Universal Studios Florida

The day after we arrived in Orlando, we visited Universal Studios Florida. The weather was pretty cold, but not that cold, compared to the snow storm that was happening in the east coast. But it was definitely colder than the usual weather. Since we went after the New Year celebration, the Christmas decorations were still up on the theme parks. I totally loved the feel of the holiday season. Lining up for rides during holiday season was another thing tho. Since school was still out, the park was pretty crowded and you had to wait at least 1 hour for rides. The Despicable Me ride was the craziest, I think the wait time was 4 hours or so. We kinda skipped the long waits rides and opted for the shorter one and just explored the parks with the time we had.

Niagara Falls

Toronto Day 3. We drove to Niagara Falls to see one of the most famous attractions in the world. I've seen Niagara Falls from the US side, but not the Canada side. It took us almost 3 hours to get there with no traffic on the way. We arrived in early afternoon, so we took a stroll around the nearby area since we have time to kill before an early dinner reservation at Napoli Ristorante.

After dinner's done, we walked towards the falls while looking at the stores along the way. The area was pretty packed with families and children. The sun is almost setting then, so it wasn't too hot.

When it started to get dark, we made our way back to our car, passing by the shops area again. One of the things that you must try is apparently the Beaver Tails. At first I didn't know what it was, but turned out, it's something that I've tried before (or at least I think it tasted similar). J knows it at Beaver Tails. I know it as Elephant Ear (my friends in Seattle introduced me to the food). The taste is very similar. The two could well be the same thing as far as I'm concerned. 

Exploring Toronto

The next day, J and I spent the whole day visiting tourist spots. First stop was CN Tower. I guess if you are visiting a city that has a high observation tower, you kinda have to go there. The weather was pretty nice that day, so we got a clear view of downtown. 

Afterwards, we headed to Against the Grain at Corus Quay for lunch. The place has an outdoor patio with Lake Ontario and Toronto Islands as the view. It was a great place for a sunny summer day.  I ordered steak and J opted for their mushroom flatbread. 

Tavern Steak - Grilled 8oz striploin steak topped with demi-glace, served with fresh hand cut Yukon Gold fries

Mushroom Flatbread - Truffle cream, enoki and king mushrooms, and Fontina cheeses and truffle oil

Harbour Square is the next place on the list. We walked from the restaurant since it's not that far (and it gave us time to digest the food we just consume). We took the ferry and headed to the Toronto Island Park. I have to say we had a fabulous weather that day. Seeing the clear blue sky already made my day :) 

Toronto Blue Jays

It's been a couple of months since my last post. I really need to keep up with my posting this year (at least I'm hoping it'll be more consistent :p). These past couple of months has been crazy. I moved across the continent so a lot of my time has been spent on packing and unpacking and all other crazy things that one needs to take care when moving. So now that I'm a little bit settled in my new place, I'm continuing my travel series. 

(ctd)
Toronto Day 1 Afternoon

So after my friend, J, finished work, we went to the ball game. J was thinking I should do 'something local' during my visit and going to the Blue Jays' ball game is counted as one. I was pretty stoked since I never been to a ball game before. Ever. Plus, they were playing against Boston Red Sox, so it should be pretty exciting. 

The first couple of innings were pretty slow. We spent a lot of time talking, eating snacks and just people watching. But on the later innings, the game got pretty interesting. The Blue Jays was behind on the first couple of innings but they managed to catch up towards the end and ended up winning the game.

After the game, we walked to a nearby sushi restaurant for some late dinner and that's a wrap for day one in Toronto.

Toronto, ON

As far as my traveling plan for the year goes, Toronto was my last stop for the year. I've been wanting to go to Toronto for a while now. My best friend from high school lives there and she's been telling me to come over to visit her since she have visited me before when I was still living in San Francisco. At last, after she nagged me for a couple of years now :P , I finally got a chance to go.

I arrived in Toronto on Thursday morning. The weather was pretty chilly. My friend picked me up from the airport and dropped my off at her apartment since she had to work. I spent my morning shopping for some stuff that I forgot to bring and most of my afternoon napping since I couldn't really sleep on the plane. I was pretty out of it before lunch time. After I woke up and showered, I decided to go for (late) lunch. My friend's apartment is right on top of the biggest sports bar in Toronto, which she recommended to me earlier. So I went to the Real Sports Bar & Grill to kill time until my friend is back from work. Since I went during odd hours, the place was pretty empty, but it sure is huge. The food was pretty good as well. They had one of the best sweet potatoes fries I've ever had. 

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Sweet Potato Fries (Click to enlarge)

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Classic Fish & Chips (Click to enlarge)