Exploring Toronto

June 17, 2014 • Leave a Comment

"Is this really happening?" - asked sleepy James as he saw Vlad, Sheryll and I in the kitchen early Sunday morning ready for church. I guess we surprised him.

After late night out we decided to trade sleeping in for a dose of spirituality at James and Sheryll's local church. Later we had lunch at Sanremo Bakery located in Old Mimico which has been a local favourite (note Canadian spelling) since 1969. The boys got some italian sandwiches and pasta while us ladies got delicious greek salads with some bread. We also picked up a bit of dessert for the evening.

In the afternoon, Sheryll and I went for a 1.5 hour bike ride along Lake Ontario. I must say I was very pleasantly surprise at the beautiful waterfront of Toronto while we biked towards the city center. The path was fairly wide and most bikers were very polite, but hey, we were in Canada. I guess I should not expect anything less than that. We admired the architecture, docked boats, and some kids paddle boarding. At times it was hard to believe we were in Toronto.

After a nice workout we headed to The Keg for dinner. The Keg is a popular steakhouse chain in Canada, favoured by Vlad and James. I ordered a salmon dish which was very good while everyone else got some very red and bloody (they called them juicy) steaks. Yikes! I was praying for their stomachs hehe. The most impressive item we tried was their Caesar drink which is similar to Bloody Mary but a bit more elaborate. It made alcohol taste healthy and put the margarita I ordered to shame.

On Monday, James took a day off from work and showed us around town. He drove us to various neighborhoods of Toronto such as Beach area, Leslieville, Yong and Eglington, Roncesville and High Park. We explored different neighborhoods and were generally very impressed with the level of cuteness of the city. The architecture of old and new houses is very diverse and charming. There are also lots of high rises and new developments. New tall and glassy buildings are sprouting everywhere to make room for the growing population of Toronto. Currently, the city of Toronto’s population is marked at 2.6 million while that of the Greater Toronto Area is about 7.5 million. The city just surpassed Chicago in terms of population and is now the fourth largest in North America, right after Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles. Mayor Ford must be doing something right since so many people want to live in here.

Another great thing about Toronto is how diverse it is. There is a very large Filipino and Polish population making up about 4.5% and 3.9% of population respectively. During our family trip to Canada a few years ago, I remember visiting a huge Polish supermarket in nearby Mississauga. Today, while driving through the Roncesvalles area, we stopped at Chopin Restaurant for some delicious Polish food. Good thing we were starving because we ordered lots of delicious dishes. I have been missing my mom’s cooking so this was a good remedy.

When it comes to nature, Toronto pleasantly surprised us. Situated on a northwest shore of the huge Lake Ontario, the city has a 29 mile long shoreline. That means parks, walkways and bike paths along the water, overlooking marinas and the vast open lake which I experienced first hand during my Sunday bike ride with Sheryll. Even though many people do not recommend swimming in the lake, we saw lots of kids and adults paddle boarding and kayaking. And since we’re on a subject of large bodies of water, did you know that Toronto has islands located close to downtown? Islands with beaches! While they are not tropical, they are still pretty cool. The islands are home to Billy Bishop airport (a hub for Porter Airlines), a small residential community (get on a wait list if you want to live there), a large park, as well as sandy beaches (even a nude one!). Not too shabby, eh?