last year, philan & i traveled down to dixon, illinois to see mumford & sons during their gentlemen of the road tour.  so when tour dates were announced earlier this year, we decided that simcoe, ontanio, canada would be a great place to visit and enjoy a festival.  we grabbed two stopover tickets and started planning a mini-vacation.  we’re totally into checking out new cities and eating really good food, so we added a few days in toronto before heading to simcoe.  toronto is a fabulous city for walking and touring.  all within walking distance, there are little neighborhoods full of food, shopping, and interesting people.  we walked about 10 miles on day one before retiring to a wonderful little bed & breakfast in the village.  we started the day off with starbucks (not so local), and then headed to china town.  from there it was a stop for some shopping in kensington market, (if you’re ever there, be sure to visit good egg, model citizen, and blue banana) then a little break for lunch at le kensington bistro et rotisserie.  we drank few peach infused cocktails and shared a salad & a liverworst spread, hard salami, and pork belly sandwich.  wow.  for dinner, we had a few burgers at holy chuck.  definitely a good burger.  our second day was full of walking, seeing the sights, shopping, and of course eating.  after a few stops at some beautiful cathedrals, we spent the afternoon in the distillery district.  the hot chocolate at the soma chocolaetmakers was insanely good.  i have to mention our lunch and dinner selections that day.  lunch was at banh mi boys, where we ate a five spice pork belly banh mi sandwich (braised pork belly, pickled radish on a fresh baguette), squid taco (with purple cabbage slaw, kimchi, pickled carrots and cilantro), and an order of kimchi fries (pulled pork, mayo, kimchi, and green onions smothered over fries).  if you think that sounded good, it was.  but it was nothing compared to the thai tapas at sabai sabai kitchen.  seriously, one of the best meals we have EVER eaten.  the grilled chicken wings were without a doubt, the best foods we have ever had.  and we’re not big chicken people, so that is saying a lot.  crazy little thing about toronto, driving is insane.  there are street cars, a ton of motorcycles, even more bikes, a huge amount of pedestrians, plus all the cars.  ugh.  the next morning, we said goodbye to toronto and moved on to simcoe.  our arrival in at the norfolk county fair grounds was a bit delayed due to some unforeseen traffic, but made it in time for the start of edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros.  our evening ended with us finally meeting up with ivan & bev, our hosts for the two nights spent in norfolk county.  philan found ivan & bev somehow when searching out a place to stay and this amazing couple opened their home to us.  it is a bit strange when you first meet up with your hosts: will they be odd, will we get along with them, will they murder us in our sleep at night.  seriously, you have no idea.  well, we couldn’t have picked two nicer people to spend the next two days with.  we hung out with ivan & bev and exchanged stories well into the night and then all morning while dining on a feast of pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit, and some killer coffee.  philan & bev joked about how much ivan & i were alike, sharing well embellished tall tales, politely trying to keep up with each other.  and then it was onto the main event… an afternoon turned into evening listening to some amazing bands including bears den, the vaccines, old crow medicine show, and of course the incredible mumford & sons.   we managed to grab a little video of mumford & sons singing sister don’t let go a cappella.  our weekend ended planning next year’s vacation to visit with ivan & bev in port dover and spend some time in the lovely beach front community.  we really enjoyed our trip to canada, we hope you like sharing it with us. enjoy.