Hockey, Baseball, and Beer, Oh My!

Finally, I "slept in" on this roadtrip! I forgot to mention yesterday that I'm once again a college student; that is, I am staying at Ryerson University as my "hotel". While in downtown, this school leases their dorms for extremely cheap which I'm very thankful for.

Then, I strolled into St. Lawrence Market, supposedly the greatest food market in the world. It wasn't looking to buy anything so I don't know if it was a great market; though, the selection was expansive.

My next stop: the Hockey Hall of Fame. What is a Canadian trip without something related to the game of hockey?! Well, I think I received much more hockey than I could have ever expected... Of course the Stanley Cup was there but so we're hundreds of pucks and jerseys signifying historical moments in the game and tons of history to read about. After experiencing the museum, I probably still have no idea what hockey means to Canadians but I'm slowly getting there.

Beer was next, specifically the Steam Whistle Brewery. While not very informative about their brewing process, the company has interesting fun facts about its history (including something that is on every bottle of their pilsner). Want to know? Well, I guess you just have to take a tour yourself; includes a glass (or a bottle opener) and free fresh beer. You really can't go wrong. The beer was okay, nothing to rave about. But I did have an opportunity to speak with some employees of the brewery about Canadian beer and oddly enough, UConn (not Yukon). 

Every vacation needs something "fancy" and none of my trip has been that so I went to nicer restaurant for lunch, Richmond Station, which was rated highly rated. The waitresses and hostesses were all beautiful; my waitress was extremely friendly and kind. We even had a wonderful conversation since I went during the hour between lunch and dinner. 

As I walked through one of the bigger shipping malls, I didn't recognize about half of the stores. I don't know what to think anymore... Thank goodness there is a Sears in every mall; stability at its best (for now...) 

I planned on buying tickets to the Blue Jays and Rays game on StubHub, but they refused to take my money through any of my credit cards (and I have no cell service) so I resorted to buy some through the box office. Life, of course, continued to give me obstacles by not printing me a ticket with a scannable code on it. So, I had to deal with security and the box office to get that taken care of. But luckily, a storm hit the as I was entering the closed dome Rogers Centre. While only two rows of seats are behind me, I hd a spectacular view of the entire stadium behind home plate. And what a game it turned out to be; close till the Rays took the W in the last two innings. 

I heard my first "aboot" and "eh" used in the same conversation. There also call their restrooms "washrooms" or "wash closets". It was also weird seeing people care more for their soccer team than their baseball team. 

Oh yeah, a bird pooped on me while I walking in the city (on my shorts). I don't believe it's lucky like some would say; I see it as everything else seems lucky compared to the extremely unfortunate event that is getting pooped on. 

P.S. The Wizard of Oz Broadway show is playing in the city.