Toronto day two started out nicely with the kids sleeping until we had to wake them up to get ready. Emmie and I were the first ones dressed and made the quick trip to the nearby grocery store to obtain the coveted Canadian OREO cookies. Made with real sugar and an ingredient list a third shorter than the American equivalent, we were excited to see how they stacked up. While we may just be living in the moment, I think there’s an argument to be made that Canadian OREOs are superior. All of us enjoyed our nutritious breakfast before heading out for our activities of the day.
The selection of OREOs at the Toronto-area Metro grocery store.
Noah, Emmie, and Mommy display the three components to our OREO breakfast.
A two block walk from our hotel boasted a bus stop which we were able to take to the subway line. Emmie deemed the bus ‘too bumpy’ and spent the ride with her head buried in Amanda’s chest. Her lack of enthusiasm for buses didn’t carry over to the subway; she loved the subway ride, as did Noah, as they played a somewhat uncoordinated game of “nighttime/daytime,” pretending to sleep each time the subway surroundings went dark between the underground stations.
Emmie held Amanda tight during the bus ride.
Noah pretended to sleep between stations on the subway ride.
We had about an hour before the beginning of our Culinary Tour of Toronto’s downtown/entertainment district. The highlight of our walk was the impressive clock tower at the top of Toronto’s Old City Hall, while the highlight of our pre-tour time in general was a stop at the Disney Store inside the Eaton Centre mall. Emmie squealed at everything related to the Little Mermaid before both kids spent time coloring and watching movie clips in the store’s play area.
The indispensable Tula makes it possible to carry two kids at once.
Incredibly well-reviewed on TripAdvisor, the food tour was a late add to the itinerary, as we needed something to fill the space before the planned CN Tower visit and baseball game in the evening. Led by Kevin, a chef and restauranteur, along with six others, we made five stops for top-notch local food in downtown Toronto. Along the way, we learned a bit about Toronto’s history, snapped a few photos, and enjoyed chatting with the other members of the tour group, reigning from southern and northern Illinois… and New Zealand.
Emmie slept outside Kanga…
We began the food tour outside Kanga’s Aussie Meat Pies, which was also the first stop on the expedition. An abbreviated night of sleep led Noah and Emmie to both be zonked to start the tour. I thoroughly enjoyed the “El Diablo” pie, which featured a robust pulled pork topped with mashed potatoes in a flaky crust. Amanda impressively managed to eat the “Kiwi” pie, filled with minced beef and white cheddar cheese while holding Emmie at the same time.
…and inside.
After the lovely meat pies, we were off to Ravisoups, where each tour member chose from the day’s soups, served in an enormous portion along with a flaky cheese biscuit and red pepper jelly. Noah was a fan of the biscuit, while Emmie couldn’t get enough of Amanda’s wild mushroom soup, or the red pepper jelly, of which she ate every last drop.
Our third stop on the tour was at Big Daddy’s Bourbon Street Bistro & Oyster Bar, where a couple dozen oysters plus fried calamari and shrimp among the group. Noah was still full from his biscuit and Emmie limited her tasting to the calamari, while Amanda and I tried one of each of the Canadian Oysters: Kusshi from British Columbia and Irish Point from Prince Edward Islands. We had differing opinions on the better of the two, though we ultimately agreed the texture nor taste of raw oysters is overly appetizing.
The tour group with the CN Tower in the background.
For the fourth stop, we spent some time at a gastropub, where some excellent house snacks were ordered to accompany the drinks; homemade chips, warm olives, and spicy edamame were shared among the group. Noah and Emmie were thrilled to be able to color on the large swath of brown paper covering the table while enjoying their Niagara apple cider and sparkling orange juice.
Unfiltered apple cider and ample space to color.
Noah’s Eiffel Tower drawing… complete with adjacent fountains.
Our fifth and final tour stop was at the Toronto Branch of Momofuku’s Milk Bar, where we all sampled excellent cookies: Emmie and Noah each chose the peanut butter cookie; Amanda had the corn cookie (which tasted like corn); I had the cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip bar. On the way out, we couldn’t miss trying the cereal milk ice cream which had the consistency of soft serve ice cream and amazingly resembled the taste of leftover milk from a bowl of cereal.
Noah and I inside “The Milk Bar” cooler with the cookies.
Cereal milk ice cream.
It was then off to the CN Tower, where Amanda participated in the Edge Walk. She writes about her experience, which she called the “highlight of her day,” below:
Located 116 stories or 1,168 feet up above the city of Toronto, the Edgewalk consists of a metal-grated ledge seated atop the tower’s main pod. Daredevils enjoy the world’s tallest hands free walk while attached via harness to an overhead safety rail system. Walkers can see what they are made of by attempting to complete tricks as instructed by their walk guide.
Outside the Edge Walk basecamp.
The Edgewalk begins in the bottom of the tower at “basecamp” where I was asked to sign my life away to gain admittance. My walk mates and I were admitted to the prep room where we competed breathalyzer and metal detector tests, explosive swabs, and removed all jewelry and any personal items (minus clothing) from our bodies. Personal items were placed in a locker, and bodysuits and harnesses were donned.
In basecamp, ready to begin!
The harnesses were snugged up and then inspected by no less than 3 different staff members, all of whom made end-of-life jokes to ease the nervous tension in the air. My group and I took an ear-popping elevator ride to the Edgewalk floor and were subjected to additional harness inspections, hooked anteriorly and posteriorly to the rail system, inspected again, and again, and provided instructions for what to do after the sliding glass doors opened.
The group on the Edgewalk.
The doors opened and the group was admitted to the Edgewalk. The day was sunny and the view was amazing! Walkers were instructed on our challenges, which included ‘toes over Toronto,’ leaning forward and leaning back, and actually “Edgewalking” on the 1,168-foot-high ledge. After 30 minutes of time in the sky, we returned to the base camp basecamp where we were provided with a DVD recording of the experience (via a head-pod of of our group leader) and photos to prove our bravery.
The Rogers Centre and Lake Ontario are in the backdrop of Amanda’s Edge Walk photo.
If any of our valued readers are traveling to Toronto, I highly recommend this experience! It was awesome!
Part two of the blog features my visit to the CN Tower observation deck and Skypod, our first baseball game in Canada, and Noah’s photo of the day.
Looks like a lot of fun! 🙂
Praying for safety and a lot of memories!