Clearing YYZ was simple, and it wasn't long before I was on Hwy 427, heading to Hwy 407, then to the hotel. If immigration and customs weren't enough to convince you that you're in a foreign country, all the highway signs stating distances in kilometers are a big wake-up call.
My home for this trip was a Marriott Courtyard in Markham, Ont. The "recommended" hotel for the HDS Toronto is a Delta Hotel two exits down on Hwy 401 from the office. Not being familiar with Delta and desirous of racking up the Marriott points, I found this hotel off of 404, figuring I could go the 6km on 404S then the 7km on 401E without too much difficulty.
Was i ever wrong.
Seems that the 404/401 junction in Scarborough is a serious traffic bottleneck. I was barely on time to class on Tuesday, so I had to adjust the planning and leave before 0730. The upside to leaving early was that I could stop at Tim Horton's for a donut. I'm not impressed with Tim Horton's coffee, but fortunately there's a good coffee stand in the Consilium Place office complex.
Class went well all four days; I had great students, as usual. We had a longish day on Tuesday, but did better about getting away from the office the rest of the week. That gave me a bit of flexibility about what to do in the evenings. I usually stick close to the hotel on the day I arrive in a city (with the exception of Santa Clara classes), which is what I did on Monday. Dinner Monday was from "Mama's Pizza," conveniently located on the speed-dial of the hotel room phone. Not a bad thin-crust pizza.
On Tuesday, I worked in the classroom until 6pm or so, then had dinner at "Brix Napa Valley Grille," located right next to the hotel. The Guinness was cold, and I'll review the meals for that evening and the next on YatCuisine. I did Brix again the next night, because the weather turned nasty, windy and rainy, so I wasn't motivated to do any driving.
On Thursday evening, I drove over to Port Credit, located just west of downtown Toronto, along Lake Ontario. I discovered Port Credit, located at the mouth of the Credit River, where it enters the lake, on a trip last year. I was in a hotel close to YYZ on that trip, so going south to the lake was easy. I had so much fun that evening that I decided to go back, even though that meant a 90km drive round trip. Walked around along the lake for a bit, then stopped for coffee at a Starbucks on the river for a white mocha and some Twitter-time, then off to a pub for a couple of pints. Wasn't impressed by that place for dinner, so I migrated back to The Harp, the place down the street I ate at the last trip. Had dinner there and enjoyed some Guinness while watching the Red Wings play the Stars.
Friday was wrap-up day for class. We usually work through lunchtime to finish early. If that succeeds, which it did this week, I try to immediately bail for the airport to get an earlier flight home. I'll tell that tale in part 3.
