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All metric all the time
If you recall from our last post, while visiting Detroit, we were staying across the river in Windsor, Ontario. The city was so close to the United States border that it gave speed limits both miles per hour and kilometers per hour. But the further we got, the more calculations we had to do. The one we could never get right was guessing how many milliliters we needed to fill the car up with gas — mostly because we never wanted to do all of the math to figure it out.
*Another tip: Nate found out the hard way, the majority of places in Canada will not or cannot accept Discover Cards.*
It wasn't a terribly long trip from Windsor to Toronto, but when we finally got there, we were starving. The desk clerk at the hotel directed us to a shopping plaza nearby, and there we found a place that had all-you-can-eat sushi. You would think we would have thought such a deal for 15 U.S. dollars should have raised a red flag, but it didn't.
The place was called K B Sushi, and it was actually all-you-can-eat for everything on the menu. Each table had an electronic tablet that broke down the menu into categories with photos of each dish. You simply click the plus sign to add that item to your cart and then send the order. You can do this any time throughout your stay.
As you can see, we put in quite an order:
The final tally came down to a total of 66 sushi ordered, with 61 being eaten. We also got several chicken dishes, calamari, scallops, rib tips, and salmon. Needless to say, we weren't very active or swiftly moving for quite some time.
When our food babies had finally stopped kicking and our stomachs had settled, we went out to check out Lake Ontario. It was a cool, overcast and windy day, so being at the lake was not ideal, but there were tons of people in the parks. And despite the gloomy clouds, we still had a beautiful view of Toronto across the lake.
*Another tip: Nate found out the hard way, the majority of places in Canada will not or cannot accept Discover Cards.*
It wasn't a terribly long trip from Windsor to Toronto, but when we finally got there, we were starving. The desk clerk at the hotel directed us to a shopping plaza nearby, and there we found a place that had all-you-can-eat sushi. You would think we would have thought such a deal for 15 U.S. dollars should have raised a red flag, but it didn't.
The place was called K B Sushi, and it was actually all-you-can-eat for everything on the menu. Each table had an electronic tablet that broke down the menu into categories with photos of each dish. You simply click the plus sign to add that item to your cart and then send the order. You can do this any time throughout your stay.
As you can see, we put in quite an order:
The final tally came down to a total of 66 sushi ordered, with 61 being eaten. We also got several chicken dishes, calamari, scallops, rib tips, and salmon. Needless to say, we weren't very active or swiftly moving for quite some time.
When our food babies had finally stopped kicking and our stomachs had settled, we went out to check out Lake Ontario. It was a cool, overcast and windy day, so being at the lake was not ideal, but there were tons of people in the parks. And despite the gloomy clouds, we still had a beautiful view of Toronto across the lake.
Beer (and people) on ice
After visiting the lake, Ben had one of his best ideas of the trip. He found a bar in Toronto that had a room made completely of ice, so we figured we had to try it out! It was downtown and attached to another bar, which was blaring music way too loudly in terms of how few people there were inside. But we got our drinks, put on the complimentary coats they let you borrow, and opened the freezer door to enter the ice room.
It was pretty cool (get it?) inside the room. There was an ice beer pong table, a frozen ice hockey table, and a table-top version of curling. For seating, there were two semi-secluded areas with long rows of ice to sit on with a table to set drinks on.
As cool as the room was, we felt it could be even better. There was a bar in the ice room but no bar tender. That may have been because not many people wanted to go in the ice room — or do people not want to go to the ice room because there's no bartender there (quite the conundrum). Anyway, we stayed there for one beer and then ventured out for more fun.
We walked down King Street W, which was packed with people taking in the Toronto nightlife. The range of styles of bars on the street amazed us. Some were dressed in suits and dresses for the fancy establishments, some were in casual clothes for one of the sports bars, and others were dressed to go to one of the many nightclubs on the block. We're pretty sure we saw Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Randal Grichuk outside one of the clubs.
We were definitely part of the casual crowd, as we parked ourselves at the Banknote Bar for a few drinks, including wine and a Moscow Mule (which disappointingly did not come in a copper mug; thanks, Canada). Finally, we ended the night in typical MLB Journeymen fashion, with late night pizza. This time we went to Pizzaiolo, which had a nice variety and was reasonably priced. Judging by the crowd that was there, it was a popular stop for many of the bar hoppers.
It was pretty cool (get it?) inside the room. There was an ice beer pong table, a frozen ice hockey table, and a table-top version of curling. For seating, there were two semi-secluded areas with long rows of ice to sit on with a table to set drinks on.
As cool as the room was, we felt it could be even better. There was a bar in the ice room but no bar tender. That may have been because not many people wanted to go in the ice room — or do people not want to go to the ice room because there's no bartender there (quite the conundrum). Anyway, we stayed there for one beer and then ventured out for more fun.
We walked down King Street W, which was packed with people taking in the Toronto nightlife. The range of styles of bars on the street amazed us. Some were dressed in suits and dresses for the fancy establishments, some were in casual clothes for one of the sports bars, and others were dressed to go to one of the many nightclubs on the block. We're pretty sure we saw Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Randal Grichuk outside one of the clubs.
We were definitely part of the casual crowd, as we parked ourselves at the Banknote Bar for a few drinks, including wine and a Moscow Mule (which disappointingly did not come in a copper mug; thanks, Canada). Finally, we ended the night in typical MLB Journeymen fashion, with late night pizza. This time we went to Pizzaiolo, which had a nice variety and was reasonably priced. Judging by the crowd that was there, it was a popular stop for many of the bar hoppers.
Game day
Our game at the Rogers Center was at 1 p.m., so after showering and eating breakfast, we decided to just head to the ball park and explore the immediate area. And it's a good thing we didn't wait any longer, because getting downtown was a mess.
Without any indication, the main highway that goes to the heart of the city was closed, causing a standstill and forcing everyone to exit onto a service road. Once we got closer to the stadium, the service road had a lane closed due to a triathlon, which only caused more delays. We felt helpless as several triathlon runners raced past the line of cars, leaving us in their dust.
We finally got to the Rogers Centre and found only a few available parking lots right by the stadium, costing anywhere from 20-35 dollars. The outside of the arena was concrete, much like the one in Tampa. However, unlike the Rays, the outside had banners and photos of players to make it more appealing.
It was "Jr. Jays weekend" so there were kids everywhere inside the ball park. Stadium workers were painting kids' faces — no, not any of ours — playing games with the kids, and taking photos of the youngsters with Ace, the mascot.
We scoped out the food situation, and the place we ultimately went to was the Muddy York Market. It resembled a grocery store and had healthy options for food in addition to some of the typical options for ball park food. We ended up getting Korean BBQ tacos, a brisket sandwich and chicken strips.
Without any indication, the main highway that goes to the heart of the city was closed, causing a standstill and forcing everyone to exit onto a service road. Once we got closer to the stadium, the service road had a lane closed due to a triathlon, which only caused more delays. We felt helpless as several triathlon runners raced past the line of cars, leaving us in their dust.
We finally got to the Rogers Centre and found only a few available parking lots right by the stadium, costing anywhere from 20-35 dollars. The outside of the arena was concrete, much like the one in Tampa. However, unlike the Rays, the outside had banners and photos of players to make it more appealing.
It was "Jr. Jays weekend" so there were kids everywhere inside the ball park. Stadium workers were painting kids' faces — no, not any of ours — playing games with the kids, and taking photos of the youngsters with Ace, the mascot.
We scoped out the food situation, and the place we ultimately went to was the Muddy York Market. It resembled a grocery store and had healthy options for food in addition to some of the typical options for ball park food. We ended up getting Korean BBQ tacos, a brisket sandwich and chicken strips.
The game
Our seats were in row five down the left field line, the closest to the field we've been — maybe with the exception of our first-row outfield seats in Anaheim.
For the first four innings, the game had the making of a pitchers' duel, with Toronto leading 1-0, but as soon as we got up to get our food, the Baltimore Orioles finally got on the scoreboard with a run off of Blue Jays' pitcher J.A. Happ — who finished the game with five innings pitched, one earned run given up, and striking out nine. Baltimore added two more in the top of the eight, but Toronto responded with a pair of two-run home runs from Yangervis Solarte and none other than Grichuk, the party guy we saw the night before!
After the big inning, the Blue Jays' Tyler Clippard entered the game and closed the door on the Orioles to earn the save and seal the Toronto victory.
With the game being in the afternoon, we had the rest of the day to explore downtown. We tried going to the CN Tower right after the game, but a two-hour wait scared us away. If you plan ahead, you can order tickets online and, for eight dollars more, you can pick a time slot for when you go up in the tower. If we go back, that's what we would do.
We walked around for a while and decided to plan our next move over a drink at St. Louis (restaurant), which had a nice outdoor seating area right by the Rogers Centre.
A popular suggestion we received was to go to Centre Island, and after finding out there was a brewery with food on the island, we were all in.
You have to find a parking lot downtown, but you can then take a ferry from Toronto to the island, which gave us a beautiful view of the city's skyline. The ferry was about 15 dollars a person.
The island was beautiful. There was a variety of flowers and plants, playgrounds and activities for kids, and you could even rent bikes and kayaks. The culmination of the island adventure was making it to the other end of the island to see the pier overlooking Lake Ontario.
The only problem we had with Toronto Island was the fact that on this particular day, all of the businesses and restaurants were closed! We asked one of the ferry workers why nothing was open, and apparently the establishments close down if there's rain, which there was earlier in the morning.
After walking all over the island and not getting to eat anything from the brewery, we had worked up a pretty hardy appetite. And with it being our last night in Toronto, we wanted to go to a nice, sit-down restaurant. So, we found a place called the Fox and the Fiddle, which had a nice menu of entrees ranging around 20 bucks. It was a pretty place and the outdoor seating gave us a lovely view of the city at night.
We left downtown after 11 and ran into some concert traffic, getting us home late. The saddest part of our trip was when we got home and saw on the TV that a gunman shot 14 people downtown earlier that night. We were a mile or two away from the scene, but we didn't hear anything; though, we did see plenty of emergency responders heading that way. Of course, at the time, we didn't know what they were responding to.
We left Toronto for Niagara Falls on our final full day in Canada. It was only about an hour and a half drive, and when we got to Niagara we were surprised with how big the city actually is. There were tons of places to eat, shopping places, and, of course, attractions relating to the Falls.
The first thing we tried was the Skylon Tower. The inside of the base of the tour was like a mall in itself, with stores, an arcade area, and even some glass blowing demonstrations. The cheapest tickets to go up in the tower were 15 dollars, but the ones we got were 17, and they came with free admission to the Falls movie, Legends of the Niagara (more on that later).
There are some great views from the tower's observation decks provide some pretty amazing views of the Falls and the whole city.
We stayed up there for 15 minutes or so and then headed back down to watch our feature film. This is the one part of our experience we would not recommend. The film was very cheesy and didn't offer any historical information about the Falls other than a couple tidbits. We were hoping it would have been more educational. But, if you're really wanting to see it, it's about 15 minutes long and is 3D/4D, with blowing air representing wind from the Falls.
After the movie, we needed something to restore our energy and positivity for the trip, and the Maid of the Midst boat ride did just that. We got our tickets, vouchers, and our complimentary ponchos and made our way down to the boat on the lake. Traveler tip: Bring a ziplock baggie or something similar for your phone, wallet and anything else you don't want ruined. You get plenty soaked on the boat, and while our phones and belongings survived in our pockets, it would have been nice to not have to worry about their destruction.
That being said, the boat ride was amazing! This may have been one of our favorite things to do on our journey.
The boat is out for maybe 15 minutes or so and takes up near the horseshoe of the Falls. We stood at the front of the boat, so we got drenched! It was definitely a blast. When we got back, we took advantage of our drink vouchers in a patio setting with the Falls roaring behind us and a woman playing an acoustic guitar for the crowd. It was relaxing and peaceful.
Our final night in Canada was spent in London — partly because of the name and partly because of it breaking up our trip for the next day. We really only had time to get a late dinner and then head back to the hotel, so the food truck we stopped at is about the only thing to report from London. It was so messy, but it was pretty darn good.
We were a little surprised with the way our ratings turned out. While we loved pretty much everything about Toronto, the stadium itself left us wanting a little more. Because of those low ratings, this trip earned a rating of 7.1.
When it comes to aspects other than the stadium, transportation was the only thing that really got any sort of knock; everything else was about as high as we could rate it. As for the ball park, it's in a great spot with plenty to do around it, so the atmosphere was great. But it lacked in "sex appeal" and in food variety. Despite the trip being lower on the ratings, we all still talked about going back to Toronto in the future.
For the first four innings, the game had the making of a pitchers' duel, with Toronto leading 1-0, but as soon as we got up to get our food, the Baltimore Orioles finally got on the scoreboard with a run off of Blue Jays' pitcher J.A. Happ — who finished the game with five innings pitched, one earned run given up, and striking out nine. Baltimore added two more in the top of the eight, but Toronto responded with a pair of two-run home runs from Yangervis Solarte and none other than Grichuk, the party guy we saw the night before!
After the big inning, the Blue Jays' Tyler Clippard entered the game and closed the door on the Orioles to earn the save and seal the Toronto victory.
Postgame
With the game being in the afternoon, we had the rest of the day to explore downtown. We tried going to the CN Tower right after the game, but a two-hour wait scared us away. If you plan ahead, you can order tickets online and, for eight dollars more, you can pick a time slot for when you go up in the tower. If we go back, that's what we would do.
We walked around for a while and decided to plan our next move over a drink at St. Louis (restaurant), which had a nice outdoor seating area right by the Rogers Centre.
A popular suggestion we received was to go to Centre Island, and after finding out there was a brewery with food on the island, we were all in.
You have to find a parking lot downtown, but you can then take a ferry from Toronto to the island, which gave us a beautiful view of the city's skyline. The ferry was about 15 dollars a person.
The island was beautiful. There was a variety of flowers and plants, playgrounds and activities for kids, and you could even rent bikes and kayaks. The culmination of the island adventure was making it to the other end of the island to see the pier overlooking Lake Ontario.
The only problem we had with Toronto Island was the fact that on this particular day, all of the businesses and restaurants were closed! We asked one of the ferry workers why nothing was open, and apparently the establishments close down if there's rain, which there was earlier in the morning.
After walking all over the island and not getting to eat anything from the brewery, we had worked up a pretty hardy appetite. And with it being our last night in Toronto, we wanted to go to a nice, sit-down restaurant. So, we found a place called the Fox and the Fiddle, which had a nice menu of entrees ranging around 20 bucks. It was a pretty place and the outdoor seating gave us a lovely view of the city at night.
We left downtown after 11 and ran into some concert traffic, getting us home late. The saddest part of our trip was when we got home and saw on the TV that a gunman shot 14 people downtown earlier that night. We were a mile or two away from the scene, but we didn't hear anything; though, we did see plenty of emergency responders heading that way. Of course, at the time, we didn't know what they were responding to.
Niagara Falls
We left Toronto for Niagara Falls on our final full day in Canada. It was only about an hour and a half drive, and when we got to Niagara we were surprised with how big the city actually is. There were tons of places to eat, shopping places, and, of course, attractions relating to the Falls.
The first thing we tried was the Skylon Tower. The inside of the base of the tour was like a mall in itself, with stores, an arcade area, and even some glass blowing demonstrations. The cheapest tickets to go up in the tower were 15 dollars, but the ones we got were 17, and they came with free admission to the Falls movie, Legends of the Niagara (more on that later).
There are some great views from the tower's observation decks provide some pretty amazing views of the Falls and the whole city.
We stayed up there for 15 minutes or so and then headed back down to watch our feature film. This is the one part of our experience we would not recommend. The film was very cheesy and didn't offer any historical information about the Falls other than a couple tidbits. We were hoping it would have been more educational. But, if you're really wanting to see it, it's about 15 minutes long and is 3D/4D, with blowing air representing wind from the Falls.
After the movie, we needed something to restore our energy and positivity for the trip, and the Maid of the Midst boat ride did just that. We got our tickets, vouchers, and our complimentary ponchos and made our way down to the boat on the lake. Traveler tip: Bring a ziplock baggie or something similar for your phone, wallet and anything else you don't want ruined. You get plenty soaked on the boat, and while our phones and belongings survived in our pockets, it would have been nice to not have to worry about their destruction.
That being said, the boat ride was amazing! This may have been one of our favorite things to do on our journey.
The boat is out for maybe 15 minutes or so and takes up near the horseshoe of the Falls. We stood at the front of the boat, so we got drenched! It was definitely a blast. When we got back, we took advantage of our drink vouchers in a patio setting with the Falls roaring behind us and a woman playing an acoustic guitar for the crowd. It was relaxing and peaceful.
'Ello, Govn'or
Our final night in Canada was spent in London — partly because of the name and partly because of it breaking up our trip for the next day. We really only had time to get a late dinner and then head back to the hotel, so the food truck we stopped at is about the only thing to report from London. It was so messy, but it was pretty darn good.
Ratings
We were a little surprised with the way our ratings turned out. While we loved pretty much everything about Toronto, the stadium itself left us wanting a little more. Because of those low ratings, this trip earned a rating of 7.1.
When it comes to aspects other than the stadium, transportation was the only thing that really got any sort of knock; everything else was about as high as we could rate it. As for the ball park, it's in a great spot with plenty to do around it, so the atmosphere was great. But it lacked in "sex appeal" and in food variety. Despite the trip being lower on the ratings, we all still talked about going back to Toronto in the future.
| Rank | Stadium | Rating |
| 1. | Petco Park (Padres) | 8.9 |
| 2. | Sun Trust Park (Braves) | 8.4 |
| 3. | Marlins Park (Marlins) | 8.4 |
| 4. | Kauffman Stadium (Royals) | 8.4 |
| 5. | Target Field (Twins) | 8.3 |
| 6. | Angels Stadium (Angels) | 8.3 |
| 7. | U.S. Cellular (White Sox) | 8.3 |
| 8. | Wrigley Field (Cubs) | 8.3 |
| 9. | Busch Stadium (Cardinals) | 8.3 |
| 10. | Chase Field (Diamondbacks) | 8.2 |
| 11. | Miller Park (Brewers) | 7.2 |
| 12. | Rogers Centre (Blue Jays) | 7.1 |
| 13. | Coors Field (Rockies) | 7.1 |
| 14. | Comerica Park (Tigers) | 6.4 |
| 15. | Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) | 6.2 |
| 16. | Tropicana Field (Rays) | 6.1 |
On deck
On our way back home, we're going back to Wrigley Field since Nate was not with us that first year we went. Plus, it will be nice to see the friendly confines after the renovations! We'll have that post soon. Also like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, @MLBjourneymen, and check out our Instagram account, mlbjourneymen.
