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Day 2 - Toronto (15 October ‘23)

Updated: Oct 23, 2023


I have moved! Tumblr was being really annoying with expecting people to create Tumblr accounts to view posts. Nah. I will look at moving the rest of the Tumblr blog over at some point, but for now Wix is my new home. Welcome!

After a long day yesterday, we had a solid nights sleep and a bit of lie in. It was delightful - we really needed it. We had a decent breakfast in the apartment and headed out for 11am. It was the Toronto marathon today and so some of the downtown and harbour areas were closed off, public transport was a bit all over the place and although it might have been interesting to watch the event we decided to steer clear and head West to Islington. This area of Toronto is known as the 'Village of Murals'. On the side of many of the shops in the main street were pretty amazing murals that had been created by local artists. Most of them were nods to the history of Islington and Toronto and so it was a sort of street art tour with a bit of history thrown in. We mooched around the village checking them all out and it was really quite impressive.


Once we were done, we jumped back on the subway and headed to an Ice Hockey game. We weren't able to find sensibly priced tickets for the Maple Leafs (the main Toronto Ice Hockey team) for the night before, but we found that the second Toronto team were playing today. If the Maple Leafs are in the premier league, the Toronto Marlies are in the Championship (sort of). They were playing the Utica Comets (from New York state).


The atmosphere (like many American sports events) was immense. Kirstie managed to grab cheap tickets in the fifth row - just behind the Perspex screen. We could see the players up close getting smashed up against the screen. We wanted to leave the game early to head to the CN tower for the end of the daylight, sunset and night time views and so we left when the score was 4-1 to the Marlies (the game ended 5-2). We also managed to see a couple of fights, one of which got a bit too out of hand leading to one of their players not going to the sin bin but actually being sent back to the changing room. Naughty naughty. We got the Streetcar to the CN tower. It was quicker than we expected and so we wandered over to the lake and grabbed a cuppa at a Tim Hortons (Canadian classic and founded by an Ice Hockey player!). We headed to the CN tower and went up in the elavator - there was a fella in there with us really struggling with the heights - he was also in the elevator with us on the way down.

The views from the tower were spectacular.


Toronto was bigger than I had imagined and it was nice seeing it go from day to night. There were absolutely loads of posers having full on photo shoots (with Tripods etc), which was kind of annoying for everyone else who wanted to actually look out over the city, but we just had to get on with it and muscle in on their shots a bit.


After the CN Tower visit we headed back to the apartment. Off to Niagara tomorrow, so we need to get up and get going in the morning!


Yes this is a mural on the side of a building! An artists impression of what might have been going on inside the building at the time.


Article 13 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights


A bit of poetry on the walls. Themed around human rights.


A scary looking couple. Probably annoyed about the wheelie bin cluttering their alley.


A scene of a school football match which was flyered by a Lancaster bomber with leaflets about a school dance, some of which were free tickets. To the left a cabbage field which got trashed by people trying to get the free tickets.


Princes' Gate. Snazzy.


Up close and personal...


Face off! Toronto Marlies in white and blue.


The CN Tower. Oh and us. And a bunch of red leaves.


Toronto. It's a biggun'


On the banks of Lake Ontario


Night mode...


A couple of chumps blocking the view...


Union Station, Toronto. Not bad.




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