Good morning! As promised, here are some pictures from my trip to Toronto this past weekend. When I visit a new place, rather than feel like I need to see All the Sights, I like to do a mix of touristy and everyday local people things.

After a late dinner Friday night at 360, a fancy restaurant at the top of the CN Tower (I ordered the lamb chops), I slept really well. Unfortunately, the friend I was visiting was feeling really sick and needed to rest, so after some French toast and salad, I ventured out armed with a hand-drawn map and a suggested itinerary. I don’t like to admit when I’m terrified, but the truth was I’d never traveled alone before, much less explored a foreign city by myself. Still, I had awesome directions and a vague idea of how the streets were laid out. So what if it was a raining a little?

After some walking along Spadina, one of the main roads, I found myself in Chinatown and standing in front of a sign for a David Bowie exhibit that just so happen to be at the AGO. If you’ve been with me a while, you know how much I love David Bowie, so of course I had to check it out. It was awesome! The combination of video and audio was the perfect rainy-afternoon activity.

I spent a good few hours at the museum before realizing I was starting to get hungry, so I headed to the Yorkville neighborhood for lunch at Cafe Nervosa, which had come highly recommended. I had a great time sitting at the bar talking to the staff and watching all the lovely dishes come out of the kitchen. I went with the seafood salad and a glass of prosecco.

By this time, it was getting way too late to attempt another museum, so I vented back through Chinatown until ending up at the Dark Horse Espresso bar. I sat down with an essay I’d been working on and ordered a cappuccino. It was really nice.

Luckily, my friend was feeling better in time for her birthday dinner at a downtown restaurant. Our table of ten ladies shared some delicious foods like bulgur-stuffed eggplant, seared fish, several kinds of salad, pumpkin pie, and cake.

It was really fun to meet so many new people from all over the world. Amazing how we all seem to end up talking about the same damn thing: men, and what the f*** is wrong with them.

I went to bed late and happily exhausted. I’ll be back with more about my trip.

What do you like to do when you travel? What was the last trip you took?