Mondays Suck

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this important message about a 4 day weekend in Toronto.

We flew out Thursday morning and when we got to the airport, Matthew was upset that the airport bar was closed - we settled for coffee & bought a bloody mary & a vodka/cran in flight.

Had a stop in Atlanta & grabbed a beer there.

When we got to Toronto, we hopped a cab to the hotel, checked in, got an upgrade, stopped for another beer & when we got to our room, this view welcomed us....

Steam Whistle was love at first taste.

Shortly after bliss, The Balls welcomed us with open arms.

They actually have the only good picture taken of us as we were leaving the hotel for Pier 4.

Where we were finally able to get Matthew some Jager, had a pint, and ordered some of the best fish'n'chips EVAR. Made with halibut.

Later on, we walked around Rogers Stadium and the CN tower and found a corner bar to get pissed in. We made right asses of ourselves....including Kim putting sour cream on my nose and me licking it off (talent)....which was, of course, immediately followed by a fellow bar patron asking for a repeat performance so he could take a picture (fame).

After we taught the bar staff how to make Washington Apple shots (notoriety)(they mistakenly forgot the apple schnapps), we left and found a dog walker in the park & got her dogs riled up and prevented her from moving on about her way.

This was followed by a slight & failed attempt at playing cards with a spiced rum/root beer nightcap.

This night ended in pass out.

We woke up on day 2, got our free breakfast that was included in our upgrade, and then met up with The Balls to walk down to St. Lawrence Market which looked like this:

If you're done rolling around in that delightfulness, we'll move on. If not, feel free to linger.....

Steve & Kim regaled us with tales of "peameal bacon" rolls....which is cured ham rolled around in a fine cornmeal, sliced, & usually grilled, then stuffed into a soft fresh baked roll. They'd waited a whole year to have a bacon roll from the market so we were there to witness their reunion.

We wandered around and Matthew found some samples of a bacon "jam" or spread that was paired with a soft cheese served on a small cracker. We have a jar sitting in our fridge currently. We also bought a bag of cheese curds to snack on while walking around.

There was so much wonderful foods to look at - I could seriously go on and on here, but will save you the reading.

Once we left heaven....we walked through a church garden and snapped some photos:

Steve was the squirrel whisperer.

LOVE this shot Matthew grabbed of prebloom tulips and a napping man on bench.

The only thing to do after this was visit a brewery and wander around Yonge square - similar to Times Sq.

Wish I knew who this dude was so we could tell him we have a badass crosswalk picture of him.

Later on, we went beer shopping for that evening when we were to be hangin' out with a local and eating pizza. Wandered through a LBCO and discovered how expensive it is to be a drunk in Canadia.

$13friggin' for a 6pack of Steam Whistle.

This night finished out with 2 quick rounds of Bastard* and a cranky boy.

After the cranky boy went to sleep, I picked up 4 tickets to the 4pm BlueJays/Tigers game for the following day.

Woke up on Day 3, revealed said surprise to a now noncranky boy, went and had upgrade package free breakfast (equipped with peameal bacon), and went to meet Steve at the pool for a swim & a hot tub soak.

We met a fella who was also attending the baseball games (I'd told Steve about the surprise tickets just minutes before) & we all commiserated about expensive beer.

Once dressed and ready to go, we hopped atop a double decker tour bus and rode about the city.

Casa Loma was used in XMen movies for the shots of Xavier's School for Freaks.

We got dropped off in Chinatown, wandered around there, passed a comic shop that had some characters out front for FCBD, stumbled across the Active Surplus store (so much randomness under one roof), and grabbed a bite at a pub before heading to Rogers for the ballgame.

This was the last photo we were able to squeeze out of the canon before the battery died (dumbass me forgot the charger).

At least it gives you an idea of our last minute score on tickets. The Tigers pitcher had an almost perfect game. Matthew was excited and kept trying to explain to Steve & Kim why that was such a big deal.

We walked back over to Pier 4 for more drinks, a cigar, appetizers, & then Matthew and I stopped at a shawarma joint for wraps. We met Steve & Kim back at theirs for another beer and a chat before crashing out.

The next morning, Day 4, the final day.....went down for free breakfast, packed, dropped our luggage & checked in for our flight home. Went on a boat ride around the harbour & grabbed some poutine and a few pints at an irish pub before buying our bus ride to the airport and heading out.....

I would show you pictures of this but the battery died, remember??

BUT I do have video to share as soon as that comes together.

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*I haven't been able to find a good rundown online about how to play by The Balls' rules....which leads me to believe they've made this game up.