Lima Bean, have you got a bicycle? A lot of Toronto is cyclable, and it utterly changes your view of the city. That is a big positive difference from Edmonton - even some environmentally-minded friends of mine who moved their resigned themselves to buying one of those horrid things that pollutes and kills.

My favourite thing in Toronto, other than the ferry to the islands, is the streetcars/trams. The trams in Amsterdam are yellow, and run everywhere.

You are definitely in the right forum - you're pretty much as "out and about" as possible.

I don't have any more funds than you do, so I couldn't possibly afford to travel in Europe if I didn't have it funded by work, research or a scholarship, so I can't complain about having to do a bit of work. It is really only half-time. Unfortunately I have freelance work of my own to get finished too - from Vancouver, a huge time zone spread when we have to contact each other via e-mail.

The Euro is about at par with the US dollar, so things are expensive for us, although I'm good at travelling cheap - for example I figured out how to take the subway and city bus to the airport in Montreal and took a bus from the airport here.