The Sports Diva has reached a milestone and wasn’t really aware of it.
Even though 30 Plus Teams , 30 Plus Dreams is about what to do in a city after you’ve been to that baseball , hockey , football , or basketball game, there hadn’t been any 30 Plus Teams Tour of anywhere to go to , thanks to you know what .
Instead, it has been lots of public transportation rides somewhere in New York City .
One thing hasn’t changed though.
Many of you are still interested in my little old story, and a lot of you have joined along the way.
Many of you have been with me through my travel quotes, my visits to some sporting event, and you still want to know what’s in my suitcase .
400 plus people want to know this and for that, I am very grateful and extremely blessed that you find my posts entertaining .
Even though there is no airline travel or travel to sporting events, (no fans but there are sports, people ), I’m going to keep on giving you the best posts that I can.
I hope that you’ll continue going on this blogging journey with me .
When I made my booking for my 30 Plus Teams Tour of Toronto, the plan was to take the FLIX bus to Toronto and come back on February 3rd on the 9am bus back to New York Penn Station.
Unlike my bus coming to Canada, I wouldn’t have to change to a Greyhound bus in Buffalo.
I would get into New York at 8pm and since the Long Island Railroad also leaves from Penn Station, I could catch the 8:23pm train to Long Beach and be home before 9pm.
You know what they say about plans though.
Sometimes they don’t happen.
A few days before I was supposed to leave, I received an email from FLIX.
“Your bus has been cancelled. You can either rebook for a later bus or get a refund.”
The later bus thingy was NOT an option for the Sports Diva.
I opted to get a refund and used that to pay for my return back to the United States – on Amtrak .
I hadn’t taken Amtrak in years up to Canada, the last time I did, I was in college and that was in the 1970s.
Since Union Station was basically across the street from my condo, my friend and I walked to Union Station.
While she took the train to Toronto airport, I took the VIA Canada train from Toronto to Niagara Falls, New York, where it becomes Amtrak.
Just to confuse you at 7:30 in the morning, it isn’t a different train that you get on from Toronto to Niagara Falls, New York, going onto New York Penn Station, it’s the same train, different number and you get off at Niagara Falls, New York to go through US Customs, which surprise, wasn’t so bad this time.
Before you get on the train in Toronto, you have to show documents like your passport or passport card if you’re crossing the border and you fill out a declaration document that you give to the customs agent when you get off at Niagara Falls, New York.
Once the train left the station at Niagara Falls, it was onto the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, (which I slept through) Schenectady, and a few cities in Westchester County, New York before ending my 11 hour ride at Penn Station.
While I missed the train going towards Long Beach, I was able to make the 8:57pm train towards Far Rockaway.
Even with the senior rate, the one way fare was high, $121, and the trip was very long,but I would do it again to ride in comfort on Amtrak.
There were so many things to see and do in this beautiful city, that I had to give this post a part two .
When doing a 30 Plus Teams Tour of Toronto, you’ll notice that the skyline of the city is dominated by the CN Tower, just like the Washington Monument in Washington DC, the Stratosphere in Las Vegas and One Observatory in New York City.
There were hidden gems to see in town, like the collection of old train cars right by the Ripley Aquarium of Canada.
Even though my 30 Plus Teams Tour of Toronto, aka the 416, ended on February 3rd, the Sports Diva is STILL going to share it with you via pictures.
Toronto is one of my favorite cities right behind Boston, Las Vegas, Washington DC, Baltimore,Montreal and Philadelphia, yes in that order.
Notice that the city that I live in, New York City, is NO WHERE on my list of favorite cities and if I could move away from New York City, I would and move to either Boston, Las Vegas, Washington DC or even Toronto, but that’s a story for another blog post.
These pictures from Toronto include scenes of this beautiful city and especially a place that every hockey fan should visit when you’re doing a 30 Plus Teams Tour of Toronto, the place that calls itself, “The Cathedral of Hockey,” better known as the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Sports Diva celebrated her birthday, number 71, thank you God, in Toronto on 29th January.
However, this IS a 30 Plus Teams Tour and you just know that the Sports Diva and one of her Circle of Sisters weren’t there to celebrate my birthday.
Yes, there was a little thing called NHL All Star weekend going on from February 1-4February going on in the city.
While we didn’t want to go to the All Star game itself, (tickets too expensive), we did get to go to the NHL Fan Fest on Friday night as well as go to the Players Skills Watch party the night before we left the True North and the event we were really excited about something called All Star Thursday Night in which you not only saw the players being chosen for the different teams, but a tribute to the 1967 Stanley Cup winning Toronto Maple Leafs and an all star game featuring the all stars of the newly formed Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The Fan Fest and watch party were held at the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre while the other events were held at the arena where the Maple Leafs play, Scotiabank Arena, formally known as Air Canada Centre.
The only thing I was disappointed about was that my friend and I missed the first day of the Fan Fest.
That was the day that the players who were named All Stars got to take pictures with the many fans who made the trip up to Toronto to cheer on their favorite players.
It was great seeing all these different hockey jerseys in one place.
After leaving The Clarence House on 30th January, I changed hotels to go to what’s basically an airbnb.
I booked a condo in the Entertainment district of Toronto.
The condo was located at 14 York Street across the street from Scotiabank Arena, where we were going to an event for NHL All Star week, Union Station, the bus and train station and nearby Rogers Centre, the baseball park formally known as the Skydome.
The condo even in American money came out cheaper than a hotel in Toronto, which is where we were supposed to be staying in until I found this condo on one of the many travel websites that I use.
Our condo, where we stayed from 30 January until 3 February, was located on the 43rd floor, room 4310, and the only way to get into the building or to your floor on the elevator, was by using a key fob.
Enjoy the pictures from the Sports Diva’s “home” in Toronto.
After our visit to the place known as “The Cathedral of Hockey”, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Sports Diva and her friend did what most people, especially women, do on a 30 Plus Teams Tour, and that’s shop.
We went to Eaton Centre, the main shopping mall of Toronto.
Rather than taking the walkway from Union Station to Eaton Centre, we decided to be the New York gals that we are and take the subway.
Like New York and some other cities like Boston and Washington, you need a metro card to ride the subway.
In Toronto, the Metro Card is called a Presto Card which gives you a free transfer on your return if it’s under 2 hours.
To buy the card, its$4CND to start and you can reload it with any amount, but I would recommend $5 or more.
You can even use it for the Toronto streetcars, but watch out for them if you’re crossing the street.
There are four subway lines, but in the city, there are 2 that matter, especially line number 1 which goes down Yonge-University and Spadina Streets.
To find a Toronto subway station, look for a red sign that has the letters TTC on it.
TTC stands for Toronto Transit Commission.
Riding the Toronto subway isn’t complicated at all.
Trust me, I’m from New York and know all about complicated subway rides.
From Union Station, we got off at the Dundas Street station and went upstairs to Eaton Centre.
Coming back we got on the train at the Queen Street station, where it was 2 stops back to Union Station and a walk back to our condo near Scotiabank Arena.
For three days, January 27th until January 30th, the Sports Diva stayed at a place called The Clarence Place Hostel for her 30 Plus Teams Tour of the city known as The Six or 416, Toronto, Canada.
For the rest of my trip, one of my Circle of Sisters and hockey partner in crime, Michele T who’s coming in from Newark on 30 January,will be staying in another place in the city.
More about the other place, which is closer to all the fun and shenanigans of NHL All Star weekend, in another post.
The Clarence Place is located at 7 Clarence Square which is located in the area known as the Entertainment District.
The hostel is close by Rogers Centre, if your 30 Plus Teams Tour of the 416 includes a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game.
If you’re lucky enough to get tickets to a Toronto Maple Leafs game or see the Toronto Raptors basketball game, you’re close enough to the Scotiabank Arena, formally the Air Canada Centre, as well as Union Station, the bus and train station in town.
At first I wasn’t going to stay at this hotel given some of the reviews I saw on line.
Not for nothing, but you can’t always go by other people’s opinions.
What might be a bad place to some people might be good for you.
This was the case of The Clarence Park, which is located in a building that reminded me of one of those townhouses on Fifth Avenue that the Vanderbilt’s, Astor’s or Morgan’s might have lived in when they weren’t up in Newport, Rhode Island.
As a result, there are no elevators in the building just stairs.
Now if you have a lot of luggage or a medical condition like the Sports Diva, (I have osteoporosis)please take your time going up and down the stairs .
Staying at this hostel, like most hostels that I have stayed at, come with rules.
Check out time is 11am, quiet time is 11pm and no cooking after 11pm.
I can’t believe some of you need to be told this main rule of this and all hostels- clean up after yourselves.
Wash your dishes after you use them.
Do you really need to be told this, people?
Didn’t your mamas teach you better?
I stayed on the top bunk of an 8 bed female dorm.
They have male dorms and if you’re adventurous or just don’t care, they have mixed coed dorms.
The main problem for a lot of people who left negative reviews of the hostel was the amount of homeless tents across the street from the hotel in Clarence Park.
Now not to be political or nonchalant about this, it didn’t bother me.
I have been homeless and slept in a shelter not a tent.
There actually weren’t that many tents that I saw and not for nothing, sorry but you go into any big city in the United States like New York,Washington DC, Los Angeles or even Newark, New Jersey, you’re going to see a lot more tents than I saw in Clarence Park.
Now would I stay here again if I was doing a 30 Plus Teams Tour of Toronto by myself?
The answer is yes.
Just keep that hot water in the shower very hot, Clarence Park.
30 Plus Teams 30 Plus Dreams 
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