Fall Break 04

For Fall Break this year, a couple buddies and I road-tripped up to Toronto, Canada and spent a couple days up there. We all had a lot of fun!

Here’s a recap:

Friday
We went to get gas and lunch at McDonald’s and officially hit the road at about 3:15 pm towards Niagara Falls. We took 2 cars, Dan’s and Jhony’s. I was in Jhony’s car along with his friend who was just hitching a ride to Canada. Everyone else was in Dan’s car. The trip to Niagara was smooth and we got to our hotel (Best Western) without a hitch. We then hit downtown area of Niagara Falls - we visited some shops and just walked around. We ate at this place called The Keg. The restaurant was located in Embassy Suites Hotel and they had TV screens for all the urinals. In fact, I watched the Red Sox beat Anaheim while I pissed. After that, we walked around the actual Niagara Falls and gazed at it for a while. Could’ve just watched the water for hours, somehow all that rushing water seems really calming. Then we hit a casino but didn’t play much; I lost $5 Canadian on the slots - it just for the heck of it.

Saturday
On Saturday, we headed to the Falls and boarded the Maid of the Mist. It was a great view although we all got pretty wet despite the plastic raincoats we were given. After walking around for a bit we headed to Toronto. We arrived in downtown Toronto and within 5 minutes of walking, I saw a Bentley and Ferrari. I would later on see several more Ferrari’s, Bentley’s, and Lamborghini’s. Are Toronto people rich? Maybe just a little. The area we were in was pretty high end - there were a lot of expensive boutiques and you could tell the people walking around had money. I saw a Hugo Boss store and joked that we should all go get fancy suits to fit in. Anyway, we ate at this small Italian place and walked around in an area that resembled 5th avenue in NYC. We when headed to the CN Tower. It was a good view and the glass floors were pretty neat. That night we ate at the hotel and hit up the pool. Swam around and played Marco Polo - not much else to in a pool besides lounging around. Then we hit the sauna room. Holy crap, I have NEVER sweated that much before.

Sunday
On Sunday we went to an amusement park called Paramount Canada’s Wonderland. It was pretty good actually, there were a lot of coasters, and although they may not be as thrilling as the ones at Six Flags, they were pretty fun. There was also minimal waiting on the lines so we went on all the good rides. The place also sold foot long hot dogs which we ate for lunch. We pretty much spent the whole day there. At night we went to eat at this place called Kelsey’s. It’s pretty much like Applebee’s. This is where I fell in love. Our waitress was this young blonde woman who looked to be our age. Her name was “Jen.” Oh Jen, I’ll never forget you :-D.

Monday
It turns out that Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving and most places worth going to were closed. So we headed to Toronto’s Chinatown. We walked around looking for a good dim sum place and settled for a place called the Shy Dragon. The place was okay but I don’t think it mattered because we were all really hungry. We walked around for a bit, visiting a bunch of stores, got bubble tea, and walked around some more. Afterwards, we went to Toronto Zoo where we saw a lot of cool animals like rhinos and polar bears up close. I picked up a stuffed polar bear. After the zoo, we went to this mall called the Pacific Mall, which is supposed to be “North America’s Largest Indoor Asian Mall.” It was actually pretty big and had a lot of cool stores. I wish this mall was in Flushing or something (Flushing Mall is a piece of crap). Anyway, we ate there - I got a bento box for $6.75 Canadian which was pretty cheap. That night we played water basketball with this ball we got and some more Marco Polo.

Tuesday
In the morning we headed back to Ithaca. In the car we played a bunch of guessing games and what not. Jhony picked up a bunch of cheap duty-free alcohol. NICE.

And so that concludes Fall Break. It was a nice vacation. But now it’s back to work.

P.S. Go Yankees! Vote Kerry!