The Last Few Days

Well, it's been really busy. On Tuesday we went to Toronto and got our first look at the big city. We really enjoyed it but really didn't see that much.

Cool sculpture outside the Rogers Centre.

Open air double decker buses - when it rained later there were people sitting up the top with their umbrellas!

We went to the CN Tower which was just amazing although we did spend an awful lot of time waiting in line.

Mountee Moose with Whanau

We waited for one hour just to get in and then another 20 minutes or so to go up to the Skypod which is the top level.

Waiting in line, looking down at the shops.

View from the lower platform of the CN Tower.

We had to wait 30 minutes to come down. It was just so busy there. But it was all worth the wait. We took heaps and heaps of photos of Toronto from up that high.

Jesse going through security - it blew air at you - couldn't figure out why and they didn't seem to be able to tell us.

I can't remember the stats but the lift (or elevator as they call them here) went up incredibly fast. Something like 60 seconds to go up 446m. Two sides of the lift was glass so you got to see out when you were going up and down.

Jesse enjoyed lying on the glass floor and looking through the binoculars. One day we will visit the 360 restaurant which rotates.

Andy and I at the top (terribly unflattering photo of me).

My family being attacked by a bear!

After we came down we decided we needed food (it was 3pm!) and we visited the food court. Jenna and I sampled the curry and Andy bought two slices of pizza - of course they were so big that he couldn't eat them all. Jesse, being Jesse had McDonalds.

Jenna was keen to go and see the art district which to me looked a lot like Cuba Street. It was raining by this time so we went back and got the car and drove down Queen Street. We didn't see many galleries but we did see a shop called "The Condom Shack" which was funny. No idea what it sold.

This weekend we will go back to Toronto and walk the streets to get a feel. By this time it was 4.30pm and we didn't want to get stuck in the traffic so we decided to go. Of course, we got lost as our GPS was telling us to go down one way streets and we ended up taking 30 minutes to get out of Toronto so were well into the 5 o'clock traffic but it actually wasn't that bad. Took us about an hour to get home.

Yesterday we went house hunting. We got a huge list of properties from a couple of agents and drove around all day looking at the outside of houses and deciding which ones we'd like to see again. Because we didn't know where we were going we ended up ping ponging all over Mississauga but it was really good for us to get to know it better.

Today was a much better day. It was raining and we were fascinated by the rain coming straight down (not horizontal like we're used to). It was quite heavy but very refreshing and not at all cold. It had stopped by about 11am and then it got really hot.

We decided to get takeaways for dinner. Everyone wanted KFC which of course Jenna and I can't eat so we tried Taco Bell. It is in the same place as KFC owned by the same people. It was interesting to say the least. Jenna didn't enjoy her beef one but I didn't mind my chicken one although it just had chicken and lettuce in it because I couldn't have the cheese so it was a bit dry. Don't think I'll be rushing to have it again.

I've decided that there is one thing I really hate about Canada - everything is so sweet! Even the Coke tastes different.

We looked at 3 houses today, the first one was just around the corner from where we are staying but the house itself was needing a bit of an update. It would have been a great house to buy but not rent. It was 4 bedrooms and had a finished basement and garage. Interesting fact about Canadian houses - a lot of rooms don't have ceiling lights, they have a light switch which is connected to a power outlet and you are expected to buy lamps. When I discussed that with Cristina I realised that the lounge here doesn't have any overhead lighting either. So, not only do the light switches go up to instead of down, they don't even turn on what you think they do.

The second house we looked at was lovely. It was in a nice neighbourhood and had a beautiful kitchen. It was lovely and bright but only 3 bedrooms and no finished basement. This means that you can see the insulation in the basement, the walls aren't lined. The laundry is always in the basement. So it seemed a lot smaller than the other house. The garden was really overgrown.

Second house - we didn't choose this one.

The third house we looked at was the one. It is in a lovely neighbourhood although it is close to a main road. It is also just around the corner from the mall and petrol station and all sorts of other convenient things. It's also close to the bulk buy shop that I found the other day which sells all the ingredients for my bread and baking so I'm quite happy.

It is a semi-detached with 3 bedrooms but has a beautifully finished basement with a gas fire and a "walk out" (ranchslider) to the garden. A good place to put Jesse's drums as the bedrooms are not big enough to fit his drums and it's also better for the neighbours if he's underground.

I didn't take a photo of the outside of this house but honestly, they all look pretty much the same. I will upload a photo once we have it.

Unfortunately, this house is not available until 1 August so we will stay with Cristina and Chris until then. Our stuff arrives from NZ on 2 August but won't be cleared of customs until the 12th so that's not too long to wait. Can't wait to get my own stuff.

Well, it's 11.17pm and I need sleep so I'm signing off now. Hope you're all having a good day