Oh CAN A DA!

Our trip north was a success in that we got our new visas. PHEW. Although it was more or less a given, you still do worry that SOMETHING may go wrong. I have to say, though, that air travel in these times is not fun. I remember when I was a kid, gosh, even only a few years ago when the kids were little, the feeling of excitement of going on a plane. In fact Kit and Ella chatted excitedly together in the car all the way to the airport even though it was 5:30 am when we left. But NO ONE can sustain that level of excitement when going from one long queue to another; when being shouted at, having to partially undress to go through security and all the steps on the tread mill before you get on the plane. OH MY! Then we sat on the runway for ages before we could even take off. When did a 1 hour flight take all day?

Any hoo, we got to Toronto in the afternoon and were thrilled to realise that it was RIGHT in the middle of "China town" (should really be called Vietnam town). We love Asian food, and it's not something we get to have a lot. We had a late lunch (yummo) and then wandered around in the dark. It was cold, but it was so fun just wandering around. We saw lots of scenes like this- they even have fish sitting out like that- it's all frozen.

The next morning we had to be up nice and early to get to the American Consulate by 7:45 am. More standing in line, more waiting, but all things considered, it took us less time to get our visas approved than it had in Sydney. We stopped in a lovely French coffee shop on the walk back to the hotel. Then we decided to brave the cold and the tram system and make our way down to the distillery on the other side of town. Matt had heard it was a good place to go. It was where the old distilleries (obviously) were- from there they would smuggle alcohol across the boarder into the US. It did look like a lovely place to visit in SUMMER. Lots of little restaurants and gallery type shops (kind of reminded me of Salamanca area in Hobart). We wandered around for a while in the snow flurries and -9C temps (-19C with windchill off the lake).

We tried to get some cool alley jumping shots - just for you Aunty Chels!

While they weren't particularly successful- they did help in warming us up a little.

Remi, of course, had to climb something.

This was the front of a cool Swedish design store; I really like the message.

There was cool and funky art work everywhere...I want a lamp tree like that.

Evil tripod aliens...

And aliens spawning evil children...

It was a pretty cool place, but we were cold, so we had to keep walking.

Ella was miserable cold- can you tell?

We walked up and through the center of the city...Oscar wasn't keen to be in any photos.

We walked and walked and walked- eventually stopping for a while on the other side of the main part of the city in a tiny little shop for some hot food. In fact, it was so cold those first few days that we just kept stopping for food whenever we could- nothing like a hot Jamaican patty (almost a spicy meat pie) to keep you going in the cold. We walked up past all the university areas and into an area known as Kensington markets. Very colourful/funky/grungy area that the kids loved.

We had another go at the jump in an alleyway- note Ella's leg warmers. We bought them in Kensington markets and from that moment on she was happy(and warm) and wore them every time we went out.

Remi got hold of the camera for while...

It was really fun just being out with the kids exploring- probably the best day we had. We went out for dinner that night and introduced the boys to Pho -Oscar's new favourite food.

Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so well the next day- nasty tummy bug. We did manage to go to Fort York for a bit of Canadian History- fascinating actually.

This photo is taken from the fort- looking toward Lake Ontario- all these high rises are right on the water. And the big highway cuts through the city all along the lake.

These two are taken looking back at the city.
I really wasn't up to much that day- Matt took the kids out to lunch and Oscar and Remi were happy going out on their own for a while- they went back to Kensington markets at least once.

On Wednesday we went to the fantastic Art Gallery of Ontario. It's funny- I've become used to the galleries in New York City, but it was so great to see a different gallery with art set out differently. We really enjoyed it-although the kids were lagging a bit by then- especially Kit. We found out why right when we sat down for another meal of Vietnamese and Kit rushed out onto the street to vomit. I took him back to the hotel and spent a night listening to him puke until 3:30 am. joy.

We did make it home the next day without any airplane accidents -which was my greatest fear, but we were pretty tired by the time we got home. Me especially. Woke up this morning with shingles on my forehead. So while the good parts of the trip were excellent- it was obviously a little stressful for me overall. REALLY looking forward to Matt and my trip to the Caymans in 2 weeks. Should be so much more relaxing...ahhh...