Hello, it's Qin Yong writing in :). After a pretty chill weekend to get us acclimated to the environment, we decided to head out for Toronto Islands on the 2nd September morning ( Labour Day ). It's pretty simple to get to Toronto Islands, take a bus to the nearest TTC subway and head to Union station. From there, it's a short walk to the ferry terminal where you pay ~$8 to get on the ferry to the islands.
There are 3 islands, Centre Islands, Ward's Islands, Hanlan's Point. They are interconnected and accessible via walking. However, I strongly recommend renting a bike ( bring your passport as you need to hand it in to rent one ) and cycling across the islands as there is a lot of ground to cover. ( p.s. there's a clothing optional beach if you're interested :P ) Aside from the refreshing scenery and amazing view of Toronto, we were also able to catch an air show
We headed out in the morning and explored the islands till 5:20pm. After which we decided to explore Eaton shopping centre.
The shopping centre is huge and as you can see, crowded. Unfortunately, the mall closes early and both of us did not get to fully explore the mall. We decided to end our first day by having dinner at the canteen at Eaton Shopping Centre. ( It's located at the lowest level of the mall ).
During the working week, our teachers brought us to Winco and Oomomo which was near First Markham Place. Winco is a very asian supermarket that sells ingredients that make you feel like home ( also frozen durians ) while Oomomo is very similar to Daiso.
On the 4th September ( Wednesday ) IBM held an event called "Demo Day". Essentially, it was a demo for ongoing projects at IBM. There were many booths set up at the canteen area displaying different projects from different departments ( AI, Big Data Analytics, Cloud etc ). Some projects showcased were AutoAI for Watson Studio, Appsody, Dr. Servicability to just name a few. It is definitely worth checking out! ( Also free lunch :P )
On the 6th September, the lecturers decided to come over to our Airbnb to meet our lovely host, Aunty Carrie. After a lovely tea session and chat, we took some pictures of us in the Airbnb home.
Fireplace Area
During the weekend on the 7th & 8th, Mr Chua had some plans for us during Doors Open Markham ( where entrance to historic/art venues in Markham is free of charge ) . Here's a quick rundown on the itinerary:
7th Sept - Markham Heritage Estate, Train Station/Fire Station, Main Street Markham, Main Street Unionville, Stiver Mill, Applewood Farm and Winery, Vaughan Mill Outlet Mall.
Let's start with the 7th, we started by taking a free walking tour around the heritage area, showcasing vintage houses that are maintained and refurbished ( but still looks the same ) by the current owners.
Next, the main street ( with farmers market ) which is more decorated and pretty with plethora of interesting shops and eateries ( and pubs ) as well as the fire station, train station and mill.
We will move on to the Applewood Farm and Winery, where each person was allowed to bring a pumpkin or squash back with the $10 entrance fee. In addition, we payed another $20 for a bag that you can fill with hand-picked apples. ( and you can eat them while hand-picking! ) We also took an awesome wagon ride to the pumpkin farm.
They also do sell some cider iced wine there ( great gift for the parents ). It essentially is really sweet wine made from apples picked at a particular freezing temperature and it's one of Canada's specialties along side maple syrup. We then ended the day shopping at Vaughan outlet mall where they sell branded items at dirt cheap prices ( the catch is that only a small section of the store selling super discounted as they are older merchandise ).
8th Sept - Dundas Peak, African Lion Safari and Toronto Premium Outlet.
I'll begin with Dundas Peak, where we hiked up the Bruce Trial for around 30 minutes before reaching the breathtaking peak ( hint: took my best pics here ) . The waterfalls were located at the starting area and did not take much effort for us to get there.
Next up, African Lion Safari. Totally forgot to mention, but for the past two days Mr Chua has been driving us around in his car ( thanks Mr Chua! ) as some places are incredibly difficult to travel to without your personal vehicle. For the safari, Mr Chua drove us through in the car while we looked out the windows for animals. There are also other attractions such as the boat ride that we took in the safari.
And to end the day, we went for another round of shopping at another outlet mall - Toronto Premium Outlet Mall. It's similar to the first one but this one was open air and had a bit more variety. There was a hot sauce shop where I bought really hot hot sauce - so if you're into that this is your chance XD.
That concludes our incredibly exciting 2nd week in Toronto. Be sure to look out for week 3 where we continue our wanderlust around Toronto!