Toronto

Yesterday we caught the train from Montreal to Toronto... we thought we'd try the train so that we could take in some scenery on the way, but unfortunately the weather was really bad again and for most of the 5.5 hour trip all we could see was white out the windows. Other than that (and the delays) the train trip was not too bad.

Worst part was collecting the luggage. One thing we notice everywhere around the world is that people are the same when it comes to picking up their baggage. Everyone fights for a good viewing position thinking that surely their bags are going to be the first ones off the line. I was stuck behind "Mr giant shoulders with a cow skin poncho" and couldn't see a thing, but managed to spot our luggage through a gap and to his disgust I had to awkwardly fight to the front of the crowd to collect it.

Next challenge is getting a large cab that takes our snowboards, which we did, but he wouldn't take us to our hotel without charging us an extra $10, meaning the 3 minute trip cost us $20.

Anyway enough complaining, we made it to the hotel and it is really nice, clean and modern. We can see the city ice skating rink from our window and are keen to try this out, even though i'm sure we'll come back cold and wet!

Last night, on Derek's recommendation, we went out to a restaurant / bar in Toronto called Rivoli. We were starving after a long day of travel and the food was great, not greasy or over cheesy and more like what we would expect to find at a good restaurant at home. Being a Sunday night it wasn't too busy but there were still quite a few of people around.

Upstairs they had Karaoke, run by some guy who looked like a failed lead singer from an 80's hair metal band. We had a few drinks and watched before heading down to another pub which was empty and then decided to head back to the hotel.

I thought that i had experienced cold before on this trip, but last night it was -12 with a windchill of -23, and we sure as hell weren't going to walk all the way back to the hotel so we caught a cab.

This morning we are getting a hire car and driving to Niagra Falls. Will probably head out again in the city tonight before we leave by plane for Sun Peaks tomorrow! I've had my share of seeing cities for the moment so can't wait to get to the mountains.

-J