Over Memorial Day weekend, we took a quick trip to Toronto with Adam's brother, Steve, and his wife, Elizabeth. We finally got to experience Megabus and loved it! We especially loved that the bus made a rest stop at a casino in Erie, PA on the way there. Too funny.
We arrived in Toronto around two in the afternoon on Saturday. First things first, we checked into our hostel, which is actually a university dorm during the school year. Then we made our way to Kensington Market. It was so huge and multicultural, which is fitting because Toronto is actually one of the most diverse cities in the world. More than half of it's population was born outside of Canada!
We picked up some Pad Thai sauce {one of our favorite meals that we can't wait to recreate at home} and some comte cheese. When we studied abroad in Provence, we ate comte all the time and even used it to make the most amazing mac & cheese. We've searched grocery stores in Houston and Pittsburgh with no luck. So we were super excited to find it in a little cheese shop!
Next, we headed to the University of Toronto, where we snacked on cheese and crackers. The campus is full of pretty ivy-covered buildings. And the library looks like a peacock.
We had a delicious dinner at a little restaurant in Chinatown.
The "Lucky Moose" Village cracked me up. What a Chinese-Canadian thing to say!
After dinner, we headed back to the hostel. You could go up to the roof and check out a great view of the Toronto skyline.
The next morning, we woke up early for Mass at St. Micheal's Cathedral. It was beautiful, but with much more of a European feel than cathedrals we've seen in America.
We picked the perfect weekend to visit because Sunday was the annual "Open Doors Toronto" day, which meant that a ton of attractions were offering free admission!
We checked out the Toronto Botanical Gardens, where I amused myself by playing around with my camera settings.
Then, we visited the home of Toronto's first mayor, William Mackenzie, and learned a little Canadian history.
We had lunch at a charming cafe and then headed to the Inuit Art Museum. Our favorite piece was definitely the Inuit chess set!
We saw the Canadian Walk of Fame, featuring celebrities from Alexander Graham Bell to Jim Carrey.
We walked down to the harbor to see Lake Ontario. It was pretty chilly by the water, so we warmed ourselves up with doughnuts and hot chocolate from Tim Horton's {basically the Dunkin Donuts of Canada, but much better in my admittedly biased opinion}.
We ended the trip with a Second City show. It was our third time to see one of their shows - we've been to the Chicago location and seen them on tour in Pittsburgh. Kind of ridiculous, I know, but they are just such a hilarious bunch!
By far, the highlight of the trip {and quite possibly my life} came at the very end of the show. Second City did a skit about us! Crazy, right? The skit started out with couple, named Adam and Caitlin, who lived in Pittsburgh and got married young. Once all this information had been revealed, we were very confused but also laughing hysterically. Then they asked us to come up on stage!
The skit went on to reveal that we went to Pitt, what we're studying, and where we went to high school. At this point, we still had no clue what was going on. Where the heck did they find all this information?
Well, a screen dropped down with Adam's Facebook profile! Only friends can see our "walls" and pictures, but anyone can see the info page, which is how they figured out all that stuff. It was pretty much the coolest thing ever, especially since we're such big Second City fans.
The next morning, we hopped on a bus back to Pittsburgh. Three days later, I still ask Adam every five minutes, "Can you believe Second City did a skit about us?" But, seriously, the second most awesome thing about the trip was how cheap it was.
Budget Breakdown:
Megabus Tickets - $4.50
2 Nights in a Hostel - $95.00
Meals - $87.00
Second City Tickets - $40.00
Grand Total: $226.50
Just a little over $100 per person for a weekend in Toronto. Not bad, right?
Awesome. I can't BELIEVE Megabus is so cheap! We really want to go to Toronto. We were considering it for a honeymoon spot, but put it off, deciding we could go "anytime" since it's driveable (rather than where we did end up going, New Orleans). BUT I didn't realize that after I changed my name, it would cost $65 to update my stupid passport. I thought it would be free, like it was with everything else. So stupid. That's a lot to spend just to take a trip to Canada...
ReplyDeletelooks like a very very fun trip!
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