Toronto

It was a jam packed first week in this city and so far, SO good. It’s a lot like Melbourne in many ways, distinctive neighbourhoods all with their different hot spots and styles. Street cars and two main subway lines carry you from one side of the city to the other and a grid system (like Manhattan) makes it easy to navigate your way around.

Our Canadian adventure starts in The Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto, an area with a small ‘village’ vibe with cute shops and beachside (sorry, lakeside) location on Lake Ontario.

I love experiencing new places but always end up squeezing so much into a short space of time. The desire to soak it all up and suss a place out usually has to happen in fast forward mode which can be exciting but luckily this time is different. There’s much more time to explore.

We’ve found great coffee at Bud’s Coffee and discovered beautiful yoga classes at Afterglow. We headed west and wandered up and down Ossington Avenue. We ate pea meal bacon baps at St Lawrence Market surrounded by sunflowers and soaked up the sunshine with a cold beer in hand at Mill Street Brewery. We walked around the University and cycled along the Beaches boardwalk. We’ve seen the city from a different view over at Toronto Island, rummaged through some epic vintage finds at Kensington Market and eaten the most delicious tacos at Seven Lives. We had date night at Goods and Provisions and took a trip out to Kawartha Lakes.

A new city usually sparks chats about how ‘liveable’ it feels (even when we have zero immediate plans to move there…); how it compares to our two homes of Sydney and London and mostly if it would be an affordable spot to hang for a while…could we make it work? Prices in Toronto seem similar to those in Sydney, it’s super welcoming and easy to get around. It feels full of art, culture, great restaurants, galleries and is home to lots of independent cafes and shops. And good coffee can be found without trying too hard, a non negotiable after over five years in Australia!

Our only current concern if for when the cold weather starts rolling in…it’s been a long time since either of us experienced a ‘proper’ winter and I have a strong inkling (thanks Dad!) that Canadian winters are on a whole level of their own…x