After many years of dreaming about it, Brendan a
nd I have made a temporary departure from Dubai to go and spend some time exploring Canada. On our way to Canada we detoured via London for the baptism of our nephew Thomas. Brendan also went north and visited a friend of his in Scotland. From the photos it looks like the boys had a great time in Glasgow - sampling a wide variety of the local fare (including haggis and a deep fried mars bar of course) and walking all around the city. You can check out more photos and Brendan's reviews on the travel bites blog.
Back in Kent for the baptism and the UK put on possibly the nicest weather I have ever experienced in that part of the world. The baptism was short and sweet and I was honoured to be named as Thomas' Godmother. After the baptism we spent a lovely sunny afternoon sipping on wine (in Tom's honour of course) and enjoying some good food and company in the garden. The next day Aunty Kate and Uncle Brendan took Matthew out for a few hours and introduced him to the wonderful world of ten pin bowling. He's not even three yet and he was carrying his own bowling ball and pushing it down the alley with gusto. No strikes, but there is some definite potential there. Not sure who enjoyed themselves more.Waving goodbye to the family and UK, we boarded an early morning flight from Heathrow and 8 hours later arrived in Toronto, ready for the start of our Canadian adventure. After two days in Toronto, we feel like we have ticked off a lot of what this city has to offer - we walked about 20 km yesterday, weaving our way all through the city from the outskirts where we were staying in a cute guest house that is a converted century old house, through the brewery district, around the CN Tower and up to China Town. Last night we ended up at a comedy club called Second City which was absolutely fantastic (and is a club where people like John Candy, Dan Aykroyd and Tina Fey have all graced the stage). It was a bunch of skits, followed by an hour or so of improv and the quality of the comedians gives me great hope for what we will see later at the Montreal Comedy Festival.
On the cuisine side of things, we have ticked off a number of the Canadian big hitters. While the coffee at Tim Horton's isn't anything to brag about, their maple glazed donuts are unreal and dissolve in your mouth with their buttery, sugary goodness. we stopped by St Lawrence Market for lunch, reportedly voted the No. 1 food market in the world by National Geographic with many stalls proudly hanging photos and signed memorabilia from all the famous customers who sampled their products. I had the pulled pork guacamole with hot sauce burrito (wow...pork overload) and brendan had a pulled BBQ beef burger which oozed with glistening, soft meat. The winner by far was the walnut maple tart which had a crunchy pastry case packed with gooey sweet maple syrup and topped with baked walnuts. The first bite was divine, the third was slightly sickening. As far as markets go it had some great variety, but I think i would still rate Victoria Market in Melbourne as a step above of this one. We have also had the chance to try poutine for the first time - probably best described as the Canadian equivalent of the late night kebab. Like the kebab, poutine comes in a variety of different combinations with local adaptations and spin-offs from the basic recipe, which is made from home cut fries, gravy sauce and cheese curds. Visually, this concoction is not particularly appetizing (it kind of looks like a the end result of a big night out), but on a rainy cold night after a couple of drinks, it hits the spot and clogs those pesky arteries. 
Finally, some very initial observations about Canada - the weather is crazy and unpredictable ranging from wild winds and pouring rain to the perfect spring day (and back again) within a couple of hours. The people here are genuinely really nice so far, and I love the Canadian accent.
Tonight we will leave Toronto and start our great pilgrimage west across the country by train. First stop will be the tiny town of Longlac which we will reach after 20 hours on the train. Will hopefully get an update done from Longlac and get some photos up of the first leg of our train trip.
Until next time!
//Kate
As said in our FB conversation I have enormous trouble with the concept of "buttery, sugary goodness"
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more about the Queen Victoria markets. They and AFL would make a Melbourne winter tolerable.
Oh and btw can you flick this decipher code thing. I've always had trouble deciphering