A Packing Challenge

Posted on September 13, 2012 by debbie

We have read  that there are tight restrictions on luggage size and weight for some airlines in Africa. If a person has too much luggage, he/she will get charged for an extra seat or for freight. We have also read that bags get stolen and/or lost frequently. Since we are flying on a number of smaller airlines and a number of different airlines, we want to ensure that our luggage is of the correct size and weight and that it travels all the way with us and doesn’t go astray.

The general idea we are going to strive for is to reduce the stuff we take to an absolute minimum so our carry-on is small and light and will stay as carry-on and not have to be checked on any flight. Let’s see if we can accomplish this.

I get out our flight info and start checking the airlines that we will be flying. We are flying Westjet and British Airways from Edmonton to Vancouver to London to Dar es Salaam. They each allow 1 piece of hand luggage plus a purse/briefcase.  Weight limits for Westjet are 22 lbs for each piece and sizes of 21.5″x9″x15.5″ and 16.5″x6″x13″. The hand luggage weight limit for BA is a whopping 51 lbs and no weight limit was given for the purse/briefcase.  The sizes for BA are 22″x18″x10″ and 18″x14″x8″.  These flights are not going to be the issue for us.

We are flying Precision Air from Dar es Salaam to Arusha return. They allow one piece of checked luggage with a weight limit of 51 lbs and total dimensions adding up to 62″. Only 1 piece of hand luggage is allowed which must weigh under 22 lbs.

mmmmm……….

We must fly through South Africa to get from Tanzania to Botswana, so we are flying South African Airways from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg return. SAA allows checked baggage of 1 piece that weighs 50lb and maximum dimension of 62″. Only 1 piece of hand luggage is allowed and it must weight less than 18 lbs with a size no greater than 21″x16″x9″m for a total dimension of 46″.

I am starting to get worried……

Air Botswana, which we are flying from Johannesburg to Kasane and Maun to Johannesburg allows 1 checked bag weighing 44 lbs and 1 piece of hand luggage weighing 15 lbs.

And now I am really worried!!!

We are taking Mack Air from the Okavango Delta to Maun, and they fly the smallest planes I have come across (6 seats).  Their website is so small that they have no information on luggage weight and sizing. My guess is that it doesn’t run along the same lines as Westjet and British Airways!!

Coastal Aviation is flying us to Zanzibar return.  All their website says is that soft-sided bags are preferable and a person’s total luggage must weigh under 33 lbs.

One website indicated that the traveler’s name should be on the outside and inside of checked luggage along with the route and destination.  Does that sound like luggage goes on a walk about often?

After looking at the various luggage requirements, I am not sure that we can limit all our luggage (as carry-on) to the lowest  denominator of 15 lbs required by Air Botswana. Murray’s camera/lens weighs that much!! I still want to give it a really good try and go with my “purse” and a very small backpack. As we start to lay out our gear, I will keep you posted as to what we take and what we leave behind and the final tally of weight and size.

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Sidetracked

Posted on September 11, 2012 by murray

Off we go on a diversion. In order to make a decision on whether or not we dive Little Cayman in April, with our NY friends, depends on a number of factors. To resolve some of these we must again lay Africa aside and follow another path for awhile.

Issue one. Every school board in North America decides on what dates spring break will fall. What on earth does this have to do with a couple of retired folks and their dive trip you might ask? I have lived the rhythm of the school year since I was 6 years old. Now a good number of our diving partners, both from NY and Edmonton, work within the school system and our dive trips are somewhat influenced by their available holidays. Can we make the two different weeks of spring break, the one our New York friends have off and the one our Edmonton friends have, work in our favor to be able to dive with both groups?

Issue two. Cash. Simple enough, if we dive for 2 weeks or more can we afford to take another trip in the fall and do we want to just do the dive trip and be satisfied?

Issue three. Destination. We know our NY buddies are heading to Little Cayman. We know the diving is good there. Our Edmonton crew has not been many places, actually only Bonaire, so they have the opportunity to go anywhere where it will be a new and different experience.

Issue four. We decided when our Edmonton group started diving 2 years ago, Debbie and I would alternate dive trips with the NY group, but as I said above is there a way we can schedule the trip to dive with both groups?

The communication begins. We use mostly email to talk to our friends in New York. Email is not the best form of communication, it is often misread or misunderstood but for basic communication it is OK. We meet with our local crew and discuss the options. Using our rotation, the priority will be to dive with the Edmonton group.

Our first meeting with the potential divers nets commitment from 5  of us, R, A, B, Debbie and me and maybes from 3 others, S, J, and R2. It is easier to make decisions with only 5 so that will help. Discussed are 3 destinations and money. We could go to Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, or Cozumel. Debbie and I have been to Cozumel before but would be willing to go again. We split to research the possibilities and the costs.

The NY divers meet and a provisional itinerary is set, they will dive 3 days on Cayman Brac and 7 days on Little Cayman. This plan is good for Debbie and me because we can overlap the two different spring breaks and meet with both groups but it will depend on where the Edmontonians decide to go.

Research indicates that Cozumel is easier to get to and is WAY less expensive than either Cayman destination. There is some apprehension amongst our novice divers about the strong currents and drift diving but that can be overcome and must be faced at some point in one’s diving adventures. It is also very difficult for Debbie and me to extend our trip to Cayman, requiring a plane ride to Houston or Atlanta and a lot more cash. Cayman looks good but as above it is significantly more expensive.

The NY group have contacted the Little Cayman resort and there is limited availability for the dates required so there is an urgency for us northerners to make a decision on our destination and if Cayman be it to book accommodation.

Edmonton meeting 2. Sitting in the sun on the patio of the neighbourhood coffee shop, Blues, the conversation takes about twice as long as it should but it is a slow Saturday and no one seems in a big hurry. A decision has been made. The cost of Little Cayman is one of the prime concerns so this year we will go to Cozumel. We have also made a pact to dive in Little Cayman in the spring of 2015. Choosing the less expensive option and the availability of accommodation, the opportunity for our 3 maybes S, J, and R2 to join us has just been greatly increased.

As the accommodation in Cozumel is more or less unlimited the pressure has been abated somewhat and we can proceed with the organization of this trip at a more respectable pace. So it is back to Africa and all things pressing. We will continue to pursue the underwater adventure but this time we have some help and 5 of us will attack the web for info. It is sad for Debbie and me not to be able to meet with the Syracuse group, but alas we cannot do it all. We will for sure be planning to do so in the Spring of 2014.

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Today is the Day. I Hope.

Posted on September 9, 2012 by murray

When we drop out of house renovation mode and back into day to day mode we realize we have not touched our African travel plans in 2 months and the time is neigh to pay the balance on the safaris. We start immediately and it is a good thing we do because we are very tired and our travel planning skills are very rusty.

First thing is to review our file and check on what we have done and what will be needed before we leave, items both pressing and not so much. First on the list is to pay the outstanding balances on the safaris because if they do not get paid doing the rest of the listed items would be for naught. We confirm the amount, make sure we have sufficient funds in the proper accounts and contact our travel mates L & R to coordinate payments. If we send one wire for both our balances the cost of the wire is shared and although it is not much I really hate to pay bank fees and will go to great measures to minimize them.

Aardvark first, they prefer a bank draft for their payments and that is very easy to acquire. A trip to the bank, write a short note, lick the stamp and the payment is jetting (if indeed the postal service uses jets) it’s way to Victoria in California. Botswana Safari done!

Next, the payment to African Travel Resource. Their preferred payment method is for us to wire the money to their bank. If we use a credit card they add a 2% surcharge along with the 2.5% visa charge for converting to a non Canadian currency and it adds up quickly and it is not the way I do things. L goes to her bank and gets a bank draft made to me and I’m off to my bank to send the wire.  Tanzania done!

Both payments make landfall in a couple of days, meaning as long as we get to Africa we have transportation, accommodation and a guide to facilitate our wanderings into the ‘wilds.’

Debbie ticks payments off the list. Item 2 – appointment to get poked. We have enough shots to travel most anywhere but there always seems to be that one more and of course there is the ubiquitous malaria pills. For the first time we are entering an area with endemic yellow fever. Zanzibar requires a yellow fever certificate. The appointment is made and marked on our calendars.

We need to establish our cash budget. First to get an idea of what is needed and second because travellers cheques are not universally accepted we plan to take cash so we are trying to minimize the amount we are going to have to carry. We lay out a plan on one of Debbie’s famous spreadsheets and start to plunk in numbers. We have some exact values, like a couple of hotels but other numbers we use are from our past travel experiences. Like food costs, $10 CDN for breakfast, $15 CDN for lunch and $25 – $35 CDN for dinner. In the next couple of weeks we will refine the values, I do not expect it to cost too much to eat in Africa. Five star hotels will cost what we estimated and more but we are reasonably adventurous and do not frequent those establishments.

As we are slowly ticking things off our preliminary and by no means exhaustive list we get an email from our New York dive friends, P, V, S, and K. “Hey guys we are booking our scuba diving trip to Little Cayman in the spring, the hotel is filling up. Are you in?” The wheel is spinning faster and faster now. It is time to pick up the cadence.

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Slogging through a Blog

Posted on September 7, 2012 by murray

I’m a jock. I have been most of my life, just didn’t realize it until I was about 40. For many years I raced bicycles. I was never really good but I did the best I could. In order to do my best at every race, I trained. I trained like bicycle racing was my job. I learned lots. One thing that I try to pass on to everyone I know that starts an athletic activity (and the point of the title) is that you cannot train at infinitum. There will be breaks in the continuum and they will happen for any 1 of 10,000 reasons. For the most part these breaks are good, they give both your mind and your body a rest. The thing about a break is:  it is very, very, VERY hard to get back into the routine. Be it swimming, running, or riding a bicycle, for weight loss, conditioning or training for competition. Once you have broken the string it is almost impossible to find the new end and start to reel it off the ball.

At one point you will have rested enough and you will want to resume your workouts. You will have good intentions but there will be a myriad of reasons why you cannot start again. Each day you have to start in the morning and say to yourself ‘I’m going for a run today’. Ten, twenty times a day you have to repeat that mantra. As the day progresses you add to the phrase, things like ‘I’m going to run today right after work and I will run to the park, through the park and along the river then home. That should be about 5 km.’ If you do not run that day after work you have to get up the next morning and go through the same routine. Sooner or later you will run again. If you do this day after day your routine will return.

This is what has happened to our blogging. We were blogging quite regularly and then we started to renovate the house. Those of you who have been involved with such activity will understand that renovation is all consuming. We cut our athletic activity in half. We cut down on dining out almost completely. Entertainment became removing another section of old flooring. Blogging hit the skids. We did manage a few entries but they were sparse and written quickly.

I’m at the point where I want to resume entering a semi regular entry into the blog. So, every day I’m saying to myself ‘I have to come up with a captivating concept, and write a blog post.’ As I said above it does not happen instantly but I’m working at it. Tomorrow I try again. Stay tuned.

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Saturday in Toronto

Posted on August 26, 2012 by debbie

After packing up, checking out and stowing our bags with the Conceriege, we head out for our last day in Toronto. We go in search of breakfast and locate a small breakfast shop specializing in eggs. We consume large breakfasts and roll out of the restaurant.

We walk to the north and east quadrant of downtown. Cabbagetown in an area where there are many of the original Victorian houses. They are now made into small apartment complexes, duplexes and single family homes.

We move from lower income areas to higher income areas and back again. Due to the heat, our walk takes the form of short walks between park benches. We plot the route according to where the green spaces are on the map. When we arrive at a green space, we find a bench in the shade and revel in the slight breeze wafting across our hot bods. As we sit to cool off we watch the world go by.

Being Saturday, parents and kids are out, singles are out, friends are visiting friends and they are out. Everyone is outside enjoying the hot sunny weather and the weekend.

The parks further out are filled with parents and kids, grandmas and grandpas. Picnics. Kids playing in the splash pools with their parents wishing they could join them and be 12 years old again. As we move closer to the downtown the parks’ clientele changes. Not so many families and a few more inner city people. And the further in we go, the more street people we see occupying the parks. They are sitting enjoying the sun, sleeping in the shade of a tree, chatting with friends.

We notice that although we do see folks with dogs, we do not see an overabundance of dogs.  In Edmonton, it seems that everyone met has a dog.  Not so here. There is not so much green space for dog enjoyment, yards are tiny or non-existent, housing consists of apartments and condos.

As we wind our way on our walk we notice there are many activities to choose from. A company picnic, a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, FanExpo, a Cuban celebration with live music and a street performers festival. So much happening all in one day!

We end up back at the hotel and wait for the shuttle to the airport. As I write this we are winging our way west towards the ever setting sun and home.

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Toronto Retrospective

Posted on August 26, 2012 by murray

I heard that the “east” has been having a hard time of it since the economic downturn of 2008. I don’t see any sign of hard times in Toronto. The city looks like it is booming. There are dozens of new high-rises being built, the streets are crowded and in Eaton’s Centre, there are few people that are not carrying shopping bags.

The attendance at the numerous festival happenings about town is impressive.  The concert we attend is sold out at a cost of around $100/ticket. The buskerfest is elbow to elbow as we walk down Front Street. There are also numerous free events whose attendance did not necessarily indicate an economic boom, but most surely showed the local lust for life.

As I prepared to travel to Canada’s second largest city, I had read and heard several generalizations about it and its people. For some reason, there is a perception that Torontonians believe their town is the centre of the universe. After our stay, I do not think that perception holds true. The citizens we encounter are truly proud of their city and willing to help us get to where we are headed, but they seem to have their feet firmly on the ground.

Toronto is also portrayed as a world class city. I guess it is by size and amenities, but the general populace has remained extremely polite and low-key. Typically Canadian, I suppose. In the long run, I found Toronto to be very similar to my home city of Edmonton, only with 200% more people. The drivers stop and wait for pedestrians and the pedestrians stop and wait for walk lights. There aren’t many cities in the world where this happens.

Other personality traits of Torontonians that hold them different and probably more Canadian than other big metro areas of the world are the casual dress of most of the people on the street. The only “suits” visible to us were near the court house. The slow pace of the city is also noticeable. Debbie and I walk at a reasonable pace but in megacities around the world there are always folks that rush by us.  Not here. People moved along the sidewalk with intent but did not carry a head of steam. Riding the escalators in most of the world’s big cities you stand on the right and walk on the left, yet in Toronto, the folks stand on both sides as they do in Edmonton.

The big city of TO shines when it comes to the harmony in the life of all the different cultures that make up the mosiac of Canada.

The lack of auto use at least in Toronto proper is truly impressive. People walk, they don’t seem to think anything of walking blocks to their destination. Not so in Edmonton where the auto is supreme and people jump into the car to go 2 blocks for a litre of milk.

And bikes. There are 1000’s of bikes on the road every day. The riders are not particularly talented riders but the bikes and cars ebb and flow along the road in a co existence, it is not  that way at home where there are a good number of drivers that would just as soon steer riders and their bikes into the ditch. The car traffic is not fast so the bike riders seem to move somewhat seamlessly in the traffic.

Commuting to work on a bike is a normal situation. The ample number of bike stalls located outside each office building are maxed out with workers’ bikes during the day and eerily empty at night.

Bike rack made of a large bike chain spelling Kengsington

Bike rack made of a large bike chain spelling Kensington

A not so nice big city trait that Toronto has acquired is high bicycle theft. A bike store owner told us that of 6 bikes he sold on Wednesday, 2 of them were to folks that had their bikes unceremoniously removed from their possession.

I really enjoyed our short foray to one of Canada’s outstanding cities. I am forever learning that the generalized impressions of places and their people are not remotely close to reality. The most prominent characteristic of Toronto is that it is Canadian. The people are casual, easy going, friendly and polite. All of which combine to make Toronto one of Canada’s world class metropolises.

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Friday in Toronto

Posted on August 24, 2012 by debbie

The plan for today is to walk south towards the water and east towards the St Lawrence Market and then circle around and about.

As we walk towards the Distillery and the St Lawrence Market, we notice a definite lack of traffic just off downtown. I thought big cities have traffic congestion everywhere! I guess not. We stroll past St James Cathedral and marvel at its hugeness. It was built in the late 1800s. We find ourselves in the Distillery District, a former distillery refurbished and converted into shops, galleries and restaurants.There are outdoor displays of art available to everyone in the laneways.

From there we walk along The Esplanade towards the St Lawrence Market. Tree lined streets with parks, playgrounds, schools and housing give the impression of a small town within sight of the towering financial district monoliths.

The Esplanade, Toronto

The Esplanade

On to St Lawrence Market to buy a picnic lunch to eat down by the lake. The Market has fresh fruits, veggies, meats, deli items, baked goods and numerous eateries. One of my first sights was whole sun-dried tomatoes wrapped around sticks of provolone cheese. Do I need to say more??

With lunch in hand, we walk towards the water and Lake Ontario. We find a shady spot along the boardwalk and plunk down on the grass to devour our chicken parma sandwich (Murray’s) and sushi (mine) and watermelon.  the breeze coming off the water is cooling. It feels good to take off our shoes and sit for awhile to watch the boats, planes and people go by.

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Mariposa Cruise Line offers a one hour tour of the Toronto Harbour and at 1:30 we find ourselves sitting on the top deck of the Oriole ( a Victorian-style riverboat) about to shove off from the pier. For $20 pp, it is a very nice way to see Toronto from a difference viewpoint. The boat also takes a short tour through the islands just off the harbour. Swans, herons, geese and yachts are all spotted and Debbie’s feet are rested.

Toronto's skyline

Toronto’s skyline

Our last official stop is Union Station, with tall stone pillars outside and tiled cathedral ceiling inside.

At the end of the day we munch burgers and fries at a funky 50s diner called Johnny Rockets where the staff dance exuberantly to R E S P E C T every half hour.

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Dead Can Dance

Posted on August 24, 2012 by debbie

Who? That is the response to my statement, ‘We are going to Toronto to see Dead Can Dance’. You Tube them to get a better idea as to what they do.

When we heard that the band Dead Can Dance was getting back together and embarking on a world tour it was a forgone conclusion that we were going to one of the concerts. It was just a matter of how far we would have to travel to take it in. For a long time we have lamented the fact that we had missed seeing them play when the band was together in the mid 1990’s. The concert lives up to the anticipated wait.

One of the first things I notice has nothing to do with the band whatsoever. It is the audience. I have been to concerts in quite a few different cities and the audience reactions are quite different. In Edmonton the audience for the most part sits and watches the performance, in both Calgary and Vancouver, you pay for a seat but you spend the entire show standing. Being from Edmonton I do not understand or appreciate having to stand but as they say, ‘When in Rome.’ I am delighted to note that in Toronto the audience remains seated to enjoy the music. The one thing that is annoying is people are still finding their seats 20 or 25 minutes into the performance. I think arriving late does not show the proper respect to the performers. Except for a few weird comments like ‘I love you Lisa’ the audience was extremely polite.

The sound guys did their job. We sit quite close to the stage (9 rows back) and it is reasonably loud for the genre of music but it is very clear and discernible. I do have trouble understanding the words to the songs sung in English by Lisa Gerrard. For the most part this doesn’t matter because most of the songs are not in English so the vocals are just sounds that blend into the entire scape of the song.

I notice something that listening to the band on CD has alerted me to but it was actualized by seeing them live. The music Dead Can Dance plays is a compilation of many layers of sound. Each band member plays a repetitive part and each part is inserted into the composition. Each layer is interesting in itself but together the result is mesmerizing.

As expected with a world class band the musicians are impeccable. The two percussionists that play such an integral part in this band are flawless. They provide a backdrop of sound for the others to work around. The two key board players do double duty as back up singers. The key boards add a plethora of sounds that would normally require several other musicians as well as the more expected piano and organ pieces. The lady (sorry I did not get the names of the back up crew) has a voice that most lead singers would die for and her role is to enhance the vocals of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry.

I have never really understood the use of the light show part of concerts. Most of the time the lights have little to do with the music, run off in their own direction and are more of a distraction than anything else. The lights at this concert do change but I find they enhance the performance rather than distract from it. The lighting is not very active but more of a stage set providing a backdrop and scenery with which the music interacts with rather than competes for the attention of the audience.

The playlist is a mix of the songs newly crafted for this tour and some of the old songs with which the audience was more familiar. The new music is good but did not touch the nerve that the older ones did. The first few notes played of a familiar piece and shivers would run through the body in expectation of what is to come. The songs are picture perfect and everyone in the audience sits perfectly still until each piece is played out.

At most concerts by the time the band has played for an hour or an hour fifteen I have  seen enough and it is time to leave. Dead Can Dance plays for one and a half hours straight, and comes back for 3 encores, they play for 2 hours and I am still willing to listen to more.

It’s been a long time coming but it was worth the long distance trip to watch a concert that we never expect to see. I’d do it again at the drop of a hat.

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Day 2 Toronto

Posted on August 23, 2012 by murray

Another day of walking the streets of a big city. North west is the direction of the day.

Breakfast for me is the cold pizza that we had left over from last night. Debbie opts for a power bar and 2 hash brown potato paddies from MacD’s. We’re only walking so that should fuel us for a while.

We start north along University Ave., rather a bland walk lined by mostly institutional buildings of the hospital variety. The focus to North, visible for many blocks, is the Provincial Legislature Building.

Ontario Provincial Legislature Building

Ontario Provincial Legislature Building

It is an older building of course constructed of reddish coloured sandstone, nice but not overly impressive. Only the lobby is open to the public to wander in. One may be able to hook up with a tour but self touring is not permitted so we have to suffice with a peek of the interior.

K from Torino, Italy is wandering through Queen’s Park at the same time we are. I presume he is a tourist and strike up a conversation. He is in Canada to run the Quebec City Marathon. He uses marathons as an excuse to travel to far away places and take in some of the sites. I ask how many marathons he has run and I’m astounded at the answer, 114, in the last 13 years. I guess he is not questioning whether or not he will finish.

Around the corner is The Royal Ontario Museum, ROM, again an older structure but with a world renowned addition designed by Daniel Libeskind. It is impressive and makes for a considerable amount of ‘curb appeal.’ I don’t know if curb appeal is necessary for a museum but ROM has it.

Royal Ontario Museum

Royal Ontario Museum

The fee for entry is $25 per person and neither of us enjoy museums that much so we skipped a trip to the inner sanctum and continue our walk along another well known Toronto thoroughfare, Bloor St. in search of the shopping landmark known as  Honest Ed’s.

Ed Mirvish opened a discount emporium in 1948 and it has expanded into a warren of mini stores all connected by short corridors and small flights of stairs in such a random manner that it is impossible to know exactly where we are in relation to the outside. Our only hope of exiting is to find a sign that indicates a way out and follow it. We did not end up on the street from which we entered but to us it just provides an unplanned start to the next stage of our adventure.

Just outside Honest Ed’s on the west side is a street with a few bars and few stores. While resting on a bench in the shade I spot  Lapierre Bicycles of Toronto. We haven’t taken the time to stop into a local bike store so now is the time. We take a wonderful 1/2 hour to talk to the salesman, bike tech, cleaning person, owner, only person that works there guy. He is a real bike person married to another real bike person and has a cozy little store that seems to be doing OK. I hope he makes it work. If you live it Toronto and you need a bike, this shop on Markham St. just south of Bloor is a great place to start.

Our planned circuit takes us through a residential district south of Bloor St. on our way to Little Italy. The shops that line the two main streets, College St. and Dundas St., that traverse Little Italy are full of interesting shops and restaurants. The residential area between is a little worse for wear but still worth the walk.

Our stomachs are whining and it is time for lunch. The Kensington Market area has a diverse selection of eating establishments. We stop at a Hungarian Thai place, The Hungary Thai. Weird as it sounds, I think the Hungarian owner realized that Thai food would sell better than Hungarian food and after all one has to make a living. He was an attentive waiter and the food was tasty.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is the last scheduled stop of the afternoon. There is a show of “140 of the drawings Picasso kept for himself” are on display for 3 more days and we thought we should see them. Twenty-five bucks to enter and see the Picasso show. Canadian governments should take a queue from their European counterparts and subsidize the hell out of such things as museums and art galleries to make them affordable for ALL to see.

As with most art and art shows the majority of the pieces do not interest me, but there is always one or two that stand apart. The two Picasso pieces today were “Man with a Guitar” a cubist piece of muted colours that to me embodied the essence of what most people think of as a ‘Picasso’ and a black and white study entitled “Sacre Coeur” depicting a famous church in Paris. Both these stopped me short and I had to pause to take them in.

The gallery also has an extensive collection of its own, a good part of which is on permanent display. The floor with the Canadian artists takes up most of our time with its many paintings by the likes of The Group of Seven and Emily Carr. The other section we find interesting is the 20th century artists with some great pieces by the Impressionists.

Our feet are sore and its time to head back to hotel for a siesta in preparation for the raison d’etre of this Toronto foray, the Dead Can Dance concert tonight.

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Next Stop, Toronto

Posted on August 22, 2012 by debbie

On Sunday we were in Lethbridge. Today is Wednesday, so it must be Toronto!

We are up early this morning to catch our 8 am flight to Toronto. Everything goes off without a hitch. We even time the express bus into downtown Toronto perfectly. And here we are!

We check in, have a quick lunch and dump our bags, the head out for a walk. For lunch we walk around the corner from the hotel and find the UN of restaurants. Down Dundas, east of Chestnut there are Sushi, Caribbean, Thai, Mediterranean, Vietnamese, Fresh Choice restaurants all in one short block.  We chose the Sushi and Bento Restaurant. The staff is super friendly, from the waitress, who noted we were from out of town, to the owner who held the door open for us when we left. The Rainbow Roll is plump full to bursting with goodies, we are offered miso soup on the house and are given an extra piece of sushi. What a wonderful way to start our stay in TO.

We wander down Dundas with the intention of going into the Art Gallery of Ontario. When we get there, it is crowded, very crowded. After all, it is almost 4 pm.  There is a Pablo Picasso exhibit on that ends on Sunday. We hum and haw at the $25 price tag and walk out. We will return first thing in the morning when the crowds are not so large (hopefully).

We stroll down Dundas east towards Bathurst , Chinatown Toronto style. The signage is a combination of Chinese and English sort of like Hong Kong but the street scape is definitely North American. At Bathhurst we turn south towards Queen West. The areas called West Queen West and Queen West are where the hip stores are popping up. We stop into a furniture store and wish we would win the lottery.

Ontario College of Art and Design

Ontario College of Art and Design

We stumble onto a building we have seen in “Architectural Record” magazine, so we detour down the street to see if we can go into it. It is the Ontario College of Art and Design. The architect expanded the building by creating a box supported by “pencils” over top the existing structure. It is very cool!

I thought Toronto would be very cosmopolitan, in style and dress. But as we walk, I notice that the people here do not dress any different that the folks at home. Shorts, baggy tees, flip flops, short dresses, flat shoes. There are just a few more of them.

Toronto City Hall

Toronto City Hall

We walk and walk and stop at City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square. We happen on the start of the gathering that is being held in memory of Jack Layton.  Missed Dallas Green and Martin Sexsmith! Both of whom played for free as part of the gathering.

Toronto's Old City Hall

Toronto’s Old City Hall

The Old City Hall is a commanding building rising against the modern world. The old brick buildings, whether they are houses or commercial buildings, are what makes the street landscape fascinating for me. They seem so much older that the buildings in Edmonton. The brick is dark brown to dark red colour. The detail in buildings such as The Bay building is incredible.

Flatiron Building

Flatiron Building

We wander until our feet begin to tell us it is time to find supper and head back to the hotel. We eat at the Taste of Mediterranean on Dundas and have pizza. We accidentally order a pizza that is much too large and so we have breakfast too. Murray is plotting out tomorrow while I write this. See you tomorrow.

CN Tower

CN Tower

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