Back to Canadaland first stop Toronto!!!

'Hank' the tank, was really hot after being left on the street for 4 days but all ready to take us to Toronto. 

The drive to Toronto took about 9 hours and both Marc and I took turns driving while the other slept, as we were super tired after Chicago. The drive was mainly all freeway, there was a huge bridge we drove over before entering back into Canada that was huge. The most impressive thing about this area of the world is the size of the lakes I guess that's why they call it 'The Great Lakes', every lake looks like an ocean but to know they are lakes is hard to comprehend especially coming from Australia.

We arrived at Aaron and Diane’s house around 7pm and were happy to have a home to stay at for a few nights. Aaron made some delicious sandwiches and we hung out with Sullivan the great entertainer (Aaron’s little 1 year old with a huge personality).  After some nightcaps made by Aaron we passed out on our mattresses on the floor.

Day 1: After a great night sleep we woke up with little Sully peering in at us asleep on the lounge room floor with a look of 'What are you doing there?'. After some breakfast Diane took Sully to daycare and we went for a run to try and stay fit... the run was good but it nearly killed Marc after all the beer he had consumed in the last few days he he he.

Marc fell in love with a 'Bacon' toy of Aaron's that says 'I'm Bacon' when you push a button. If anyone needs ideas for Marc at Christmas time this would be golden! 

Diane had taken the day off work to be our Sherpa around Toronto. To start we went to Kensington market and walked around the shops stopping for some delicious Mexican and Mr. Cream Ice cream.

 
We then made our way into downtown to try and get my iPod touch fixed at the apple store. The apple store was super busy as always and we made an appointment to see someone in an hours time so we went to the Beer Bistro where we had some beer and excellent stake frites! Afterwards apple advised they would replace my touch for free as we were traveling YEA!!

 
That night we went to Caplansky’s for dinner which was delicious, I had the Knish, smoke meat poutine and Marc had the smoke meat sandwich. It was really good and great to hang out with Aaron and Diane.



 

Diane took Sully home after dinner and we went to the fringe festival to meet Natalie for a beer. On our way we passed though some lovely streets and Toronto's famous discount store ‘Honest Ed’s’. Aaron’s brother Caleb served us some beer and we caught up with Natalie before heading back to Aaron’s place for the night.
 

Day 2: After another really fun morning with Sully. Marc and I ventured out to see Toronto by 'Bixi' bike (A shared bike network) with a packed lunch. After working out how to use the bikes we made our way down to the foreshore of lake Ontario to catch the ferry over to Toronto Island. The ride was loads of fun but also scary as riding with the city traffic can be a little crazy. 

The ferry ride was very short and the Island was a lovely awesome oasis. We ate our lunch and strolled around checking out centrevill and the other side of the island. After our walk we stopped under a tree for an hours sleep before heading back. 

 

Next we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Marc loved it and knew all about after being Canadian for the last 2 years. I just liked the old Jerseys and Face-masks it's really a crazy sport. After a photo with the Stanley cup we headed back to Aaron and Diane’s for dinner.

We went to Stockyards for dinner and ate some delicious burgers. The rest of the night we kicked back with some beers and watched toga Sully play the keyboard while I setup my new touch.

 


Day 3: In the morning we packed up our stuff and moved over to Natalie and James apartment for the last 2 nights in Toronto. After getting settled we made our way to Rogers Stadium to watch the Toronto Blue Jays play the New York Yankees. It was another really hot day at the baseball especially with not much relief from the sun. It was Sullivan and Natalie’s first game and I think they both really enjoyed it. The Yankees beat the Blue jays 4 -1. For dinner that night we went to Marben. Again more delicious food. It was a sharing menu so we ordered mainly everything and shared it amongst the 6 of us. To add to the experience Aaron and Natalie paid for us as a thank you for working with them for the last 2 and a bit years it was so nice I nearly cried. 

  

After dinner we went out for some drinks before heading back to Natalie and James for the night.

James made us some nightcaps at his bar before bed ‘Brandy Alexander’s’ another great end to a massive day.

 










Day 4: Natalie had some appointments on Sunday morning so we walked to the Kensington market where we met up with Aaron, Diane and Sully for lunch and to go and see the CN tower. It was a long walk but we checked out some of the shops on Queen street along the way. When we finally got to the tower it was an hour wait before we could go up, I didn't realize that it was so popular. It was well worth the wait though. The elevator ride up was sweet and once at the top the views were amazing and sully kept saying wow (little cutie). 

 Afterwards we made our way back to Natalie’s for a pizza dinner via Aaron’s place. On our way there Aaron’s car got a flat tire so we had to turn around and go back. Unfortunately this meant only Aaron could come around for dinner as there was not enough room in the car for Diane and Sully :(

After some delicious pizza and a few too many ports (I was very happy). James entertained as with his crazy vocabulary skills. 


That night and morning we had to say good-bye to Aaron and Natalie which was sad but hopefully we will get to see both of them and the family again at some stage in the future. We had an awesome time in Toronto all thanks to our great friends.

Chicagoua/Chicago means stinky onion

After arriving in Chicago we drove to Greek town and the Parthenon hostel. Both Marc and were pretty flustered after the drive in and not really ready for the car to hostel transition so ended up taking nearly everything in. The hostel was pretty nice Marc and I stayed in separate dorms, as they were not mixed. We decided to go out for dinner as it was our first night around civilization for a few weeks.

We found a voucher for a deli called ‘Manny’s Delicatessen’ that was about a 15 min walk from our hostel. Manny’s was awesome a huge cafeteria style restaurant with way to much food to know what to get. Marc decided to get the pastrami sandwich and after talking to Gino (long time staff member who has been cutting meat since 1984) I tried a sample of all the meats and loved the corn beef and pastrami so had a mix of both. The sandwiches were huge but I still got a side of pickled beats to try. To add to our meals Gino bought over some Mac and cheese on the house for us to try (on a count of being Australian), all the food was amazing and was an awesome way to start Chicago.
 

After dinner we decided to go for a walk around and found little Italy just down the road from the hostel. We stopped for some Italian lemonade (like ice slushy) a perfect way to end the day.

Day 1: To start the day we headed town to the ‘Navy Pier’. On our way there we went though the financial district, which was not particularly nice and both Marc and I were left a little unsure on what Chicago really had to offer.




After further exploration we popped out near Grant Park and the Buckingham fountain. It was really hot at this stage and it was taking me a little to adjust to the humidity, as I could not stop sweating.

At the fountain Marc got swindled. A homeless man was asking for $2 for the paper but we only had a $10 note... the man said he had change so Marc gave him the money. However he only had a $5 note in change so Marc ended up paying $5 for a paper he didn't even want. Marc's charitable side disappeared after that he he he.

After a long walk along lake Michigan’s banks we made it to the Navy Pier. It was very gimmicky and touristy but interesting to see. For lunch we had our first Chicago hotdog, which was awesome; Poppy seed bun, relish, mustard, onions, tomato, pickled chilly, pickle slice and celery salt. Mmm I was hooked.






After lunch we went on the Chicago architecture boat tour, which was awesome because it gave us a feeling for the history and the layout of the city. Interesting facts we learnt the name Chicagoua/Chicago means stinky onion. Chicago was originally a swamp, great Chicago fire in 1871 and the fact that they reversed the flow of the Chicago River to no longer flow into lake Michigan because of all the sewage they pumped into the river. 

 

We then made our way to the magnificent mile on Michigan Ave which was full off all the standard big name stores. I purchased some chocolates from Hershey’s and stopped in at Victoria secret for a new jumper and some souvenir track pants and top (Chicago cubs)... not too sure if the money will last the full 12 months if I keep this up though! 








 
On our way home we passed the ‘Purple Pig’, which Marc had read about so we decided to stop for dinner. Absolutely delicious highlights were the beats and braised turkey leg. At the restaurant though I realized that I was extremely burnt after walking around in the sun all day... silly Australian.

 

We decided to walk the rest of the way home, which was a huge walk all the way to the other side of the city. On our way we passed the famous Chicago theater and the Broadway district.

Day 2: Another really hot day in Chicago, especially after I had been badly burnt the day before. We went to the Baseball to see the Chicago White Sox play the Minnesota Twins. We had made some friends in the hostel Nichole, Michelle and Jelena all staying in my room and they all decided to join us for the day. After catching the train to the US Cellular field we purchased some tickets at the stadium. The game was fun especially because Nichole had never been before. It was pretty hot in the sun for the first hour but after that we were in the shade thankfully. ‘Twins’ won 5 – 2. 

After the game we went back to the hostel cooked some dinner and went to the Irish pub down the road that had free popcorn and hotdogs for the patrons. After a few drinks and fun conversations with Nichole and Michelle we decided to have a quiet night and go out the next night to dance up a storm. After getting back to the hostel Marc decided to go out again with another guy we met Breen for one more drink… but didn't get home until 5am silly sutho.

 



Day 3: After a late start as I could not get Marc out of bed we went for a walk around Chicago to see some more sights. The Aquarium, Museum and Planetarium (only from the outside as admission was way to expensive). We then caught the train down town to go to Millennium park. The park was nice but our favorite site was the ‘Cloud’ or ‘Kidney Bean’ a big-mirrored object we had loads of fun taking pictures with as it was like a big fun mirror. 

Afterwards we continued to stroll down Michigan Avenue. On our way we came across a place called ‘Billy Goat tavern’ very seedy from the outside but cool on the inside it had been a local hang out since 1834 and was famous for it’s burgers and not selling fries only potato chips and only Coke no Pepsi. Marc got a double cheeseburger that he inhaled after being so hung over.

That evening we went out to ‘Uno’ (the first deep dish pizza place in Chicago) with our group of friends from the hostel. It was a 40min wait for a table but the pizza took about 40mins to cook so it all worked out perfectly. The pizza was good but extremely filling, still prefer the traditional thin crust pizza.

  
 











After dinner we then walked to the John Hancock building to visit the signature room of the 95^th floor and enjoy the nighttime view of the city, which was amazing. Even thought it was free to go we paid the price for our drinks. The rest of the night we continued drinking and made our way to a piano bar called 'Howl at the moon', where we had loads of fun as they played song requests.  The previous night I told Nichole and Michelle if I was 16 I would bone the Bieber but I’m 27 so totally not interested… this all got taken as I like Justin Bieber (which I don’t) and they requested ‘Baby’ for me. It was so funny as the piano player did not want to play it as the last song of the night but he did… and we all sang along to it at the top of our lungs he he he. The rest of the night was very hazy and we got home around 5:30am!

 








 
Day 4: Extremely hard to get out of bed today and had a pretty big hang over but all worth it.  As we were all feeling like crap we decided to have a beach day down by the lake. The whole group went, about 6 of us. After a feeding of McDonalds we just lazed around the beach for the afternoon. On the way for one last beer I accidently dropped my iPod touch on the concrete and smashed it :( so sad but at least it still worked.

Sad to leave our new friends of 3 days on Wednesday morning but Nichole, Michelle and Breen all came down early to have breakfast with us before we departed. Hopefully get to see them all again next year.