Toronto was the first big stop in Canada. Seeing how this was our first time in the country, we we’re quiet sure what to expect. We had no idea how large of a city Toronto is, with nearly 5.5 million people, and holding the position as the 7th largest city in North American, it really is an enormous city. We were pleasantly surprised at how clean, modern, environmentally conscious (compost, recycling, & even electric bus system), Toronto is. It was diverse in it’s activities to do with major league Baseball, basketball, trails to bike, run, or walk, beaches to visit and lots of diverse bars and restaurants. There was literally every type of cuisine you could imagine here. We ate out for a few meals here, selectively choosing what we indulged in and did not, we also visited a few bars along the way.

We didn’t realize that we wouldn’t have internet connection with our Verizon Wifi Jet pack which was a big inconvenience when running a business and traveling. So our first day there we drove to a nearby brewery to enjoy some delicious brews and work. It’s nice that you can find a balance of still getting out and enjoying a city (or brewery) and getting some work done. The Great Lakes Brewery is about 15 minutes from downtown Toronto, and was running a small but tight ship. Their beers were clearly adorned by locals, and for good reason – they were yummy! We also found out from the bartender here that alcohol is controlled by the government in Canada. There are government stores that sell all alcohol called LCBO (Ontario) and SAQ (Quebec). You can also pick up alcohol directly from the brewery, vineyard, distillery, etc. but those are your two options. This was wild concept to us since it’s so different from how alcohol is distributed and regulated in the USA. We hit up the LCBO and SAQ during our stay which was similar to a Total Wine for anyone who’s visited one before.

The next night we decided to hit the town and went to the neighborhood around Kensington Market. It’s a young neighborhood with lots of trendy restaurants and bars, that has a dirty dingy feel to it. Graffiti (not always the beautiful mural types) is everywhere, music and chatter pour loudly into the streets from the bars, and the air consistently smelled of weed. I feel like this is a neighborhood you would either love or hate. We however, loved it! We tried MooFrites that night and got the Japo and Kimchi Fries. We loved these and left not a single bit or ounce of sauce behind. We know this isn’t poutine, but the concept is similar. Crisp thick cut fries, covered in a sauce of some sort, with cheese or other topping. We liked the frites we had here more than any of the several poutines we tried while in Canada (sorry if this breaks any of our Canadian friends hearts). Point of the story – go to MooFrites! We also walked to a few bars, but they were rather over priced and a bit swanky for us. If we went back again – we would definitely go to some other bars that were suggested to us by the locals we met along the way.

Of course work doesn’t stop just because our internet does, so for a 2nd time we made an afternoon of enjoying dinner and drinks while working. This time we spent our afternoon at Snakes and Lattes, it came highly recommended by our fellow full time friends, Amy and Mike. Their restaurant is near the University, and has hundreds of games to choose from while serving food, coffee, liquor, and beer/wine. After we finished our drinks we played a few rounds of Onitama, super fun game that remind us both of Chess with a Japanese spin on it. If you ever see it, try it! I’d also like to mention, Liz kicked Dennis’s ass…but who’s bragging?