Oh Canada.

My first day in Canada was a very American day (baseball).  My second day was much more Canadian.  This is how I prepared for my trip to Canada.

These Canadians were upset about the Blue Jays' loss the night before.

Adam and I followed the only road in Canada.  Fortunately, we avoided Scott and we didn't end up in Newfoundland.

Canada has a solid flag.

Adam and I started the day with breakfast at a place near our hotel.  I had breakfast poutine.  Poutine is a Canadian thing with fries, cheese, and a "light brown gravy-like sauce," according to Wikipedia.  I was not interested in a "light brown gravy-like sauce," so breakfast poutine was a better option.  Actually, it was quite delicious.

Breakfast poutine

Then we were off to the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Hockey is my fifth favorite sport, but its Hall of Fame is really good.  This was my third hall of fame trip in less than a year (baseball and basketball last summer).  The entrance reminded my of the Basketball Hall of Fame.  You have to go down to the bottom level of this little shopping mall and that's where you enter.  Most of the stuff you see is on that level.  I would say that a little more than half of that level is dedicated to the NHL, maybe 30% is dedicated to international hockey, and the rest is other stuff (the broadcasting history of hockey, for example).  It was really good.  There was the net that Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's goal scoring record on with 802 pucks stacked up.  There was a lot of stuff on Brian Leetch and Mark Messier (my two favorite players growing up).  They had a little mock Montreal Canadiens locker room.  Interesting, considering this was in Toronto, but the Canadiens are the Yankees of hockey.  There was a 3D movie that was pretty well done (it was big on water bottles getting knocked off of the net by the puck).  The international stuff was cool.  There was the net that Sydney Crosby scored the winning goal in against the US in the gold medal game in the 2010 Olympics.  They had jerseys from countries around the world.  It was pretty cool to see the jerseys that you never think of as hockey countries.  According to the world rankings, Britain is 22nd, Australia is 32nd, and Ireland is 42nd (out of 48).  The bad thing about being in Canada was that they didn't have a lot about the Miracle on Ice.  They had some stuff on Herb Brooks and a jersey from the team, but I would have loved to see a lot more about that.

That's a lot of goals.

If I could go back in time and go to any ten sporting events, the Miracle on Ice is making the list (that could be its own blog post).

Brian Leetch's jersey from the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.  The US beat Canada to win.  It was our best hockey accomplishment since 1980.

The fake Canadiens locker room.

South African and Australian hockey jerseys

Hockey Muppets

The highlight is definitely when you go upstairs and see all the players inducted in the Hall of Fame and the NHL trophies.  All the trophies are behind glass, except for the Stanley Cup.  I was surprised that you can actually touch the Stanley Cup.  They take your picture and you can pay a little over $11 for three prints and online access to the picture.  Definitely worth it.  And they don't rush you (although maybe they would have if it had been more crowded).  They gave us time and we found the 1994 Rangers on the Stanley Cup.  Hopefully the 2014 Rangers will be added soon (but it's not looking too good right now).  Overall, it's easily better than the Basketball Hall of Fame.  I'd probably put the Baseball Hall of Fame ahead of it for giving you a better sense of the history of the game, but I like baseball more than hockey.  There's nothing quite as awesome as being able to touch the Stanley Cup at the Baseball Hall of Fame, so I could see somebody making the argument that the Hockey Hall of Fame is better.

This was awesome.

The 1994 Rangers on the Stanley Cup

Later we went to the CN Tower.  I didn't realize how big it is until I looked it up.  It reminded me of the Space Needle in Seattle, but it's almost two and a half times as tall.  Until recently, it was the tallest freestanding structure in the world.  For $32, you can go most of the way up (you can pay more to go higher up).  You can see everything in Toronto and Lake Ontario.  Directly south across the lake from Toronto is still Canada, but the United States is off to the southeast.  The Blue Jays were playing while we were up there.  I saw somebody hit an RBI double (I couldn't really see the ball, I was just going by the baserunners).  There's also a 3D movie about flight and there's a ride.  The ride was called Himalamazon.  It was one of those simulator rides like they have at Disney World.  The theme of the ride was something about growing super trees in the Himalamazon or something.  It was really confusing.  There was a little girl who was sitting in front of me who was laughing the whole time and then when the ride was over she said, "That was boring."  I thought that was pretty funny.

The CN Tower

This view of the Blue Jays game was more expensive than the one I had the night before.

For dinner, we went to the Mill Street Brew Pub in the Distillery District, which was a cool area of Toronto.  They have a tasting room with four beers on tap that you can taste for free.  When we sat down, they brought us two more samples that we didn't even ask for.  We both got beer flights to sample four more beers.  I had a pint that the waitress recommended to pair with my fish and chips.  I can't say that I loved any of the beers, but most of them were good (there was one out of the several that I tried that I didn't like, but the rest were decent to good).  So although I wouldn't rate any of the beers I tried as great, I would strongly recommend the Mill Street Brew Pub if you're ever in Toronto.  A lot of the bars around Toronto have the Mill Street logo in their windows.  The Blue Jays need to get a Mill Street concession stand in the SkyDome.

Beer.

As we were walking to dinner, we passed a Bulk Barn.  Adam recognized Bulk Barn from advertising in hockey games played in Canada.  He wanted to go to it based on his theory that anything that ends in barn is good.  Anybody who has been to Boardy Barn could probably debate both sides of that issue.  So the Bulk Barn has all sorts of food items that you can put in a bag and pay for by the pound.  When we walked in, Adam said, "This is better than I ever could have imagined."

Smarties at the Bulk Barn.  Those aren't Smarties.

We went home on Sunday.  I got up early and went to mass at a church that was being renovated.  Then we got breakfast at a crepe place.  I had really hoped to go to Crepes a Go Go.  Why?  Leigh Ellis had always talked about it on the Basketball Jones podcast last year when they were still in Toronto.  So I was hoping to eat French food in Canada on the recommendation of an Australian.  But their hours were really weird so it didn't work out.  The crepe I got on Sunday morning (dark chocolate and bananas) was really good anyway.

I had never had a crepe until I went to Canada.

And that was my time in Canada.  I'm pretty sure I've seen enough of Canada to be satisfied.  There's a good chance I'll never be back, but it was a good trip.  I've now been to three other countries and they all speak English.  I really don't have a desire to go to any other countries other than Australia and Italy/Vatican City.  I've taken trips abroad in 2012, 2013, and 2014.  Maybe I'll take another trip abroad in 2015, but I definitely don't have anything planned yet.

I'll finish with my currency power rankings (I've only used four in my life, everybody is competing for second here):

4.  Euro.  The euro is very boring.
3.  Canadian Dollar.  It's got a weird texture, but I was okay with it.  All the notes are different colors, which I was also okay with.  The notes are all the same size, which I liked.  And they fit in my wallet, unlike some of the Euro and Pound notes.  So why don't they get the second spot?
2.  British Pound.  They come in different sizes and some of those sizes don't really fit in my wallet (like the euro, if I remember correctly).  They have the queen on them, which is a drawback, but so does the Canadian $20 bill (and it's more understandable having the queen on British currency than it is on Canadian currency).  The reason that the pound gets the second spot is the 20 pound note.  What's so special about it?  It has Adam Smith on it, the father of capitalism).  Now that's somebody that belongs on money.
1.  American Dollar.  Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant have no business being on money, but Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Hamilton, and Franklin certainly do deserve to be honored that way (actually, I guess you could debate Jefferson since he certainly didn't see eye to eye with Hamilton, but he's worthy of being honored even if money isn't the most appropriate way).  It's the right size and we don't have any royalty on our money.  God Bless America!

Adam Smith is my favorite person on money other than Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin.