Typical Toronto

The Toronto skyline looms in the hazy distance as we negotiate the hectic freeway. The driving here is clearly insane. Everything is frenetic as cars constantly weave in and out of lanes full of traffic breaking the speed limit by at least 20 kilometres an hour. A stressed city this surely is. It's also an expensive place, the dearest in Canada, meaning our already stretched budget is breaking here. Thankfully we've amassed loyalty points from the many motels we've stayed in to book a couple of free nights here. The downside is that our first motel is way out of town but on the same road that runs directly through the center and to the waterfront. The traffic is beyond terrible and it takes us a good couple of hours to get about 15 miles, we've not seen traffic like this since Bangkok. At least Bangkok was strange and new to us, Toronto looked like everywhere that has a litter strewn shopping street, tatty undesirable buildings and horrendous traffic.
We take the free accommodation as an opportunity to go to a restaurant and get something decent for once. We'd been cursing the bad food we'd been eating the last couple of days so it was excellent to get some great food at an Ethiopian restaurant, who'd have thought they'd have such gastronomic delights!? The area around the restaurant is clearly the student end of town and it's very busy as a result. There's a youthful cool vibe on the street even though the buildings are run down and it all looks fairly dirty. I expected Toronto to be swish, modern and clean but it's the total opposite. Although I like the student area it still needs work to make it a worthwhile visit.
The next day we move into yet another free nights stay at another motel. Driving anywhere in this city, or on the freeway next to it, is a massive headache as we get stuck in jam after jam whilst impatient Canadians thrust their way into different lanes on a constant basis.
We take a walk around the downtown area hoping for something of interest but find nothing. The large CN Tower that dominates the skyline would be more impressive if we hadn't seen soo many others just like it.
The weather is at least hot now so we venture to the large park on the cusp of downtown. This too is busy as we walk by pens containing various animals in a free to the public zoo type affair. It too has rubbish wafting around and the animals don't seem to impressed either. We walk by a murky lake that seems to be contaminated with oil. Still, it's popular with mothers pushing prams but maybe they're making the most of the good weather. In Winter Toronto gets freezing and there's an underground shopping mall to accommodate those icy days. I can't remember off-hand how cold it gets but I'm sure it's somewhere round -16 degrees Celsius, either way it's damn cold. Which then begs the question why would anyone want to live here? The answer to that I have no clue.
Toronto is a massive disappointment, overtly expensive, dirty, choked with traffic, run down and just plain dull. We drove all over town and didn't seen an area of worth. Even with free accomodation and decent food the place couldn't improve. I was glad to leave. We did have one last bit of food before departing though. Fish and Chips from a so-called proper 'chippy', of which you don't really see in North America and Canada. £5 for decent fish but burnt chips. That was their style apparently, everybody had overcooked chips. I can't dislike this place enough.
Let's get to Canada's capital quick sharp!!