A Life Of We: Thanks, Toronto: Part 2

Eggsmart has great eggs and a knack for punning.

Heh heh heh

So this is where we ate breakfast, which was pretty delicious. We learned that Jersey Shore fries were basically regular french fries. Also, there are many different choices of spreads to put on toast.

Totally not posing

Definitely not posing

We caught a cab down to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Eddie made yet another new friend by not asking for money back. The place hadn't opened yet so we took a quick walk around the block to find Toronto's flatiron building. We found lots of buildings, probably the tallest ones in downtown, but didn't find the one I was looking for. So we settled for these.

Then we headed back to the Hall of Fame, which was still not open. We checked out the outside first.

Fun Fact: The Hockey Hall of Fame is kind of in the basement of a shopping mall. We went inside the mall part to go to its actual entrance to wait. There were maybe forty people down there, not really in a line, but simply hanging out at the entrance.

Outside of the store on the main floor

I guess Eddie wanted to get in as much of the floor as possible.

Pretty ceiling of the shopping mall

A few minutes after 10, someone opened the gate and in we all went. I'd already bought our tix, so we gave them to the guy along with a coupon I'd found for free wristbands. That's right--FREE! We also bought a program that had a map in it. However, we didn't use the map. The HoF was pretty small, so we didn't really need it to find anything.

As soon as we got by the cashier, I was like, We're going to the Stanley Cup. He was like, huh? I was like, Let's go before there's a line. I don't know why everyone was checking out the jerseys in the display cases when they could go back to those at any time. I mean, what's the most important thing to see in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Eddie was like, oh good idea.

We were the first people in the Stanley Cup room and the only ones there for several minutes. We were allowed to take pictures of it and touch it. It's a replica, so they aren't too worried about someone knocking it over. The photographer took our picture for which I was not ready twice. Then we took a look at the old plates on the cup in the little room. Eddie started to look at the other stuff in the room, and I was like, Nope! We're going to play games first to avoid lines and then come back! He was like, oh good idea.

This is not the Stanley Cup, but it was in the same room.

Once in a lifetime picture, and I'm looking slightly to the right.

We got to the interactive games with only two people ahead of us. The first game was shooting against a goalie. We could choose Lundqvist, or one of the goalies from Toronto or Montreal. Eddie shot against Lundqvist. He got no goals. I shot against the Montreal goalie. I got one goal.

I AM BETTER AT HOCKEY THAN EDDIE IS!

I WIN LIFE!

To hear Eddie tell the story, you'll learn how the computerized game was broken and he certainly got at least one in. Because, you know, he's better than the computer.

The next game was goal tending. Ahead of us were four people. When I say "people" here, I really mean children. You know, kids who are supposed to play games. The two right in front of us were pretty young, and man were they good! The mom said they used to live in NY and were Rangers fans, but now they live in Michigan. We told her about the MSG revamp and then her younger son distracted us all as he put on all the goalie gear, which was pretty much as big as he was. Then he blocked a bunch of shots without any fear.

The line behind us was growing, so that's about when I decided I wasn't going to do it. It wasn't fear of embarrassment. I mean, come on, I'd already won at life by scoring more goals than Eddie did. It was more of not wanting to waste anyone's time. I knew what I'd do. As soon as a puck came at me, I was going to run away from it. The game lasted over two minutes plus the time it takes to put on and take off the equipment. Since I knew my score would be negative saves, I decided to not delay anyone's day.

Eddie went and saved more than half the goals. It was rather impressive.

After that, we went back to the beginning and looked at all the memorabilia. There were movies and interactive trivia games we could do. There was a lot of non-NHL stuff there, too, which was beyond my knowledge of hockey, but it was still interesting. They also had something called Hockey In Space that I'm still trying to figure out.

I realize, I'm a child. The guy's name is Dickie Moore, and on the sign it says Moore, Dickie.

The contract between the NHL and the cup keepers

The original travel box for the cup

We made our way back to here.

There it is again.

Hockey in Space?

Pretty ceiling

Friends

We saw everything, some things twice. Having visited the Baseball Hall of Fame, I thought this one was more compact. We finished more quickly than I thought we would. Soon enough we were heading upstairs to mall level and into the store where we could buy our Stanley Cup photo (the one in which I am looking a bit harried) and anything else we could want hockey-related. And I had a coupon for 10 % off. And I forgot to use it. Dangit. We got some pretty nice swag anyway, and then headed to find lunch.

And this is what happens when I climb stairs ahead of my husband.

We walked a lot in the sun and it was hot. We ducked into a pizza shop and Eddie asked for two slices for himself. I'd planned to find something else. But then the pizza came out of the oven and what they called two slices was really four, so I wound up eating pizza with him. It was a crazy size for a slice. Like picture two NYC slices together. Very generous, but very unnecessary.

And then I got Starbucks because I wanted to try a mini waffle cone drink thingie and vacation was the only time I'd try it. And it was good.

Off we went to see the Love Locks. We got a cab, Eddie made a friend, and we headed into the Distillery District. Since lots of Toronto reminded me of NYC, I figured there would be a fair amount of street vendors around selling overpriced locks for people who didn't have one. Nope, Toronto doesn't have that. So we settled on a few photos.

Back to the cabs to make another friend, and we went all the way across Toronto to find Honest Ed's. The main reason I wanted to go there was so I could point at Eddie and say, Hey that's you. Also, it has really discounted prices. Like, we bought an ornament there for 1.99, and in other stores, the same ornament was 19.99. So yeah, it was worth the cab ride. Also, once we were inside, we were transported to what seemed to be another world. It was weird in there, y'all.

What department is this?

Or this?

The Fun House Mirror Department

The weather started to take a turn from overly sunny to overcast windy. We walked down the main road to check out some of what we'd seen going by from the cab. There was a game happening on the college campus. He guessed lacrosse. I thought soccer. When we peeked through the gate, we saw it was frisbee.

Then came one of my most favorite moments. That weekend was something called Doors Open (or Open Doors--one of those). Lots of buildings across town allowed free entry along with talks and activities about architecture. I found this gem:

Oh, irony. I love you so.

Then we ventured into a basement bookstore and walked by some large dominoes.

The overcast turned to whipping wind, so we grabbed a cab, made a driver happy, and headed to our hotel to crash. Then I decided I needed to see the Toronto sign again, so I sat at the hotel room window staring at it for a while.