Day 3: The First of Toronto

Our Toronto hostel was among the row houses pictured at left. It was definitely one of the nicest hostels I've ever stayed in, and the first time ever I stayed in a room with people I didn't know. We ended up with a hilarious French roommate, but more about that later.
Joel and I arrived around 2:30 a.m., so we immediately checked in and went to sleep, so nothing Torontoesque occurred until the next morning.
The hostel provided breakfast, sans coffee, so we immediately set out in search of coffee. By Lake Ontario, we found some crappy coffee and an ATM. From there, we wandered around. One of the first landmarks we saw was the CN Tower:

We also saw Lake Ontario:

We didn't really have a plan, but rather just wandered. Eventually, we ended up in old town, which was similar to Portland's Pearl district, but on a much larger and more interesting scale:Eventually, it was time for lunch. We saw a couple of places that looked okay, but nothing really struck my fancy. But suddenly, I saw this place, and knew that this was it:My instincts were correct: everything about this little place were great. It was a Belgian restaurant, with great food, a cool atmosphere, and a very hip staff. The chef was even actually from Belgium. I had a beef stew, Joel had vegetable quiche, and both were accompanied by salad and frites. We washed it all down with Delirium Tremens, a Belgian beer:



















































So those were the highlights of the first day. That evening, Margaret finally arrived. More to come....
Our hostel was :
Clarence Castle
8 Clarence Square
Toronto, Ontario, Canada