Toronto Day Two: Kensington Market and Brunch

One of my more distinctive memories from Toronto is of the St Lawrence Market in Old Town. I remember the "Honey Boys" cookies from the one of the bakeries and toddling around next to my parents. So of course we needed to see how much of the market had changed in the past decade.

We walked from our apartment building to the St Lawrence Market, about a twenty minute walk. It was wonderful to walk around after sitting in the car for hours the day before!

A fountain with bubbles!

We stopped at a Starbucks for coffee before entering the indoor market. We made a beeline for Carousel Bakery for the world famous Peameal Bacon Sandwich. Dad and I got the sandwich with egg and cheese, while Mom and Emma had theirs plain.

For those of you who don't know, Peameal Bacon is a St Lawrence classic. According to Wikipedia Peameal Bacon is a type of back bacon that is brined, rolled in cornmeal and then grilled.

Yum yum!

After our light breakfast, we walked around the market and looked for the famous Honey Boys! Unfortunately the bakery does not seem to have Honey Boys anymore! *Sad face* 

No Honey Boys!

The variety of meats at the market is absolutely astonishing. One of the butchers, White House Meats, has everything from camel to turtle! Emma was not happy when she saw them. 

Since we had such a great walking tour in NYC, we decided that we had to do one in Toronto. After much deliberation we chose the Kensington Market and Chinatown walking tour from Urban Adventures.  And I am so glad that we did! The tour was fantastic, and Mike (our guide) added enough fun facts and humor that the entire tour was entertaining.

We met in front of a statue outside the Art Gallery of Ontario and of course we had to have a photo shoot!

The tour went through Chinatown and we saw some gorgeous graffiti. The guide told us about the different types of graffiti and the history of Chinatown. It was really upsetting to hear about how the Chinese people were treated throughout Canadian history. The murals, however, were inspiring. The city of Toronto now endorses some of the graffiti murals, which is helping the artist community.

You do not want to be called a "toy" in the graffiti community

Kensington Market is one of the coolest neighborhoods ever! It reminded me of the Village in NYC, but much more eclectic and bohemian. After more murals, a stop to a coffee shop and a bagel shop, the tour ended. It was a great tour and gave me the opportunity to take some great photos!

After the tour we shopped a bit (there will be a blog post all about shopping and what I bought) and decided to get some brunch. We went to Templeton's in Kensington Market.

Mom, Dad, and I split a pitcher of mimosa, which were so good on that hot day! 

I got the breakfast burrito with sausage. It hit the spot, although I could only eat half of that!

Mom ate the chicken avocado wrap, Dad had the breakfast burger (which was my second choice) and Emma chose the breakfast platter. 

We then headed back to the apartment before going to a friend's house for the reunion. We had a great time there seeing people that we haven't seen in years. It was particularly weird for me because the last time I saw most of those people was when I was seven or eight!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our first full day in Toronto! The next post will feature the Royal Ontario Museum and Yorkville. 

Thanks,

Kara