Back on the train, this time for about 5 hours from Ottawa to Toronto. Another very pleasant experience in Viarail business class with lunch and drinks provided.

I arrived into Toronto’s Union Station in time for the evening rush hour so I walked the 20 minutes to the hostel I was staying at. After checking in and dropping my bags I headed out for an evening wander which was cut short by rain. I’d left my brolly at the hostel so ended up diving into a restaurant for dinner whilst I waited for the rain to pass.

It was still doing a bit after dinner so I retreated back to the hostel for the evening.

I’d devised myself a bit of an itinerary for downtown so I started the next morning at Graffiti Alley before heading to the Kensington Market area, which for some reason reminded me of Haight Ashbury in San Francisco.

After that it was the art gallery (I preferred the one I went to in Ottawa), a walk past City Hall and down to the waterfront, where I had a Beavertail – deep-fried dough with sugar and cinnamon and then in this instance with apple and caramel on top, very messy to eat!! I rounded off my long walk at St Lawrence Market before meandering slowly back to the hostel via a supermarket for some takeaway dinner.

The next morning started with laundry, unavoidable when travelling for more than a couple of weeks. But I’d found a reasonably priced laundrette a short walk from the hostel (the hostel wanted $20 for laundry, it cost me $9.50 at the laundrette) so I got there reasonably early and was done in just over an hour.

I’d booked myself a 60 minute cruise on the harbour in the afternoon so made my way to the waterfront for some lunch and people watching before the cruise. Just as I got on board, some very threatening clouds loomed large but thankfully they held off.

You get a fantastic view of downtown Toronto from the water, including the CN Tower which is in danger of being completely overshadowed by numerous taller skyscrapers being constructed all around it.

The cruise also went over towards the Toronto islands, and is also in the flight path of the Toronto City Airport so there were numerous small planes coming in to land over our heads.

Overall a very pleasant way to spend an hour on a Saturday afternoon.

A long stroll back to the hostel via the enormous Eaton Center Mall and I called it a day after a lot of walking in Toronto.

Toronto felt like the most American city so far in Canada. Particularly with all the skyscrapers in downtown, you absolutely could be in New York. Lots to do, and with a few extra days I may have made it out onto the islands. Niagara Falls is also pretty close by, but I’ve seen them on a previous trip and didn’t feel the need to see them again this time round.

I spent the evening doing a full rearranging of my bags as, next up, is 4 days on a train with only my hand luggage for company…