For my 22nd birthday, my mum took me to Toronto. The last time we went was before I started uni so I was really excited. The first place we went to when we arrived was Second Cup and I finally got to have a Frozen Hot Chocolate (I had one most days and miss them so much again).
We didn't really do anything else that day as we were
majorly jetlagged. I'm pretty sure we went to bed at 8pm, but for dinner we went to my favourite restaurant in Canada, The Spaghetti Factory - a restaurant where obviously you get spaghetti but also free bread and garlic butter and a starter and ice cream. The inside of The Spaghetti Factory is really cool too with a carousel, a bed and a bus you can sit on to eat.
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| The carousel inside The Spaghetti Factory |
The next day we spent a lot of time shopping at the Eaton Centre, the best place to shop in Canada, and bought so much stuff.
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| Eaton Centre |
On my birthday I'd wanted to visit Toronto Zoo and see the polar bears but it was closed, and we didn't know if it would open again the whole time we were there, so we started the day with some Fran's pancakes (which are amazing).
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| Birthday pancakes |
We then went up the CN Tower again and followed that by going to Ripley's Aquarium.
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| CN Tower view |
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CN Tower
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| Ripley's Aquarium |
The highlight of my birthday was going to Toto's Cat Café. In the café you're able to visit the cats, feed and stroke them and can even adopt them (obviously we couldn't) but if you're in the Toronto area I would definitely recommend adopting the adorable cats.
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| I wanted to keep all the cats |
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| This cat was so cute |
The last time I went to Canada, I tried to visit the filming locations of
Anne of Green Gables. We visited Prince Edward Island, and I was pretty devastated when I couldn't find the Green Gables house and the bridge that Gilbert proposes to Anne on. Before we went to Toronto I did a lot of searching and finally found the addresses of both of these locations. They're pretty far out of Toronto but my mum hired a car and drove me an hour out of central Toronto to find these locations. After waiting so long to see them, I was so happy to finally get to them. (I didn't go onto the bridge because it looks like it's falling in and also both of these locations are on private land so it's difficult to get closer).
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| Green Gables |
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| Bridge in Anne of Green Gables |
We also spent a day at Niagara Falls and went Behind the Falls. It was the hottest day when we were there and although we were soaking wet from Niagara, we dried within minutes. It's honestly one of the most beautiful places in the world and such a good day out in Toronto.
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| Niagara Falls |
The first hotel we got to stay in was the Novotel, which was a really nice hotel and a good experience to try somewhere new. The last hotel we stayed in was our favourite hotel, The Fairmont Royal York, and we got upgraded to a suite because the airline had messed up our booking. I honestly can't say enough how much I love The Fairmont. If I could stay there forever, I would.
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| The Fairmont lobby |
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| The Fairmont pool (Jacuzzi is round the corner) |
On our last day in Canada, Toronto Zoo finally opened. I've been waiting to see the polar bears for ages, so even though it took an hour to get to the zoo, we decided to spend the day there (helped by the fact the Fairmont allow you to use the pool and spa area to refresh after you've checked out). Obviously my first stop was the polar bears but it was also really cool to see the giant panda and lions.
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| Polar bear |
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| So happy to be this close to a polar bear |
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| Witness the joy on my face at getting to see the polar bears |
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| Giant panda |
I loved being in Canada again and was so lucky to get to go for my 22nd. It was the best birthday I've had and I can't wait to go back again! Thank you so much to my mum.
Thanks for reading,
Jessie xxx
