Writing is still light, but I'm safely in Toronto after a 5-hour train ride—my first non-transit train trip since China and I love train trips just as much as I rememeber!—from Ottawa. Ottawa was not what I expected: every indoor place was a lot warmer than I'm used to in British Columbia, and they had snow there. In late March! I mostly hung out in a mansion but took trips to the downtown market and then to swimming at the Walter Baker Centre but otherwise hung out with my cousins (Katrí­n among them), aunts, uncles and other assorted family members. Memo to Ottawa: more road signs please. B.C. is definitely not, say, America when it comes to road signage, but it definitely kicks Ottawa's ass.

Tonight I'm staying at AccordionGuy's house (don't worry, Joey already announced to the universe where I'm sleeping the next couple of days i.e. his couch). The plan for Tuesday is to walk out the door to Queen St. and in general wander around. If I had a little more time I'd definitely want to check out the places along Yonge and some other streets in T.O., but I imagine that will be for a separate, longer trip out east and include Montreal, Boston and NYC in the agenda.