{"id":7028,"date":"2026-03-25T23:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/?p=7028"},"modified":"2026-04-06T21:48:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:48:03","slug":"totally-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2026\/03\/25\/totally-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"Toughing Out Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>With spring break curtailed by an upcoming meeting, we decided to take a trip to Toronto, having already forgotten how East Coast winter linger into March. Arriving on a red-eye flight made for a rough start, but our spirits lifted when we spied Comic-Con<\/a> cosplay at Union Station<\/a>. After stashing<\/a> our luggage, we visited St. Lawrence Market<\/a> to share a peameal sandwich from Carousel Bakery<\/a>, lobster roll from Buster’s Sea Cove<\/a>, lox bagel from St. Urbain<\/a>, oysters from Seafront<\/a>, butter tart from Eve’s Temptations<\/a>, and take-away cheese from Olympic Cheese Mart<\/a>. Our harbourfront<\/a> walk was cold and windy, so after grabbing President’s Choice<\/a> cookies and watching sugar scoops<\/a> from Sugar Beach<\/a>, we sheltered at a Community Center<\/a> for chess and nap time before checking into our high-rise AirBnb<\/a>. We shopped for Muji<\/a> goods at The Well<\/a> and browsed the Wellington Market<\/a> food hall before heading to shoot Decepticons at the Rec Room<\/a> and ascend CN Tower<\/a> for dinner at the rotating 360 Restaurant<\/a>. Our pricey meal included access to the observation deck<\/a> to reward us with panoramic city views. The Sunday morning drizzle shifted our plans indoor to the Art Gallery of Ontario<\/a>, where we were captivated by David Blackwood’s<\/a> printmaking, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room<\/a>, a ship model collection, and a free draw station. From there, we snacked our way through Chinatown and Kensington Market<\/a>, hitting Mashion Bakery<\/a>, Mother’s Dumplings<\/a>, Wanda’s Pie in the Sky<\/a>, Golden Patty<\/a>, Pancho’s Bakery<\/a>, Fresco’s Fish & Chips<\/a>, and Rasta Pasta<\/a>. I sipped a Canadian Maple Latte<\/a> to stay awake at the Distillery District<\/a> while shopping for a stuffed beaver<\/a> and handmade mug<\/a>, then relaxed to Studson Studio<\/a> videos before dining on Raku<\/a> udon. On Monday, we took the GO train<\/a> to Niagara Falls<\/a>, where our Wonder Pass<\/a> included an uninformative Niagara Takes Flight<\/a> ride, a frozen-over Journey Behind the Falls<\/a>, and a Power Plant<\/a> visit that featured a musical Tesla coil demo. We skipped the Butterfly Conservatory<\/a> and most of the cheesy Clifton Hill<\/a> attractions, but at least rode the SkyWheel<\/a> for birds-eye views of the falls. Despite a lackluster welcome center<\/a> lunch, we were wowed by the Indian fare at Desi Road<\/a> which kept us warm while we waited for our bus and train back. We visited Toronto Zoo<\/a> on Tuesday, where we got to watch gorilla surgery<\/a> despite many exhibits being closed due to weather. From there, we shared creamy Hakata-style Ramen Raijin<\/a> on the way to the Royal Ontario Museum<\/a> and its amazing wildlife photography<\/a> exhibit, then returned to Chinatown for Goubuli<\/a> baos and old-school HK fare from Swatow Restaurant<\/a>. For our final breakfast, we revisited Chinatown for rice noodles and congee at Yin Ji Chang Fen<\/a>, then picked up pineapple buns from HK Island Bakery<\/a> and banh mi from Nguyen Huong<\/a> for later. Our self-guided tour of Casa Loma<\/a> afterwards featured secret passages, military paraphernalia, antique cars, and a documentary of its financier<\/a>. The gothic mansion apparently also doubled as a set for movies<\/a> and escape room experiences<\/a>. Unfortunately, our return flight was delayed, resulting in a longer layover and later arrival home. Our first Canadian vacation this year was short, cold, but delicious. We’ll see how Montreal fares later this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With spring break curtailed by an upcoming meeting, we decided to take a trip to Toronto, having already forgotten how East Coast winter linger into March. Arriving on a red-eye flight made for a rough start, but our spirits lifted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7028"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7051,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7028\/revisions\/7051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}