"That night in Toronto..."

Ah, Toronto. I first fell in love with Canada's largest city about ten years ago on a family holiday, and I was worried that it wouldn't charm me as much this time around, but charm me it did. I won't pretend it's the most attractive city in the world (or even Canada) but it has to be one of the cleanest and friendliest. It has all the trappings of any large multi-cultural city, while retaining that typically Canadian of traits - politeness. From the skyline landmarks of the CN Tower and the Skydome (officially known as the Rogers Center) to the off-beat scruffy haven of Kensington Market, in a surprisingly compact area Toronto effortlessly glides you from one extreme to another on the rails of its streetcars.

I spent most of my first few days in Toronto doing nothing, I was tired from moving around alot and it was nice to be grounded in one place for more than a day or two. On Tuesday I fancied watching the Rangers vs. Red Star Belgrade match and sought out a bar showing the game. After a brief Google I came up with the Madison Pub, home of the Toronto Midtown Rangers Supporters Club. I sauntered on down and was delighted to find a beautiful bar and even better, made several friends amongs my fellow Rangers supporters. I ended up drinking far too much before staggering home and getting lost on the subway. I had sobered up by the time I got back to the hostel - it had taken me all of two hours to get back when it should have taken 20 minutes.

My brother, Nick and Dale arrived the next day rather deflated being as their holiday was ending. They left on Friday and that night I met up with another person I knew from the internet, Genevieve, for a few drinks.

On Saturday, I took the short ferry ride across to the Toronto Islands, which used to be a large sandbar but were broken up in a hurricane in the fifties. The islands are where Torontonians go to escape the buzz of city life and it's easy to see why. What is essentially a large floating park is the perfect place to get away from it all. I took some photos from the island but instantly regretted not having a tripod as my hand isn't as steady as it should be! The photo above is one of the better examples - it wasn't too dark at that point either.

I was sad to leave on Sunday, Toronto is one of the few places I could see myself settling in one day. As it turned out, Toronto was my last proper destination of the whole trip. I flew to San Francisco and jumped straight on a flight out to London. San Francisco is a gorgeous city but Toronto was the perfect place to end my adventure.