Pleased to meet you, Toronto

After many months of waiting, we actually arrived in Toronto. It's a lovely city. A little smaller than I thought, not as cold as I thought and very, very nice. The major goal for this trip was to wrangle an apartment for the actual permanent move on February 15th. The flight itself was a little strange as we flew on El Al, the Israeli airline. Everything was in Hebrew and they really don't have much of a sense of humor. They also made us buy a ticket for Baby Boy for the privilege of sitting on our laps. We did get a certified Kosher meal which wasn't too bad. To get ANY meal on a flight is a treat these days, so we were happy to have it. When we landed, we breezed through Customs. We then headed toward Immigration. I was terrified that I would be brought to a dark room with a single, swinging lightbulb and browbeaten within an inch of my life. But, the Immigration officer was (no surprise) very nice and he quickly processed our work papers. I have waited longer for a table at The Cheesecake Factory than I waited to get my Canadian work permits. When we finally got to the hotel (after missing the shuttle and grabbing a cab - a cab which had a hockey game on the radio, of course!) it was very late. The front desk clerk did not understand the concept of Priceline and insisted that I give them another credit card. I was so tired that maybe, I was just a teeny bit short with her. But, all was well by the morning. We then enjoyed a "Pizza, Pizza" pizza and watched Canadian television which is remarkably similar to US television. Stay tuned for the thrilling first look at my new office and Toronto, itself.