Toronto, Canada

By bus, I arrived in Toronto! A chill few hours ride from Montreal and it feels like you’re in a complete different world. While Montreal is all artsy and has that charming, alternative vibe, Toronto feels way more like you would imagine a North American city. Skyscrapers and a way busier buzz.

First I checked into my AirBnb in a lovely neighborhood. This time I’m sharing with other people and one of my flatmates was kind enough to share his Torontonian insider tips.

As I only had 4 days in this big city (compared to 10 days in Montreal) I started exploring the city and ticking off boxes early the next morning. First a grabbed a coffee just opposite the entrance door and already felt like I found a real gem of a cafe.

I took the bus to city center and walked the rest to go to Toronto tower. First I wanted to get an elevated view over this massive city.

The queue to get up there was rather long with about an hour of waiting but it’s definitely worth it. The tower used to be the tallest in the world and it holds the record for being the tallest for the longest time. The glass floor on top is the first of its kind and makes you realize how high you are. Everyone down there looks like little ants.

It’s Canada’s 150th birthday and they’re celebrating quite big. Even all the national parks are for free, unfortunately I won’t have time to visit one.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the center and of course its vegan munches.

The next day I got something really cool planned. I was about to meet two co travelers from along the way.

Shane, the first and almost only vegan I met, came with me to enjoy an amazing vegan breakfast at Kensington market, showed me around there (paired with tips where to get the best food 😂) and then we went for a walk along Lake Ontario with amazing views of the skyline.

At the end of the day I met Arash and his girlfriend. And it seems like vegetarian / veganism is way more popular here, he is vegetarian and she is vegan. Perfect. 😊

We went for more munch at yet another area I haven’t seen. I must admit, seeing other travelers again along the way makes the world feel so small and cozy. It’s a tiny little bit like coming home no matter where you are.

The following day was all artsy (and foody, but I don’t have to mention that specifically, right?). Toronto has amazing street art as well and so I followed the mural trail through the city.

It leads through photo worthy neighbourhoods and through Chinatown.

When I finished my walk I decided to check out the art museum (which was highly recommended by my flatmate). And as it turned out, I was very lucky with the choice, it was Wednesday and it was past 6 p.m.! Free admission, yay!

The place was full of great art and also offers free highlight walks which is really cool. The guides connect their personal highlights with the “official” highlights. When I left the museum, it was already dark and time to check out the illuminated Yonge Dundas Square.

On my last day it was time for some education. I walked the campus which is a gorgeous collection of architecture and then went to the Royal Ontario Museum (just another flatmate recommendation). The place pretty cool and as I couldn’t be lucky enough there was a blue whale special exhibition.

Don’t miss out on the museum’s great view of the city.

All in all Toronto was just another pretty awesome city. Quite different from Montreal. Weather was gorgeous again… But it told me to leave when it was downpouring just the morning I left. My first and only rain in Canada. 😊

Montréal, Canada

 

After all that tropical areas and living with people constantly, I was really looking forward to another type of input. City life! Back when I planned my route roughly, I actually thought about that fact and left myself space after Martinique to decide what I really want at the time. Funny enough, it came exactly as I thouht it would and I booked an AirBnb in Montréal without any further plans.

I booked a flight to Canada which was directly from Martinique (French speaking places connection, yay! 😀 ) and the first day I arrived I just spent back “home”, having a light dinner and watching my final season of Game of Thrones (oops, addiction right there) and started making plans for at least the next day.

My appartment itself was conveniently located in the middle of several hip areas of the city. That meant, plenty of cafés and restaurants with vegan options around. Quite a difference from happily living with the fruit and veg available to enjoying a big city with all the food amenities.

The first few days I took time completely for myself, no “must-see” places, no “must-do” tourist things. I stayed up late, woke up, went for short runs, had late breakfast and THEN I went out. What I did the first few days was just walking around the area I lived in, exploring “my neighbourhood” and all the amazing street art.

And as it is a city I could get some real to dos done. Of course I had a few internet tasks to finish (finally good connection again, it seemed so unreal before 😉 ) and a few ‘treating myself’ things. Laundry, hair dresser, shopping… Usual activities, but not if you’re constantly on the go. I felt good after getting everything done… What do you say? Normal human again?

Along the strolling there was always something to do or see, weather was absolutely perfect and so all the life happened on the outside (including a circus festival in the streets).

My first touristy thing I did was a bike tour through the city. It went through the areas in the city centre I haven’t seen yet and was great as it was informative, active and social.

The places we visited were so pretty that I decided to visit a few of them again. This time, no bike. This was about to become my longest day in Montréal. I headed out, walked to the city centre, took a lot of back roads and walked along the river back to the city centre. I followed the track of streetart, shops, cafés and churches.

The end of the day was filled with one of the coolest things ever. Thanks to the bike guide I knew about the international fireworks competion that was happening that day. So towards the end of the day I walked all the way down to the docks where a city beach was set up and waited another few hours until the spectacle started. Luckily, there was food and beverages. But the long wait was absolutely worth it, the fireworks were amazing and lasted unbelievable 30 minutes! And as I had enough rest, I decided to walk all the way back home. It was worth it, seeing the city in darkness and the total walking distance for the day was roughly 25km.

Another highlight of my stay here was visiting a show of Cirque du Soleil. Montréal is the home of the show and the new shows are being held here before they travel the world with it. Their show simply is incredible. The artistics are insane! Simply awesome!

My ten days (yes, I extended the original stay) nearly came to an end and I still haven’t seen everything I wanted. For the next two days it was time to jump on public transport to see places further out. Oh, and here you sometimes see very special things while exploring, like very colorfully painted people walking through the train station. 😉

The train station of former olympic site is a nice spot to take great pictures of the stadium and luckily also close to the Botanical garden. I spent an afternoon here, just walking around, sitting at ponds, and putting my bare feet on the warm fresh grass. It’s a truly magical place with a gorgeous selection of flowers and plants.

My last day in the city I spent at the Biosphere which is a leftover building from Expo 1967. It looks slightly different from the original one as the cover once burnt down. Now you can see the inside and while you’re in you can enjoy views over Montréal’s skyline.

On the biosphere island I also met my very first groundhog, look at this cute little guy. 🙂

The last day I spent just like the first evening, very chill at home, with GoT and good food… Yes, it was a big portion of vegan Ben&Jerry’s which I got to try for the very first time and I love love love it! 🙂