Toronto is, by far, the largest city in Canada. And, for decades I have heard others who have visited here how incredible the city is. I wanted to visit for myself to see if it lives up to everything everyone has told me. Downtown was pretty good although I still like Vancouver better. Downtown Toronto was quite difficult to get to -- it took nearly an hour during rush hour traffic AFTER 8:00 am! And it was still going at 10:00 am and at 1:00 pm!!! The weather made it a near perfect summer day -- mostly sunny, mid 70's, no wind. That brought pedestrians by tens of thousands. It normally took at least two cycles of the traffic lights to get through each city block. And if someone wanted to turn left or right, that meant only one vehicle could make the turn per traffic light cycle. Why? Because each time a light changed, at least 100 pedestrians crossed the street and all vehicle traffic had to wait for them.

First place I went -- mostly hoping rush hour traffic would end although that was a futile hope -- was the Edwards Gardens. It is free (both for arking and for viewing. Dozens of volunteers are there working in the gardens. Some were quite friendly, others less so. The gardens were very beautiful and relaxing. And, Ahhhh, the wonderful fragrances -- if only there was a device to capture smells as easily as we can record sights and sounds.

Going to the (almost) top of the CN Tower was very cool. I went ahead and sprung for going to Skypad too which is even higher than the main platform. The elevator goes at 15 MPH up and down. It has some small windows in the floor to watch that view as well as the elevator is on the exterior wall so you get to watch the elevation change while riding it. Since it was a mostly clear day, views were spectacular!

The Textile Museum was interesting but different than I expected. It was mostly exhibits of current-day textile artwork whereas I was expecting to learn about the history of the textile industry, at least from the Canadian perspective.

Because I spent nearly three hours longer than expected dealing with traffic, I had to skip a couple of places I wanted to visit.

One mention about the border crossing into Canada near Lewiston NY -- the place was very close to Niagara University, my last U.S. stop before going to Canada. The entire area was under massive road construction thus was quite confusing. Only one of six stations had staff but only three vehicles were in front of me. The first one took a while -- they must have really quizzed the car occupants. The next two were less than 20 seconds each. Then me. They really quizzed why I had so much stuff in my back seat -- ice chest and several bags. I said I was going to Boston for 14 weeks and was carrying much with me. I offered the guy my typed list of possessions in the car. That REALLY got the guy asking me many questions. Then he hands my list to his supervisor who starts asking me more questions including if I had ever been arrested or handcuffed or fingerprinted. He wanted to know WHY I wanted to visit Toronto and Montreal and where was I spending the night at the places. Finally, the first guy hands back my passport and list of possessions and says "Go". What an adventure. Never know what to expect at a border crossing going either way across.

One thing unexpected as I was first getting into Canada was rush hour traffic at Hamilton in Quebec. Despite four lanes each way, there was construction on a bridge that really bottlenecked the rush hour traffic. And, I ended up on toll roads that will bill me by license plate (as stated by roadside signs and we pay at 407rte.com). They had quite elaborate camera stations at every entrance and exit ramp.

Although I had been in Canada twice before (both times in British Columbia), I was amazed at how familiar everything seemed along the highways. Except for highway signs being blue instead of green, and, distances given in kilometers, everything else looked exactly like I am used to seeing in the U.S. Interstates and their ramps. Highway patrol cars. Many big semi-trucks (although in Canada they NEVER get into the far left lane). Rush hour traffic jams. the Mr. Goody ice cream truck. Road construction structure. Power line towers. And more. Then, when seeing shopping areas, many U.S. businesses are the same as in the U.S.