So here it is. An online publisher for Fraser to share his photos, travels, and thoughts with friends, family, and the world wide web. Updates will not be published expeditiously, seeing as I usually shoot 35mm photos and get them developed at a relaxing pace. Maybe once I figure out how this all works, I will publish writing and then update photos later. But I doubt it.
July 1, 2009 featured no classes exactly half way through the week. Excellent. I had hoped to catch up on notes/homework after a weekend fly-in visit back to Manitoba, but instead I was willingly roped into a visit to Toronto (some call it Tdot. I'm not sure if I am allowed to call it that, but occasionally I do anyway). The day started out with sleeping in, and then hopping into 'R's Toyota Corolla, which was all fresh and clean because 'R' and I cleaned it the night before. I don't think guys usually just clean cars on a whim like that, but as it were, we had gone drifting (e-braking for anyone thinking that drifting FWD can't be done), and found an ideal location off the beaten path, got stuck, got muddy, got unstuck, and had a blast.
Anyway, back to this Canada Day trip. The drive there was mostly uneventful, other than 'R' following a wrong vehicle past an exit, and we soon made it to 'V's nice home to pile the six of us into her van. Arriving at a the West Mall, we parked, and purchased a "family pass" for the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). This gave us unlimited access to the TTC transport system for the day, including subway and streetcars. Being in the subway terminals felt like being in a movie. This was probably because that is the only time I had ever seen them. My favourite part was standing right next to the path of the train, and having the wall of air hit me as it raced down the tunnel. Just imagine wind while being underground.
We made it to the game, mostly by following the countless people wearing some sort of Blue Jay's clothing. I guess its a big deal there. The stadium is officially called the Roger's Centre, but skydome was definitely a more suitable name. It's located right next to the CN tower (if it's even still called that), which distorts the size of everything. Almost like driving by a wind farm in the prairie makes animals or tractors look like toys. But not quite. The Jay's played Tampa Bay, and won the game by way of homeruns mostly. I appreciated the win. In my experience with the Goldeyes, this is a hit and miss type of thing. Maybe not there, I don't know.
After the game, the skydome closed. This was nice after getting a little warm in the sun. We sang the national anthem, watched some forgettable patriotic video (I get the warm fuzzy patriotic feeling from talking to the elderly usually), and they blasted off a few fireworks. Indoors.
From there, our day had no real schedule, and we explored downtown. Chinatown with its cool graphiti and cheap stores that make me a little queezy, Kensington (photo above by 'D') with its feel of many places and ethnicities put into one with a decidedly friendly Canadian flavour, and the Harbour where the people gathered, the bands played, and the sun set. Oh yeah, somewhere in there we were looking for a restaurant, and after passing quite a few good looking ones (apparently a few of us were not as hungry as 'S' and I) I made a decisive decision on the stairway that led below street level to a modern Japanese place (photo below). It was a lucky guess, and as far as I could tell, everybody enjoyed it.
After this, we hopped onto a street car yet again (I didn't really get tired of them), and headed for Ontario place to see the fireworks. We found a suitable spot on the grass by the water, and four of us went searching for a restroom, while 'D' and 'A' stayed behind. I never thought that the city workers being on strike in Toronto would affect me, or anyone I knew for that matter, but apparently it did. I had previously noticed that there were a few city garbage cans that were completely overflowing and surrounded by waste. But the idea of closed restroom facility had never occured to me, and in the end, it took well over an hour (read: at least) to make the trip. I suppose half the idea of the strike has worked - people are aware.
The fireworks went for a good while, and we were in good spirits - laughing spontaneously at the fact that the smoke they created blew directly in front of them. I did not know it was possible for those huge light explosions to be nearly completely hidden from view. Another new perspective, nonetheless. When they were finished, we ran all the way back to the street car line. I was carrying 'V's backpack, and somewhere on the trip, her umbrella fell out. Maybe it was when I was jumping through the traffic jam, where there were gridlocked cars honking at each other to no avail. It intrigued me how they would honk continuously, when it was clear that the traffic jam was going to stay in gridlock. Well, there was the person who's car was facing the opposite direction that traffic was eventually going to flow. How she got in that spot, I have no idea. All I do know is that she wasn't leaving anytime soon. We beat the rush to the streetcar, and had a nice quiet trip back to the subway terminal on route to our home in Waterloo.
My thoughts after the fact: Toronto is neet, but I probably wouldn't want to live there. Maybe it is nicer or more trendy than what I've seen of Edmonton, Vancouver, or Winnipeg (I walked away with my camera this year), but it is likely that I will always have a slight feeling of being a tourist there. I have plans to return to visit 'M' and see Toronto alongside the eyes of a someone who lived in the Tdot all their life. Maybe that will give me more connection. People say home is where the heart is. I am leaving pieces of mine here and there, but I think each piece has an imprinted signature of the south east MB that I know best.
Cheers from ON,
Fraser
