Day 2
Monday 27th September
Up early this morning, down to breakfast at 7.30 the back to my room to see if the movie I'd set to upload was going ok, all was well so off I went to post parcel
#2. Can't remember the exact weight but it was over 3kg. I figure the cost of postage is a lot cheaper than having to pay excess baggage, especially if the cost in Manchester is anything to go by, imagine 10kg at $50.00 per kg. not a good thought, plus I now don't have to lug that extra weight around, and the best part? yeah, there's more space in the cases now for more shopping :-).
Back at the hotel I got the last movie up and running and took off for a wander into town. I had checked the address of a skate shop, miles away but the walk will be good for me, at least that's what I told myself. I turned left into Yonge Street (pronounced Young), which has the reputation of being recorded in the Guinness Book of records as the longest street in the world - check the facts of Yonge Street out (#9 in the facts list) towards the bottom of the page. At the end of Yonge Street is the harbour where I took some photo's of the oldest pier (#6) and some other stuff around the area. Whilst waiting for the boat I watched the low clouds covering parts of the CN Tower, so I took some photo's of that just in case you're interested. A bit of trivia here for you, the CN Tower held the record for tallest building for 30 years before it got demoted by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. If there are any spots on the photo's, that's rain this time, not spray from the water, it is drizzling a bit. I bought my ticket for a one hour harbour cruise and was able to get the senior's discount (over 55) but had to produce some ID, don't need to tell ou how that made me feel :-). The cruise left at 2pm and took us around the islands where we got to hear about the history of how the islands became inhabited. They have one ice breaker ferry so the residents can get back to the mainland to do their shopping during winter. We heard a lot of interesting stories but I won't go into them here, don't want to bore you and I think if you're really interested then you should visit Toronto. After the cruise finished I wanted to get a photo of a plane taking off from the domestic airport, we saw one as we were cruising by and they are pretty close to the water when they leave the runway. Unfortunately I only got to see planes coming in, none leaving and it was still drizzling. Didn't want to get another cold so off I went in search of the skate shop. I seemed to be walking forever when I finally came upon the street I needed. There were 5 other streets that weren't shown on the map I had from the hotel. The rain is getting a little heavier than a drizzle now, but still not to drenching point. When I got to the corner where I was sure the skate shop should be, there was no sign of it. It took me 2 hours from leaving the harbour to get back to the hotel and the rain was getting heavier as time went on. I could feel a blister developing on one of my toes, it felt like there was sand in my socks, there wasn't but the band aid on the toe next to it was rubbing like mad. Should have taken the damn thing off after my shower. Anyway, I never found a skate shop and when I got back to the hotel and Googled it again, I found I'd turned the wrong way on the street. I should have marked it on the map instead of trusting my memory. I'll now have to Google something in Vancouver as I'm leaving Toronto in the morning.
6.30 and I'm in the lobby meeting the tour director. A stack of paper work to read and some forms to fill in sends me back to my room. On reading the information about the tour I noticed that only 1 suitcase is allowed for free, any others are charged at $5.00 per day each for each hotel we stay at during the tour. I didn't have an organized tour last time so didn't have that problem. When I spoke to the director, Tarek, he said not to worry, just put everything I definitely won't need during the tour into 1 case and he will leave that one on the bus. Everything I will need for the next 3 days is to be packed in my backpack, wish I'd got a bigger one now, with lots of pockets.
Cases are sorted, only the stuff I use for my shower in the morning to pack in my backpack and I'm done. Just enough time to get the last 2 days uploaded then it's time for me to hit the sack.
I'm not sure when I'll get chance to upload again so this could be
farewell for quite a while. Hope you are still having fun
watching me travel, and if you're not, not much I can do about it, you
should have come with me :-)
Up early this morning, down to breakfast at 7.30 the back to my room to see if the movie I'd set to upload was going ok, all was well so off I went to post parcel
#2. Can't remember the exact weight but it was over 3kg. I figure the cost of postage is a lot cheaper than having to pay excess baggage, especially if the cost in Manchester is anything to go by, imagine 10kg at $50.00 per kg. not a good thought, plus I now don't have to lug that extra weight around, and the best part? yeah, there's more space in the cases now for more shopping :-).
Back at the hotel I got the last movie up and running and took off for a wander into town. I had checked the address of a skate shop, miles away but the walk will be good for me, at least that's what I told myself. I turned left into Yonge Street (pronounced Young), which has the reputation of being recorded in the Guinness Book of records as the longest street in the world - check the facts of Yonge Street out (#9 in the facts list) towards the bottom of the page. At the end of Yonge Street is the harbour where I took some photo's of the oldest pier (#6) and some other stuff around the area. Whilst waiting for the boat I watched the low clouds covering parts of the CN Tower, so I took some photo's of that just in case you're interested. A bit of trivia here for you, the CN Tower held the record for tallest building for 30 years before it got demoted by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. If there are any spots on the photo's, that's rain this time, not spray from the water, it is drizzling a bit. I bought my ticket for a one hour harbour cruise and was able to get the senior's discount (over 55) but had to produce some ID, don't need to tell ou how that made me feel :-). The cruise left at 2pm and took us around the islands where we got to hear about the history of how the islands became inhabited. They have one ice breaker ferry so the residents can get back to the mainland to do their shopping during winter. We heard a lot of interesting stories but I won't go into them here, don't want to bore you and I think if you're really interested then you should visit Toronto. After the cruise finished I wanted to get a photo of a plane taking off from the domestic airport, we saw one as we were cruising by and they are pretty close to the water when they leave the runway. Unfortunately I only got to see planes coming in, none leaving and it was still drizzling. Didn't want to get another cold so off I went in search of the skate shop. I seemed to be walking forever when I finally came upon the street I needed. There were 5 other streets that weren't shown on the map I had from the hotel. The rain is getting a little heavier than a drizzle now, but still not to drenching point. When I got to the corner where I was sure the skate shop should be, there was no sign of it. It took me 2 hours from leaving the harbour to get back to the hotel and the rain was getting heavier as time went on. I could feel a blister developing on one of my toes, it felt like there was sand in my socks, there wasn't but the band aid on the toe next to it was rubbing like mad. Should have taken the damn thing off after my shower. Anyway, I never found a skate shop and when I got back to the hotel and Googled it again, I found I'd turned the wrong way on the street. I should have marked it on the map instead of trusting my memory. I'll now have to Google something in Vancouver as I'm leaving Toronto in the morning.
6.30 and I'm in the lobby meeting the tour director. A stack of paper work to read and some forms to fill in sends me back to my room. On reading the information about the tour I noticed that only 1 suitcase is allowed for free, any others are charged at $5.00 per day each for each hotel we stay at during the tour. I didn't have an organized tour last time so didn't have that problem. When I spoke to the director, Tarek, he said not to worry, just put everything I definitely won't need during the tour into 1 case and he will leave that one on the bus. Everything I will need for the next 3 days is to be packed in my backpack, wish I'd got a bigger one now, with lots of pockets.
Cases are sorted, only the stuff I use for my shower in the morning to pack in my backpack and I'm done. Just enough time to get the last 2 days uploaded then it's time for me to hit the sack.
Side Note: I did manage to get
some net connection at Union Station but was called on to the train
before I had chance to get the updated pages loaded. The photo's
were all there at least. It is now Wednesday morning 11.25 and
I've been having fun checking out the view from the dome car, don't
know when you'll get to see the pic's but I'm sure you don't mind
waiting. The view is spectacular and as Tarek said, the forest
looks like it'so fire. The photo's will not do it justice
though. Tarek has kindly offered to lend me his mobile net usb to
upload the last couple of pages so you don't have to wait too long and
have to read too much all at once. I will write more about today
on a separate page, this bit is just to keep you up to date on how
things are going on my travels. I'm sure you're sick of hearing
it but, I'm having a ball. :-)