The Longest Day

The day started with, once again, preparing our baggage for international travel.  We made sure our stuff was evenly distributed among our two suitcases and two small backpacks ready for checking in, and doubled checked that we had no liquids etc in our hand luggage.  Once again, we needed to ask the hotel to store our bags for the day as we didn’t need to be at the airport until about 6pm.  Happily they were glad to do this and we set off, unburdened, to board the hop-on, hop-off bus again.

First stop was the CN Tower in order to enjoy the views out over Toronto.  While the weather was not beautiful, it was better than the day before and we only had today left anyway.  The lift was cool, travelling up over 340m in 58 seconds.  Grant said the speed of it gave him a headache, but the view was great as the door was glass.  The views from the viewing tower were also lovely although having part of it obscured by fancy café spoils the panorama effect.  We went down to the glass floor area and while we were able to look down to the ground, neither of us could bring ourselves to step onto it.  I managed to slide half my foot on but chickened out after that.  Stupid I know but the eyes rule in such situations and they told me there was nothing between me and the ground 340m below.  We actually enjoyed the Space Needle in Seattle more even though it is much smaller.

This is the view...

...from up there.

After bailing from the CN Tower (and getting out was nearly as hard as getting out of a Las Vegas casino), we walked along to the St. Lawrence Market again, as I wanted to pick up a couple of gifts.  When we finished there it was lunch time and we went to C’est What, a pub that we read about the night before.  The food was lovely and Grant got to try a couple more Canadian beers.  We had no special plans for the afternoon so had a very leisurely lunch before getting back on the hop-on, hop-off bus.

We had to wait much longer than expected for the bus, but the tour guides were very funny and we were the only passengers for a lot of it so it was worth the wait.  We got back to the beginning well before we needed to go to the airport, so we stayed on for more entertainment.  The guide had told us where would be a good place to get off in order to walk back to our hotel in time for our taxi to the airport, and the route included some places we had missed through hopping off early before.  When we did get off, at the Royal Ontario Art Museum, we quickly realised that our bag of gifts was still on the bus.  Luckily the tour kiosk was close to our hotel, so we walked there, called the company and arranged to meet the bus on its return and retrieve our bag.  Of course, this also required changing our taxi plans but we managed to get it all sorted.  We had a cup of tea and then waited at the kiosk for the bus to return.  In fact, the bus itself did not come back, as it was the last run for the day and had no passengers.  What did happen was the two tour guides tried to sneak across the square where we were waiting and surprise us with our bag.  Still entertaining even when they were off duty.

Retrieving our bags took longer than expected, but at least that meant that we didn’t have to wait long for the taxi.  The airport was further away than we had realised so we were glad it was a fixed rate trip.  We were at the airport was quite early so there wasn’t too much of a queue.  We quickly discovered that the check-in rules about baggage are just stupid.  While there are weight restrictions, the real restrictions are around the number of bags.  We wanted to check in four bags, but two of them were small back-packs so the total weight was well within the limit.  No, we could only check in one bag each.  Extra bags were $65 – each.  One of the small bags had a toilet bag in it so we had to check it in; we decided that we would just pay and be done with it.  The guy at the check in counter was quite helpful and directed us to someone who could wrap the two bags together so we only paid one fee.  It did frustrate me though as other people were checking in enormous bags with no problems.  Ah well.

The airport was pretty comfortable so the wait for our plane went quite quickly.  The flight was less than seven hours, and we were due to arrive at Heathrow at 8.45am English time, so we planned to sleep as for much of the flight as possible.  Of course, the best laid plans etc., and we only managed a few cat-naps before landing at Heathrow on time.  So, we landed in England at 8.45am, and were finally united with our sister-in-law at about 10.45am.  We are not terribly impressed that it took two hours to get from the aeroplane to the arrivals lounge.  I don’t know how London is going to cope with the Olympics.

Sadly, the English spring weather was even worse than the Toronto spring weather (except not quite so cold), so it was a soggy drive to Mark and Paula’s house.  Apparently they are having a drought and there is a hosepipe ban.  I can’t for the life of me see why. 

Weather aside, it is just great to be in England.  Mark and Paula very kindly juggled their busy Wednesday schedule in order that Paula and Emma could meet us at the airport, and we have had a lovely day accompanying them to various activities.  Mark came to Tesco with us to help us get UK phone numbers sorted, and we even found a place that made nice coffee.   The only real struggle was to stay awake until a proper bedtime so that we got onto UK time.  We did it though, chatting with Mark and Paula until about 10pm when the novelty of sleeping in a non-air-conditioned room kicked in.

Tasting notes
 10W30 - Neustadt Springs Brewing - It really is dark malty sweetness.  This was very smooth like engine oil, but didn't taste like what I'd imagine engine oil to taste like.
Coffee porter - C'est What - The coffee flavour was very strong, but quite bitter.  Overall good though.
Steve's Dreaded Chocolate Orange Stout - C'est What - There was nothing to dread here except that it might run out.  It was as dark as a stormy night.  The mouthfeel was silky smooth.  Steve has managed to get a nice orange aftertaste.  I didn't get the promised cardamom taste, but who needs it.  It was delicious as it was (I'm not sure why the reviews for the third and subsequent beers get better).