Toronto was so incredibly nice to visit for a number of reasons. It had all of the American big city feel to it with the sky scrapers, parks, water, sports teams and food options but there was just something so much more relaxed about it. For the three and a half days I was there I could not recall one rude person, one beg for change, one moment walking any street at any time where I even thought for a spilt second about my safety. I said a couple of blogs ago that Indianapolis was the place I like best. That has now changed.

From lunch at the St Lawrence market where I accidentally went to pay at the wrong stall and had the owner nearly leap over her cash counter for my business all the way across to cheering my Toronto Raptors to victory in an NBA game there was always a new experience to be had among laughs, relaxed smiles and chat. It was also the place where I became a lone traveller no more.

I liked travelling alone and discovering new things on my own time. Waking and sleeping as I pleased and deciding I could take a shower at 1pm or 1am was kinda cool and having an hour nap at 6pm felt strangely good. But I was certainly ready to start sharing some experiences with others. It was so nice to meet up with Tania again and have her company for some of those Toronto experiences. She has the enthusiasm for and knowledge of her city that would see me recommend her for a career in tourism at the drop of a hat if she so desired. From recommending cookies at coffee shops to telling me the most comfortable brand of sweatpants to get at the mall to markets to activities and stunning sights we were packed to the brim with options that yet again made the time we had nowhere near long enough.

It's a debate for coldest place on this trip right now but Toronto certainly has a case. If I were forced to answer I'd say it just nips Chicago for the frosty title hold. We spent most of our walking time stepping over large clumps of snow piled at street corners and on that first day sightseeing I was competing with snow being blown in all sorts of directions as I took cautious steps. If you open your mouth at a gush of wind it feels a bit like eating a snow cone. At times I would stop and turn my back to the breeze to spare my face another snow smacking. In these types of conditions you can also veer off the cleared snow path and literally get yourself in knee deep. But where other weather conditions have also failed I soldiered on undeterred. If anything I did it with a smile on my face. I did wish for snow after all.

On Thursday night Maddi touched down in Toronto and in another display of selflessness Tania agreed to do an airport pickup for us in the most challenging of slippery, snowy highway conditions. Everybody on the highway was going slow because you could not even see the lanes among the brown mush that becomes of snow when it's driven over constantly. In a way it displayed another reason why a place like Toronto would be such a livable city, everybody is so nice and considerate.

This neck of the woods is also home to the largest amount of apartment buildings I've ever seen. The recent developments in Melbourne's south have nothing on what's going on here. This has to be one of the biggest boom residential cities in the world. Tania's building is one of many in the area right near the water.

Bars and restaurants are aplenty here too, as you can imagine. We sampled a few of these which included having an extra-large and spicy calzone at the trendy Gusto 101 restaurant before the Raptors game and we also tasted a couple of the seemingly hundreds of different beers at one of the city's many bars. We even got a chance to visit a local brewery called the Steam Whistle where for a modest ten bucks you get a bottle opener, tour of the brewery and of course a beer to enjoy along the way. For some reason I would not have picked Toronto as being a beer enthusiast's dream come true but it certainly appears as if it is.

Another little thing that took me by surprise was the French language options for everything. I thought you had to go as far as Quebec to get to the French section but as soon as I jumped back on the train at the border after clearing customs the new Canadian train driver started announcing the next station stops in French as well as English. The airport provides arrivals, departures and delays in French but like what Maddi kept saying during our stay, we saw plenty of French translations but heard hardly anybody speaking it. Go figure.

I could go on forever but I won't and instead finish by saying these Roots sweats, or as we say 'Trackies', are amazing and will be warn for most days for the rest of the trip and beyond. You know you really have enjoyed your stay in a place when you're struggling to come to grips with leaving it for New York. Hopefully one day I will be back.