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Published: October 4th 2008
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Kensington Market
Even the shop names were interesting Before we got to Canada, some of the exchange students and I had decided to go and see a baseball game; the Toronto Blue Jays vs. the Boston Red Sox. In the end, because the stadium was in Toronto itself, we decided to make a weekend of it. Due to the fact I had a field trip and some others had lab classes on Friday afternoon, we split up. Alex, Natalie and I were to get a lift into Toronto later on and meet up with the others at the game. It takes about an hour and a half to get from the University to the city and so as we approached it was getting dark. This actually gave us one of the most fantastic views of the city. Canada is such a big country that there’s plenty of room for people to build, and so most buildings are really wide but only one or two stories high. Toronto on the other hand is full of sky scrapers. Ridiculously tall buildings, just offices, which stretch up 40+ stories high. So driving in from the freeway, everything is pretty much flat, and then on the horizon you’re suddenly met by this wall
Kensington Market
Some interesting fashions were found of tall buildings. Because it was night as well, the buildings were black against the fading purple sky, and all the buildings had lights on. It was beautiful and I was so mesmerised by this view I didn’t even think to take a photo, all that was running through my head was “wow” (but I know for next time and will be prepared!).
We got out of the car and found the hotel (avoiding the crazy drunken people) but we’d arrived too late to go to the game. Instead we looked about for somewhere to eat and ended up in a Vietnamese restaurant opposite the hotel. To summarise the menu it was basically Chinese food with soup, but it tasted fine and was most importantly cheap! We then met up with two of Alex and Natalie’s mates who live in Toronto. We went for a walk towards Life Square where we were met by LOADS of neon and flashing signs, bands playing, some people doing some crazy dancing, and quite a few drunken homeless people. We met up with the others in a bar and split up, some went clubbing, and the rest of us went in search of
Kensington Market
Yup even their wheels are retro. a bar. We must have walked miles towards, and then up and down what we’d been told was a road with loads of bars on. As it turns out there weren’t any and so we ended up back in Life Square. At this point we split again and whilst some went to bed, the rest of us ended up going to the Hard Rock Café for drinks and the BEST nachos ever known to man! Seriously there was cheese and jalapeños and guacamole and salsa and sour cream and peppers and they were just so delicious. Eventually we got thrown out as last orders were at 2am, and went to bed, in preparation for a day of sightseeing.
As it turns out, on Saturday we ended up going shopping. We walked up to Kensington Garden for breakfast as we’d heard it was a great place to go. Its Toronto’s answer to Camden and is a really nice place. We didn’t get to do the market itself because it wasn’t open but we still sampled the numerous café’s, vintage, and cheese (yes cheese) shops in the area.
We then split up again and headed towards the Eaton Centre, a
Kensington Market
View down the most colourful streets this side of ireland. huge shopping mall right in the centre of the city. Admittedly it would have been a lot quicker to use the subway, but then we would have missed seeing the dodgy parts of china town and the various smells of the city; mainly different types of sewage. Ok so I’m not painting that great a picture of the city, especially if I were also to mention the seemingly large proportion of homeless drunks wandering around. However the buildings were so impressive and being so tall gave an amazing dimension to Toronto, and the streets were so clean! There was very little rubbish anywhere to be found. We were stopped from crossing a street at one point because a helicopter was filming the empty street from above for a shot for a film. We later figured out that this film is (we think) actually set in New York but the film company couldn’t afford to close off a street there for 20minutes. We heard some people behind us joke that they’d have to use CGI to add in some litter to make it seem real (btw this is just a theory based on the fact we later saw them filming 2
Ontario Art Gallery
Still being built but looks pretty impressive smashed up NY taxis. If it turns out the film “Kick Ass” is actually set in Toronto I apologise for misleading you).
That evening we went out for a meal. We found an imitation English Pub, complete with stereotypical Beatles Gold Disks, Clash posters and a red phone box (just like all English pubs have) and had a really nice meal, although we all paid in cash and so probably cheesed off the waiter with the ridiculous amount of coins we used. Especially as we only gave a 10% tip, which we later fund out is actually an insult and signifies you thought it was bad service (for reference 15% is normal or 20% in a classy place).That night we went out on the town. We were originally headed for one club but when we got there we discovered that it they had a special dj for that night and we needed tickets to get in. So we went for a wander and found a bar and stayed there for a few hours, before heading out and finding another club closer the centre of town. Again, the bar closed at 2am but we stayed there dancing for a good
Near the Harbour
The building sare so tall! hour afterwards until we were the only ones left, and they turned off the music and pretty much told us to go home.
We split up again on Sunday and whilst the others went shopping again (I honestly have no idea how they managed it), 5 of us ended up walking to the Harbour and doing the Toronto islands which were really really good. Whilst we were waiting for the ferry we looked at the map and decided we’d start at Hanlan's Island and walk around along the beach to the other two. When we got there we discovered that on Hanlan Island, the beach was a nudist beach. However it was a really overcast day and there was a very cold breeze and we figured no one in there right mind would be there on a day like that so off we went anyway. As it turns out, nudists aren't in their right minds. Still there was a nice view across the lake and hey, we British and on a beach in September which doesn’t happen too often. We got back on the path on Centre Island and the sun came out so we had a lovely walk,
Toronto Skyline
[Stolen from Sarah] stopping to look at lighthouses and random water features, and regressing back to three year olds whilst having a go on some swings we found. We didn’t have time to go to Ward Island and see its "Lively Boardwalk" as we were to meet the others at the CN Tower but the view of the Toronto skyline from the ferry port on Centre Island more than made up for it. This is the stereotypical skyline of the city and the picture you’re most likely to find in books, promotional info, or the internet. Granted I have a thing for skylines but still you’ve got to admit this is pretty fabby.
When we got back to the mainland we called the others to say we were back and that we’d meet them at the tower. Unfortunately however, long story short, we had to get the 5.30 bus back to campus and so didn’t have time to see it. However, you can see the tower from pretty much anywhere in the city (it’s a rather useful navigational tool), plus we’re only an hour and a half away and so I’ll probably be going back there to do my Christmas shopping anyway.
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