Day 4: More Toronto

Margaret had finally arrived the night before, so we started planning. Also, we now had a funny French roommate, so I invited him to dinner.
We started the day at Manic Coffee, recommended by Margaret's sister. They have one of those famed Clover machines, but I don't think my cappuccino was made on it. The coffee and atmosphere were good though. The owner was there, and he gave us good restaurant and bar recommendations; we made use of them that very night.
After coffee, we all went to the Royal Museum, walking through the university district to get there. The university was huge and full of beautiful old buildings, the way a university ought to look:
Notice all the snow everywhere. The museum was really cool architecturally speaking, a literal blend of old and new, as you can see:
But the actual content wasn't that interesting, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, there was some cool stuff there, but compared to other museums I've been to, it was a little lacking. In all fairness, though, they were still remodeling, so many of the exhibits just weren't in place yet.
We all walked through the museum at our own pace, splitting up. Afterwards, I found the fancy shopping street, and bought a cool new coat at Benetton. After that, I walked back through the university district and then through Chinatown. My cellphone started dying in Chinatown and beeping at me, which I found disconcerting, so I kind of rushed through it. The main highlight of Chinatown was a big Chinese bakery. You would grab a tray and some tongs and pick whatever you wanted out of the million Plexiglas cases. I got a large assortment of sweet and savory buns and pastries, and shared them with Joel and Margaret when I got back. We drank tea and ate pastries at the hostel kitchen. How civilized.
That night, we tried out a tapas restaurant the coffee guy suggested. It was the appointed evening for dinner with the funny French roommate. He thought a Brazilian girl staying at the hostel was hot, so he invited her too. She was there with her sister, so we turned into a rather large group. It was an excellent night: good food, nice people, lots of laughing. Here we all are: me, Joel, Margaret, Damien, Helen, and Doriana.After this, the Brazilian girls and the French guy went back to the hostel, and Joel, Margaret, and I continued on to a tequila bar. Sorry, no photos of that, but there was a burnt-out DJ there who was supposedly also a promoter. He got talking to Joel, and said that he could get us free tickets to the Drive-By Truckers concert the next day. So he and Joel exchanged phone numbers, and he told Joel to call him the next day around 3:00 pm. More on that in the next day's post. We took a cab back to the hostel. Goodnight.