Tireless in Toronto – A 2 day Adventure Part 1

In September 2025, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a work conference that brought me to Toronto, Ontario Canada. What’s crazy about that? In all my years, I have NEVER been to Toronto; I’ve flown through it but never left the airport! Haha.

I won’t disclose any information from my work conference, as to not bore you with any details(although I do work in the beauty industry, so you could consider that a fun profession!). This blog will focus mainly on the 2 days I spend exploring Toronto after the conference.

I fly out on the Thursday night, and I’m staying at the Sheraton

The hotel is close to the airport so I spend the next few days hanging around this area. Some of my colleagues go into the city centre, but I’ll be doing that in a couple of days so no need! Most of my meals are included at the conference, which takes place at the Toronto Congress Centre. I enjoy the food, but there are mixed reviews from some of the other attendees. The first night I dine at Montana’s, which serves up comfort food and specializes in BBQ classics.

I have the buttermilk fried chicken, which totally hits the spot after a long travel day(It is a 4.5 hour flight from Vancouver, crossing 3 time zones!). And there is so much to choose from on the menu; it’s so hard to decide. The following night we go a bit fancier, and head to Chop Steakhouse – I have the steak and shrimp combo – not the best steak I’ve ever had but it is still a good meal!

When the conference ends on the Sunday, I wait for my ride into the city. Is it with UBER? NO!!! It just happens to be one of my besties from my hometown of Winnipeg! It’s Kim, and she now lives in Toronto so she will be my amazing host for the next couple of days. We’ve known each other since we were 12, so that doesn’t make me feel old at all! Haha. I had been talking about coming out here to visit her for awhile now, and this is the perfect opportunity to finally get it done!

We have a jam- packed itinerary, because that’s how I roll when I travel! Kim and her partner have a condo right along the harbourfront, which makes it an ideal location for easy exploration of the city. We purchase the Toronto City Pass, which gives access to 5 attractions at a discount price. The two set attractions are the CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium, and then you can choose 3 more from the list of 4 options – Toronto Zoo, Casa Loma, City Cruises, and Royal Ontario Museum. We only have time for 2 of those 4, but it’s still great value!

This evening we do the City Cruise, which is a narrated 1 hour voyage through the Toronto Harbor on Lake Ontario.

The tour guide tells us lots of cool facts about the area, and asks us trivia questions, so it’s fun and interactive.

We cruise past the Billy Bishop airport and then briefly into the Toronto Islands area.

The views of the downtown Toronto skyline, with the CN Tower rising high above the cityscape, are just gorgeous

and we are also catching the first bit of the sunset.

After disembarking, we need dinner so Kim recommends a place along the water called Amsterdam Brewhouse. Our server, Clint, is absolutely amazing and the food is delish. I have a flight of beers to taste – of course -it’s a brewery!!

To eat, I try the brisket mac and cheese, one of their specialties. We spend the evening catching up and having a chill night.

Located on Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Toronto is the largest city in Canada – it will instantly pull you in with its energy – modern, multicultural and cool. A city with indigenous origins, it later grew into the small 18^th century settlement of York, and finally into the large metropolis you see today. The waterfront glitters, the neighborhoods are vibrant and diverse, and expect world class cuisine on every corner.

The next morning we hit the road and make our way to Niagara Falls…this is the part I’m most excited about! We are not spending any amount of time in the town to hang out; we’ve got too much to do so it’s a Falls only day. We park the car and have some time to walk along the Niagara River Parkway to take some photos and admire this natural wonder.

We have booked a spot on the Hornblower – now called Niagara City Cruises. They provide very fashionable red rain ponchos, so we throw them over our heads and try to find a good spot on the boat.

There are tons of people so there is no more room up at the front of the boat so we are close to the back on the left hand side.

Fun Fact : there are actually 3 waterfalls that make up Niagara Falls – the largest and most famous is Horseshoe Falls. The US/Canada border goes right through the waters here, and Rainbow Bridge connects the 2 countries.

To the left is the American Falls, and as we cruise by we get a little wet from the spray of the waters.

As we get closer to Horseshoe Falls, the air gets a bit colder, it’s a little windier and the thundering sound of the water falling is imminent. The boat gets right in there, as close to the falls as possible. What I’m not expecting is how much we get wet. Haha- I can’t even see anything there is so much spray. But OMG it’s so much fun and you really get a feel for how powerful these falls are.

It’s a gorgeous sunny day here in Niagara, so we dry off pretty quickly, and make our way over to the Journey Behind the Falls. Pretty self explanatory, you get to walk through tunnels that were built behind the falls, with a couple of cool lookout points to peek out of.

There is a bit of a line, and an older gentleman strikes up a convo with us. His name is Wally and he’s from Saskatoon.

His wife thought these tunnels would be too claustrophobic for her so he’s riding solo and we keep him company. Haha.

The best part is the outdoor lookout point which is right next to the falls – close enough without the intense spray from the water. Just stunning!!!

To be continued……