saw all the jerseys and trophies, including the Stanley Cup. Sorry Toronto, but the Vancouver Canucks will always be my favourite hockey team!
Love,
Emily
Emily
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