Travel | Hanlan's Point Beach

As a Toronto regular it somewhat surprises me that I've never been to any of the Toronto Islands. This past week I decided to take a trip down to visit a friend and take advantage of the nice weather that Ontario has been having as of late. Since the Ferry's over to the islands are not far from her house we decided to walk - subway - walk - ferry and more walk to Hanlan's Point Beach. As you may or may not be aware, Hanlan's Point Beach is known mostly for its "clothing optional" half (the other half is far more family oriented and clothing mandatory).

My view before heading back from the Island to the city

11:00 AM  -  After two Mimosa's and a considerably longer than anticipated time packing the cooler, we were on our way to the Young and Eglinton TTC stop.

11:20 AM -  The cooler bag seemed to be gaining weight by the minute and the walk to the TTC station was finally over. We took the subway down to Union and proceeded to walk the remainder of the way to the Ferry Docks.

Somewhere between 12:00-1:30 - We managed to purchase our tickets for the Ferry over. What I didn't understand is that you purchase your ticket and then literally two steps later you hand it over to someone who rips it up. That is the entire job description of that second person. There is no ticket required for your return. Why have that second person in the first place? Just rip it up when I give you the money.

The walk from the Ferry docks to the beach was less than pleasant. The cooler bag was killing our shoulders and walking through heaps of blazing hot sand, it felt like like we were in the Warrior Dash. Burnt feet and sore shoulders aside, it ended up being a marvellous day at Hanlan's Point. The beach wasn't packed and the weather was perfect. One suggestion if you decide to check it out for yourself: Bring your own umbrella. You can rent them when you get to the beach, but for an astounding $12. If you forget one though - it's still worth it to get the minimal amount of shade that they provide. Following our trip to the beach we decided to head downtown to King St. to find a place to have drinks. We stumbled upon Hey Lucy Cafe. Sadly, we didn't have the opportunity to try any of the food as it was about 1:30 AM, but we did manage to crush a couple of martinis as seen at left. If you're in the neighbourhood I highly recommend you stop by and try the Chocolate Martini as there really isn't a better combination than vodka and melted chocolate at 1:30 AM. 

- Lyss

Travel | London

This past April I had the pleasure of visiting a friend in England for a week while she was on holidays from school. I flew into Manchester Airport where I then took a 1.5 hour train ride to Sheffield. The ride was exhilarating as the entire duration of it I wasn't 100% sure that I'd gotten on the right train until I asked the lady sitting beside me "This is the train going to sheffield right?", to which she replied "I don't know but I hope so because that's where I'm headed".  At that point I was relieved. If I was going to be lost, at least I wasn't in it alone.

Once I arrived in Sheffield I met up with my friend Carly then took a taxi back to her place. Over the course of the next 7 days I would have to credit everything I was able to see because of her crafty organizational and planning skills.

For now I wanted to focus mostly on our visit to London (visits to Bakewell and Sheffield to follow).

Tower Bridge

Carly and I took a 5 hour bus ride from Sheffield into London where the weather was less than pleasant. Ironically everyone I knew from England had told me before I left for the trip that I was going at a really nice time of year when the weather would be great. Bogus. It was frigid in London. Windy - extremely windy. One night though we decided to go for a walk; I wanted to get the above shot of Tower Bridge at night. I'm very happy with how the photo turned out. From that point we walked across the bridge then took the Tube back to the hostel we were staying at.

Banoffee Pie

One of my favourite things I was able to enjoy (Next to anything that came from the Costa cafes) was this Banoffee Pie. We debated for a while whether this was a combination of Coffee & Banana or Toffee & Banana. The waiter wasn't sure himself when I asked but I figured I'd give it a go. Turns out it was Toffee and it was delicious. One thing I learned while I was in England is that my Canadian accent that any of my American acquaintances can pick up on in a heart beat  - is not as noticeable in England. I was asked more than once what part of the U.S.A I was from.

Your average tourist shot with the iconic red pay phone 

If my memory serves me correctly I had Carly take this photo while we were walking about in Picadilly Circus. A lot of that is foggy as I spent the majority of my time trying to work the Panoramic feature on my iPhone which proved extremely difficult when 100 people are walking in front of you. Another fun fact: You are reminded that you're a tourist in England anytime you go to cross the street. I think Carly saved my life about 5 times because I was looking the wrong way before crossing.

The Rosetta Stone at The British Museum

This was one of the top items on my list of things I wanted to see while in England. The Rosetta Stone; one of the most valuable tools for deciphering hieroglyphs. The inscriptions on the stone are amazing and I could upload all 30 pictures of It that I have and none of them would come close to expressing how awesome this was to see in person.

Shopping on Regent Street

St. Paul's Cathedral 

Costa - Belgian Chocolate Shortbread Cake

- Lyss