Anyway, the trip started off with an early flight to Toronto Pearson (YYZ)... early enough to actually see the sunrise. Picked up my rental car (a black Pontiac Grand Am) and hopped on the 401 to my first stop, Kitchener, to visit Daria and Gilbert. I had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner, got to see Victoria Park and City Hall in downtown Kitchener, battled the crowds at the OktoberFest parade, and even got a tour of some of the engineering buildings and labs in the University of Waterloo.
Leaving K-W, I met up with Daria in Elmira, and had lunch in St. Jacobs. There are Mennonite communities there and it was interesting to see horse-drawn vehicles co-existing with motorized ones. We went to a factory outlet mall in St. Jacobs and I was surprised to see some neat stores there -- a Lego store with many complex lego-composed displays, and a Cadbury store which sells yummy chocolates.
My next stop was London. Along the way, I stopped in Stratford, which had some neat looking buildings and statues. I think Shakespeare's big there, but since I'm not a fan, it did nothing for me. :-)
London, Ontario is a small city in which one finds the University of Western Ontario and street names reminiscent of London, UK (Wellington, Williams, ...). I met up with Aaron and Anne-Marie, and had a nice dinner with some interesting laughs (I found a big fly at the bottom of my water at the end of the meal!).
Headed to Montreal next. The rain really came down that day and it wasn't fun dealing with the construction on the highway, the after work traffic and looking for street signs. Fortunately, the weather was better the next day when I took the Metro (subway) all around the city. Tips: The daypass is excellent and there is a lot of parking at the Numar station.
My first stop was Mont Royal for a nice panoramic view of Montreal. Unfortunately, I assumed that this would be easy to get to from the Mont Royal station. Umm... nope. I ended up taking some hiking trail which seemed to take too long to get to the top, so I decided to climb straight up instead. I actually did make it to the top -- too bad that's not where I was supposed to be! It was on the way back down that I finally found the observatory -- d'oh! Tip: if you're going to take the Metro to get there, go to the Peel station and walk Peel all the way up.
I went to see the Parc Olympique de Montreal, the Biodome, the Biosphere, movie titles displayed in French (go, Le Transporteur!), and of course, took long walks downtown and in the old town. Ste-Catherine was especially interesting as there are always lots of people and things to see -- like cars with rotating billboards, 24-hour Second Cups, and the Charmin' mobile.
Back in Toronto, I caught up with fellow grad students, Milorad and Snezana, while having a unique dining experience in Restaurant Marche. I also had a chance to walk through Pacific Mall where I managed to get bubble tea and see the new Gran Turismo Concept 2002 game. There was also an arcade with many Dance Dance Revolution-type machines (did you know there's one where you dance with your hands now?).
Anyway, after spending some time at the Playdium in Mississauga the next day, I met up with Jeremy and Lisa. We had breakfast in Lox Stock & Bagel, then went to check out some neat shops on Queen St., including a comic store which sells action figures I didn't even know existed, caban, and a XBox bus on which you can try out different games. We also went out for a night run of delicious Krispy Kreme donuts (you can even see the entire process that the donuts go through to get made).
My final day was spent walking from downtown's Union station all the way (along Yonge, Bloor, Spadina) to Casa Loma, a castle right in Toronto itself. I've always liked that place for some reason.
All in all, I had a great time on this trip. It was nice to be away for a while and catch up with old friends. My sincere thanks go out to everyone for their hospitality, friendliness, and time in giving me the "insider's" view to the various places I've been. I hope I'll see everyone again soon!
