Erwin, Chingyuh and me set off in the wee hours of the morning to Toronto, Ontario. This was a superbly last minute decision, with little planning done. Ok, actually Erwin and Chingyuh did all the planning cos I was Very Busy planning for my upcoming trip. But they say that they didn't do much anyway.
We drove koksong's camry down. Ok, actually Erwin and Chingyuh did [sounds familiar huh], and I happily slacked. Well, at least I stayed awake for most of the journey to keep the driver awake ok! We reached after what, 4-5 hours. Erwin had to declare his leave at the US customs but we kinda missed the entrance, ending up at the Canadian side. So we had to drive back to the US side and wait for like, an hour, before they cleared it for him. Kinda silly.
On the bridge, the speed limit was... 15mph (~23kph) . Madness, how to drive like that. And they had displays showing your speed so you really couldn't go fast. The dumbest thing was that everyone else heck cared the rule and went really fast but we humji. Haha.. We did try to go faster whenever lorries came by, by hiding behind them.
We drove koksong's camry down. Ok, actually Erwin and Chingyuh did [sounds familiar huh], and I happily slacked. Well, at least I stayed awake for most of the journey to keep the driver awake ok! We reached after what, 4-5 hours. Erwin had to declare his leave at the US customs but we kinda missed the entrance, ending up at the Canadian side. So we had to drive back to the US side and wait for like, an hour, before they cleared it for him. Kinda silly.
On the bridge, the speed limit was... 15mph (~23kph) . Madness, how to drive like that. And they had displays showing your speed so you really couldn't go fast. The dumbest thing was that everyone else heck cared the rule and went really fast but we humji. Haha.. We did try to go faster whenever lorries came by, by hiding behind them.
After successfully crossing the NY/Ontario borders, there was another 1+h drive to Toronto. Our first mission was to look for a dimsum place for a leisurely breakfast! The gps first brought us to this Dim Sum Palace place but it was closed. We also saw a 'fatimah' [ok, it was a guy actually], giving a vehicle a parking ticket, so I made a mental note never to break any parking laws here. Next we decided to find our hotel first and perhaps park there, and then take public transport. The horrible toronto hotels all charge for parking, and ramada charged $17 for parking per night. My my. We decided to just drive out instead.
Thanks to our dearest gps, we easily located Chinatown, and we found meter parking around the corner at the Art Institute.
Thanks to our dearest gps, we easily located Chinatown, and we found meter parking around the corner at the Art Institute.
Really very arty farty.
I wondered how this tree managed to grow on the wall!
The squirrels here are black!
Dim Sum Breakfast
We weren't quite sure where to eat, so I decided to ask someone. A lady working at some VCD shop gave us a few choices of good dimsum places, and we settled for Sky Dragon.. in one of the highest floors of this building.
Dimsum was, Fantastic. It was really the traditional pushcart kind, and everyone spoke Cantonese, er, except us. My cantonese consists of 'Har gow' and 'Siew Mai'. Hehe at least that we could order. The rest we had to make the aunties open the lil bamboo long2s to show us, but they were very friendly and helpful. One of them even got told off by their supervisor cos the supervisor saw us frantically calling her when she was walking off already. The supervisor insisted that we had called the waitress when she was at our table and that she didnt hear us, when actually we were too slow ourselves. Oops. Really enjoyed the dimsum, and the xiang pian tea.. slurps. And it wasn't even expensive.
Seeing all the chinese families enjoying their food and speaking cantonese there really made me miss my parents! Can't wait for them to visit me.
Art Gallery of Ontario
We then shifted the car to another spot with $1/h parking [our original spot costed $1.50/h] haha. It was all parallel parking so we left the driving to Erwin. Then we walked back to the Art Gallery of Ontario, next to the art institute. We purchased a Citypass there, which allows us to go to 6 places of interest in Toronto within 9 days.
What I liked about the Gallery was that they tried to make it as interactive as possible. There was also this lady who walked around explaining the background to some of the pieces. That's the only time when they are interesting. It's freaking boring to walk around when you have no idea what the art is about.
Seeing all the chinese families enjoying their food and speaking cantonese there really made me miss my parents! Can't wait for them to visit me.
Art Gallery of Ontario
We then shifted the car to another spot with $1/h parking [our original spot costed $1.50/h] haha. It was all parallel parking so we left the driving to Erwin. Then we walked back to the Art Gallery of Ontario, next to the art institute. We purchased a Citypass there, which allows us to go to 6 places of interest in Toronto within 9 days.
What I liked about the Gallery was that they tried to make it as interactive as possible. There was also this lady who walked around explaining the background to some of the pieces. That's the only time when they are interesting. It's freaking boring to walk around when you have no idea what the art is about.
For children to tinker around with
A corridor where you could draw yourself and they would display it!
Too bad I can't draw for nuts.
We would have loved to stay longer and listen to the lady unfold stories behind the art, but we were bounded by the parking timing and we refused to get a ticket so we had to run off. Well, at least part of the gallery was under construction so the exhibit wasn't really that huge.
Royal Ontario Museum
Next up was, the Royal Ontario Museum. No idea what to expect there, but it was part of the 6 attractions. Yeah, it was really good to buy the citypass cos then you don't have to think too much about where to go and how much it costs! Brainless travelling.
Royal Ontario Museum
Next up was, the Royal Ontario Museum. No idea what to expect there, but it was part of the 6 attractions. Yeah, it was really good to buy the citypass cos then you don't have to think too much about where to go and how much it costs! Brainless travelling.
Outside the entrance of the museum.
Another one of those rub ___'s toe and get lucky thingies
That All Men May Know His Work
Pretty marble columns, and a totem pole in the middle
grizzly bear
Some guy's tomb, and a horse carriage
Ok this is not part of the exhibit but I lurve that coffee table
Intricate little box, and those on the right are hair ornaments! I want!
Yes that's a ingot! They aren't as regularly shaped as those in the movies! and pretty glass bowls from the qing dynasty [1750 - 1911]
Folding chair! cute right.
Piano, with a beautiful painting of angels below the lid
I have no idea how they fashioned this nautilus shell into such a beautiful object. And they used it as a cup! Madness.
This is a little kit that women used to bring along with them, 300 years ago. Freaking cute lah. I also want. I was really fascinated by the ivory notebook, which they could write on with a pencil and then wipe it off to be used again. Idea leh, it is so compact! Why they had to bring a ear cleaner around with them, I don't know. I also do not know how their fingers managed to fit in the handles of that pair of scissors.
Casa Loma
We were again confined by the parking meter.. We zoomed past the remaining exhibits, and we missed a couple I guess. Next up.. the Casa Loma. In short, it is a castle that was owned by some very rich guy. Sadly, he became bankrupt later though.
Casa Loma
We were again confined by the parking meter.. We zoomed past the remaining exhibits, and we missed a couple I guess. Next up.. the Casa Loma. In short, it is a castle that was owned by some very rich guy. Sadly, he became bankrupt later though.
I hate it when people don't know how to take photos properly. This guy cut off the top of the castle can? The worst part is that you still have to pretend you like pict cos they were nice enough to take the photo for ya.
Where he kept his flowers
Secret stairways leading up.. Love it!
We could go up to the attic, and also down to the basement which had tunnels leading to the stables! It was freaking smelly though. The yellowish picture shows the heater in the basement, which was used to heat thousands of tonnes of coal. No wonder Sir Henry went bankrupt.
The purplish skies matched my outfit completely. Haha!
Dinner was found in a little cafe 'Not Just Noodles' near Yonge Street, which had a lot of people inside so we decided it should be pretty good. I ordered a beef horfun which wasn't fantastic but oh well, at least it is horfun! And it was sooo huge I couldn't finish it so i packed half of it which I wolfed down the next morning. The cutest thing was that they had bubble tea! haha!
After a very big dinner, we strolled down Yonge Street, which is the Longest street in the world! Of course I didn't know that at the time, I overheard this ang moh telling his female friend that at the top of the CN Tower the next day. He seemed to know a lot so we tried following him around to see if he gave more interesting bits of info about the town. Haha. Some googling confirms it.. Luckily we didn't attempt to walk all the way down the entire stretch of the street. Hurhur. There were pretty decorations and all for Christmas.
Woohoo, pretty explicit marketing eh.
Best Buy christmas tree, and a Swarovski Christmas tree in a real shopping center. [as opposed to those groups of little shop houses in cleveland which are also called shopping centers]
After a long tiring day of travel, we finally made it to our Ramada inn. It was actually high rise as well, I'm so used to those 1 or 2 level motels in the US. After enquiring about parking again, the rate somehow became $20 a night. Damn weird. Freaking daylight robbery man. Ok it was night but u know what I mean. Anyways we decided to circle the area and we found a municipal parking area which charged us only $4 but we had to be there by 6am the next morning.
We found this freaky light in the hotel toilet.. Haha! Our guess is that it's for tanning. But really weird lah! Feels like it will just totally kill all your skin cells.
After a long tiring day of travel, we finally made it to our Ramada inn. It was actually high rise as well, I'm so used to those 1 or 2 level motels in the US. After enquiring about parking again, the rate somehow became $20 a night. Damn weird. Freaking daylight robbery man. Ok it was night but u know what I mean. Anyways we decided to circle the area and we found a municipal parking area which charged us only $4 but we had to be there by 6am the next morning.
We found this freaky light in the hotel toilet.. Haha! Our guess is that it's for tanning. But really weird lah! Feels like it will just totally kill all your skin cells.
Haha. totally tak glam. Don't ask me what both of them were doing in the toilet at the same time. =)
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