Day23 Toronto (Sun)

After a nice breaky and a bit of a sleep in because we don’t have to see the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, because they’re not in season any more, we see outside the hotel a marathon is being started as we leave for our next leg. The highway passes through real nice country with the trees beginning to turn red and orange for the winter and we go pass the 1,000 island (where the 1,000 island dressing was started) area with all the homes on the islands. We’re on the Canadian side of the St Laurents River with the US on the other side and some houses, on the islands, are in either side. We pull up for 5 minutes to take pics of the houses on islands, the geese, and stretch legs as its only an hour to Kingston where we’re having lunch, cuz all we do is eat, bus, eat, tour, bus, eat.
Kingston is a nice place, built right on the shore of Lake Ontario, with a bit of history as the Englist built fortifications in case the USA was going to invade as apparently they thought they were. That was the reason the built the canal at Ottawa. Kingston had a market in progress. I buy a punnet of blackberries, Chris has one, and screws her nose up and after having one myself I agree, they are a tad tart but I think have a lot of vitamin C. Chris has a cold and a few on the bus, including John the driver have had one as well. I eat the punnet.
Its lunch time and we go and get some bread, cold meat and cheese for a mini picnic in the sun by the water’s edge, feed the local bird life, ducks, gulls, pigeons and sparrows. The sun has come out now, which is good, as it was over caste and cool when in the shade with a breeze blowing on occasions. There are large ferries coming and going from the port, there warning blasts on the horns echo off the high rise buildings near by as they make ready to back out into the deeper waters of Ontario.
Its back on the bus at 1:00pm and off to Toronto, again a nice looking city, biggest in Canada. We are given our keys by Lay as is the process as head up to inspect and settle into our rooms but only after saying we would accept Lay’s invite (to all the bus) to dine at a local Chinese vegetarian restaurant. It turns out there are 11 of us and we meet in the hotel lobby, climb on a tram ($2.75ea one way) which delivers us to China Town, 15minutes up the track. I talk with Steven who is in IT and contracts out to a lot of government departments in Perth.
The meal and camaraderie are great and its good to be able to have fun with others over a meal of several dishes that Lay (our guide) orders in Mandarin, all made with vegies and touphu, including curry, vegetables, rices, pork and chicken but all vegetarian ($33 for two, good value). Several of us walk back and the others work out whether they will catch a cab or tram. Its a nice cool night and the walk is great with Steven, Kiren, Harold, Juliana, Chris and I. Good day again, as the weeks seem like 7 days of weekends.