T to the O - Part Deux

I absolutely freakin' LOVE Toronto.

In most of my travels, I have a pretty solid routine that involves some wandering around, punctuated with lots of breaks to laze around my hotel room and see if there's anything else I want to bother going back out for. Not so, this time.

All day, I've just wanted to be out, not really doing much, just being in the city. I finally forced myself back, though, because I was spending too much money. I need to chill for a bit before heading out again. I could stay here forever.



I opted against going up in the CN Tower, but I did go to the entrance. This photo also includes the CBC building, which makes it possibly the most Canadian photo I could have taken. In just a few hours this afternoon, I did some shopping, considered hopping into the Much Music request booth on Queen Street, drank an Ontario craft ale, and even saw a small parade advertising the brilliance of something called Falun Dafa hold up traffic for a few minutes. This place rules.

Of course the best part was the Hockey Hall of Fame. For this atheist, it was a cathedral. I can understand why it's called Le Temple de la Renommee du Hockey in French. And yes, that's the actual ceiling in the trophy room.

The Hall of Fame isn't very big, so I went through and saw everything twice. I bought totally overpriced souvenirs. I took pictures of all kinds of nerdy things like a team Finland Olympic jersey worn by the guy that my cat is named after. I saw both the current and original Stanley Cups. Did you know that Seattle had one of the very first US hockey teams, pre-dating the NHL? Do you care? Well I do. And it was AWESOME.

I'm forcing myself to take a break and not spend any money until dinnertime, when I fully expect to find myself drinking more local beers and paying way too much for pub food. This is the financial district, after all; nothing but tourists and bankers here.

Tomorrow I'll get back in the car and head down to Niagara-on-the-Lake. No idea yet what that part of the province will hold. I'm staying in a Missassauga/Toronto airport hotel Monday, but based on how much I love TO, I can bet I'll be fighting the traffic back downtown for one last fling before I go. If I can afford it.

Man, I love it here. If only they had less a hateful hockey team. Damn Leafs. Canada's Team, my ass!