I love all the artwork downtown. There seems to be a new one popping up here or there every once in a while. All the different styles co-existing in the same area makes each piece seem even more unique. As I was taking this photo in an alleyway made of mostly stairs I heard someone yelling, I looked up and saw a man slowly coming down the stairs with his arms full of boxes. Was he talking to me? I had no idea as the noise of the traffic, the wind, the echo of every single noise bouncing around the alley made his words unrecognizable. I turned back to take some more angled shots. As he came closer I realized he was trying to talk to me. This lead to an awkward exchange with me asking him to repeat himself several times. It’s instances like this that makes me so anxious out in public, I think my biggest fear is someone thinking I’m stuck up or ignoring them but really I just have no idea they are talking to me.
I know the fear is kinda foolish but I can’t help it. It’s all part of being hard of hearing.
So here we are, almost in the middle of January already. What people say about “time flys” is so true. I was thinking the other day how fast time is going. I mean, I have a daughter that’s practically a teenager now, how did that happen? When I am thinking back I feel like the 90s were so long ago now. How did I get here, in the 2020s so quickly?
Every “older” person in my life growing up always said “Enjoy this time, it will be over before you know it.” I never really paid much attention to it, 20 or 30 years away felt like it was an eternity away and nothing to even bother thinking about. When I hit my 20s I still felt the same, my 40s were so far ahead that I couldn’t even imagine what life would be like because it was so distant. My 30s I felt it creeping up faster but still loads of time left before my 40s. When I hit 39 that’s when everything smacked me in the face all at once. This was the last year of my 30s, I didn’t want it to end! I was honestly having the best time and started to be fearful of what the 40s would bring me. I felt like the last 2 years have been stolen away from me (I’m sure 90% of the planets population feel the same way). 38 and 39 passed by in such a blur I sometimes wonder if it even really happened. I feel like we should all be able to reset our aging and get those 2 years back.
I started thinking about how I always thought 40 was old, I always thought 50 was REALLY old and 60… well 60 is ancient. I got myself worked up into an existential crisis an all. Now that I’m here at 40 I don’t feel 40. I have been thinking and honestly I feel like if I had to come up with an age for myself I would say 33. I’m not sure why that number sticks out but I feel like it best suits where I am in life. I’ve heard older people say they felt like they were in their 30s too. I’ve heard them say they wished they could be in their 40s again. So far I don’t see the hype, I’m still thinking the 30s were the best. But I haven’t given the 40s much chance yet. I hope I’ll be surprised with how awesome my 40 will actually turn out to be.
I’ve always said that everyone should embrace turning older. Not everyone gets that opportunity. Now I’m finding I’m not living up to my own saying. I’m really not embracing anything, I’m more or less grasping on for dear life. Many times a day I think about this, then I get angry with myself for wasting precious time on that. I feel like that kind of thought somehow contributes to time speeding up. I’m trying to focus more on being present and not zoning out. I want to see every detail, hear every noise and feel every touch and not look at a clock 20 times a day. I’m not sure if it’s working.
There are only some things that are 100% clear here: We can’t stop or reverse time. We are all in this together. Our lives are just a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of time. Our lives are so short.
Or so the universe tries to make you believe so. It’s in fact quite possibly one of the most stressful and depressing for me. Now don’t get me wrong here, I love the lights, gifts, close family gatherings and the overall giving spirit (ok, ok and receiving gifts is also up there). However stress fills me due to the social expectations and the commercialized part just does me in.
Growing up my family had a tradition and if you ask my sisters about it they would eagerly tell you all about how I had tricked them for years and how cutthroat I became every year over this. See, as a family we would visit lots of family and family friends. It would require a lot of driving as even though we lived in a small fishing village there was a lot of space between everyone so sometimes we would have to drive a ways to see people. During these trips we would have a competition on which side of the car (driver side or passenger) would pass the most lit up houses. We would start when we pulled out of the driveway and finish at the destination location. I always sat behind the driver seat and my older sister always sat behind the passenger seat. My younger sister always sat in the middle. They would both team up and have their faces glued to the window counting the houses with beautiful lights as we passed. I was left as a team of 1 and had full control of that side of the road. I was so competitive I didn’t care if I cheated or lied to win. I quickly discovered that if I asked first how many they counted they would always tell me and then I would volunteer my number – which I always took their number and added anywhere from 5-10 extra and proudly declared it out loud. They would shake their fists in the air and growl “Not fair! how was that possible? half if the way here your side had ocean!” I would make an excuse how there a a bunch of houses in a row where EVERY house had lights. They would have to take my word for it, as they were too focused on their side to even notice if it was remotely true. Years later I confessed which brought cries of “I knew it! I knew something was up! There was no way you one EVERY time!” My childhood was full of these little games that were constantly played on long car trips. We didn’t have tablets, phones or anything else to occupy our time and honestly I don’t know how our parents didn’t just drop us off on the side of the road somewhere to get some peace and quiet. We would always erupt in arguments or fights over these games.
When I got older I felt the pressure that I now realized my parents faced every year. Needing to make sure the extra heating bills were paid, the increased electricity bill due to all the lights (also no LED lights so the bulbs consumed way more energy back then), the expectation that is put on everyone to make the perfect Christmas for their families was all dumped on me with my family. We tried to make our own traditions as without a car and without friends living close by I couldn’t do the same traditions with my daughter as I once had with my siblings. While the new ones were fun, as an adult I felt like I was failing in providing a core memory for her.
Heating a home in winter is damn expensive. My budget was already stretched thin with needing to spend money on gifts for everyone and now with it being freezing outside almost every day it was an uphill battle. Christmas night I would look under the tree and see everything we had for our daughter and I would feel despair and panic as it never looked like enough. Would she feel Santa thought she wasn’t good enough all year to get everything she asked for? Would she visit friends houses and cousins houses and see they would have way more to open then she did? Would other people who come to visit us comment on how little was under our tree? These were things that ran though my mind and it would set me into a frenzy that would need to be talked down of. Even to this year I still feel like that despite the fact I’m pretty sure she now knows the truth about Santa and the fact she has 2 Christmas’s to experience every year. I hear many parents feel this pressure so at least I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.
Gifts from Santa is only the tip of the iceberg too, there are gifts for family members and also birthdays in that month ( there are several in my family circle), so gifts need to be bought separately for that. I refuse to be that person who cops out and gets one gift for Christmas and birthday. There is also fundraising for food banks, shelters, Single Parents Association, animal shelters and so many more that put the pressure on this time of year. Then there is the work Christmas party where we would usually chip in for a gift for our manager, I would need to also get something small for the members of my team. Then gifts for friends. It just never seems to end. By the end of the month I’m tired of buying, wrapping and spending and I just want to hide in my bed and not be seen till Spring.
Why do I put myself though this? Social pressures? Not exactly. I feel like the real reason is because I remember how I felt as a kid, I remember the magic and wonder, the excitement and thrill of it all. I have so many fond memories I want them to also happen to my daughter as they were truly happy times. I’m willing to sacrifice my own sanity to give that to her.
So, is it the most wonderful time of the year? Yes and no. That’s as clear as I can make it.
What were some of your families traditions? I’d love to hear about it.
It’s been a while and although I don’t want to make excuses I do have some. Basically life has gotten in the way of my promise I made myself to post here weekly or multiple times a week. There are many aspects that got in the way. Work, mental health, the fact I really dislike using the app and my cellphone (which is where I started with this), imposter syndrome, anxiety and just plain laziness.
A lot has been happening since my last post and I would love to share it all so I’ll start with Christmas and work my way around that. I definitely have a few posts I want to make about turning 40 and how it affected me like I have never ever thought it would. Also about getting a vehicle to drive around the city and explore and so many other.
Please stay tuned because I do plan on writing a lot in a short amount of time. Thanks for sticking around and I’m sure I will make it worth a read.
The question these days seems to be “Well who hasn’t?” I had made it till March of 2022 without getting it. Then one day I got a call from my sister in law stating she was sick and it felt bad, wanted me to get checked for Covid because she thought for sure if she had it she gave it to everyone else she had been in contact with that week.
Previously I had went out to an all you can eat sushi place here in the city with her and some family and we had a good time. We took all the precautions and felt safe there. The food was amazing and it felt nice being able to go out to a nice restaurant for once. With all the waves coming through we had all been cooped up and needed to get out there and do something. We figured this would be a good and less risky thing to do.
I tested myself even though I had no symptoms what so ever. I was positive. I was floored. I was also angry as it was my birthday month, my 40th no less and I had just accepted a temporary position at work that was supposed to start that Monday. It totally screwed up my plans and made me angry, however after I had calmed down I realized how lucky I was. I wasn’t feeling sick, I didn’t even have a stuffy nose.
Once I had been cleared for returning to work I started the position and all was great. The position was a support role. Helping some people who where newly hired in my position with navigating the computer systems and the procedures to follow for customer requests. It was actually fun and felt rewarding. My supervisor saw how much I was enjoying it and asked if I was willing to take it a step further and train a group of new hires that would be coming in April. I was nervous but accepted. It was virtual for 9 weeks then would be the same support role I was currently in for another 2 weeks.
I struggled with the position at first. There was a lot to learn, there was a lot to teach, there were a lot of technical issues too. Every day was something new that needed fixing or resolving but the class of 13 people and myself pulled through. It did however dwindle down to 10 due to various reasons but the 10 I had were all amazing and so smart. I honestly felt inadequate.
Yet here I am, into the second last week with them and I feel like I’ve accomplished so much. I am beginning to really like the role and hope this temporary gig turns into something more permanent in the future.
Well it’s about time I share the experience of the last day in the city of Toronto from my trip in November.
After waking and nursing my feet to a manageable walking pain we decided this day would be our shopping day. I have had family visit the city many times before and they would always come back with goodies and share stories about the amazing things they found there. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get some Christmas gifts, I had even packed light so I would have room to take extra things back on the plane with me.
We knew the Eaton Centre was within walking distance so we decided to just walk it. The morning was brisk and I knew it would be the perfect temperature to walk in. On the way there we came across some really nice murals, passed some interesting characters on the streets – One who had flashed us absolutely everything he had while trying to change his underwear in a doorway. As well as passed some interesting stores that we planned to visit on the walk back.
One of the murals we came across.
Getting to the Eaton Centre was easy enough but I don’t think my legs agreed with the distance. It really wasn’t that far however with the walking from the day before and the newly formed blisters from wearing sneakers I had foolishly decided not to break in before leaving, was quite the challenge.
Dundas Square
We made it to Dundas Square and I was Amazed. I’ve never seen anything like it in person before. To me it felt like the Canadian version of Time Square in New York City. We stood outside and just looked around for a bit before heading inside.
I remember being a little confused when we first got in, were we in a subway station or the Eaton Centre?? Turned out a little further in was where the stores and shops really began. The mall was big, the biggest I’ve ever been in and the variety of stores was amazing. One of the first places we passed and just had to stop was a chocolate store that had chocolates straight from Switzerland, apparently they shipped it in fresh weekly. They gave us samples and we just had to buy some. It was very expensive but hey, we treated ourselves. 6 chocolates came to just under $16.00
While there were so many stores and different shops to explore I noticed one thing. Toy stores were lacking. In fact, I only saw one that would be considered a toy store and it seemed geared more towards toddler toys than anything. It was disappointing because this is where I was hoping to take care of the gift shopping for the 3 kids in my life (my own and neice and nephew).
One other major thing I had noticed was the extreme lack of seating. There were only a few stores that sold drinks and food like Starbucks that had some inside seating. The only other seats where in the food court and that place was packed. I assume they took seating away due to covid. Which I still think is kinda strange rule to have.
When we left we ended up going to the old town hall and finally found some outside seating, we took advantage of the benches and we sat for a good while. Got a little goofy and I teased some pigeons (I’m a big kid at heart ok!) I almost didn’t want to leave but J had researched a store to go to that interested us so we decided to go to the Hudson Bay store then head off. I was shocked with how many floors there were to this store. If I remember correctly there were 7 floors. Toys was on 3rd or 4th. We made it to the toy section and we’re I, disbelief. It was just a small corner of this floor and the shelves were mostly bare. It was actually very disappointing. We left and decided now was a good time to try Uber for the first time as the other store was a little farther away.
The first attempt was not successful as the pickup location was across the street from where we were and as we were trying to cross the street the car had come and gone. It was seriously only 2 minutes and they cancelled on us and sped away. We then booked another and it was going to come on the side we just left! Running back across the street we found it, hopped in and we took off for the store. It was just like a cab. No difference really. When we got out we found the store and did some shopping. It was a toy store called Toytown in North York. This little store had so much crammed in it! It was great. The customer service was fantastic and I felt like they really appreciated our business. We then saw a Starbucks and decided to order something and sit down again for a little break, we were in a nice area with older homes and shops. It had a small town feel yet still technically in Toronto. When it was time to go to another store we ordered another Uber. This guy was cranky and didn’t like the fact that I tried to open the door when he pulled up. It had automatic doors and I had no idea. After some grumbling and dirty looks we were on our way back to the hotel. We tried asking him questions about the price of gas and how it worked there with price changes. He would glare at us and shake his head and say “no, I don’t know” Obviously he knew about gas prices!! He drove a fricken Uber for crying out loud. We realized he was just a crooked old man and decided not to try and communicate with him any more. He dropped us off and we never tipped. No need to tip for bad service I say.
The second place was located on Bloor and was called Happy Soul. J had seen it on Facebook and wanted to have a look around. Lots of interesting things in there.
So many murals.
We went back out later and went to some of the stores we promised ourselves we would visit earlier. These stores were nice and had lots of cool and interesting things. It’s where I had actually bought most of the gifts. Even though I had not even a small fraction of what I thought I would be getting.
The next morning we had a very early rise to head to the airport. We first decided to see if we could get a ferry across as we didn’t experienced that yet. We walk in and it was deserted. No one was around, no signs indicating where to go, no anything. We went up and down a floor and saw some waiting areas and seats but no a single person. As we were leaving we noticed 2 security guards making their rounds but that was it. We then decided to walk back through the tunnel instead.
We were so early to the air port as well. We checked in and went through security and waited in departures. None of the stores were opened. Slowly workers trickled in and came alive. More people trickled in and then we had to go to the plane. It was funny. We went though some glass doors and were all lead down a hallway, a long hallway that just kept turning and turning. At the end I realized we had made a complete circle around the departure area and had come to the same place we entered the hallway previously, just now we were on the other side of a glass particion. I would think they would just open that part and let us walk though but no, we had to be paraded around first. So silly.
We got on the plane and took off. The flight attendants were fantastic and cheerful. They came around with snacks and drinks and were encouraging everyone to take more. The flight didn’t seem as long on the way home as it did going to Ontario.
Home.
We finally land and get home. J had to go back to his place and I visited some family to tell them about my trip.
It was great for my first trip out of the Atlantic region of my country and I do want to go back sometime. But I want to go to other places before heading back there. I would love to try and explore more now. I will definitely have to plan more trips in the future.
So tell me in the comments a place on your travel “bucket list” that you hope to go to soon. I would love to hear!
I’ve heard of the Royal Ontario Museum before but I never gave it much thought. I assume that being a royal museum it would be full of things about royalty, I know that’s a bad assumption to make and thinking back on it now I chuckle to myself.
We walked to the Royal Ontario Museum from Ripley’s Aquarium, it was a nice day for a walk, the the air was crisp and clear and the sun was shining down with clear blue skies. I looked it up on my GPS and it pinpointed us to what I thought was the front of the building. As we came along the side J said that he thought this was the entrance, I was pretty convinced at this point that it was not because the GPS was pointing to almost the other side of the building. would a GPS lie to me? Silly me for thinking that it would direct me directly to the front door! I wanted to venture up just a little bit more to see as the entrance that J had pointed to didn’t seem like a grand entrance or a main entrance at all, in my opinion it seemed more like a side entrance that you would use for events so I walked up the sidewalk to the corner of the building and couldn’t see an entrance there, I was quite confused. We walked up the steps and into the entrance J had pointed out. Which I later found out was the Weston Entrance.
The foyer of the Weston Entrance Queen’s Park
Inside was beautiful! The detail in this area was amazing, I kept looking up at the ceiling at with my mouth open glad I had a mask on because I was in complete awe and probably would had looked like a goof. We turn to the left to see what appeared to be the front desk, we then showed a proof of vaccination and our CityPass again. The only thing that I would have complained about was that the CityPass did not include entry to any of the special exhibits that were there. I was bummed we would miss out on some things. The nice people behind the counter told us that it was for the main exhibits only and pointed to the various places on the map that they supplied us with. We took the map and adventured in the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery, we were a little bit disoriented on which way to go but we made our way into an exhibit of Chinese Architecture with with sections for China and Korea, it was very interesting. It also had a lot of artifacts and sculptures. As we slowly walked through werealized we were both really warm, they had a coat check there but we decided not to use it, we just had our coats in our arms and even with that I still felt overwhelmed with the warmth of the building. There was a lot of people but yet everyone was doing their part by keeping their distance, I felt safe in there. Back to the Samuel Hall we saw some dinosaur fossils and it got me a little gitty like a kid.
A beautiful mural
We found our way to an elevator and traveled to the 2nd level where we went to a dinosaur exhibit where there were sooo many fossils. This area was great to walk around and just stand in awe of the bones of these amazing creatures. This was my first time being in a museum with so many dinosaurs, I felt like a kid.
I found the museum had a little bit of a confusing layout, it seemed like there were exit doors that were actually doors leading to other exhibits, some people were coming and going and I was wondering where they were coming from as I thought that door had led outside and people were just coming in from outside. Later, on the 3rd level I realized that it was actually a doorway to another completely different exhibit. There didn’t seem to be any signage which is what confused me, also the map made it seem like it was a big open throughfair. There were exhibits on biodiversity and birds and even a bat cave we missed because of this. Instead we backtracked and went up the elevator to the 3rd level and came out to an area about Africa, the America’s and Asia Pacific, which then led to the Middle East, South Asia, all very interesting. This is when I decided to peek in those doors as we had come up to another set. it seemd like a lot of people were coming in from it again. We discovered an area for Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium. It was all so fascinating. The Greece area has a lot of statues and I found that particularly interesting, especially how most of the male statues seemed to have been defaced by knocking the penis off them.
The exhibit of Europe: Evolution of Style was great too. Showing period clothing and items. There was an exhibit on period furniture as well that was by far one of the most interesting. I’ve always felt some kind of connection to antique furniture, I love the story that they have, I love the fact that it was all made by hand and designed an influenced by events and trends at that time period. we saw some very beautiful pieces and displays were done up like whole rooms, bedrooms, writing rooms, parlors, and dining rooms. There were so many cool things to look at and as we walked through we got closer to our decade. The most interesting to me where the 60s and 70s where modern furniture seemed to start to develop. I was distracted by all this and didn’t take as many photos as I had intended to but I was glad I got to experience it and take it all in without worrying about getting the perfect shots.
I was glad that we decided to go to this museum, we weren’t sure at first if it was something we would be interested in but once I heard it had dinosaurs that’s what made me want to go the most.
The special exhibits that our pass didn’t allow us to see didn’t seem to be too interesting to us so in the end we were not too annoyed or disappointed that it had restrictions to it. When we walked by one area we could look in and it didn’t seem like it was our Forte.
It was decided we would not to go to the 4th level as we were beat and started to realized just how hungry we were. I discovered on the map that the basement had a cafe called Druxy’s ROM Cafe, we chose to go there instead. It was more like a cafeteria, we got drinks and some snacks and this is where I introduced J to Peach iced tea. I love peach flavoured drinks. He was skeptical of the look of the can and was convinced it was an energy drink but I had to point out that there was more caffeine in his soft drink he purchased than my peach iced tea. We sat there for probably a good 45 minutes because our feet at this point were hurting from all of the walking. After this rest we figured it was best to make our way back to the hotel and call it a day. We took the subway again at Union Station and got off close to our hotel. We passed some gift shop and a couple other stores that we window shopped and looked around, making a plan for tomorrow to stop in and buy some souvenirs as we noticed they were more affordable than at the actual touristy spots.
Have you been the the Royal Museum? Would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below.
I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Ripley’s Aquarium. I’ve been to Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum before and it was full of strange and wonderful things. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be like that with strange and wonder things from the sea or if it was going to be an actual normal aquarium. As we entered I noticed it was starting to get a little busier, lines were starting to develop to get inside even though they were moving fast, the people coming were faster. We got there just in time before a lineup started to develop behind us. We had to show our vaccination passes and then we showed our city pass to say that we had a ticket to get inside, once through security we were able to walk in and I was amazed. We walked past some information booths and then we could look down through this railing at this giant play area for kids, brightly coloured and had fossils and bones of fish hanging from the ceiling, it was like an interactive museum.
The fish bones above the play areaThis picture does not do this aquarium justice! It’s just beautiful in person! Lots of fish! These one were super fast, zipping around.
We followed the flow of people through a darkened area, the only lights seem to be coming from the aquariums themselves. Right away we were face to face beautiful sea creatures and other very interesting waterlife and plants. Everything either had a purple or blue glow to it and the air smelled faintly of seawater. There were lots of displays with information explaining the animals inside and their habitats. These habitats were designed beautifully! The area was like a hallway that twisted and turned and went up and down and on either side, they were unique and interesting aquariums. One I remember was a cylinder, a very very large cylinder that had information about schooling fish and the fish inside were just swimming around and around in circles and coming right up to the glass and zipping by in like a tornado of fish. I was able to see so many different sizes of this fish which seemed to range from a couple inches to maybe a little over half a foot. We went down a ramp and I noticed people were gathering at the entrance of what seemed like a tunnel. I got excited, I’ve never been in an underwater tunnel before! We lined up behind everyone else and shortly before entering I got really dizzy, it felt like everything was moving yet I was standing still, it go so bad I put my hand on the wall to steady myself and realized the wall was in fact moving… or so I had thought. I instantly grabbed Js arm and realized he was standing still like myself, I thought for sure something had come over me, I looked around and that’s when I realized we had stepped onto a conveyer belt and we were the ones that were in fact moving not everything around us. I wasn’t expecting this at all and had not noticed until I was on it so it made me feel very disoriented. As we stood there and move slowly along with everybody on this conveyer belt I was amazed! So many different types of fish, sharks, stingrays, turtles even! The crowd of people went quiet as we made our way through it, everybody was in awe. All you could occasionally hear were people saying, “Look over there!”, “Woah! look at that” and “woooow” in hushed voices. Yes some louder kids were around of course but for the most part it was very pleasant. This was the longest conveyor belt I’ve ever been on, it twisted and turned all over the place and while it seemed like the tunnel was going to end around each bend it just kept going. I was so happy about that because I really didn’t want it to be over.
This was the ceiling as we entered the tunnel. Maybe I didn’t realize I had walked onto a converter belt because I was distracted by the ceiling. Scuba divers in with the fishies! Shark! More tunnelShark!
We exit the tunnel and end up going through more hallway with some more aquariums, this time jellyfish, seahorses, starfish, and more stingrays.
Clown fishSeahorsesJellyfish More jellyfishStingraysThe brightly coloured pump station area.
Up a ramp and through an area that looked like a colourful pumping station we found ourselves walking through the area we previously looked down on in the beginning. Kids were running around playing at the exhibits. There were science exhibits, water exhibits, a giant playing area and there was also a restaurant but that didn’t seem operational. A short trek up some more inclines and we came up to the top of the water of the underwater tunnels. There was an area where you could feed and pet Stingrays and then a giant gift shop. We didn’t stop at the stingray petting area, seeing them flap about made me think of golum in Lord Of The Ring eating raw fish and just gave me the willies but me being me I had to go to the gift shop. I came across some candies I haven’t seen since childhood it had a lot of amazing things I wish I could have bought but I started to realize all of these touristy places were well out of my price range. I settled on taking in the experience instead of buying things.
Haven’t seen these candies in YEARS!
After my look around the gift shop we left and sat by some trees were some squirrels were playing, darting back and forth as we planned out how to get to our next stop the royal museum.
Have you ever been to the ripley’s aquarium? Will you ever go back if you have? I think I will for sure I would love to take my daughter there someday.
Our first full day started with the dull sounds of the city outside our hotel room windows. the faint sounds of car horns, buses and emergency vehicles with their sirens was a constant low mumble in the background of everything we did while in that room. We quickly got dressed and headed out.
Our plan was simple enough, find a place to eat and then head for the CN Tower, followed by Ripley’s Aquarium and then The Royal Museum.
Our first stop of the day was to the subway station. I was so excited! I’ve never been in a subway before and only had movies and TV shows to go by so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. We walked in the station called College Station and tried to purchase tickets. An attendant saw us an came over to help, she said she could tell we were new to the area and was more than happy to help us navigate the automatic ticket booth. Then pointed us in the right direction and wished us safe travels. I thought that was very nice. We get down into the station and I am amazed, it’s clean – VERY clean, and quiet. People are standing around waiting for th next subway car to take them on their journey. Even though the place was busseling with people everyone seemed to respect thr 6ft rule and generally kept to themselves.
It doesn’t look as busy here as I said above but I took these as soon as I got down there and it filled up shortly after we got there.
We approach Union Station and I was not prepared for the screeching noises the subway cars made while going around turns. It was definitely something I would compare with nails on a chalk board. We get out and the CN Tower was RIGHT THERE! Or so it seemed. It’s huge and even from several blocks away it seemed like it would be just around the next corner. We stumble across a place called Sunrise Grill and decide to go in. It smelled so good in there, bacon, eggs, toast and coffee filled the air and my stomach began to growl.
I got a ham and cheese omlete while J only got toast. He isn’t a big breakfast person. The food was delicious and fairly priced for sure.
When we left we lost our bearings for a bit and ended up walking in the opposite direction we intended to go and had to do some backtracking but that was ok, we were exploring as we were going. Taking lots of pictures and videos alone the way. Then all of a sudden there it was! Standing before us like a giant needle poking out of the ground. The CN Tower.
Getting to it required walking up a ramp that turned into a bridge. Each step my heart was racing faster. I’m sure some of it was due to me being out of shape but I know it was also because of what was about to come.
Going up the ramp/bridgeSculptures outside the Rogers CentreThe CN Tower The Blue Jay’s!
To the right was the Rogers Centre but to me it will always be remembered as the SkyDome. That’s what I grew up calling it and I just can’t get that name out of my head. To the left was the Tower. It was looming ahead and seemed impossibly huge. We had to go into some kind of building to get an elevator just to go back outside on a lower level then we found the entrance. It was barely busy at all. We walked right in and up to the counter and showed our passes and got in. They required us to take a photo which I found to be a bit odd but went along with it anyways. We had lots of sectioned off areas to navigate like a maze. I asked and later confirmed that it’s set up like this because there are usually crowds and this is just a way to control the line of people. We get in the elevator but not before being greeted by a lovely tour guide who shared some facts about how fast we would be going and other things about the CN Tower. We get in and go up… Up… Up. The views going up were AMAZING to say the least and the speed wasn’t as bad as I was thinking it would be. But one thing I didn’t care for was the fact it wobble and shuddered as we went up. I felt like we were being shaken by the wind. Finally the elevator stops and the doors open, I rush out, the bright sun is filling up the observation deck and as soon as I step out of the elevator my legs stop working. I started to get mad tingles in places I should not be getting tingles, it was to the point I felt like I was going to actually pee right there. I make my way around a corner and we see the floor to ceiling windows and the city far out below. Another tour guide sees me and asks if I’m ok. I tell her of my fear of heights and she praised me for coming all the way up to face my fears and said I was doing great. This actually made me feel good and less panicky. I gain the courage to go up to the windows slowly and look around. The observation floor was starting to fill up and everyone else seemed not phased by the dizziness of the heights like I was. I managed to get some good photos and video called my daughter to show her where I was. She was amazed. Then we went to another floor below the current floor. This lower level had the glass floor and I knew I would be worse down there. I was relieved to see the entire area is not glass floor, there were just small sections that were actually glass. Some people were already there walking on it like it was nothing, some even jumped on it – JUMPED! What is wrong with these people?!?! I nearly had a panic attack FOR them. I even said aloud that some of these people must have a death wish.
Entrance to the CN TowerCan you see that person at the very top hanging off the edge?
We then got in line to take the elevator back down. The ride down seemed a lot faster and less bumpy. We pass a counter where 2 smiling ladies greeted us and showed us pictures of ourselves that were taken earlier, it was a souvenir thing that changed the background. You know, the typical touristy keepsake photo. It was $45 so we said no. We then enter a gift shop and I go a little overboard with buying souvenirs. They were expensive and I wasn’t sure how much I was actually getting, I was just grabbing things. $95 later and the cashier hands me my small bag of trinkets and we head for the door.
When we get outside I had to take a minute, we found a bench and chilled for a minute or two while I caught my bearings and realized what I had just accomplished. J seemed to love every second of it and was quite amused with how I was acting.
Right next to the CN Tower was the aquarium and the faint sounds of the music they were playing on loud speakers outside could be heard from where we were sitting, beckoning me to come for a visit.
Have you ever faced a fear? Did you feel like you accomplished something when it was over or did you feel like you’ve just lost your mind instead? Haha
I guess all travel has some sort of planning. Even those last minute ones. The trip I took could be classified as one depending on who you ask.
My partner and I were chatting and he happened to look up some prices to fly to some places we have both talked about going some day. We knew travel restrictions will be lifting even more than they already were in the coming weeks and were just curious.
The tickets were super affordable. For both of us it would be around $600 in total for a return. If you know Newfoundland you know it’s never cheap to get off this island. So this was a great deal! We jumped on it and got the tickets. Then we had to plan out trip!
Where were we headed? Toronto, Ontario.
I have many friends and family there but with this trip, I wouldn’t be able to visit any of them as we planned so much into a 2 day travel event there was no time to figure out any visitations. We planned on day 1 to do some touristy things and day 2 would be shopping. But first we had to get there.
We had a bit of a fumble with the tickets and prices changed. We quickly realized that with the travel restrictions lifting for international travel a surge of people were doing what we were doing, trying to set things up for travel. So we had to pre book the tickets with some kind of lock in that would lock in the price. But small print was not read and we later discovered that it would only work up to a certain percentage of price change and it quickly shot up over it. We had to change flights to another airline that was almost as cheap as our first pick. That was ok, but instead of a jet we got a propeller plane. It seated around 80 but this airline is known for their great services, roomy seats and convenient stop locations. So I was only slightly more nervous due to being a propeller plane. They are louder, more vibration, smaller and usually seem to take longer to get anywhere. But I was taking it all in stride.
Before the flight I had to speak with my doctor to help with providing me something for my nerves. She prescribed some Ativan so it could help take the edge off things. I feel like a big part of my overall anxiety over flying was eased a bit with the fact that my partner has traveled many times before and so I had someone to help me inflight… with noises, bumps, or whatever else could happen I knew I could look at him and he would assure me things would be ok.
When we got on the plane we quickly discovered that even though there was more leg room than normal there was very little room left to right. We felt like sardines in a can. Both our elbows where in the way of each other and had to keep our arms folded while sitting together as both of us are very broad across the shoulders.
This flight had 3 stops. Each time we took off my anxiety was still through the roof I guess but J was there to help me through it. By the time we got to the second stop a flight attendant noticed how uncomfortable we were and offered to let one of us move to the next seat in the same row across the aisle. This greatly improved the comfort but not my anxiety. As he was now not in arms reach, I couldn’t grab his arm each time I got a fright (I’m sure he had no complaints of that haha)
Finally we were in the big city!
I was in awe! The buildings where sooo tall, so sleek and modern, glass, steel and lots of designs to make them look trendy, modern, futuristic. Peppered in were some older buildings with brick and stone which added to the character of the city. We didn’t have time to do much but stare out our taxi windows on our way to the hotel. With all the stops the plane made we didn’t get in to the airport till 8:45. By the time we got to our hotel it was 930. Unpacked and settled it was after 10. We were so hungry, tired and bewildered we looked out our hotel window and saw a Dominios. We quickly went out to the busy street and ordered a small pizza each and came back. It was now 11 and we were so tired we quickly ate and went to bed, Super excited to see what our 1st full day would have in store for us.
On The Rock Thoughts 