The Big City Smoke – Toronto

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Toronto! It’s big isn’t it? Having only been to Kingston and Ottawa prior, nothing really prepared us for the city as we stepped off the train. Not even Melbourne. The city is colossal. As is the main station, Union Station. In fact the station is so big, I reckon you could spend a whole day just figuring a way out of it. I counted 27 platforms at least and everything seems linked by a series of tunnels, which I can only describe as a rabbit warren.

Once you’re out of the station though, you just look up and see tower blocks. This truly is the big city. Our apartment was just round the corner from the station, so in spite of the 20 minutes exiting the station, we still made it there within 30 minutes of stepping off the train. We walked into our apartment and noticed to our amazement that it looks over the Baseball Stadium (the Rogers Centre) and the CN Tower. We’re also very close to the elevated freeway, which means getting used to the sound of cars at night too, but hey we’re only here for 7 nights before heading back to the colder climate in Melbourne.

We arrived mid-afternoon and to be honest we didn’t do much, we headed out to the supermarket for some supplies. Making our own breakfast is a great way to save some cash and allows us to release that to spend on something else. We did head out to a recommendation in the Lonely Planet, Bymark restaurant, that is owned by a famous chef, Mark McEwan. It was candlelit and very atmospheric, and as with most restaurants we’ve found, it wasn’t very busy at all. The menu was good, in that, there was a lot of fancy dishes but they did have their own burger (which goes for a very reasonable $38). Claire had some fish as she has been having for days now; unfortunately because I’m no fish fan we very rarely have it at home so it’s a perfect opportunity for her to indulge.

The next day was to be a study day for me in the main. I’d dropped the ball in Kingston and with an essay due in a week and my now being a week behind in my reading, I needed to get back on top of things so we could enjoy Toronto together. I sat and worked from 8am until about 4pm, with a short break to chat to my folks and to head down the chemist for some supplies. At least now I can say I’m on track again. Claire spent the time having a massage and shopping before we caught up at a restaurant our host had recommended, Dimmi bar and restaurant. It turned out to be a delightful Italian meal of pizza and salad.

Our final destination (or in my case the 2nd) of the day was the Tarragon Theatre, which was showing a play called Permanence. We’d done a bit of online research and the reviews were good. We didn’t really realise how small the theatre was though. For any of you that know La Mama Courthouse in Melbourne it was a similar size. The play was amazing, one of the best I’ve seen for a while. It was about an English artist and a young American doctor who have an affair and the progression of that affair. It was extremely well acted and the pieces between scenes were done very well where they darkened the stage as the actors arranged for the next scene but in sight.

As we’d walked in the usher had let Claire know that there was full frontal male nudity; they must have thought Claire was particularly sensitive to this. But she just replied ‘goody’ and walked in. In spite of the near full day of study, I had a ball and looked forward to a fuller day of being a tourist the following day.

The tourist day went well, our first stop of the day was St Lawrence Market, which I suppose is the equivalent of Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. It sold a range of fruit, veg, meats, deli stuff and some arts and crafts. We wandered round the market, not buying much, I reckon maybe 85% of the people wandering around were tourists and the stallholders must just assume everyone is there to look instead of actually buy anything. The market was nice if a little unimpressive if I’m honest. Nice to look at but not really much to do.

This was though out launching pad into the Distillery District of the city. The whole district is housed in the old Gooderham and Worts Distillery which was founded in 1832 and by 1860 was the largest in the world. Luckily they now house a brewery, The Mill Street Brewery, which rightly or wrongly is in the Lonely Planet. I say wrongly because it was full of tourists, which made for quite a packed experience. The food was good though and I managed to get through 9 new beers before we headed outside for some air. We had sat inside for a reason, because the brewery is in there and the smell of the brewing is something Claire really likes. I don’t mind it too though.

As we walked outside to check out the shop, which wasn’t really much good. We noticed a more senior lady had collapsed and was being treated by paramedics outside. I’m unsure whether it was the beer from the brewery itself or maybe the exorbitant prices in the shop that caused her to pass out!

At this point, Claire expressed a desire to look round some shops and suggested I might like to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame whilst she did. It was a great idea. I’ve never really watched a lot of ice hockey. However I’m always interested in sports museums and what I garner from them. The museum seemed to just be full of huge glass cases with actual jerseys worn by players and their hockey sticks as well. This went on for possibly 200 cabinets, which if you don’t know the game too well can be a bit of a drag. I did however find the 3D theatre and watched a short film specially made for the Hockey Hall of Fame. It involved lots of pucks and ice fragments seemingly coming towards your head. It was quite enjoyable though. As ever on exit from the museum the way out lead you through the shop.

Claire was waiting for me and before our trip to watch the Blue Jays tonight at the Baseball stadium just across from our apartment; we popped into Sobeys Urban supermarket on the Harbour front. And the most monumental thing happened. I grabbed a few cans of beers because they make Budweiser with the local teams logo on (which I thought would be cool to bring home). When I got to the till, I was asked for identification! Gotta be the best moment of the holiday so far.

We went home briefly before we headed out to the Baseball at the Rogers Centre for the game between the Blue Jays and the Athletics. I don’t know too much about baseball but I roughly know the rules of the game. I don’t quite understand why they play the same team everyday of the week but hey I don’t need to know absolutely everything to enjoy it. The baseball signalled a number of firsts, my first time paying $12 for a beer, it was nearly a pint so it’s probably not far off the MCG. The next first was paying $15 for a beer, but it was the biggest beer I think I’ve ever seen in my life. The can was 740ml and was a bit of a beast to handle. But handle it I did. We had the obligatory hot dog, we clapped along and I even bought a Blue Jays hat. The game itself was great, so different from anything I’d seen in Australia and the UK. The sounds, the noises, the atmosphere and the bright lights from the advertising hoardings. Even the corporate boxes looked like they were bedrooms, they had curtains on them and were above and around the scoreboard. The Athletics scored early on in the game (the 5th innings) from what I can remember and the Blue Jays scored nothing all game until, the final innings, the 9th. All of a sudden out of nowhere they hit a home run to level the game at 2-2. Then the next batter in hit a home run too to win the game. Such a great feeling, crowd was going crazy and we got to leave the stadium with lots of happy jubilant fans.

That capped a great first three days in Toronto.

IJS 26/07/2017