Toronto, Canada has a lot of cute novelty shops and restaurants that make it a fun place to explore. After you visit all these odd quirky locations it tends to feel like most other large waterfront cities, akin to a mix of New York City and Seattle.
We walked to all of our destinations in Toronto in order to save money for something else in the next three months. Our motto is, if you can do something for free, why pay for it? The true attitude of a budget traveler.
For our first night there we went to a popular burger joint called The Works recommended by Raleigh from the last time he was in London. Absolutely incredible burgers with what feels like hundreds of burger options to choose from. They have everything from veggie patties or Elk patties to brie and arugula or peanut butter and jam options. The burgers are only improved by their alcoholic slushies or milkshakes. Definitely worth a visit.
Our only full day in Toronto was spent walking a total of nine miles all around the city. We started by getting breakfast at the legendary Tim Hortons just so I could say I’d been there because I never had. Then we walked north through the beautiful University of Toronto to the Poop Cafe in Koreatown. Yes, you heard that right, Poop Cafe. The Poop Cafe is filled with humour things like toilets for chairs to sit on, drinks served out of small urinals, coffee served out of miniature toilets, and the walls filled with pictures of piles of poop. If you are too refined and grossed out by saying or looking at poop, I don’t recommend visiting. On the other hand, if you like a good laugh and delicious milkshakes or donuts or ice cream, I suggest stopping by for a pile of thick poop.
We then walked down Younge Street which is clearly the Times Square of Toronto, filled with big name stores and giant light up billboards and a massive amount of what feels like thousands of people all around you. There was rumors of a Deaf staffed restaurant where the customers had to use sign language to order their food, which was our next goal. But online it seemed quite confusing, Google and Yelp said it was permanently closed, Facebook and Google Maps said they were open and there were Yelp reviews as recent as February, our only way to discover the truth was to go and see for ourselves. Sadly the entire building was demolished, a disappointment to the Deaf Toronto community I’m sure. Instead we headed to the glorious Nutella Cafe filled with a large menu of Nutella crepes, paninis, donuts, and “pizzas” (squares of phyllo dough with nutella and fruit on top). Incredibly delicious, I recommend it if you have a sweet tooth. We then went grocery shopping for some food to bring to Iceland where we plan to do a lot of hiking and saving money. On our final day in Toronto, our flight to Reykjavik didn’t leave until 7pm so we spent it eating poutine and visiting Graffiti Alley.
With small beautiful British style brick buildings nestled alongside massive skyscrapers, Toronto is a mashup of new and old, beauty and danger, and small within large. This ends up creating a city where anyone can find anything they like. The diversity allows any type of person to be able to find their niche and home inside the city. Add a little hockey and poutine and you have a city worth visiting.
Allison's Adventures 