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jamesqReturning to Canada, we made our way north from Windsor to Toronto. Traffic got steadily worse as we approached. Somehow we got trapped on the expressway that rings Toronto and managed to miss turnoff after turnoff. This lead to extreme frustration by our driver and navigator, and the road was dubbed the fucking 401. I feel that I could have prevented some of this, but I'd decided days earlier to knock off the back-seat driving. I figure, the odds of making things worse were not worth the potential half-hour savings in time we might have gotten. Besides which, I was on vacation, and literally had nowhere I needed to be in a timely fashion.
We did manage to get to our destination - the Admiral St. George B&B - so named because it was at the intersection of Admiral and St. George streets. Nice digs. Not quite my favourite of the trip, but if I had my own bathroom and some AC, it would have been. My room was fantastic, and our floor had a small kitchen for sharing and a balcony that we took breakfast at. It was great for just chilling.
The family was pretty much done after their fucking 401 adventures, but I was not, since all I did was sit in the backseat with the 11-year old. I decided to take a walk and see what I could find.
Heading south on St. George Street, I first discovered that The Annex and area were super attractive - if I had to live in Toronto, I'd aim for living there. Of course, I'm betting those houses are in the neighbourhood of $2M each, so that would require a lottery win.
First thing I noticed was that St. George Street was a straight shot south to the CN Tower, which gave me an idea of what to do the next day. As I continued, I saw flashing lights on a bicycle and came across a protest at the Chinese Consulate. Lots of people silently sitting with candles, a handful of cops lazily paying attention, some media types not bothering to film anything. It all had the look of a protest, but a fairly low key and regular one.
Another block and I heard the sounds of a cocktail party - I was passing a fraternity. Across the street and the same thing was repeated with a sorority. Clearly I had reached the northern edge of the University of Toronto. And that's when the rain hit.
When I say "hit", I mean it. You know that cliche in movies where the lighting would flash the thunder would roar, and then suddenly it was pouring rain? Yeah, that happened to me. I sat at the doorway of the Department of Economics and decided if I should turn back or not. My B&B was behind me, a brewery was ahead of me. The rain was easing off, it was still warm out despite the rain, and the distances where about even. I opted to keep going.
I arrived at the Kensington Brewery soaking wet, a little tired, and a little thirsty. I enjoyed a flight of beer (best beer: Nasch Lager) and then headed back to my room.
The next day the family went to Canada's Wonderland, which I guess is an amusement park? I did laundry. And then Rosa came and rescued me from that fate. I think she was coming from Cambridge, or something like that. An hour west, for what it's worth. I wanted to go to the CN Tower and have lunch, so I treated her, since I might like eating expensive meals, but I don't expect other people to without some warning (she just knew we would be spending the afternoon together, not actually what I wanted to do).
We started to walk to the tower, which wouldn't have been too bad (we're both in reasonable shape for long walks), if it hadn't have been another sweltering day. That said, it was a surprisingly cool 32C instead of the usual 35-40 I'd come to expect over this trip. Anyway, the heat cut what would have been a 40 minute walk downtown to a train station and a quick jaunt to downtown Toronto. Then it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the CN Tower.
The base of the tower was a crowded mass of humanity at its most touristy, so not especially pleasant. At first glance, it was an incoherent, chaotic mess. However, once we managed to get well into the system we discovered that it was an incoherent, chaotic mess made of people who thought they knew what they were doing, but didn't. At least until we found the desk where you made lunch reservations. Once there it got a lot better. We were eventually shuttled up the elevator and led to table along the window with a stellar view of Lake Ontario looking east. The restaurant revolved, so the view gradually came around to all of the lake and city. We were there long enough to go about 450°.
I'm guessing the above is Bay Street. I tried to get all five banks, but I've having a tough time spotting RBC.
I only managed to get one picture of Rosa. Background: I was taking pictures of my food, and she was trying to lean back out of the picture and managed to get the derp while doing so. Since I wanted proof for all of you that she was there and not a figment of my imagination, but also not expose her derpiness more than necessary, I've cropped her somewhat.
Looking west towards Mississauga.
A sailing ship (I think), which was noteworthy enough I took about a dozen pictures of it.
Lunch was pretty good. Afterwards we went down to the observation deck and had a look around. Given the mass of humanity, and the cages for the outside portions of the view, I'd say the restaurant was the better choice.
I did get to stand on the glass and take some pictures. This matches a similar picture I did on the Calgary Tower years ago. The CN Tower's observation deck is about twice as high.
We exited the tower and went searching for coffee, ultimately failing in that endeavour, but I did find Millie Patisserie and something delicious called a crepe cake.
We went back up to the B&B where Rosa has stashed the Luv wagon, and managed to finally find a coffee shop for her -0 just in time for her drive back home on the fucking 401. Hugs were had and goodbyes were said. She drove back home and I relaxed on the balcony of the B&B. The family returned from their sojourn and we went off in search of a local restaurant. Along the way, we saw the epic backside of this car. Notably, the car's license plate indicated it was from Virginia. I'd have guessed BC or Oregon.
Our quest for dinner found us at Chadwick's Craft Kitchen and Bar, where we were introduced to Costa Rican cuisine. Having had a big meal earlier, I originally opted to have a salad, but the menu boo-booed me and I over-ordered and over-ate. It was delicious stuff though. If you're in the neighbourhood, I heartily recommend it. Show up hungry.
Again, I relaxed on the balcony, listening to the sounds of upscale Toronto on a warm night. A wonderful feeling, and if I owned that house, it would be part of my summer routine.
I woke up before the others, packed my bags, and then went for a run. Now, I'd resolved to draw dicks with my running app, but Tamara requested a vagina. I don't normally take requests, but this seemed like a challenge. One reason I draw dicks, is an out-and-back run on straight city streets means dicks are just easier. It's hard to draw something rounder because the nature of streets - everything looks pixelated. Anyway, there was a nice little roundabout that I could use to make a clitoris, so here is my rendition of a giant vagina in Toronto:
And on that note, we got back onto the fucking 401 and left Toronto.
We did manage to get to our destination - the Admiral St. George B&B - so named because it was at the intersection of Admiral and St. George streets. Nice digs. Not quite my favourite of the trip, but if I had my own bathroom and some AC, it would have been. My room was fantastic, and our floor had a small kitchen for sharing and a balcony that we took breakfast at. It was great for just chilling.
The family was pretty much done after their fucking 401 adventures, but I was not, since all I did was sit in the backseat with the 11-year old. I decided to take a walk and see what I could find.
Heading south on St. George Street, I first discovered that The Annex and area were super attractive - if I had to live in Toronto, I'd aim for living there. Of course, I'm betting those houses are in the neighbourhood of $2M each, so that would require a lottery win.
First thing I noticed was that St. George Street was a straight shot south to the CN Tower, which gave me an idea of what to do the next day. As I continued, I saw flashing lights on a bicycle and came across a protest at the Chinese Consulate. Lots of people silently sitting with candles, a handful of cops lazily paying attention, some media types not bothering to film anything. It all had the look of a protest, but a fairly low key and regular one.
Another block and I heard the sounds of a cocktail party - I was passing a fraternity. Across the street and the same thing was repeated with a sorority. Clearly I had reached the northern edge of the University of Toronto. And that's when the rain hit.
When I say "hit", I mean it. You know that cliche in movies where the lighting would flash the thunder would roar, and then suddenly it was pouring rain? Yeah, that happened to me. I sat at the doorway of the Department of Economics and decided if I should turn back or not. My B&B was behind me, a brewery was ahead of me. The rain was easing off, it was still warm out despite the rain, and the distances where about even. I opted to keep going.
I arrived at the Kensington Brewery soaking wet, a little tired, and a little thirsty. I enjoyed a flight of beer (best beer: Nasch Lager) and then headed back to my room.
The next day the family went to Canada's Wonderland, which I guess is an amusement park? I did laundry. And then Rosa came and rescued me from that fate. I think she was coming from Cambridge, or something like that. An hour west, for what it's worth. I wanted to go to the CN Tower and have lunch, so I treated her, since I might like eating expensive meals, but I don't expect other people to without some warning (she just knew we would be spending the afternoon together, not actually what I wanted to do).
We started to walk to the tower, which wouldn't have been too bad (we're both in reasonable shape for long walks), if it hadn't have been another sweltering day. That said, it was a surprisingly cool 32C instead of the usual 35-40 I'd come to expect over this trip. Anyway, the heat cut what would have been a 40 minute walk downtown to a train station and a quick jaunt to downtown Toronto. Then it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the CN Tower.
The base of the tower was a crowded mass of humanity at its most touristy, so not especially pleasant. At first glance, it was an incoherent, chaotic mess. However, once we managed to get well into the system we discovered that it was an incoherent, chaotic mess made of people who thought they knew what they were doing, but didn't. At least until we found the desk where you made lunch reservations. Once there it got a lot better. We were eventually shuttled up the elevator and led to table along the window with a stellar view of Lake Ontario looking east. The restaurant revolved, so the view gradually came around to all of the lake and city. We were there long enough to go about 450°.
I'm guessing the above is Bay Street. I tried to get all five banks, but I've having a tough time spotting RBC.
I only managed to get one picture of Rosa. Background: I was taking pictures of my food, and she was trying to lean back out of the picture and managed to get the derp while doing so. Since I wanted proof for all of you that she was there and not a figment of my imagination, but also not expose her derpiness more than necessary, I've cropped her somewhat.
Looking west towards Mississauga.
A sailing ship (I think), which was noteworthy enough I took about a dozen pictures of it.
Lunch was pretty good. Afterwards we went down to the observation deck and had a look around. Given the mass of humanity, and the cages for the outside portions of the view, I'd say the restaurant was the better choice.
I did get to stand on the glass and take some pictures. This matches a similar picture I did on the Calgary Tower years ago. The CN Tower's observation deck is about twice as high.
We exited the tower and went searching for coffee, ultimately failing in that endeavour, but I did find Millie Patisserie and something delicious called a crepe cake.
We went back up to the B&B where Rosa has stashed the Luv wagon, and managed to finally find a coffee shop for her -0 just in time for her drive back home on the fucking 401. Hugs were had and goodbyes were said. She drove back home and I relaxed on the balcony of the B&B. The family returned from their sojourn and we went off in search of a local restaurant. Along the way, we saw the epic backside of this car. Notably, the car's license plate indicated it was from Virginia. I'd have guessed BC or Oregon.
Our quest for dinner found us at Chadwick's Craft Kitchen and Bar, where we were introduced to Costa Rican cuisine. Having had a big meal earlier, I originally opted to have a salad, but the menu boo-booed me and I over-ordered and over-ate. It was delicious stuff though. If you're in the neighbourhood, I heartily recommend it. Show up hungry.
Again, I relaxed on the balcony, listening to the sounds of upscale Toronto on a warm night. A wonderful feeling, and if I owned that house, it would be part of my summer routine.
I woke up before the others, packed my bags, and then went for a run. Now, I'd resolved to draw dicks with my running app, but Tamara requested a vagina. I don't normally take requests, but this seemed like a challenge. One reason I draw dicks, is an out-and-back run on straight city streets means dicks are just easier. It's hard to draw something rounder because the nature of streets - everything looks pixelated. Anyway, there was a nice little roundabout that I could use to make a clitoris, so here is my rendition of a giant vagina in Toronto:
And on that note, we got back onto the fucking 401 and left Toronto.
