Ro Wells Travel

Toronto is definitely one of my favourite cities in Canada. On both occasions, I have met incredible people. Plus the city itself always has something new to offer. I stayed in a different hostel this time around as I wasn’t ready to override my memories of the first hostel just yet. Whilst this second hostel wasn’t quite as amazing as the first, it did the job and let me meet yet more amazing people.

I was in Toronto for a few days whilst I waited for my flight to Vancouver. Whilst I was there I took the opportunity to tick off the few things I hadn’t seen on my first visit. Casa Loma is a very impressive old castle. It’s situated on a hill north of the Downtown area and offers incredible views down over the city. The building itself has some beautiful architecture and, whilst I didn’t go inside the castle itself, I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the outside of it in the snow. I also went to visit the art gallery at 401 Richmond St W. I say art gallery but it is more than that. It is a creative space where a number of artists have studios, collaborate and display their work. There’s also a really cute coffee shop there.

Now, anyone who has flicked through my photos will notice that there are usually a few photos of various pieces of street art included in my photos for each city. I have always loved street art. I have this sense of wonder about it. I think it’s so clever how artists are able to create incredible murals using nothing but spray paint and occasionally a stencil. I think in part it’s because I cannot draw for shit. I can picture the image I want to create in my mind’s eye but it seems to get lost somewhere around my elbow on its way to the paper every time I try and draw. When I was in Melbourne last year I visited Hosier Lane which is renowned for its street art. Well, I have to say, Graffiti Alley in Toronto could give it a run for its money. There is an amazing showcase of really incredible art and it was well worth braving the freezing cold to go and see it.

On my final night in Toronto, I met up with my friend Malen who I had met on my first visit to Toronto. Her parents were visiting before she headed over to B.C. to work as an au-pair. I met up with her and her parents at an arcade bar round the corner from my hostel and had a really lovely evening with them playing table football. I had learnt German at school, and had done a couple of ski seasons in Austria around 10 years ago (that’s a terrifying thought that it was really that long ago) so I brushed off my very rusty German skills and tried my best to speak in German rather than English. Having just spent a week speaking French in Québec Province, my brain was very confused and I probably mixed up more than a few words but I think I managed to not embarrass myself too much!

Updated Toronto photos here!

After experiencing my first cancelled flight, I headed over to Vancouver for a couple of days prior to heading further into B.C. for my workaway. I hadn’t actually planned to go to Vancouver until May but suddenly it was a natural stop on my way to my workaway. My hostel was just off of Davie Street which is the gay district of Vancouver (my gaydar must have somehow known and made me book that hostel). When I arrived in Vancouver there was snow everywhere which really surprised me as I had heard it really didn’t get a lot of snow.

My first day in Vancouver was 19th January, the anniversary of my friend’s death which I have already posted about. It was grey and rainy and blustery but I made my way to the beach to spend some time feeling close to her. On my second day in Vancouver the rain had let up and so I took myself for a walk around Stanley Park. Even in the snow, the cold and the grey, the park is breath-taking. The trail around the edge of the park gave unbelievable views over the water and of the city whilst the central trails took me through snowy forest and made me feel like I was in Narnia. (Maybe Canada is Narnia, it’s certainly magical enough…)

After a 4 hour walk, I was about ready to call it and head back to the hostel but Stanley Park had one final surprise in store for me. As I was the last bit of the waterside trail back towards the city I spotted a seal bobbing in the water about 20 metres off the shore. I tried my best to get a photo of it but apparently it was camera shy as it disappeared the second I took my phone out. I continued my walk and about 5 minutes later, the seal reappeared but too far away for me to get a good video – I got a very far away video though and I’m pretty pleased with that. The weather was dreadful on my last day in Vancouver but I decided to brave the torrential rain and headed up to Canada place to see the exhibition centre and get the typical tourist photo of the Vancouver sign. I bimbled around for a bit but was eventually driven into a nearby coffee shop to try and dry off a bit before attempting the walk back to the hostel. I really liked Vancouver and definitely intend to stick to my plan to head there in May to see more of the city as well as Vancouver Island.

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