The summer of travel continues! We’ll be heading out to the Jersey Shore later this week for a wedding, but I still haven’t logged all our receipts for our anniversary trip to Toronto… That just means I can claim it’s “in progress” for longer, right? We had an absolutely wonderful time in Canada; this is how we spent it:
Day 1: Little Portugal
After running into some bumps at the airport (here’s everything you need to know), we Lyfted to our hotel, Ode Toronto. Ode is a family-owned hotel on Dundas Street West, and it was such a lovely experience. Our room was comfortable and beautifully decorated, while the rooftop patio made for the perfect hangout. I don’t know that we would have left, if we didn’t have to scrounge up some food after a long day of travel!
We ended up going to Laylow Brewery, which had some great beer options but wasn’t what we wanted in terms of dinner. They did give us some cool souvenir cups though! From there, we made our way to Viaggio, which as I mentioned before, was probably our best meal of the whole trip. It was absolutely delicious, and a wonderful welcome to Toronto. We took our leftovers back to the hotel and called it a night.
Day 2: Trinity Bellwoods
We took the recommendation of Erica at Ode and started our morning with Tucana Coffee, which is right next door. Caffeine in hand, we headed over to Trinity Bellwoods Park. This park is huge, with tons of space for sports and dogs alike. Definitely a great spot for wandering. We picked up some treats from Nadège as we continued over to Kensington Market, a cool neighborhood with plenty of interesting options for food and shopping.
After scoping out the market and nearby Chinatown, we needed to figure out a spot for lunch. Bellwoods Brewery was unfortunately closed when we got there, so we went a few steps down to Paris Paris. The food was fine, but pricey for what it was – not one of our favorites. We then had a time trying to track down beer for the hotel, as it isn’t sold in drugstores like at home, but we managed to track some down and went back to Ode to relax.
We ultimately decided to order in for dinner, opting for The Burger’s Priest. There is nothing like watching TV in a hotel bed while eating a tasty burger and fries.
Day 3: Downtown Toronto
After figuring out how to buy tickets for the public transit system – we picked up PRESTO all-day tickets from Shoppers Drug Mart – we worked our way through some Toronto must-dos. This included grabbing breakfast at Tim Hortons. I brought my Timbits along as we scoped out Rogers Centre (for all you MLB fans), the CN Tower (we did not do the EdgeWalk), and the Toronto Railway Museum (more fun than it might sound). Right by the museum is Steam Whistle Brewing, which has just one type of beer; we stopped in, grabbed a drink and figured out our next steps.
We opted to head to the Spacing Store, a cool store I remembered from my last trip to Toronto with a bunch of local souvenirs. If you need a Toronto-themed gift, go here; it’s where I got my Racoons vs Toronto tee! We then went to Nathan Phillips Square, which is where the Toronto sign is, and wandered through the shops of Toronto Eaton Centre. Right next door is Yonge-Dundas Square, which is often considered the “Times Square” of Toronto, so we walked through there before grabbing a drink at 3 Brasseurs.
We had the afternoon snack of my dreams at The Roasted Nut Nuttery & Cafe, which I detailed in this piece, then meandered through Trinity Bellwoods on our way back to Ode. We stumbled upon a farmers market, which was lovely. After a quick refresh at the hotel, we got approximately one ton of nachos from Sneaky Dee’s for dinner, then called it a night.
Day 4: Niagara Falls
What’s a Canadian adventure without a trip to Niagara Falls? I booked our day trip in advance, so we had an early morning. We popped into a nearby Starbucks to get some caffeine, then met up with our bus at Ripley’s Aquarium. Our first stop: Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Niagara-on-the-Lake gives off all sorts of old-town charm, with some quaint shops (and great food)! We swung by Queen’s Park to dip our toes in the water, then headed to Niagara Home Bakery for breakfast treats. We shared a butter tart, which was the way to do it – they’re quite decadent! We only had an hour visit, so after popping into a few shops, we then got back on the bus for several quick stops, including:
- Living Water Wayside Chapel, the tiniest church I’ve ever seen
- An overlook, giving us great views of the Niagara River
- The Floral Clock, which is updated twice a year
- The generators that make use of all that hydroelectric power
And finally, Niagara Falls! As part of our ticket, we were able to take a boat tour on the Hornblower – this is a must-do. We did get wet, though not quite as soaked as the people who rode up top! We also got lunch at Table Rock Restaurant and explored the area, spending about three hours soaking in the wonder. Our bus got us back late due to the baseball game, and after we couldn’t get into Superpoint, we got Bobbie Sue’s to-go and ate in bed back at Ode.
Day 5: Liberty Village
Since it was our anniversary, and last full day in Toronto, we kept things pretty low-key. We slept in before making the leisurely walk to School for brunch. Our walk back was not quite as nice, as the temperature had really heated up, so we went back to the hotel to get started on packing and watched a movie.
From there, we only ventured out for food. We made our way back through Trinity Bellwoods to pick up some homemade pierogies being sold out of the back of a church (they were good, but not amazing), which we then brought back to the hotel. We also swung by Superpoint and were actually able to get a table (and pizza) this time, so we had our celebratory dinner there. We went back to Ode to finish up our packing, since we had to head out pretty early the next day.
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