Sunday, September 19, 2010

My Toronto Adventure

Alright so yesterday was my big exam. It was at the University of Toronto examination building around College/University Ave (for those of you who know Toronto). I had planned to drive to Yorkdale and take the subway to Queens Park station. Turns out that Yorkdale (and all stops north of that) were closed for maintenance. ( I knew this ahead of time because I am super paranoid and was like planning every last move ahead of time). It said on the website there would be shuttle buses taking people from station to station to replace the subway. So I figured I would just do that.

I stayed at a relatives in the city the night before so that it wouldnt be as long of a drive in the morning and I wouldnt have to get up as early. Unfortunately I only got about 1 hour of sleep since I was so nervous!! Good thing I didn't have to drive far! I drove to Yorkdale, and for some reason I couldnt find the entrance to the subway station parking lot. So I just parked in the first place I could find which was a parking garage for the mall.

Let me just say that the one thing I love about Toronto is they really make sure their people get from place to place without delay. I ended up talking to some random girl and we asked a TTC man standing on the corner about the shuttle bus. Turns out all we had to do was wait right there in that very spot! (which was literally like 100 metres from where I had parked). I asked the TTC man if i was supposed to pay to park in the lot. He responded with "Well you're really not supposed to park there if youre not going to the mall....but everyone does it anyway." So I am thinking "oh, crap" but too late, here comes the bus! So we hop on the bus and it takes us to the next subway station in like 2 mins where I hop on the subway to queens park. I was very impressed with the organization. There was TTC people all over the place, directing people where to go and shouting "Shuttle bus over here!!" LOL. It really made the whole thing very easy.

My exam was only about one block from Queens park, but of course I start walking in the wrong direction and walk about 2 blocks before I figure out I need to turn around. I ended up getting to my exam 15 mins early which was just perfect.

After my exam I walked to a Portuguese bakery called Caldense Bakery. I had this planned out ever since I saw it on this post on BlogTO. (By the way, how cool is this site?!) I picked the bakery that seemed closest to where my exam was. At first I was planning to take the bus, but then I figured since it was a nice day, I would save myself the money and walk. I think it took me about 20-30 mins. It is located at 802 Dundas St. W. I got a ham and cheese grilled sandwich ( I think it was called tosta mista or something). Basically it was ham and cheese on a portuguese bun pressed in some grill and it was absolutely fabulous!! Then I decided to get some custard tarts to bring home to the fam. Let me just tell you they are like pure heaven. So SO good!! Anyone that is in Toronto you must try them!

After that I hopped on the bus back to the subway and headed back to yorkdale. As I got to the parking lot I was secretly praying that: 1. I didnt have a ticket or 2. I didn't get towed away because they figured out what I did! But everything was ok, and I decided to do a little shopping to treat myself after my exam. So I went to MAC and spent about $60.

Here are a few pictures from the bakery. I took them with my cell phone so they are not the best quality)


4 comments:

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

Mmmm pasteis de nata!!

Sounds like it went well :D

hklover86 said...

yeah it was really a good day overall. You must try out that bakery next time youre in town!

The Asian Pear said...

Mmm. Natas.

Personally, I'm a fan of Nova Era more I must admit though.

hklover86 said...

haha AP I was waiting for you to comment cause your a foodie :P

I didnt know what Nova Era was so I googled it..looks good as well. I think I will have to make it a goal to try out more places whenever I am back in the city!