Falls Manor

After packing & checking out of our hotel, we headed out to have breakfast. We decided to try at Falls Manor, because it's outside of the attractions area, and also it's on the way to QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) which we will take to Toronto. Falls Manor is on Lundy, and only about 5min drive from our hotel. With a charming rustic decor, Falls Manor is both a motel & restaurant. It was a nice sunny day, the temperature is right around 70, perfect! Huong asked to be sat at the nice large deck in the back, which turned out a nice decision.

I noticed that all of the condiments or sauces are labeled in both English & French. We encountered couple of new terms: cornmeal is Canadian cured ham, but "broast" is a propriety cooking technique of this restaurant. They serve nice rich flavor coffee! The foods are plenty and in no time we were full, so it's time to head out to Toronto.

St. Lawrence Market

It takes only an hour and half to Toronto, a pleasant drive. Passed bunch of wineries and nice view of Toronto lake. Who knew, I never had Canadian wines before, and wonder how they compare to California's or French's. Will look for them next time.

We got into Toronto around 11am. The Ramada offers nice & luxury room! Real down comforters and 400 count thread sheets & pillows. I am looking forward to sleeping on them tonight. We stopped by the front desk on the way, and query about direction to St. Lawrence Market. The hotel manager recommended us using the subway, so we left the car at the hotel parking lot & walked to the subway station, which is about two blocks away. The whole family of 5, all rides on the subway & streetcar set us back only 9 Canadian dollars! We took the subway from the College station to King station, and walked to St. Lawrence Market, about 2 blocks away. It's a big indoor, two-level market. We stopped & asked a seller to the Carousel bakery, which is located to west end of the building. I really want to try this place's sandwiches, but it does not offer Pastrami or Roast Beef ... so we bought the sandwiches from the nearby Italian sandwiches shop. We sat at the outdoor table, watched the pigeons & people. It was such a nice day. Finished the sandwiches we walked toward CN tower, about three blocks away.

CN Tower

From St. Lawrence Market we able to see the tower and headed toward it. We passed the Union Rail station, and use the connected skyway to walk to the tower. The tower is a massive structure, and it's a tallest free standing structure for 31 years until a building in Dubai took over. It's 1,815ft tall! Yes, that means at the foot of the tower, your neck has to bend 90 degree backward to be able to see the tip of the tower. On top of this tower is an actual antenna to carry live broadcasting TV and radio stations.

There is a nice park at the foot of the tower, with plenty of bench and trees providing shade. Bảo, Thuỵ & Huan tried the local ice cream, and seemed to enjoy it very much, especially Huan.  There is an exhibit of Live Green Toronto also at the foot of the towner. A city within in Toronto is awarded with a plot, in which the city will grow local plants. Quite interesting garden & decorations.

We hang out there until we feel a bit hungry, so we walked back to the Union Station, take the subway to Chinatown.

Chinatown

The closest subway station to Chinatown is St. Patrick. From there we walked West toward Chinatown, about two blocks away. We passed by the AGO with the famous Two Large Forms scupture. Huan had a good time climbing on it.

Got to Chinatown, we saw fruit stands with fresh Chôm Chôm, Măng Cụt, and Vải ... childhood familiar Vietnamese fruits, which brought back waves of memories. Huong bought the fruits, and don't know how we could eat Măng Cụt, because we do not have a knife to cut. We stopped by a restaurant to buy Chinese foods so that we can take back to the hotel & eat there. One thing that I forgot to do is to research for a good Chinese restaurant, so we tried ... the first one which look good. :) We ordered dishes which we familiar, thinking that even if it does not taste good, at least we an still ... eat them. But it turns out quite good, we cleaned out them all out at the hotel.

We decided to take it easy, just kicked back at the hotel, uploading pictures, writing blogs and went to bed early, prepared ourselves for the gruesome 9 hours driving back on Sunday.