Further Adventures in Toronto

Galoshes In Style

Galoshes In Style

Updated Sept 12: pictures have now been posted to facebook.

What I have learned is that no person should be caught without an umbrella in Toronto come early September. The heavy rains would explain why galoshes have been so cunningly woven into the local fashion here. What seemed to be a citywide desperate attempt to weave something new into the urban ensemble, now makes a lot more damn sense!

Signs everywhere

Signs everywhere

Robin and I are staying at the Grange hotel near the heart of China town. It is not as charming to look at as our previous 3-day residence, however, this one comes with a kitchenette, so I can finally cook an egg the way I like it! Amen! We ventured out into the strip of seemingly endless red and yellow awnings, open vegetable markets, tea shops with barrels of pungent dried shitake mushrooms, and various blinking trinket stands, and entered “Excellent Cantonese Restaurant”. We ate a super inexpensive lunch on layer upon layer of white garbage bags that adorned every single table. The slippery surface proved difficult- yet handy when I poured jasmine tea from uselessly drippy spouts. In the middle of our meal a man came to replenish the crab tank behind us. One by one dropping them in, and no, they are not for decoration. We watched the waitress gather up teacups, dishes, and chopsticks all in the topmost layer of the garbage bag, and haul the whole thing to the kitchen. It was clever, humorous even, but not romantic.

Secret Door

Secret Door

We walked Queen St. with it’s excellent windows filled with tantalizing objects, and fashions that would not fit into my backpack *Pout*, and we made our way to the hockey hall of fame. I took a picture of Robin standing next to Lord Stanley’s cup. Then down to the distillery district we went.  Oh fantastic!! Beautifully kept Victorian buildings and cobblestone streets all transformed into some of the coolest coffee shops and galleries anywhere. We sipped lovely coffee at Balzac’s, and watched the urbanized wildlife, including two black squirrels in the window flowerpot chittering over a dog biscuit. But my friends, the highlight was stumbling into a gorgeous little chocolate shop in the middle of this euphoric bricked-street wonderland, and finding my favorite chocolate of all time: 70% Porcelana by Domori! (All I need now is 49% Fleur de sel. Right Girls?)

da Bears

da Bears

We strolled again until we found a nice patio with pub fare, gulped down a pint each, and wolfed down beer-battered fish and chips ’till that rain chased us back to China town. I should admit that it actually down poured on us the whole walk home- but I found a teapot in the kitchenette, and we’ve got Ghostbusters on the laptop, Cheers!

Check out all the pictures here.

Liz

Tags: , , ,

One Response to “Further Adventures in Toronto”

  1. Fashion News » Blog Archive » Further Adventures in Toronto Says:

    [...] http://www.lizandrobin.com placed an observative post today on Further Adventures in TorontoHere’s a quick excerpt [...]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.