Antiques and Amusements - A Canadian Wonderland: Day 4

Sunday, September 1st

It should always be a rule that Sunday is a day of sleeping in.  Even on a trip.  Though this is a rule that will hardly, if ever happen.  Except for today.  Thank god it happened today.  Not that we have been going full-on or anything.  But road trips tend to need (deserve, maybe??) a bit more rest in-between days.  Especially if you stay up late eating Foie Gras and Strawberries.

So we were really leisurely this morning.  The biggest goal was to check out at 11a or so.  We knew we were off to the amusement park in the afternoon.  But the morning...it was up to us.

I'd mentioned before that the hotel was fine enough, but it was insanely busy in the lobby area.  And getting an elevator.  We were on one of the lower floors within our elevator bank.  Which meant every elevator going down was packed to the gills with people from the floors above us.  And we were trying to get out of the hotel very close to checkout.  So... we were not getting very far.  Adele came up with the genius idea to get on an elevator going up.  That was totally empty.  So we snagged one of them and made our way upward.  It was a bit perfect as we made our way back down, stopped on our floor and saw the same people that were still waiting for an empty elevator.  Suckers.

When you need a robot to tell you everything is going to be ok...

The line to check out was nearly wrapped around the corner in the lobby.   There was a bit of sighing.   Especially since Adele (twice) tried to check out in the room without any success.  I muscled my way to the concierge and asked if we needed to do anything.  No.   We didn't.  All we needed to do was turn in our keys and we were able to go along on our merry way.  So we did.  Our crap was dropped off at the Super Cooper and we made our way to Starbucks.  Like we do...

We had a general plan.  We were going to go to the St. Lawrence Market.  This is a daily food market that Nat Geo called one of the best markets in the world.  There had been a discussion about doing this yesterday, but we just didn't get there.  We stayed West, didn't go East.  So we thought this would be a great plan for today.  Plus, Sundays they have an Antique Market.  I've been wanting to go to antique markets for a while now.  Sure it's 100% because of watching Flea Market Flip on HGTV.  But maybe there are treasures somewhere!!  This was our plan.  But first...

We had an hour or so unexpectedly spent shoe shopping.  As we walked by a storefront, there was a sign saying the "largest shoe selection" in Canada.  I heard Adele whimpering and drooling around the shoe window.   Of course we were going to go there.

Turns our we had entered Hudson Bay.  Or The Bay.  Seems the store was like Nordstrom or Macy's.   It was a department store.  A beautiful store.  Crisp and clean.  We made our way through the makeup counters and wandered around the shoes.  They had an excellent selection of shoes.  Like yesterday, I saw several shoes I was interested in, so in typical Carrie fashion, I took pictures of the shoes, pictures of the label, and looked them up later.  There will be one pair of shoes ordered through Zappos (will save me $60) shortly.  Perfect.

What, like you thought they'd be heels??  It's like you don't know me at all...

Our shoe adventure lasted a few more minutes as we walked back through Walking on a Cloud.  Here's where Adele made a move.  She bought a pair of shoes for the fall.  And she was happy as a clam.

I was happy Adele was happy cause our day hit a snag quickly after that.  A few blocks more of walking and we made it to St. Lawrence Market.  Which we discovered was...closed.  Well then.  It took a ton of research while standing in the door to the market before in small print it said the market was closed on Sunday.  Crap.  That's ok though, there was an antiques market!!

At first, Adele wasn't feeling the market.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular.  I just wanted to get a feel for things.  And if I can find some milk glass, I would consider picking up a few more pieces for my collection.  Adele said she was looking for a brooch or something.  And she found a booth that had plenty to choose from.  She found a pair of gloves (opera, not for warmth) and a brooch and quickly went off to find an ATM.  Which meant I was off the hook for not noticing the market was closed.

We wandered up and down the aisles.  I didn't find any milk glass, but that was fine.  I didn't need to buy anything.  Adele kept buying little pieces here and there.  And then, as we left the market and looked at the annexed area outside, she found a coat.  A lamb and mink coat.   I was love at first sight.  And it ended up being hers.  So by the end of the trip to the market, we couldn't have imagined how the afternoon would have gone had the market been open.

By this time, we were hungry.   We first stopped at a corner place for brunch, but neither of us were interested in a $20 brunch buffet.  There was a French place across the street and it had lovely outside seating. Nearly perfect.

Mmmm...Brunch...

Le Pappillion was possibly the best choice for brunch.  We started off with a mimosa (not specifically called a mimosa, but prosecco and a citrusy juice, which should basically equal a mimosa).  We both went with brunch.  Eggs Benedict. Eggs Benedict with Salmon (learned about this loveliness in Amsterdam recently).   I remember us just mumbling statements such as "this is just the best" and "I can't believe how perfect this is" while we were eating.  There was a dessert that was had (good, but it was too much food), and we knew it was now time to get out of town.  We made our way back to the car and drove out of the city.

We didn't really go very far.  Vaughan, Ontario was 30 minutes or so from Toronto.  45 minutes, maybe. Vaughan was planned for one reason.  Canada's Wonderland.

It's no surprise that I love an amusement/theme park.  And this was the first time I was going to a park in another country.  This is also one more check off on my "Tour of Cedar Fair parks."  So I was looking forward to the afternoon.   But before we went to the park, we wanted to check into the hotel.  The Novotel was our choice for the night.  It was a far cry from the Eaton.  The lobby was beautiful and quiet.  The rooms were huge and seemed newly renovated (or just new). I t ended up being a good place to spend the final night.

When I go to Disney, I get to the park first thing and stay until the end of the night.  When I go to amusement parks, not so much.  I've hit that point in my life where I can't do too many forceful rides in one day or I will be wildly sick.  And this means, I go to the parks, but don't need to spend forever there.  I think this is the sign that I am getting old.  Not the only sign, but...

We made it to Canada's Wonderland around 5 or 6p.  Overall, the park wasn't overly crowded.  Which is perfect for us, but kind of concerning as we need it to make money during the season.  There were some quick pictures taken and we first made it to the Back Stage Coaster.  This is one Adele and I had gone on at Kings Island and its one of the few metal coasters which don't go upside down.  Love it.

The weather was threatening to stop cooperating with us as dark clouds began making their way in the general area.  There was no rain or lightening, so we didn't think too much of it.  Windseeker was our next stop.  Elias and I loved Windseeker in Cedar Point.  And this is the ride we keep seeing, but doesn't seem to ever be running.  One of the people in my office said that all Windseeker rides were shut down because of an issue last year at Knott's Berry Farm.  But lo and behold, Windseeker was up and running in Canada!!  We queued up and waited for our turn.  Adele and I discussing if we keep our shoes on or off.  She was not having the shoes off thing.  Me, I was basically taking my shoes off in line in preparation.

Windseeker!!

It was our time.  They let us through the gates and we sat down.  My bag went off to the side and I put my shoes in the box provided so my shoes wouldn't fling wildly off my feet while in flight.  Adele had finally been convinced to take her shoes off too.  It was going to be the best thing eve...what's that announcement they're saying??

"Due to inclement weather, we are shutting down the Windseeker until further notice.  Please exit the ride immediately."

Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

As we exited the ride, we noticed many rides were shuttered. I didn't notice any lightening. No rain. But they know what's going on.   I don't want to be stuck on a ride in bad weather.  We wandered a bit and decided to look for food.  And that's when the rain finally started. We were in Planet Snoopy and grabbed some pizza to try and wait out the rain.  We kind of did.  One more roller coaster was ridden after some of the rain had passed, but not much more.  Which...totally fine for me.

Canada's Wonderland has a late night firework show and we decided not to stay for the fireworks.  We had a better plan.  That plan was to get back to the hotel, grab some wine at the restaurant to bring back to the room, and open up some lovely cheese and terrine.  Which is what we did.  Funny enough, as we got to our floor (with our wine), we walked to the end of the hallway and watched the fireworks from the hotel.  Perfect.  And the cheese and terrine...also perfect.  This was pretty much the best way to end our last night in Canada.

Snacks with a bit of Cumberbatch.