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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

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

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

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

Drink Up!

Update 2: Added pics from our trip to the Royal Ontario Museum to the gallery.

Update: pictures have now been posted to facebook.

Liz and I discussed trying a “She Says/He Says” format, where we weigh in separately and offer our unique points of view on the same topic throughout out travels. We will give it a go with Day 1 and see how it fares. Feel free to comment on this.

We have some pictures I would like to share, but they are currently sealed in an impenetrable vault on Liz’s iPhone, so it will be a day or so until we discover the secret incantation to unlock them (now posted). I have already tried ‘speak friend and enter’. No go.

Leaving Edmonton was an odd thing to experience. We went through weeks of prep, which included excusing ourselves from our jobs, countless wonderful yet bittersweet good-bye’s, and down-sizing our lives into two backpacks. And then we found ourselves sitting in an empty house, packed, and anywhere to go. It was a little surreal.

We chose Toronto for a few reasons. It was on our list of cities to explore, cheap flights were available at a moments notice, and then I stumbled across a hockey article that mentioned a celebrity hockey game occuring in Toronto the very next night. Considering how badly I will miss going to Oilers games this season, and the fact that Tim Robbins was one of the celebrity players (that’s how I knew Liz would go ), it was a must see. Thursday afternoon started with us having no plan at all, and by Friday morning we were on a plane to TO with tickets to the game. I could get very used to this way of life.

My most memorable moment of people watching was after we landed and were on the subway heading to downtown Toronto. There was a young man sitting away from us with headphones on. Fairly normal encounter, at first blush. But I noticed he was talking. Then I realized he wasn’t singing to some catchy tune, or talking on a phone, but rather was reading aloud from the bible in front of him, and to no one in particular. He recited non-stop for thirty minutes or so until we reached our stop, and had to depart. Perhaps he is still going. I wasn’t able to see the front of his hat, but the back had ‘Jesus’ embroidered into it. Hardcore.

The last thing I want to leave you with is a kudos to the VP of Beer Operations at the Air Canada Centre. Not only do they serve Rickard’s Red on tap (beats the pants off of the soapy Canadian draft beer at the Oilers games), but they serve it in cups with lids that have these ingenious mouth spouts and flaps to provide both enjoyable imbibing and spill-free cheering when a goal is scored. Genious.

In short, Toronto = great, and this trip = very good idea indeed.

Robin

Empty house

 Whew! The house is almost empty, and Liz and I are that much closer to making this whole crazy plan of traveling east a reality.

The last couple days we have been making car loads to friends and family (shout out to Billie), and today was the big push that got us over the hump. We spent the morning moving loads of household items to my sister Jacqueline’s using John V’s truck (thanks man). Sister Cody and hubby Diarmuid came up from Red Deer and we loaded up their truck and trailer with tons of stuff. John V as well as Mom and Deirdre helped out, and were sent home with lots o’ stuff as well. W00t!

Net result = house is almost empty. Thanks to everyone who helped!

Pics up at Facebook.

Cheers,
Robin