Our First Day in Toronto (On This Trip).

Saturday, August 31, 2024

Fairfield, Connecticut-New York City-Toronto, Canada

Our First Day in Toronto (On This Trip).

Today, we were on the road again—or more correctly, in the air! We left the US behind us to launch into Phase Four of our Great North American Travels—this time in Canada.

Flight to Canada:

We left Sturbridge Lane very early in the morning and drove to New York City to take our Delta flight departing at 1.45pm for Toronto, Canada. This meant that we’d need to be at JFK airport at 10.45 am which meant leaving from Fairfield no later than 9.00 am as we needed to return our rental car to Budget as well as make one stop en route at White Plains, Westchester, as I had left my hoodie at my friend Anita’s home, two nights ago. She was herself on a trip and since the home was empty, she left it for me on her deck.

And that was what we did. We stopped at White Plains, I picked up my hoodie and we were off. We reached the airport in time, had no trouble dropping off our car, taking the Air Train to the Delta Terminal and making it in good time for our flight. All we had was a small backpack each as that was all that our tickets permitted us no carry—no check-in bags allowed.

We had a very pleasant flight as we were upgraded to First Class. Not that this makes any difference anymore as US airlines do not even serve you a meal on their flights. Knowing this, we did pick up food from the airport and ate it at our gate while waiting for boarding to be announced. Soon enough, we were airborne into very hazy skies which did not allow me to get a single good picture of New York City. We were offered drinks (alcoholic or otherwise) on the flight and with just that bit of sustenance, we were en route.

Thankfully, Toronto was bathed by golden sunlight when we approached the city on Lake Ontario. I managed to get some lovely video footage of the downtown area while landing as I had a window seat. The iconic CN Tower and the Sky Dome, home of the Toronto Blue Jays was clearly visible. A few days later, we’d be down there ourselves, exploring the Harbor Front area—so it was good to see what the very snazzy area looked like from above. But those few skyscrapers apart, the rest of Toronto and its suburbs are all very flat as the suburbs came into view.

A little later, after we’d landed and cleared Immigration, we were outside the airport and followed signs to get to the Uber parking as we’d be taking an Uber to get to our friend Sylvia’s home in Woodbridge. All that went off very smoothly, the Uber came along, we called and told Sylvia we were on our way and we sat back and enjoyed the ride—about 40 minutes.

Reunion and Dinner with our Friend, Sylvia:

Entering Sylvia’s home was a bitter-sweet experience, to say the very least. On the one hand, we were so looking forward to our stay with her as we had not seen her in a very long time and had made lots of lovely plans for our time together. On the other hand, all of us had a terrible and very sad shock when we received the news that her husband, Tony (a super guy and a very dear friend of ours) had passed away, not even three weeks previously, while we were in Yellowstone National Park. He had been so looking forward to our stay and had lined up a number of things for us to do together. It would be a very surreal experience for us to stay in his home without him around. And thirdly, as they had only moved into this home six months previously, the house was completely new to us as we had never stayed with them in this place. We ourselves had to get used to a new environment. We were placed downstairs in the self-contained apartment that had been newly-finished and furnished and offered us all the comfort and privacy we desired.

After we had a nice reunion, we met the company who were spending the evening with Sylvia—her sister, Dolly and friends, Bryan and Avril. After relaxing for a while, we were plied with drinks and nibbles before we adjourned to the eat-in kitchen for a lovely dinner. Sylvia offered us Shrimp every which way you can imagine—from Shrimp Curry and Shrimp Masala to Shrimp Biryani. Needless to say, everything was delectable and we had a really grand time just stuffing our faces and shooting the breeze with some really good company around the table. We liked Sylvia’s new home, a down-sized version of the home she had lived in with Tony in Markham, for decades. But his presence pervaded every book and cranny of the home and we spent a great deal of time talking and thinking fondly about Tony for the duration of our stay. We were very glad that we were able to offer some company to Sylvia at a time when she missed Tony profoundly and when our presence could be the distraction she so badly needed after the long stress of the previous months.

By the end of the meal, both of us were quite ready to call it a day. We bid goodbye to our new friends and made our way downstairs for some much-needed sleep.

Until tomorrow…cheerio.