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Replica of Wayne Gretzky Statue
I'm an Oilers fan, so what did you expect? This is a miniature replica of the statue in front of Rexall Place (for those that don't know, it's where the Oilers play). Well, I'm on the road again, if only for a little while. The company I work for sent me on a course to Toronto, so here I am! Thanks work! I was only supposed to be here four a few days, but that seemed like a waste, so I took some vacation time and stretched my trip out for another week. The plan is to spend a couple more nights here in The Big Smoke (I didn't get to see as much as I wanted in the evenings after my course), then head off to Ottawa and Montreal. I've got about a week left, so it'll be a whirlwind tour, but hey, better a whirlwind tour than no tour at all, right? And frankly, I need the vacation. I've been kinda down the past couple of weeks so I'm hoping this'll pick me up!
So let me start off with the course I just finished. It's from a company called Langevin, and they basically train people to be trainers. That's right, I'm training people how to do their jobs. Me. Yes,
ME. That's a frightening thought, isn't it? Anyway, it's a fabulous course! I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone getting
Horse Cops
They still use horses on the street in the Big Smoke? Wild! into some sort of training role. They have about 20 different courses too, all which give you a lot of excellent tips towards putting together a great training session. At the end of the class I took, we all had to create and present our own participative training session to our group, and afterwards the group would give feedback on what each person did well and what they needed to work on. Plus, each person got a DVD of their session so they could take it home and watch it for themselves! The best way to critique yourself is to watch yourself - at least I think it is; I'm not the expert! Anyway, it was quite the experience! I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people!
I had been trying to check out as much of Toronto as I could during the evenings, but a lot of the stuff I wanted to see closed by the time I got there. And I didn't even get there that late! My classes ended around 4:30, but the Skydome tours close at 3:00?!! What up with that? And the Hockey Hall of Fame closes at 5:00??!!!
View from the CN Tower
I love this shot, and you should too. Why? I don't know. Why not? C'mon, buckle in to peer pressure, it's the cool thing to do! Seriously??!! SERIOUSLY??!!! When you bastards go to hell, say hi to Satan for me!
Thankfully, since my course ended yesterday, I got around to checking those two places out today. Both are cool, but the Hockey Hall of Fame really stands out. Any hockey fan visiting Toronto
has to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. I admit it - I totally nerded out there. "Who's the guy sitting on the floor taking 18,000 pictures with a tripod sticking outta his pocket?!! That guy's a LOSER!" ...Yeah, that was me. Oh why can't I be one of the cool kids?
One thing I did manage to see during my evenings was the CN Tower, which I must admit is really impressive. I've been up plenty of these needle-monument thingies before, but the CN Tower is the first one that actually made me go, "wow!". The thing that stood out to me is how thick it is. I don't know how thick it is, but it's frickin' THICK! And tall. Reeeeaaaaallllly tall. I found it hard to find a place to take a picture of it where you can get most of the damn thing in. Dang man! A ding-dang-doo!
That's a tight @$$!
Wow! Lady, you are the reason God invented spandex! Damn... ... .... Sorry, I'm just gonna roll up my tongue now. As for Toronto itself, well it's quite a city. I have to say, I don't know if I've ever been in a place quite like it. The
Lonely Planet website refers to it as "one of the great ethnic melting pots of the world." (
lonelyplanet.com), and that's definitely true. I sometimes have a hard time believing I'm in my own country when I walk through the streets; there's all sorts of great ethnic food, countless different languages being heard... if it wasn't for the countless number of Tim Horton's and the fact that I'm paying for shit in Canadian currency, I'd swear I was somewhere else!
Toronto's downtown layout is really cool too. You'll see strips of stores on a busy street with two or three-story apartment buildings on top of them. It's also got a great blend of the old and new; antique buildings surrounded by highrises, like something you'd see in Europe. And Yonge-Dundas Square reminds me a little of Tokyo or Seoul (just a little though - I mean, c'mon!). It's compact for a big city too, which makes for easy walking.
As far as sights go, Toronto's only average. But it's a beautiful,
happening place with great vibe and atmosphere. Frankly, I find it a bit weird to find a city in Canada that's truly "international". I find that weirder still when I consider just how multi-cultural Canada is. I don't get that "international" feeling in other cities (well, at least where I'm from) but I do here. I wonder why that is? Maybe it's because when you live somewhere for so long, you forget what makes it unique. I guess I should try to pay a little attention to that when I get home, eh? I know what my homework assignment is!
Anyway, tomorrow I'm taking a day trip to Niagra Falls, and then it's off to the nation's capital, Ottawa. Should be fun, so don't wait up! ... Well, don't wait up, but at least leave the lights on so I don't drunkenly stumble around in the dark!
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Travelling light
Varpu V
Hey Tom
Nice that you're back writing, really enjoyed reading it:). Hope you'll have some photos from the Falls to upload here, would be cool to see them. It's on my "wanna travel there and see it"-list! Take care!