Kingston to Toronto

After a brief stay in Kingston, today we move on to Toronto. This is almost a mini holiday within a holiday for us, a break from the frantic sightseeing of the last week. A time to draw breath and do the laundry - ah the essentials of life.

The drive to Toronto is along a motorway so although pretty in places it does lack the wow factor of yesterday's drive. By midday we're in Craven Cove, Toronto and the washing machine is doing it's thing. But, getting into the apartment was an adventure in it's self! Both of us desperate to use the bathroom, (Dave's doing a jig) but the door's have three keys which each have their own idiosyncrasies and refuse to open easily. This may in part be due to the urgency we have to get inside, but also that I'm trying desperately to break into the  wrong upstairs flat!! Oops...

Squirrel at the park near the beach

Calamity over, we investigate the apartment. It is really very nice and homely, all the things you would expect and some, including a very nice flat screen HD TV which pleases Dave. He has found a channel that is showing the Commonwealth Games that is on in Deli. We note the England are doing very well in the medals stake, more medals than Canada, we may mention this tonight when we go out to eat. Cases unpacked, washing on we set off to do some shopping as tomorrow is Thanksgiving and everything will be shut. It's not a pleasant, relaxing experience, we seem to have found the local bargain supermarket on a busy Saturday before a Bank Holiday shut down, not good. We do manage to track down the essentials and return exhausted to the apartment. It's definitely time to do something more fun, so we set off on foot to the beach.

It's hard to reconcile ourselves to the fact that in front of us is a lake and yet here is a huge boardwalk and beach area with people enjoying the sunshine , BBQing, playing beach volley ball and chatting. What a great open space, everyone happily enjoying the open air, skate boarding, walking, running and biking. We love this city, it feels like a beach holiday.

Tonight we decide to eat at one of the restaurants nearby on Queen Street East.