I just spent the weekend in Toronto. Why would anyone go to Toronto in the middle of winter, you might ask? Well, if one is going to a city to experience it as if one lived there, might as well go in its worst season!
Actually, that had little to do with the timing, but the overall reason stands: to see a city I'd consider moving to.
Why would I consider Toronto?1) It's a big city without being a big city. I kind of like the concept of big buildings, great public transportation, and extremely diversity without segregation--most American cities, even the diverse ones, tend to be highly compartmentalized--while still having a small footprint overall. DC has a large footprint, but no big city feel. Although, that has many advantages, I may want something different.
2)
It is the largest Indian city outside of India. This is becoming more and more important to me. I don't exactly have a solid reason why, but for some reason it is.
3) It actually isn't that far away. My family lives in New Jersey and it's only a 8-hr drive or cheap, quick flight.
So was my trip successful in determining whether I'd like to live there? Actually, the more I think about it: no. It was quite unsuccessful, in determining either way.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my stay. But in hindsight, I did it all wrong.
- I forgot my crib sheets of all the things I wanted to do.
- I let another person book the flight. We lost an entire day because of it. Originally, I was okay with this. But when we lost another day to a hangover and oversleeping, I was little perturbed.
The first day we arrived was great. We arrived early on Friday evening, and was able to go up to
CN Tower. Standing on the glass at 342 meters above the city, I was apprehensive. But the view I saw made me quickly overcome my fears. The world's tallest free-standing structure gave you a tremendous view of the city.
We then went to
Wayne Gretzky's, the restaurant owned by the hockey player by the same name. Nick-named
"The Great One", Gretzky is idolized in Toronto, and perhaps most of Canada.
Next we went to a lounge on Adelaide called
Up & Down Bar Lounge. Dimly lit, with red velvet wallcoverings, Up & Down is run by a pleasant young couple who make it a point to have a good time along with their patronage.
Just so you know, Adelaide and Richmond are two streets that house some of Toronto's happening nightlife. Queen Street, just to the west, is Toronto's most popular section.
We had such a good time at Up & Down, that we didn't leave until last call. We arrived back at the hotel at 04:30!
The next day was wasted because we spent most of it at the hotel, eh sleeping. At around 14:30, we finally left the hotel.
We went over to the
Hockey Hall of Fame. We actually spent several hours in the HoF, and probably could have spent an equal amount of time more.
Expecting to hear from said friends, we sort of were bound down. We didn't know whether they try us back at the hotel so we went back there to freshen up. Finally, we heard from them, only to find out that they were in a ditch! On the way over they skid into a ditch and were waiting for a tow-truck to get them out.
They finally arrived at 23:00. There was a pre-approved plan to go to Niagara to hit the casinos there.
They asked if we'd still want to go to Niagara. It was only an hour away. We decided what the heck. So we hoped in their car and headed to Niagara. On the way there however, I learned an important thing that total aggravated me: It's not only an hour away.
I decided I wasn't going to be upset about it. I'll just go and do some gambling and let it go. However, the gambling was no fun. I was tired and couldn't think. I was a little irritated by my friend's improper play at blackjack. But mostly, I think related to the previous two points, I was losing.
So overall, my trip was quite unsuccessful. It was a good time, but I cannot say either way whether I'd like to live in Toronto. Next time I head to a city, go alone...
