In the Air again... Toronto

Rain out of buckets on Thursday morning, when we departed - but, we were happy to get out ... though not necessarily to the cool northeast, to Toronto and NYC. Nevertheless, it's always better to visit NYC museums (or shops) in the rain than to sit at the desk in Augsburg in the rain... It's been a very long time we spent at home, last trip was end of May and since then we didn't fly anymore. Now it's our 57th trip to North America and our 19th visit to NYC.

We were flying Air Canada non-stop to Toronto, about 9 hours scheduled flight time. More heavily-armed police around MUC Airport than usually – no wonder considering the terrorist attacks and threats recently! Smooth flight, meals horrible as usually, but at least they were serving alcohol for free to anestethetize the taste buds.

Strange, that never ever anybody is complaining about immigration in Canada, but always about the situation in the U.S. The line we had at Toronto's Pearson Airport was much longer than all we've had in the U.S. for the last couple of years. At the end it took us about 30 min. to get through immigration, but that was mainly caused by the fact, that in Canada finger-printing and picture taking isn't practiced yet. Soon, Canada will introduce "ETA" (comparable to ESTA in the US) - a pre-registration system for European travelers - and then things will change again. But, for some strange reason, there won't be an uproar in Germany like with ESTA once.

Touch down at Toronto's Pearson Airport was at 3 pm, out of the airport at 4 pm, took the express bus at 4:10 – though it's certainly not the best (but the cheapest!) way to travel with big luggage - and had to change to the subway to get into the city center. It took us about 2 3/4 hours in total to arrive at the Chelsea Hotel, conveniently located in downtown Toronto. We threw our luggage into our nice corner room on the 23rd floor with a balcony and a great view towards the downtown skyline - and were out again after 10 minutes.

Though we were tired to the bones, we wanted to see the just-opened Christmas Market in the historic Destillery District and it was worth the 30 min.-walk along the completely changed King Street passing by nearby Dundas Square (the main square) where the Christmas tree was set up, too (see pic).

Lots of German produce was being sold on the Christmas Market, like Stollen from two local bakeries with German names, Jaegermeister (spiced), Merci and Ferrero and "Beergardens", where you can enjoy your mulled wine (Gluehwein) standing under heaters. Considering that about 50 % of the 2,8 mio. Torontonians are from other countries than Canada,many (historically) from Germany, no wonder!


Other boothes were selling arts & crafts, souvenirs, knitted caps, candles - in total not much difference to what we are having in Germany. A tall Christmas Tree was set up, also a Ferris Wheel (sort of strange!), a band played/sung Christmas song and smoked turkey legs - that's what we had for dinner (see pic) - were served as well as currywurst, chili, bratwurst with sauerkraut and local Mill Street Brewery beer. You've got it all!

We are in Canada, not in the U.S., we noticed immediately. Mentality is different, a little more rude, more European. Good thing is the hodgepodge of cultures and people, black, "yellow", white, Asian, African, American, Mexican, European ... living close together.