To visit Toronto after a year spent locked down in lonely and small Gjøvik felt a little
bit overwhelming. I had some doubts about how I will like such a big city and how will Canada cope with my admiration of Norway. I have to say, all these worries were quickly dismissed and 11 days in Toronto went by faster than I wished. But I have to admit, I might not be a totally objective here.
Travel
After almost two years, Canada finally opened borders for non-essential
travelers with covid vaccination. I just had to get a negative PCR test (only
for the journey to Canada), buy an eTA visa, fill in the covid-related info in
ArriveCAN for Canada and
register form for
transiting in Iceland; and to have the vaccination certificate. I didn't want
to fly through Heathrow, so I chose Icelandair with stopover in Keflavik.
Avoiding the crowds seemed like a good plan, it was faster (only 2 hour
stopover) and an amazing northern light on the way back above Greenland was a
nice bonus.
Arrival to Iceland
First look at Canada
Helgøya island on Mjøsa
Toronto
My arrival to Toronto couldn't have been better planned. After chilly and
rainy Gjøvik with around zero temperatures, sunny Toronto felt like summer in
Norway and once again, I could enjoy walking without a jacket. Unfortunately,
even 11 days weren't enough to explore Toronto fully (though we really took
things a bit slowly).
Anyway, a couple of recommended places are below. Basically, anything downtown
does not disappoint (especially when viewed from the CN Tower perspective -
dining experience was pretty amazing). Waterfront walk and High Park then kind
of compensated for my nature cravings.
Downtown
High Park
Railway museum
Old City Hall
Waterfront relax
Union Station
Nathan Phillips Square
St. Andrew's Church
Yonge-Dundas Square
Allan Gardens
Toronto from CN Tower
Trinity Lutheran Church
Vegan
Being vegan in Toronto is not an issue at all. Vegan products can be bought
in any store (including ready to eat meals) and almost every restaurant we
visited offered some vegan dishes. There is also a lot of specifically vegan
eateries including places with treats such as Japanese dumplings, ice cream
or donuts. My two favorite places quickly became:
Evviva and Fat Bastard Burrito. Evviva offers several vegan dishes - from "egg" omelets and other
breakfasts to perfect Beyond burgers (on the picture grilled BBQ bacon
cheeseburger). Fat Bastard Burrito then has a few vegan burritos options -
crispy tofu, sweet potato, or plain veggie.
Lentil potato cake in CN Tower
Evviva's Omelette
Korean glass noodles
Impressions from Canada
After one year living in Norway, I had some concerns about how much I will
like Canada. The first one was air quality, which I thought is unbeatable
in Norway. But when I could finally pull down my mask, I didn't feel a
difference. In fact, according to online weather reports, the air was even
slightly cleaner than in Norway. The second concern was drinkable water.
As expected, it wasn't exactly ice cold glacier water, but not a disaster.
The last one was noise, but living in 35+ floor, noise is hardly a concern
and all I could hear was a dim buzz of traffic and belling of passing
trains.
The biggest issue for me was therefore only safety - we have seen
somebody on drugs daily. Either walking in the middle of a busy street,
shouting in subway stations or just lost in hallucinations in a
park. Being approached by homeless or poor people and asked for money or
food was also something I haven't experienced for my entire stay in
Norway and what felt a bit scary.
Also, when comparing to Norway, Canada didn't feel so modern (for example
manually opening doors everywhere, old subway trains), but on the other
hand, this created an impression of a long history full of atmosphere. The
last remarks are huge differences in living standards - one neighborhood
can be very posh while another extremely poor; and not so clean streets,
but again, nothing unexpected regarding the size of the city.
On the other hand, most people we met were very friendly and keen to help
despite the fast pace of the city. In a summary, my impressions from
Canada were very positive and I was surprised, how difficult for me was to
leave Toronto a get "acclimatized" to "empty" Gjøvik.
