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24 Hours in Toronto – First Trip As A New Mom, Without Mark

Twenty-four hours of freedom.

Twenty-four hours of escaping the daily routine.

Twenty-four hours without Mark.

I’ll take it.

Don’t blame me. I love Mark but after almost eight months of repeating the same routine over and over again (and another nine months of pregnancy), I’m slowly working on regaining a little bit of freedom. The longest stretch of time I have been alone in the past eight months was about two hours. Now you can imagine how much I was looking forward to spending some time with Feng without having to think about feeding, diaper changing, burping, napping, etc.

Early in the afternoon, Feng and I made our way to YOW, the Ottawa Airport, to catch The Rolling Stones concert in Toronto, later in the day. Killing time before the flight, we realized we had never properly “visited” YOW—most of the flights we took from there were very early in the morning, and we were too sleepy to check out the place.

Ottawa Airport is small but pretty new, and the various flight-related processes, such as check-in and security, were fast and efficient. We had packed everything we would need for the day-long trip in a carry-on to speed up the process when landing in Toronto. It was a bit of a headache, though, because so many common things (shampoo, nail clippers, etc.) are on the prohibited items list. I had managed to find enough samples of cream, soap, etc., to last for a day and had packed the best I could. Security didn’t seem to mind about me carrying matches and lighters, so I guess the rules are a bit more lax now.

We landed in Toronto an hour later, under the rain. It felt like April weather: grey, windy, damp and chilly. Good thing the concert was indoors at the Air Canada Centre!

Flying to Toronto always reminds me of my first time ever in North America and in Canada, in February 2002. We were coming from Rio de Janeiro and the difference of weather had been brutal. The smell, the cold, the people… everything was new and interesting to me. Little did I know at the time I would eventually become a Canadian citizen, seven years later!

From YOW, we took the bus to Kipling, and then the subway. We checked in at a hotel downtown and took the subway again to our favourite restaurant in Toronto, The Olde Spaghetti Factory, on the Esplanade. Eating a nice meal without having to keep Mark busy was wonderful—I miss eating calmly, without drama, and without fuss.

From there, we decided to explore Toronto’s underground world, aka PATH, the city’s underground walkway linking 28 kilometres of retail space. From one shopping complex to another, from one food court to another, we walked past the never-ending crowd of commuters going back to their office tower or heading home.

We eventually arrived at the Eaton Centre where we rested at my favourite bookstore, Chapters/Indigo.

The concert was a blast but left us hungry. After the show, we walked on Yonge Street looking for something to eat but options were thin on the ground. We ended up getting a pizza and eating it in the hotel room, still sweaty and dirty from spending three hours in the mosh pit.

I admit it—I didn’t feel like going home the following day. Travelling had felt good, had made me feel alive again. Just for a day… a day of freedom.

Waiting at Ottawa Airport
Waiting at Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
Rainy Takeoff
Rainy Takeoff
Above Ottawa
Above Ottawa
Landing in YYZ
Landing in YYZ
Subway to Downtown Toronto
Subway to Downtown Toronto
Grey Weather in Toronto
Grey Weather in Toronto
Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
TD Centre
TD Centre
Foot Traffic in Front of LCBO
Foot Traffic in Front of LCBO
Underground Bay Street
Underground Bay Street
But They Don't Even Sell White Shirts!
But They Don’t Even Sell White Shirts!
Raining on Nice Ceiling
Raining on Nice Ceiling
Walking on a Cloud... After the "Massage"?
Walking on a Cloud… After the “Massage”?
Rainy Yonge Street
Rainy Yonge Street
Chapters Bookstore
Chapters Bookstore
Subway to the Airport
Subway to the Airport
YYZ, Toronto Airport
YYZ, Toronto Airport
Need Coffee...
Need Coffee…
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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