After two full days, day three was a day of rest and some shopping to help stock the pantry and freezer before the baby arrived. Andrew and Christine had chosen the dishes they would like so it was off to No Frills for the basics (like many stores in Canada they don’t take Visa – so there went my supplies of cash) before we moved on to Loblaws for a much superior shopping experience. Back to the house for an afternoon of chopping and sautéing and then generally lazing around.
Day four and we were once more back on the train. Toronto has an excellent rail system that is generally under utilized and once we had worked out the intricacies of the Pronto card we found this the best way to get around. Our destination was the Allan Gardens to be followed by lunch in the city. 
It was a very pleasant walk through the Park. The trees represent the northern tip of the Carolinian forest with species such as black cherry, American beech, red oak, sugar maple and sassafras. Most are over one hundred years old. It is also home to three varieties of squirrel, the gray, the black, and, unique to this park, the red tailed black squirrel as well as home to the city’s largest flock of pigeons, a roving peregrine falcon and a statue of Robert Burns. It was named after George Allan, a former mayor and senator who donated the land. 
The Allan Gardens Conservatory is over 100 years old with a garden-filled greenhouse that covers over 16,000 square feet displaying seasonal plantings as well as a permanent plant collection of botanical importance. Rare tropical plants from all over the globe are nurtured inside five greenhouses.
The entrance to the Conservatory is through the Bee Gardens
where hundreds of varieties of plants and flowers attract bees and butterflies. 
There are a number of bee hotels of various shapes and sizes to house solitary bees, which make up over 85% of the bee population.
The Victorian style conservatory, known as the Palm House, was built in 1910 and houses bananas, bamboo and a huge Screw Pine. 
The Cool House has a waterfall, small pond and citrus trees 
and the Southern Tropical House has a waterwheel and tropical orchids and bromeliads
whilst the Northern Tropical House has varieties of hibiscus, datura and cycads. The Arid (Cactus) was moved from Exhibition Park in the 1950s and has a wide variety of cacti and succulents.
We had a very pleasant couple of hours wandering through the Conservatory. It is a popular spot for photographers of both people and plants and has plenty of places to sit and view the displays of plants.
Back into the real world of Downtown Toronto we headed off to find some lunch. The neighbourhood looked rather seedy as we headed down Dundas Street 
That afternoon we set off for the Toronto Botanical Gardens. Our route took us down Bayview Avenue, one of the wealthiest areas in Toronto where homes sell for mega millions. 
Arriving at the Botanical Gardens we found our old friends Zimsculpt were about to open an exhibition.
Based in Harare, ZimSculpt is passionate about promoting the work of some of the best Zimbabwean sculptors by holding exhibitions around the world and making sculptures available for purchase online. They currently represent over 200 sculptors and boast the largest Zimbabwean sculpture collection in the world. Run by Vivienne and her husband Joseph, they tour around the country, hand selecting every single piece that is displayed.
On our last trip to Canada we called in at the Van Dusen Gardens and bought a rather large sculpture of two lizards on a rock. We were lucky that time in that the exhibition was closing and we got the lizards for a good price, which included the shipping of the 126kg sculpture back to Australia. This time we were out of luck as the exhibition was just opening and the only affordable piece for us was already sold.
The Toronto Botanical Gardens covers about 4 acres and has 17 garden rooms.
We spent some time wandering through the various gardens admiring the plantings and the statues before having coffee at the Garden Café. 
and we totally fell in love with one called Migration – unfortunately way beyond our budget even before we considered shipping it home. 
Home to put our feet up, have a drink and discuss the day’s activities before dinner and bed.
Christine, wisely, decided to stay at home the next day when we headed for the inaugural Harold’s Fish Festival, which offered a “fusion of fish and seafood dishes with a perfect blend of wines, beers, and signature cocktails, bringing you a fish event like no other.” It was to be held at Ontario Place and we duly headed downtown in the train in search of this exciting event. Our other choice had been the “Beer Festival” and we could hear the music thumping as we got off the train
We spent hours wandering around Ontario Place, which used to be a very popular park and theme park. It is located on the shores of Lake Ontario and is build out into the lake on three artificial ‘barrier’ islands. I think the description that best fits it is ‘its like wandering through a post-apocalyptic landscape as it awaits redevelopment’. No cafes or anywhere to get some lunch except an upmarket restaurant or a pie cart. There are plans to redevelop it into a green space with free activities aimed at all ages but it has a long way to go. In the meantime it is a lovely park to wander it but not much to do. 
We never did find Harold’s fish festival and later found it had been cancelled but they forgot to put the fact on their website. Disheartened we decided to head for the Sky Tower after briefly considering the Beer Festival but the day was hot so we decided to give it a miss.
Things brightened up when we came across Roundhouse Park a 17 acre park in the former Railway Lands. It features the John Street Roundhouse, a preserved locomotive roundhouse, which is home to the Toronto Railway Museum 
and, more importantly, Steam Whistle Brewing where you can sample the beers, have some lunch and do a tour of the Brewery. Having walked for miles we opted out of the tour but enthusiastically sampled the beers and had some lunch.
Back home we picked up Christine and went back to the Toronto Botanical Gardens for an hour or so and to check out the ZimSculpt Exhibition, which had officially opened that day. 
