Toronto - The Armpit of Canada (...not according to me)

 In 2023 I decided to put on my big girl pants and make the most of Adam's work trips. 

The furthest I'd travelled on a plane by myself had been to Liverpool, a 30 minute hop, skip and jump across the water. 

You would think then that little old me would take it slow and maybe head to Europe, 2 or 3 hours should do it, right? 

Wrong. 

It was time to make the journey to Canada! 

…

With my brother and I known for 'nothing being straightforward', we found ourselves on the hard shoulder of the motorway to Dublin at 5am; me standing with my phone torch shining on him while he changed the tyre that had just popped on route to the airport. 

Thankfully he had a spare and we were on the road again, I caught my flight but he was extremely late for work travelling at 50mph the whole way home! 

I arrived at Dublin airport with hand luggage only so I sailed through security, and waited to board the 7 and a half hour flight to Toronto. 

…

I was weirdly calm going through the motions, survived the flight, used my very detailed description of Toronto airport to make my way to the train and headed into the city. 

Once I found the hotel, I very awkwardly told the man 'my husband already has a room' and settled into the comfy hotel bed while I waited on Adam finishing work. 

I then headed for a little solo trip around the city. I walked over to the CN Tower, spotted some maple leaves on my way to Nathan Phillips Square and moseyed around the Eaton Centre before the sun started to set and I began to feel vulnerable walking alone in a city I'd never been to before. 

By now it was then time to explore with my husband in tow - or rather me in tow (now that I had been a big girl for 24 hours it was time to sit back, relax and enjoy being passenger princess again). 

We hopped on the tram and headed to School resturant where we had the most delicious pancakes and french toast complete with maple lattes. 

When in Rome. 

We explored the area by foot and made our way over to Exhibition Place, BMO Field and  Coronation Park. We boarded a tram again and went over to explore the famous Kensington Market. 

Such a vibey area with great food, cool street art and the cutest little markets. A dream for someone like me who loves to potter around and take it all in. After having delicious bagels at Nu Bagel and drooling over the donuts from Dipped Donuts we needed a good old walk.

We upped our step count by heading to Graffiti Alley. 

We love somewhere like this, big fans of street art and Adam could spend about 3 hours taking photos from all angles and I could pose for the insta all day. Even if you aren't that interested I definitely think it's worth a visit, a free art gallery on the streets of Toronto. 

Our next stop was CN Tower - we had booked tickets to climb (...use a lift) to the top of the tower for sunset. After joining a bit of a queue we managed to reach the top around 6:15pm, we explored around and took lots of pictures and videos and waited on the sun setting. 

We were there mid October so we weren't expecting much, however seeing over the city, all light up in the darkness of night sky was so beautiful. Obviously we went to the gift shop before dandering round to the Nathan Phillips Square and the Eaton Centre together this time. 

We had to try a Canadian delicacy: poutine. 

We tried it for the first time from New York Fries in the Eaton Centre and it was delish! Heading to bed with full stomachs before making the bus trip to Niagara Falls. 

With an early start to the bus station and a bit of a drive ahead of us, we arrived at our hotel in Niagara Falls and the first thing on our minds was (you guessed it), breakfast. We walked 2 minutes out of our hotel and the options were Hooters or Denny's, so we opted for Denny's, having been to neither, this seemed like the safest choice I could make. 

It was time to explore the town of Clifton Hill before heading down to the Falls for our first item on the itinerary. 

Love it or hate it, Clifton Hill is an experience. For me a  level of tack is cringe - bit of an ick. BUT if you fully commit to tacky and aim for an abundance of sensory overload I flipping love it. 

It's a fine line. 

and Clifton Hill crosses it. 

There is nothing more appealing to me than garish colours, flashing lights, circus music, Ferris Wheels, haunted houses, glow in the dark mini golf, a museum of curiosities paired with the scrumptious scents of sweets, popcorn, churros and chocolate. 

I am SOLD. 

My senses were overwhelmed, I didn't know where to begin. But we explored this random little town, like something I've never experienced before. We went on the Ferris Wheel and got a view of the falls from a distance and wandered around Ripley's Believe It or Not, like two little children. 

It was time to head down to get our first experience of Niagara Falls from the Canada side. After taking 7000 pics, we explored the small visitors centre before taking to the Zipline. 

There are lots of ways to experience the Falls and this was by far one of the best. I could've gone up and down about 15 times but it was pretty cool nonetheless.

The next day we tried some of the other ways to enjoy Niagara Falls. This inculded us having our Jim & Pam moment (iykyk) on the Hornblower and feeling the full force of the falls on Journey Behind the falls. 

Journey behind the Falls was probably our least favourite activity but it was still interesting enough. The hornblower going into the Falls was so fun; it was extremely busy but ran so smoothly. We were cry-laughing with how wet and crazy it was, it was 10/10! 

We finished off our Niagara Falls experience by exploring Clifton Hill in the dark think time where all the lights and sounds were in their full glory. We shopped for some souvenirs, ate pancakes at IHOP and treated ourselves to some ice cream with coloured sprinkles. 

It was time to leave Clifton Hill and Niagara Falls and head back to Toronto. We did some more sight seeing and after we caught a water taxi over to Toronto Island. Which was all very random. 

I am assuming it is because we went during off-peak season that the place was completely abandoned and our lunch plans were then scuppered. But, it did allow us to get some good pictures of the Toronto skyline and enjoy a beautiful big walk before we got the free ferry back. 

Unfortunately it was then time to catch the train to the airport and make our way back to Dublin. 

A short trip over to Canada but a very worthwhile experience. I loved the yummy food, chilled city vibes, tacky Clifton Hill and stunning Niagara Falls. My only negative would be it is SPENNY. I was shocked at the cost of something so small like a bottle of water, so bare that in mind if you ever make the trip. 

I sat beside a lady on another flight who was from Canada and when I told her I had been to Toronto she called it 'the armpit of Canada!' There are so many other part of Canada I would LOVE LOVE to explore but for now if Toronto is the armpit I cannot wait to see more. 

Debbie x