Oh Canada

As I'm sure you can imagine, Canada in December is freaking COLD. I know Maryland isn't exactly warm right now, but when I say Ontario was cold, I'm talking negative, double-digit temperatures here.

So why did I choose to spend five of the coldest days of the century (yes, really) in Toronto?

Well, I was itching for another international voyage, but when I started pricing flights for my winter break, everywhere warm was pretty dang expensive. So I decided to pay my first visit to our neighbors to the north. 

Wednesday morning, Evan and I flew out of DC and were on the ground in Toronto before noon. Despite the best efforts of the automated kiosk in the customs line, we were breathing brisk Canadian air shortly thereafter. 

Thanks to the Moovit app (a must-have for any traveler hoping to use public transportation), we had no trouble finding the train and then streetcar that we needed. But paying for it was a whole 'nother can of worms. Once on board the streetcar, it became apparent that the 20-Canadian-dollar bill I'd gotten out of the airport ATM wasn't going to work in the coin slot on the bus. 

Enter stereotypically friendly Canadian lady, who offered us to swap the twenty for all the change in her purse so we could pay the fare. She also gave us a rundown of how paying for Toronto public transit worked (so we wouldn't get stuck again), inquired about where we were from ("And what do you think aboot the weather here?"), and told us her own life story (born in England, emigrated to Canada when she was 5). When we reached our stop about 15 minutes later, our new best friend (and the lady across the aisle) sent us on our way with the warmest wishes for a good first visit to Toronto.

Oh, Canadians. 

Having without further incident located and checked into our Airbnb (which we found out later was in the heart of "hipster heaven"), we proceeded to get frustratingly lost looking for tourism office. (Seems a little counterintuitive, no? You'd think it would be one of the easiest things to find when you first arrive in a new city.) When we finally stumbled upon it a half hour later, my frazzled nerves were immediately soothed by the friendly and helpful tourism lady, who plied us with suggestions for more authentic/local things to do during our stay in Toronto, locations of cheap souvenir shops, and coupons for all of the touristy things to do in the area.

Armed with a city map, covered in scribbled notes and circled attractions, we headed for St. Lawrence market. We grazed our way through a tasty seafood orzo and a variety of desserts from one of the bakeries, before sampling some of the Niagara region's famous ice wine, which--as the very friendly vendor proceeded to tell us--is made from grapes that are frozen solid, picked by hand, and pressed into a delicious dessert wine (that apparently also pairs really well with blue cheese). 

On the recommendation of the tourism lady, the last activity for my first day in Canada was the Art Gallery of Ontario, which on Wednesday nights is freeeeee! There were a few exhibits that I really liked...this one was my favorite:

That's right...I came all the way to Canada to see a Baltimore artist's work.

I'd booked a day trip to Niagara Falls for day two of my great northern adventure, so Thursday morning featured an early start at Tim Horton's, complete with a cup of coffee and a maple donut.

America may run on Dunkin', but Canada runs on Tim Horton's. 

The first stop along our tour was at a winery, where I participated in my very first wine tasting, managing to simultaneously feel very sophisticated and very ridiculous. I sampled a white (which I liked) and a red (which I didn't). And that's about as much as I can say about that, given my limited wine-tasting experience and vocabulary.

Next stop on the tour was Niagara on the Lake, a teeny little town with the most adorable main street ever. AKA, a total tourist trap. But I didn't let that deter me from stopping in almost every bakery, candy shop, and ice cream parlor in town to satisfy even my sweet tooth.

Never too cold for ice cream!
(Maple walnut and caramel macchiato flavors, in case you were wondering.)

We arrived at Niagara Falls after a brief stop at the largest naturally occurring whirlpool in the world (who knew that was in Canada?). As it was far too cold for boat cruises to be operating, our tour group went up in Skylon tower for a view over the falls.

The tower

The view

When we finally got up close and personal with the Falls themselves, the wind was fortunately blowing toward New York, taking the mist with it, so I didn't immediately become a Jess-shaped popsicle. 

When we got back to the city, dinner was the next order of business. After wandering up and down a couple of restaurant-filled blocks near the Airbnb, Evan and I were convinced by the super-friendly hostess to dine at Reverie at Weldon Park. And I am so glad she did convince us.

All I can say is SWOON. 

Sea scallops with piccata sauce and fresh bread

Gnocchi fritti with edamame, grilled heart of palm, ricotta, and spinach cream

Alaskan trout with Canadian curry, Israeli couscous, cauliflower, shaved carrot and lime yogurt

Dessert, which completely blew my mind.
Chocolate cake wafers, smoked white chocolate mousse with lime zest,
candied orange peel, toasted white chocolate crumbles,
coffee ice cream, candied orange peel,
and--get this--dark chocolate air with cayenne. WHAT EVEN??

Day three of my great northern adventure started with breakfast at a place called Boom Breakfast & Co. and this scrumptious take on eggs Benedict.

Peep that smoked salmon and spinach. Not to mention those fries. YUM.

Then it was off to the distillery district, where I bought myself a pretty cool Christmas ornament (for next year's tree) and then spotted a chocolate shop. I probably don't need to tell you that I spent some quality time (and a fair few Canadian dollars) there.

The distillery district

Bicerin: 1/3 liquid chocolate, 1/3 espresso, and 1/3 cream.
Believe it or not, this thing was too rich even for my sweet tooth.

After lunch at Mexican restaurant that had really cool lamps, the next item on the agenda was ice skating by city hall. Toronto has 52 outdoor ice rinks where you can BYOS (if you have them) and skate for free. I rented a pair of skates--a mere ten Canadian dollars for a two-hour rental--and then proceeded to have circles skated around me by Canadian children who were apparently born with ice skates on their feet.

In my own defense, bundled up as I was against the -10°F wind chill, it was really hard to move with any semblance of grace.

Ice-skating really wore me out, so I decided that a quick pre-dinner power nap was in order. Three hours later (whoops), Evan and I had a late dinner at very hipster ramen place where they shouted something in Japanese both as we entered and when we left.

Side-note: ramen is definitely one of the best cold-weather foods.

My last full day in Canada began with another visit to the St. Lawrence market. Since it was Saturday, the farmer's market section was open for business. I browsed all the fruits, vegetables, honey, beeswax, and coffee stands before buying some dirt-cheap maple sugar products, including a 100-mL bottle of dark maple syrup small enough to take on the plane with me. 

Seduced by the aroma of a nearby bakery stall, I bought two chocolate croissants--one for the early flight the next morning, don't judge me--and an apple strudel. Between the baked goods and the cappuccino that I subsequently bought, it was almost like being back in Europe.

I bought dinky little carry-on-sized bottles of ice wine to go with my travel-sized maple syrup. (Only to find out at the airport the next day that it was cheaper to buy ice wine duty-free. Plus I wouldn't have had to chuck half of my toiletries to get it through security. *sigh*)

We did a late lunch at Amsterdam Brewhouse down by the water. Yummy beer, yummy pretzel (with a really tasty sauce that I've forgotten the name of but I remember was made from some of the leftovers from the brewing process), yummy sweet potato fries, yummy cheesecake. 

Left to right: 3 Speed Lager, Natural Blonde Lager, Raspberry Wheat Beer,
 and a pilsner brewed in a small batch onsite.

We had decided to save CN tower, one of the most touristy of tourist attractions in Toronto, for the last evening in the city. Conveniently, it was only a couple of blocks away from the Amsterdam Brewhouse, so a short walk later, we were standing in a very long line.

The second tallest free-standing tower in the world.
(The tallest tower in the world from 1974-2010.)

In spite of the wait, we managed to make it to the observation deck in time for the sunset.

I'm on top of the world!

Back at ground level and once again seeking warm foods, we had dinner at Ravi Soups: apricot and red lentil soup with Ravi slaw (some sort of coleslaw-salad concoction with a spicy dressing) and a yummy cheddar biscuit before calling it a night.

New Year's Eve day dawned way too ugly early. I say "dawned;" it was 3:45am when we got up to brave the -15°F weather and catch the bus to the airport. 

The early flight home turned out to be not so early...the plane got delayed after we boarded because the bridge was frozen to the plane. LOL.

And thus concluded an international trip with only a minor mishap: leaving my library book on the plane. Oops.