Trek to Canada.

Hah! Just when you thought this blog was suffering from negligence, I'm back! Ok, so this post is about a week late in coming, but bear with me.

So, for those who live in the US, last weekend was the July 4th weekend. I, actually, was in Toronto visiting the city (more than visiting relatives, actually). I had a great time, and finally had a chance to get a good look at the city where I was born and lived in for 5+ years. I just wanted to stick in some comments and travel ideas and places to see if anyone somehow ends up there.

Day 1: First stop was to Niagra Falls where I attempted to inline skate on the walkway by the falls. I don't know if it was the intention of the city engineers/planners, or if it was by a fluke, but the way that the path is paved around the falls is just absolutely a deterrent for inline skating. The brick path is constructed in a way where the bricks follow direction of traffic on the path. The groove between the bricks is about a half of an inch wide and just about as deep. Basically, the wheel gets stuck in the groove once it gets in there. It also requires some fancy moving to take it and to keep it out of the groove. Not only that, but if the wind isn't in your favor, a fine mist is in the air around the falls, which makes the ground wet -- a bad thing for inline skate bearings and for surface traction. Another alternative is to skate on the road, which is surprisingly well maintained (considering the Canadian winters). Anyway, I was really lucky to see a large rainbow within the Falls basin with the correct time of day and the way the wind was blowing and the mist was moving.

On to Toronto: we stopped by Chinatown. According to my mother, Chinatown isn't Chinese anymore and is made up of Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysians, etc. Apparently all of the Chinese moved over to Scarbourgh (about 30 minutes northeast of the city). Anyway, there's a really good boba shop on the north side of Dundas, east of Spadina. They are a little pricey, but the boba is well worth it. The tapioca balls are not overcooked (though a tad under); the toro sherbert I had was smooth and not too sweet. I would later visit them to get a lychee calipis, which was about as good.

I also got a map of Toronto. It was the best $10 spent on the whole trip -- it got me out of a lot of tight situations of getting lost (which was quite frequent, since I drove around the city a lot, though it was mostly to get to the same place.. go figure). It was also handy as a guide for downtown Toronto.

Unfortunately, we visited the day _after_ Canada Day, so we missed all of the festivities.


Day 2: I spent most of the day inline skating on Lake Shore Blvd from Queen's Quay in Downtown Toronto to a beach called Budapest Beach. It was about a 5-6 mile trek one way, but unlike the rough and very hilly/uneven grade pavement that Cleveland has, this pavement was actually flat, and smooth, for the most part. The west-ward path I went on went through the Toronto Music Garden, Ontario Place, some sort of exhibition center (which has a huge windmill on its plot of land), a whole bunch of yacht clubs, and a lot of nice scenery. Lake Ontario is _blue_!! Wow! (Lake Erie is a sickly green to bluish color from a lot of pollutants, I suppose.)
The Music Garden is certainly a gem in the rough (as they say). The landscaping there is absolutely supurb. The idea behind the garden, according to Lun's (my uncle's) wife is that the various portions of the garden are named after different types of musical pieces, like sonata, and minuet. The landscaping in the general area is supposed to feel like the music. I'm not too sure how all of that really works, as I've been out of the 'classical' music loop lately, but it was certainly a really nice place to take a detour.
Overall, the skating experience was amazing. I have never seen so many inline skaters, and this includes Venice Beach, CA! I'm not really sure how toronto treats inline skating. But from what I can gather, the city seems to frown upon skaters. Downtown was crowded, but there was really no use for skates, other than on the roads, which were really crowded. But I must say one thing: the drivers in Canada are absolutely superior and more curteous (and forgiving) compared to American drivers. Also, they actually know how to switch lanes and not tie up traffic. Skating on the roads, I have no reservations, though my mother would have had some.
I also went to 'Little Greece' for some ice cream with the relatives. A few of us would also to go Little Italy for more ice cream the next day. I'd have to say, the mom & pop shops in Canada are the best. They make such quality stuff (especially the food) which wins over large name brands in the United States any day.
Oh yeah, and get those stand fries that are all over Downtown. They are the best fries ever. They're freshly cut from potatoes, and the potato is the right type that gives the right amount of crisp, moisture, and acidity. I can't describe it. You have to get some for yourself!
Another place to visit Downtown is the City Hall. It has a nice fountain in front of the two buildings that is used as an ice skating rink in the winter. There is almost always something to do there over the weekend. In my case, there was a jazz festival during the weekend. The music was pretty good (on Day 3 -- there was no music when we visited on Day 2). There were also several kiosks/booths that sold items and souvenirs (which were also all over Downtown, especially at Queen's Quay). One booth was especially scary. I've never met a hippy before, but the two people in one tent were espeically mellow.. and creepy. "Move over this way," they said. "I'll move over that way, thank you."


Day 3: I went to Eaton Centre (an upscale shopping mall) for the day to go window shopping. Uncle Lun was right: every other store in the Centre was a shoe store. Almost as bad as Starbucks. I don't think I've ever see so many shoes in my life. Anwyay, there was a (get this) Sony Store there (but no Apple store). I got a nice pack to put my cd-player into so I can strap it on whenever I go exercising. Too bad I just found out yesterday, I paid 3x the amount for the same thing, when I could have gotten it at Target. Ouch. There wasn't much else there, though it was nice to mingle. Too bad I stood out like a sore thumb among all of the Canadians with my American accent. Several plainclothes policemen weren't too happy to see an 'American' like me. (I'm actually Canadian born and a Canadian citizen, but have lived in the US for the last 15 years).
I also walked around in the PATH, which is an underground tunnel network that is lined with shops. PATH connects many downtown buildings through underground passageways, which is really nice if it rains outside. Unfortuantely, it being past 5:00 on a Sunday, PATH was basically shut down, and I ended up walking through a good number of deserted halls.
I also took a TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) rail car for the first time in my life. Those things are cool. They're smooth, _very_ quiet, and are all over the place. No more than five minutes passes before the next railcar comes. Very nice. Unlike Cleveland's railcars.
I also had the chance to look at Uncle Lun's new house. Holy cow. The place is huge! Three kitchens, at least four bedrooms, four baths, common area, a planned home theatre with a 12 foot screen (projector) with a planned sound system. Stained glass throughout the house (influenced by Monet), and two toilets in every bathroom. Actually, I was kidding about the two toilets in the bathrooms. Apparently, one's the actual toilet, but the 'second' one is something you wash your butt with/in when you're done. Apparently, it's a European thing. I need to look at this in a little more detail, as it's totally foreign to me (pun intended). All in all, no more staying at Aunt Mary's House. Sleepless nights wait for us! (Apparently, the house can accomodate two visiting families: my family, and the cousins who live in the US.) Oh yeah. The house also has an elevator. Again, go figure.

Day 4: Before leaving for the US, I decided to go get lunch at a Japanese restruant instead of dim sum. We ended at Ichiban Sushi (Jap -> Eng translation: #1 Sushi -- a Japanese restruant chain in Toronto, apparently) on Dundas St. W. I ate Japanese food for the first time in over a year! The restruant was had a very nice Japanese theme, and the hostess and the sushi chefs all wore kimonos and yukatas. It was suprisingly very busy as well. Though the restruant was literally a hole in the wall (right next to a Subway, of all things), the food was exceptionally good (either that, or my lack of exposure to decent Japanese food said otherwise). I ordered the tempura Udon. It had lots of udon noodles, but was a little lacking on the vegatables, including seaweed, radish, and other typical garnishes for udon. The tempura batter was a little too thick and coated the vegatables and shrimp too much. The California Rolls there had imitation crab, but they had fish eggs as garnish. They were surprisingly good as well, but not even close to Zono Sushi in Pasadena, California. The sashimi was fresh. They also served edamame, (_much_ better than what Stir Crazy serves at Legacy Village in Cleveland.. ugh.. totally oversalted here), a tofu/vermicelli/vegatable dish, and grilled salmon. The salmon was very fresh and fatty, though a tad oversalted. The miso soup, a hard thing to make very well, but also very hard to mess up (though Caltech did an exceptional job at making it really bad), was a tad salty as well. Standard wasabi and pickled ginger (from the box/jar). Despite all of this, the food was very good, and the lunch was worth the visit. It was a great way to end the trip before heading home.


Overall, this was the best visit to Toronto ever, considering the previous Thanksgiving was spent coding 2000+ lines of code for a VLSI/CAD (programming) class. I really hope I can go visit again soon, and, for those who are visiting Canada or Toronto for the first time, I hope the places I visited over these four days are good suggestions to anyone planning a trip there. Just a general rule of thumb in Canada, especially for their public services: assume that it's all free (which is usually the case), unless an admission price is posted. The high GST/taxes that are imposed in the Country may be outrageous, but, unlike the United States, you can see the money being put to good use in their constant public projects in progress, and the end product certainly shows.