Toronto: The start of our Canadian Adventure

A discovered prior to our trip into Canada that she has a lot of Canadian relatives. In fact, her grandfather was born in Toronto before moving to Scotland. Armed with this new information, A and S were ready to find out more about this great nation.

We got off the bus in Toronto and made our way onto the main thoroughfare called Dundas Street. Always nice to find a street that makes you feel at home. Toronto is the most ethnically diverse city in the world and we got a feel for this as we walked along Dundas Street to our accommodation. The food places looked amazing; burritos, falafels, pizza, noodles. We were sold.

We found our hotel, dumped our bags and had a shower to wash away our 12 hour bus journey. We decided to explore downtown Toronto and grab something to eat. After a delicious dinner of noodles and cocktails we headed into Toronto’s bustling Chinatown and experienced our first ever Tim Hortons.

Now, we were unaware of this very popular Canadian coffee chain until we were told about it by our Canadian chums at teacher training college. A had visions of sounding like a true Tim Horton’s veteran by asking for a double double but the nerves got to her as she approached the counter so she chickened out and asked for a plain coffee. Oh well, better luck next time.

We were feeling pretty tired after the bus journey so we decided to go and watch the Dark Knight Rises which had just been released. We booked tickets and went for a quick drink in the classiest of all establishments; Hooters.

It was our first time in the ‘delightfully tacky, yet unrefined’ bar and eatery. The girls were gorgeous, the beers were good and we left ready to be suitably entertained by Mr Bale and co. They did not disappoint and the film received a round of applause at the end of the screening. This was a good reminder for us as to what continent we were on.

After a long lie the next day we had some brunch at Fran’s Diner and visited the Harbour. Dundas Square was also having an Eco Festival and S noticed that none other than Fefe Dobson (?) was playing later that night. More of that to come.

We decided to take in Toronto’s sights by taking a trip up the CN tower. This is the highest building in North America measuring in at 553.33metres high.

We waited around an hour to get the lift up to the viewing platform which also had a glass floor. We managed to keep ourselves entertained during the wait……..

Once we reached the top S sauntered onto the glass floor as if he was John Travolta walking onto a dance floor. However, A had developed a case of vertigo and couldn’t bring herself to step onto it. She looked around at other tourists who were lying sprawled across the glass floor posing for photos. Jordan aka Katie Price could’ve picked up a tip or two.

With S’s encouragement and support A managed to back onto the floor backwards. No Michael Jackson style moonwalk here, it was more like a baby’s first steps in reverse. She took a few snaps before she returned to the safety of the glass-less area. After taking a few photos of Toronto’s skyline we headed down and made our way to meet another Moray House survivor for dinner.

We met CS at Union Station complete with a Tim Hortons in her hand. A true Canadian! We headed to a restaurant on our favourite of streets, Dundas, and had a lovely dinner of fish tacos and steak. After dinner we returned to Dundas Square to witness none other than Canadian pop star extraordinaire Fefe Dobson (you can Google her). She was well up for it and gave a good show. We were sad to see her go go go like a ghost ghost ghost at the end of her set (if you’ve Googled her you’ll maybe get this)

After we bid a fond farewell to CS, we headed to the gay village. S was keen to check out Woody’s bar which was used in the US version of Queer as Folk. We managed to find it and had a few beers. A was fascinated with what was being screened on the TVs in the bar. All we will say is that it wasn’t the Wizard of Oz.

Time had flown and by the time we had got home from Woody’s, after a trip to a 24hour pizza place, we had only 4 hours until we were up early to visit one of the natural beauties of the world.

We rose early on Sunday about 6.30am and caught the bus to Niagara Falls. We were a little naive in thinking that the Falls were in the wilderness on their own à la Yosemite. We discovered on our arrival that a short distance from the magnificent natural wonder was a strip that would rival Blackpool’s tackiness.

We were a little disheartened by this as we felt it took away the beauty of the Falls. However, we chose to ignore this and concentrate on the magnificat sight that lay before us. And you know what?! It was totally fricking awesome.

We saw the two most visited sets of Falls, the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls which are on the Canadian side. Niagara Falls is separated by the US/Canadian border.

We took some photos from numerous vantage points and went on the Maid of the Mist, a boat that takes you even closer to the action.

Our dignity soon came crashing down like the water as we were soaked by wave after wave of Niagara mist. Luckily we had our bright blue ponchos. It was fantastic being so close to the Falls and experiencing first hand one of Nature’s most spectacular shows.

It turns out that Nature wasn’t quite done with us for the day. After having some lunch and deciding to relax in the sun with our books, the heavens decided to open. We were witness to a huge thunderstorm that decided to soak us once more.

Unfortunately our ponchos couldn’t protect our feet which were now sodden with beautiful Canadian rain. A quick trip was needed to Tim Hortons to dry off before the 1 and a half hour journey back to Toronto.

Toronto has given us a good first impression of Canada and we look forward to seeing if Montreal can continue this.

Much love,

S&A

4th of July and First Friday Fun

The last time we wrote, we were preparing for 4th of July. We understand the irony of two Brits celebrating the independence of a nation that gained that independence from defeating, well, us. However, 4th of July is more than just a celebration of America’s birthday, it’s a celebration of freedom and an excuse to drink and who doesn’t love that right? We hit up Santa Monica Beach in the morning, savouring the sea air. We ate at a great place called Bubba Gumps and practically filled up on shrimp. The thing we always forget about the States are the portion sizes, and S confesses to hiding some of his shrimp in a napkin so it appeared he had eaten more than he had. The waiter was full of banter and we felt bad. He was also kinda cute (that was S). Now, Bubba Gumps is inspired by the film Forrest Gump so our waiter/waitress (the latter was new so was being trained) treated us to a Forrest Gump quiz. Thank God for A and her compulsive film watching as S was pretty bad. We got a perfect score of 3/3.

After lunch we donned our Stars and Stripes underwear and prepared to party in West Hollywood with a bunch of Americans and the friend who was putting us up. It was awesome! All day drinking, BBQing, games of corn hole and general merriment make for a good party. Oh, and sparklers! How could we forget? S and A felt like celebrities with the constant attention – ‘oh my god! I love your accent, where are you from?’ A was asked if she was from Ireland… No comment.

Surprisingly, we felt perfectly fine next day. Our friend, let’s call him SB, had to work on the 5th which sucked for him but we decided to set off for Venice Beach and Pier to check out the apparent freakshows who parade up and down the boardwalk. We walked past Muscle Beach, took in a skate park, and was offered marijuana for medicinal purposes more than once. Did you know marijuana goes well with ice cream? No, us neither.

The beach was perfect, and the weather just right. Considering there are floods and rain that would cause Noah to start reaching for the wood back home, we are appreciative of every piece of sunshine. The tan is coming along nicely.

Driving back to SB’s we noticed a school that A thought looked very familiar. After a thorough investigation we found out it was the school that was used in Grease. A posed for probably too many photos outside doing the ‘well-a-well-a-well-a’ dance move. S expressed the same enthusiasm when he discovered Britney filmed her debut video at the school.

After overdosing on vitamin D all day, we headed back to SB’s apartment and took him and his roommate out to dinner as a thank you for having us. We went to a great diner called Swingers and had delicious shakes and food. The diner was used in the film Knocked Up in the scene the morning after the two characters do some knocking up. Thank goodness there was no awkward ‘I’ll call you’ chat at our table and we left feeling totally stuffed and about to burst. After dinner we and SB decided to go to West Hollywood and party with our American gay brethren. S and A literally had vodka on the rocks all night because it was more or less 5 parts vodka 1 part Sprite. The best bit about the night? Practically naked buff dancers on the bar in the Abbey. A couldn’t hide her blushes (and eyes).

Heading home, we all decided to strike a pose next to the Beverley Hills sign. Cue 25 photos and A’s best pout. S decided to recreate a scene from Scary Movie by running through the sprinklers next to the BH sign. 10/10 for Mr Mackenzie who managed to keep his composure and run elegantly while being sprayed with water. I don’t know if the residents of BH would agree though… We also went and got Sprinkles cupcakes…at an ATM! Cupcakes from holes in the wall? Why doesn’t this happen more often? A is ready to pitch the idea to Lord Sugar when she gets home ©

Our first Friday in the City of Angels saw a return visit to the beach at Santa Monica. The sun was out in all it’s Californian glory and we soaked up the rays while admiring the natives to Santa Monica. In the morning we made our way to a lovely little diner on Washington Blvd called Maxwell’s. If you ever go to LA you should visit. The food was delish. A finally got to sample some Mexican food which everybody had been raving about. After chilling on the beach at Santa Monica we made our way to visit the house that is used in American Horror Story.

After our initial challenges navigating the roads of LA we now have it down to a fine art; we are now experiencing the same road rage that some LA drivers display extremely well. We’ve been flipping people off and hooting the horn left, right and centre. S even ran a stop sign. Accidently.

We then headed back to SB’s where a gathering was in full swing for a trip to Venice for First Friday. We experienced a short LA bus ride to a strip in Venice that is lined with food trucks and packed bars and clubs to celebrate the first Friday of every month. A and S became quite excited when SB told them that Bill and Sookie from the hit HBO TV show True Blood lived in the area. Cue a rendition of ‘Sooooookieeeees’ for about 5 minutes.

We decided to take advantage of the food trucks on offer along the street. S opted for fish and chips from a truck called ‘Cod Save the Queen’. You can take the boy from Scotland…… A decided to make up for her lack of fruit and veg by having a slice of salad pizza. It shouldn’t work but oh my god it does! After some drinks in a bar and a walk home we hit the sack to rest ahead of our coastal drive to San Francisco. Which we have almost completed. We’re currently checked into a hotel and about to rest up for the final leg of the drive. We’ll leave you with a picture of part of the Pacific Coast Highway.

Much love,

S&A