Toronto – a big city to unwind?!

Besides work (night shift again this time), for which I am grateful, I found a place in Tornot that I really like.

My Workaway experience has been fantastic, I've completed a few small projects and was even able to house sit for him.

Sometimes I just can't quite believe my luck.

Toronto, for me, is live music and (mostly) good food.

Starting at PIA with an endless waiting line, there is really delicious Thai food and then live music at “Cameron House”.

Then there is the CN Tower, which you can't miss. So let's go up and watch the sunset and then, yes, live music - this time close to "home" in the gentrified district of "The Junction".

Other countries, other instruments – I noticed the pedal steel for the first time and these folk bands are something.

You can also explore the university in Toronto, take salsa dancing classes in a church, try out crazy bars and open mic events, go to a Taylor Swift party without knowing the music and enjoy the vibe of the people enjoying it, eat sushi pizza, fried burrata or outstanding cheesecake or wonder why electricity is cheaper between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. than during the day.

There are also a few museums, when there isn't a strike going on. So for a change I went to a shoe museum. The exhibition about shoes and crime is fascinating - how drugs are hidden in the soles of shoes or people are assigned to certain groups based on their shoes.

Toronto also has an island – even with an airport – and you can easily reach it by ferry and then look at the CN Tower again and again from a different perspective.

The Distillery Quarter also looks quite nice, and is probably even more suitable in the evening when you're a bit thirsty.

Then April 27th arrived. I used the Turo app - Air BnB for cars - to rent a car and headed off to Waterloo - it's much warmer there and so much more pleasantly sunny and spring-like. From there we went on a little trip with Kelvin to Elora and then the Maple Leafs unfortunately didn't manage to win, but Courtney and her friend cast a spell with their votes.

It's wonderful to see Steve and Val again too. It feels so familiar.

I spend Sunday again on the waterfront of Lake Ontario in Missisauga.

When I return the car, it has a broken exhaust. Must have rusted through.

It took about 20 seconds before I realized that I had a loud car under my butt.

I spend the evenings exploring another open mic location and taking a swing dance class. The basic steps of swing don't really feel natural, especially if you're used to salsa. But I soon realized that it's a really good workout. It's sure to give you really good leg muscles.