Canada – The First Impression

Yesterday night (11pm) we landed in the frozen giant’s capital – Toronto. Air Canada’s flight was as good as expected, well worth extra 50 quid (if you compare it with Air Transat). Except having slightly different accent, it was an English Summer in a full blossom (raining). For those who are planning to travel to Toronto, there is a very good public transport system. From the airport, you can take bus 192 and then subway to anywhere in the city for $2.75 (don’t forget to ask the driver for the transfer ticket). After an hour in the subway and 15 minutes walk, we finally arrived to Canadiana Backpackers Inn (http://www.canadianalodging.com/), a place we are going to call home for the next 4 days.

First (technically, it is our second) day was gloomy and rainy. Toronto is quite walkable, so we went to a new city hall (impressive curved skyscraper) and bought “hop on hop off” ticket. Don’t rush to buy it at the hotel as there are number of Double Decker bus companies and with different deals. We’ve got a 3 day ticket with Grey Line (http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/destinations/canada/toronto.go) which includes (it is called the neighbourhoods route) Downtown, East and West Toronto, and South and North Toronto routes for $32. After doing the Downtown and East and West Toronto routes, we explored Eaton Centre (was not my idea) and then took a ferry to a Toronto islands (the ferry terminal is about 30 minutes walk). The place (island) is a must visit and well worth $6.50; even if you do not plan to spend any time on the islands, the views from the ferry on the Toronto downtown are amazing! There are nice parks, animal farm, beaches, lakes, etc. on the island and too easy to spend the whole day there. When we returned to a mainland, we took a subway to York (north of downtown) where (apparently) lives a large Russian community. No offence, but every time I go to Russian communities, I want to live there less and less. In the end we went to a jazz club on @317 King St. West Toronto where they serve an amazing Italian and a range of cocktails for $5 each.

Alright, it is a long day tomorrow (being a tourist is not an easy thing) and time to sleep...

Ciao, John.

Travellers Tips: A trip on a (excellent) public transport in Toronto cost $2.75 and includes transfers. Don't forget to ask for a transfer ticket! If you are a student, do not forget to apply (and bring with you) for ISIC card! All the prices you see do not include state and government taxes!