Toronto

I’m killing time in the Toronto airport after having spent the last couple of days visiting with Angeline’s family while she and her sister and brother-in-law are here for an endocrinology conference. All in all it was a great trip if too short — I had a nice time playing with Angeline’s nephews, drinking beers with Sameer, and wandering the city on my own whenever I had unscheduled free time.

Rather than bore with details, here are some of my general ugly-american impressions of the city from my fourth visit:

• Toronto wants to be NYC it seems, but I have to say that I find TO more enjoyable than its stateside counterpart. Perhaps it’s the general lack of rudeness.
• Every Canadian knows every famous Canadian. This is because every time Alex Trebek, say, is mentioned on Canadian TV, they say, “oh by the way, Alex Trebek is from Canada!”
• In Toronto, the movie “13th Floor” was called “2nd Floor,” because in some buildings only non-prime numbers that start with ‘S’ are considered lucky. Okay that’s a lie, but the elevator in Angeline’s brother’s condo really takes number skipping to an extreme.
• There’s a store called ‘Bowring Canadiana’ which I pronounce “boring” in my head and I giggle to myself
• Lots of US brands here have different names than in Canada. I saw a commercial that said, “It’s not delivery, it’s Delissio!” And it makes me wonder if DiGiorno is the name of a Canadian serial killer or something. You know, it’s the little things, le big mac, and so on.
• Meals:
  • best: eggs, bacon, potatoes, crepes, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberry and
    two pieces of toast at Cora’s which I found serendipitously a few blocks
    from the hotel
  • worst: Ritz Caribbean, which had jerk chicken for $3.99 CDN. Cheap and
    edible, but the pointyness of the jerk-flavored chicken bones was somehow
    off-putting.
  • trendiest: SushiTrain on Yonge, where Angeline and I split four maki rolls
    and a pair of nigiri. The Japanese-modern decor blended well with the
    dance music overhead and the tasty fusion style offerings. Place was
    dead on a Saturday night though.
  • best deal: danish and (harsh) OJ for $2.68 at the airport Tim Horton’s.
    Same would cost $8 at Charbucks.

I am looking forward to a nice nap when I touchdown in DC in a few hours.