This was my first time visiting Toronto, but my second time in Canada. I visited Vancouver when I was just a kid more than two decades ago. Times were different back then; my family and I didn't need passports to cross the border. This time around, entering Toronto required a passport and some pointed questioning from a Canadian customs officer. She wasn't rude or anything (it's against Canadian nature to be unfriendly, eh) but she definitely wanted to know where we were staying and what our itinerary was. After providing said information, we went through without any problems. Pearson International is a nice airport. It's a lot cleaner than LAX (then again, most airports are), but the food is insanely priced. That's to be expected in an airport. The real shocker, though, was the city's 13% sales tax! Yikes! And, according to one sales clerk, we arrived at a pretty good time. The tax was 15% previously. I love how positive our northern neighbors are, always glass-half-full kind of folks. I don't think I've ever seen such a high sales tax. I thought LA's 10% was terrible. Whenever I want to complain about that, I'll think about the good people of Toronto and just keep quiet.
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| The view from our hotel |
