Had to smile at our bus driver today who said, “Toronto has two seasons – winter and construction!”  So many construction sites, detours, dust and traffic congestion it even crept in to the posh zones causing major concern for dog walking….oops, bite my tongue!  A very active LGBTIQ culture, and plenty of interesting street art and ads along the way kept us entertained though.

Actually today was a great day for museum visits…..a bit dreary and overcast, so some gentle indoor sleuthing at the ROM Royal Ontario Museum and the fascinating Bata Shoe Museum went down well.

ROM was a hive of vacation care children, so we selectively avoided the Blue Whale queue and enjoyed the Canadian Indian sections…….we are starting to get a bit of a handle on the overall picture.  Sitting Bull’s war shirt, early cloaks depicting traditional histories, amazingly sophisticated artefacts and terrific cedar canoes were all part of the mosaic.  I swear that Bison was following me with its eye…..🤐

While Murray sussed out the gift shop, I explored the 4 floors of thousands of pairs of shoes at the Bata exhibition. Learning how shoe styles changed over the centuries was a fun way to revisit the platforms of the 70s to which I fear I now owe my bunions!

When the weather is dodgy, jump on a bus and head to Hamilton!   Murray’s cousin and family live, work and play in Hamilton, about 50 minutes south of Toronto.  Passing light industrial, relatively uninspiring scenery, we were not sure what Hamilton had in store for us.  Plenty of green spaces, little street corner farmer’s market, and a lovely 1850s to explore is what!

Scudding showers did not dampen the spirit of bbqing!  We managed to avoid the rain in between foraging in the vegie patch for dinner ingredients as well as some sweet raspberries, mulberries and wild strawberries which never made it to the table.  It was lovely to share a meal together and  a young energetic Charlotte spent the morning of her school break mastering the baking of a sponge cake with jam and cream filling and a fondant icing for her Aussie visitors…a great job!

All too soon it was back on the bus and off to the Toronto base once again, and dreaming of Niagra tomorrow!