A Quick Stop in Toronto
Getting to my final destination of Melbourne, Australia, is a multiple day process. Part of the process is the simple fact that getting from my starting point to my end takes 21 hours by plane. The other part is due to my planning. I have a 10 hour layover at LAX that was scheduled so I could spend time with a friend but her plans have since changed. I will let everyone know how I spend my long layover. Beyond the long layover, I chose to fly out of Toronto Pearson International Airport because it was “cheaper.” The word cheaper got quotes back there since I didn’t pay money for my flights but rather redeemed Starpoints that I have earned over the past year as a Front Desk Agent.
I wanted to have an adventure before the adventure of flying for 15 hours and 45 minutes straight and that was accomplished by spending a very fun day in Toronto! Woo!
Getting From Detroit to Toronto
My great family friend/third sister, Victoria, took the 9:05am VIA Rail Canada train from Windsor to Toronto with me. It was just over a four hour ride to get the Union Station in the heart of Toronto. For our train, we could not reserve specific seats. We simply said that we had two people traveling together and chose our preference on aisle or window. Victoria and I sat next to each other but we also sat directly across from two strangers.
Yep, directly across.
There was a table between us and then two people we have never met. We were intimidated at first because we didn’t want to be forced to make conversation with people but my oh my, we lucked out. A middle aged lady and her mom (I shall call her Granny) sat down and the daughter immediately turned to us and said, “I apologize because we will mostly be speaking in Italian. It is easiest for my mom.” As soon as she said that, I was almost happy to have people across from me instead of staring at the hard plastic back of a chair. We didn’t talk to them too much but I did learn that the grandson worked as a teacher in London for three years and he’s since moved to Toronto. Towards the end of the trip, Granny pulled out a full sleeve of tea biscuits and she offered them to me and Victoria. I believe we initially declined but her daughter told us to truly help ourselves. I did once. Then twice. And again and again. I seriously ate four of Granny’s tea biscuits but they were so good! They had the texture of a cracker but the flavor of a delicate cookie.
The train journey was painless and enjoyable. My butt grew sore about three hours in and it was hard to move around because I didn’t want to kick the nice people sitting across from me. The train to Toronto is a great option for anyone traveling there from metro Detroit. I highly recommend it!
Know How to Get to Your Accommodation
It is always a good idea to have researched how to get to your destination before a trip begins but it is especially important when traveling internationally without a data plan. Neither Victoria nor I have plans that work in Canada so once we lost wifi from our train we were a little lost. We hadn’t thought ahead to take a screenshot of walking directions from the station to the Sheraton Centre Toronto nor to even print them off. We exited the station, stared around at the bustle of cars and pedestrians and did our best to orient ourselves based on our previous research.
As we stood there, a lady approached us asking if we’d seen commercials for a Canadian charity online. I’m blanking on the name of it. We both said we’d never seen the commercials and shared that we live in Pittsburgh and Detroit. Let me tell you, her shoulders slumped down to her knees. She was so bummed to realize we were Americans and couldn’t help with her market research. I felt a little twinge of sorrow but then I also didn’t because I really only cared about dragging my suitcases to the hotel.
Anyway, Victoria and I knew the general direction of our hotel so we set out for it. Less than 15 minutes (and only one wrong turn but not even one that took us out of the way) later, we were checking in. A wonderful Agent checked us in, told us how to access wifi and about the hotel amenities. The Sheraton has recently gone under a multimillion dollar renovation and it shows. The lobby was clean and majestic. The elevators were efficient. The rooms were clean and well appointed. Our room was on the 34th floor and had a view of City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square and the Toronto sign. We lugged our bags inside, plopped onto our beds and plugged in our phones. Canadian wifi just drained my battery right away.
Tourist Stops that Aren’t Super Touristy
Now, I only had about seven hours to explore Toronto because I wanted to get to bed early. I also only wanted to do things within walking distance of our hotel. I researched some options before our trip and, thankfully, Victoria was up for anything.
Steam Whistle Brewery Tour
Steam Whistle began in 1998 when three friends with beer backgrounds dreamed of owning their own brewery. The founders “wanted to make a Pilsner that would compete with the best in the world.” I think it is really yummy.
Prior to the Steam Whistle Brewery tour, I told Victoria that I’d never been on a brewery tour before, which is shocking because I love beer. However, about 15 minutes into it, I remembered that I’d done the Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin, Ireland. The Guinness tour is quite different than a tour of a small brewery, let me tell you!
The Steam Whistle Brewery tour was so much fun. Well worth my $12 CAD. It lasted about 45 minutes and included an ice cold Steam Whistle pilsner at the start and a sample of their unfiltered pilsner at the end. During the tour we saw where the beer is stored as it ages, we were able to sample the barley that goes into Steam Whistle Pilsner (it takes like granola initially and then tastes how I imagine duck food at the zoo tastes), and we saw where cans and bottles are filled. My favorite fun facts from the tour are: 1) Steam Whistle is huge on green initiatives so their bottles are thicker than most, they are green in color and they pay stores a premium to sort their bottle and ship them back. This way, the bottles are harder to break and last longer, the green is unusual so other companies won’t use them and the premium means they get 70% of their bottles back (at least I do believe that was the percentage our guide gave); 2) The name derives from an old tradition where workers would hear a steam whistle around 5pm to signal the end of their shifts and that it was time to go home. Our tour guide mentioned how people today never leave work. Technology allows work to follow us everywhere so I thought the name of the company was neat.
CF Toronto Eaton Centre
Toronto Eaton Centre is a mall and office complex right in the heart of Toronto. It is North America’s busiest mall and (apparently) has more visitors annually than Walt Disney World and Disneyland combined.
Victoria and I didn’t intend to shop much, but rather browse. All I cared about was buying new MAC lipstick for Australia. I already own at least seven MAC matte shades but I would not mind owning another seven or eight. I purchased a lipstick and a lip pencil both in Whirl. A person shouldn’t wear a nude without a good pencil. Honestly, I am getting to the point where I wear pencil with all lipstick though. I love how defined a pencil helps my lips look!
The mall was beautiful but crowded. We made sure to walk each floor and get a feel for the place. The building itself is very pretty and they have a neat art feature at the entrance with dozens of flying Canadian geese in the sky.
Quick Bites
Since I was only in the city for a short time, I cannot pretend I know how amazing the food is. However, I can tell you about the two restaurants where I dined.
Boston Pizza
Boston Pizza is a typical chain restaurant with good food and decent prices. For Americans, I'll equate it to Buffalo Wild Wings but with an Italian focus rather than wings. I had french onion soup and a Boston-sized (aka massive) pint of Coors Light. I really enjoyed the soup because it was topped with four kinds of cheese: pizza mozarella, cheddar, feta and parmesan. I had the Coors because I figured I should have some Canadian beer during my stop in Canada. Victoria had a personal pepperoni pizza. When we ordered around 3:15 we told our server we were on a time crunch seeing as we had the Steam Whistle Brewery tour at 4pm. Within 40 minutes we ate, (I) drank and had paid our bills. No complaints.
BnB
BnB is the restaurant in the lobby of the Sheraton Centre Toronto and I recommend it for anyone. You don’t need to be a hotel guest to dine and the food and prices were so good that I recommend it as a stop if you are in the area.
Working for Marriott provides nice perks. Beyond the points I redeemed for my Australia flights and the good rates I’ve gotten on rooms, Associates are eligible for 20% off at participating restaurants and properties. Victoria and I were very tired and rather cold so we did not want to venture far for dinner. After verifying that the lobby restaurant was owned by the hotel and would honor the discount (I had to check because the hotel in my Pittsburgh lobby is separately owned) we got a table for dinner.
Victoria had nachos with beef while I had a salad with grilled chicken and a side of sweet potato waffle fries. All of the food rocked. Victoria’s plate was piled high with tricolor corn chips, cheese and meat. She also had a side of salsa, sour cream and guacamole. My salad was a bed of fresh romaine topped with chopped bacon, tomato, avocado, cucumber, onion and a chive vinaigrette. The dressing was my favorite part. It was rather oily but did not have an overwhelming flavor. The sweet potato fries came with a side of spicy aioli and I ended up using a lot of the sauce for my chicken because it was just so delicious! We each had a drink as well and our bill was quite reasonable for the portions, flavor, ambiance and service. It wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t a bank buster either.
Be Ready for Anything
Thankfully, Victoria and I didn’t run into any issues other than being lost for half a minute without wifi. I’ve learned from traveling though to be ready for anything. Arrive to places early because delays are inevitable. Don’t judge someone if they look a little frumpy because they may have been traveling for over 36 hours (maybe I am saying that because I don’t want judgement once I land in Melbourne).
For my day in Toronto, all I needed to be ready for was people in costumes. After working at my hotel during AnthroCon, I don’t really blink an eye at people in costumes of any sort. However, my brain had a blip of shock when Victoria and I saw a man dressed as Darth Vader walking down the street as we trekked to our hotel. I seriously just discounted his outfit as typical city life. However, we passed a few more people with colorful wigs en route and it seemed a little odd. When heading to our brewery, we saw even more people and came to the conclusion that there must be a Comic Con and we were nearly spot on. While there was an event not called Comic Con, but rather, Fan Expo Canada. It is Canada’s largest comics, sci-fi, gaming, horror and anime event and attracts over 129,000 annually.
Enjoy the Time
I really enjoyed my short trip and could see myself making a proper weekend trip to Toronto. There were plenty of restaurants and activities to explore. I wanted to hit up the St. Lawrence Market but I simply did not have time in my day. It is a beautiful city! It is clean and well organized. I also appreciate that it is spacious. Canada has a lot of room to spread out and I do like the way the streets are wide and have bike lanes.
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