Next up: Niagara!

After our yummy breakfast in Toronto, it was off to Niagara Falls. It's about a 2 hour drive to Niagara, so we decided to take some breaks along the way.

We started with a stop at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area about 30 minutes outside the city. We did a nice little hike that led to a cool spot where we could see downtown Toronto from a distance.

Then, it was back on the road and time to do some wine tasting. This region is crazy big in wine apparently! I saw more grapes than I've ever seen!! Even in Napa! There are apparently a few different regions. We stopped first at two wineries in the Niagara Escarpment region. First up was Malivoire Winery. It was chaos in there and we weren't loving it. The wines weren't great either. We thought maybe this was going to be a bust. We next went to Kacaba and loved it!! So many good wines and really good reds! We bought a bottle of white and one of red.

Then, it was time to continue on our journey. We needed to check in to our bed and breakfast between 4-6, so we only had a few minutes to stop into Niagara on the Lake. So, we stopped at the cheese shop, Cheese Secrets and tasted a whole bunch of local cheeses before deciding on 3 yummy ones to take with us for our dinner the 2nd night in Niagara. The little downtown area of this city is super cute!! I'm not sure we took pics, but it was very charming with all kinds of cute shops and restaurants. We decided to return to this area after checking in.

We checked into our cute B&B, Greystone Manor. It was right on the road next to the Niagara River and just about a 20 minute walk from the Falls. We decided to save the Falls for Tuesday morning and headed back to Niagara on the Lake. We stopped at Between the Lines winery and had a fun tasting which led to us buying a bottle of wine and a 3 pack of cans of sparkling wine. So fun!

Then, it was off to dinner at Peller Winery. It was too late to do a tour, so we did dinner at their little grill overlooking the vineyards. We sat at the bar where they were grilling all the food. It was really pleasant and a great way to end a day of driving.

We headed back to the hotel along the Niagara Parkway and kept stopping to take beautiful pics! Great scenery!!

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.

Hello, Canada!

After Buffalo, it was time for our adventure to Toronto. Another couple hours of driving this day. It took forever to cross the border in Buffalo. But, we finally made it across and it was smooth sailing from there.

We arrived to the giant city of Toronto. So big! Our first stop was for lunch/brunch at Lady Marmalade. There was a bit of a line, but it was worth it. So yummy! We had two different kinds of bennys. Mine had brie, bacon, and avocado. Michael's had back bacon (aka Canadian bacon) and cheese curds.

Then, it was off to check-in to our hotel, Margie Townhome Suites. It's a cute little house in a great neighborhood and feels more like an Airbnb than a hotel. We did some planning for the day and were off. We decided to buy the CityPass and try to pack in 4/5 of the attractions.

First stop: Royal Ontario Museum. It's a huge museum, but we only did the parts that were interesting to us. Dinos, stuffed dead things, lots of granny's knick-knacks, and lots of historic old stuff. Really, it was about the dinos.

Then, we walked to the CN Tower ready to tackle that CityPass attraction. 2 hour wait to go up. No thanks. So, we decided to take a break after all the walking and went to Stemwhistle Brewing Company. Apparently, it's the first brewery in Toronto, but they only make 1 beer and it was crazy crowded in there and I just wanted to sit down, so after Michael tasted the one beer they make, we made a new plan. We found this great spot, Boxcar Social that overlooks the lake. Great place for a rest and drink. Then, we walked over to Amsterdam Brewing Company and loved the atmosphere in there.

After refueling, it was time for the CN Tower. Or not. Still a long line. So, we did Ripley's Aquarium instead (also a CityPass stop). SO COOL! Maybe because it had Ripley's in front of it I thought it'd be terrible, but it was amazing. They had this cool tunnel thing where you hung out on a moving belt and it took you under this big tank with sharks and stuff. We loved it!! Must see if you're in Toronto.

Then, after trying to figure out public transit with no luck, we took an Uber to dinner at Banjara Indian Restaurant. We wanted good ethnic food in such a diverse city, but this was just okay. Not bad, just not great.

On our way home, we stopped at Her Father's Cider Bar and we both got flights of local cider. Very fun way to end our day!

 Then, it was time for sleep! Day 1 in Toronto complete!