Toronto...you're cool!

Day 2 in Toronto was packed with more adventures.

First up a stop at a bakery to get some morning snacks.

Then, it was off to the Toronto Zoo to see the pandas. The Toronto Zoo is NOT in Toronto by the way. It's a good 25-45 minute drive out of town depending on traffic. But, we did it early and so had no trouble getting out there. So glad we had a car!! We got there 30 minutes before they opened, but got in line ready to see the twin panda cubs. So worth it!! We got over to them and had plenty of time to enjoy the pandas without too many people with us. It was adorableness! Those baby pandas are too cute! Loved it!

We then had about 1.25 hours to see the rest of the zoo, and we managed to do pretty well. We saw the baby polar cub, baby lions, and baby rhino. Plus lots of other cool animals. Great zoo.

Then, it was back to the city for our brunch tour of Toronto along West King/Queen Streets. Pretty good, but not the best food ever. Apparently this is the 2nd hippest street in the world. We also learned that 4500 restaurants open every year in Toronto and 4400 close that same year. That's crazy stuff.  Our tour guide was great and so we had tons of fun with him. He was shocked that I was a math professor. I wasn't nerdy enough for that and was way too funny to be a professor. #breakingstereotypes. While we were walking to our first stop, we passed graffiti alley. Such great artwork!

We started w/ tea at Portland Variety. Then had yummy Italian doughnuts at Sud Forno. Next up was pizza at North Brooklyn Pizza Company. Then, yummy desserts and a fresh, hot croissant at a French bakery, Delysees. Finally, we stopped at Bank Note Bar to have wings and bloody caesars (apparently it's a Canadian thing, but it's gross).

We then went to SOMA chocolate to get some yummy treats from one of the best chocolate stores in the world and then to barhop which had $5 pints on Sundays. More local brews!

Next up was a nap then off for more evening adventures. We hit up Bellworks Brewery and then Mill Street Brewery. The second brewery was in the Distillery District which was really cool and had tons of great artwork!

Then, we finally figured out how to use public transit and headed down to Snakes and Lattes board game cafe. We first tried a game that had way too many pieces and Alison wasn't having it. Too much setup! So, we enjoyed some drinks and food while playing Codewords. It was a great game and we had a really nice time just relaxing and playing games.

Then, it was off to have dinner at Tequila Bookworm. Cute bar with fun snacks (watermelon on a bed of avocado, steak skewers, and poutine) on an upstairs patio. Again, we were loving the nice temps.

We rode the streetcar back to our hotel and got up early the next day to do the CN Tower. We arrived by 8:15 after taking the subway and after figuring out etiquette for waiting in line/forming a line, we got in pretty soon after they opened at 9 and went up to the observation deck. We were done by 9:30 or so. It was cool and they had a fun glass floor, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for people (due to the wait times/cost).

After that we walked down to the Italian bakery from our tour the previous day and grabbed some breakfast. And then, it was time to say goodbye to Toronto.

There was so much more to do here, but we ran out of time!! Toronto Islands is on the list for next time. Along with a great list of restaurants suggested by our guide: Richmond Social, Pai, and Lee. Oh and Barchef for amazing cocktails.