My day in Toronto
On my way to Poland for the International Climate Change Conference, I set myself up with a 7 hour layover in Toronto and one in Dublin.
When I landed in Toronto, I had an afternoon to go explore the city which ended up being great, especially since I had never been to anywhere in Canada.
First I went to the CN Tower, which is this massive tower there originally built to help give the city more reception. Inside gives a whole view of the city. It was a cloudy day, but still cool up there.
[Also, student ID gives nice discounts in so many places, probably saved $15–20 this dawy for being a student, including at the tower].
I almost went to the hockey hall of fame, but decided instead to go to Kensington Market, which was a cool hipstery area. It wasn’t too crowded, but I walked through Chinatown on my way and stopped for the best soup dumplings I’ve ever had (only ever had them a few times, but they were awesome). Then went to this vegan restaurant that was maybe the best I’ve ever eaten at.
Then, walking back I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario which was an amazing museum. Wish I had more time, but there were tons of paintings of snow and mountains (logically), and many of beautiful landscapes.
It made me realize just how beautiful Canada must be.
And then there was lots of indigenous-related art, which I thought was also powerful.
It was awesome that there was a $12 round trip ticket I bought that was a train to and from the airport that made my journey into the city easy. Overall, very successful and fun layover :)
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I think being in Toronto, overall, helped me see once again how similar big cities are. Toronto certainly has its own culture and exciting pieces that make it unique, but it’s also a big city — 2.7M people and 6.4M in the greater Toronto area. That doesn’t discount anything, but in order to sustain a city so large, there are certain things that need to happen, and that makes it similar to other cities. Big buildings, sports teams, some cool attractions, a Chinatown, etc. Even in Canada.
I didn’t interact too much with the people there to say much other than that I felt an extra friendly vibe from them compared to the US. Wasn’t as different as I might have imagined, though.
