Distillery district & the last few days in Toronto

We are back home. The trip was quite uneventful, if somewhat exhausting. I am still quite jetlagged, but intend to go orienteering tomorrow to shake the cobwebs hopefully.

The last few days were just as hectic as the whole holiday. We went to the Distillery District which housed the old whiskey distilleries and associated warehouses in the 19th century and is now converted to a lovely area with nice brick built buildings housing shops, galleries and cafes. (see photo) We had an amazing cup of hot chocolate with chilli in it. We looked at some impressive Swedish furniture and visited a gallery with stylish paintings and sculpture. (see nude on Indian rope trick!) One of the shops had really posh kitchen ware where I fell in love with a jug. (see piccie) Not that I could ever afford to buy it. :-(

Later Alex and Meaghan found a lovely goldsmith who is likely to get their commission to make their wedding rings. Sod's law would have it that gold is at its highest price for years, but thankfully so is the Canadian dollar. We also managed to squeeze in most of what was left on the "to do and see" list, including a big steak for Roy, Vietnamese food, another Japanese and a Chinese restaurant. We also went to The Beaches district of Toronto to walk by Lake Ontario and generally saying good-bye to the city. On the penultimate day we went to a fantastic cheese shop on Danforth, called Alex Farm Shops (or something similar) and purchased a small amount of that heavenly Quebecois goat cheese I tasted the previous week. They even vaccuum wrapped it for travel, what lovely people!!

Just in case anybody thinks that suddenly we have become millionaires with all these trips out, it must be put on record that Canada is a very reasonably priced country, even in the big city and Meaghan and Alex are clever life artists who know how to find all the great places at minimum cost.

Must go now as somebody is on the phone waiting for me. Rest of return trip a bit later.