T(w)O days in TorontO

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Normally I try to do one post per day on these trips, but it has been basically non-stop since Tuesday morning. Alas, I'll combine two days for everyone! I’ve seen several museums in these two days, and that’s not typically my style. I may have already mentioned in a previous post about the Toronto Pass – it cost $60 (US) and it includes passes to several high-demand tourist sites in town. It also allows you to skip the lines. My first usage was at Casa Loma, and the pass proved its worth there immediately. I was told to get there before 11:00 to beat the crowds. After an obligatory stop at Canada’s own version of Dunkin Donuts – Tim Horton’s – for a smoothie and a red velvet muffin, I was on my way to be a tourist. I got to the castle, because Casa Loma was built to be a castle in the early 1900s, around 10:15. There was already a massive line of people out the door. But with my pass, I was shown the front door and told to go right on in. Thank you very much.

Casa Loma was built by a rich dude to basically show off how rich he was. The family lived there for 10 years before financial woes overtook them (maybe shouldn’t have built the castle?) and they were forced to sell it. It’s definitely ostentatious. Several films have been shot there, and in the gift shop/restaurant area on the basement level, they have movie posters showing which films and which rooms they used. Pretty neat. My favorite film of 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse, had several scenes shot here.

People meandered all over the place. There is an audio guide with numbered stops, but that doesn’t mean you have to go in that order. Much of the furniture and artwork is from the time of the construction, which was barely over a century ago, so that’s not saying much. There were a few swanky rooms, but much of the furniture was understandably roped off, which made for narrow corridors within large rooms for people to move. It could be frustrating at times. There are three levels of the house, not counting the basement with the restaurant and gift shop. Then there’s the “tunnel” underneath the road that leads to the garage across the street, which includes the old automobile displays and the horse stable. I saw a Model T and a Model A, along with some old cars that were new to me.

You can also walk around the grounds of the estate, and they are done up. There’s a fountain in the back, and you can get great views of downtown Toronto in the distance. And the views of the castle from the garden are some of the best.

There’s really a lot to see at this place, especially if you like to see how the other half lived. I finished up after about 2 hours, but it really could’ve taken 3 if I had not needed to eat and get off my feet. So I opted for the fine dining experience offered in the restaurant in the basement of the castle. When on trips like this, I like to have one nice meal a day, and then everything else can be catch-as-catch-can. So I ordered the fish and chips – when in Rome, eh? The chips were great, and the fish tasted good, but it had far too much breading. I’m also doing a no-caffeine thing since I got to Canada. I hadn’t planned on it at all, but it just happened. I sleep better, but it takes some adjusting. Perhaps I should’ve started a day or two before I left? But now I’m 60 hours caffeine-free! Let’s see how long that lasts. All that to say, I got a lemonade at lunch instead of tea, coffee, or soda.

Once I got done with that, I decided to check out Queen’s Park and meander through the University of Toronto grounds. I took the subway to Museum station, which is a little funky in terms of decoration – they have decorated all of the support columns with designs you might expect to see in the museum next-door – Mayan, Egyptian, etc. Queen’s Park isn’t so big, but there are always lots of people there – lounging, frolicking, playing music for money. It’s a good place to people-watch, too. When I got up from there, I felt really tired – remember that whole thing about no caffeine? Yeah, it hits you most when you sit down. So I meandered slowly through the University grounds on my way back to my room. And then 45 minutes later, I woke up and could tackle the world again.

My afternoon project was to check out the Robarts Library on campus, and specifically the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library inside there. The Library was only 5 minutes away on foot, and as you approach it, you wonder what they’ve really got hiding in there. It’s massive. So tall, and so angular, but not in the typical rectangular configuration. They designed this building to stand out. I’ve heard that a university is only as good as its library. Well, if the exterior of this library is any indication, the University of Toronto is fantastically good. But without a UofT identity card, I couldn’t get beyond the 4^th floor, but they had some pretty cool escalators going up and down the middle of those first 4 floors. The Rare Book Library, though, was accessible to anyone and free! And just inside the front door, so you don’t even have to search for it. It’s pretty massive for being so confined. And dark, but I guess the light would fade all of the ink and other pretty colors of the old books. They had a display in the center featuring the history of Canada through first-hand experiences and documents – from Samuel de Champlain up through the independence of Canada. In case you didn’t know, Canada celebrated its 150^th birthday this month, so a lot of stuff around here features that history. But if you want to do more than look at the exhibit and gaze at the tall walls stuffed with old books, you have to fill out paperwork, etc. So I enjoyed about 45 minutes before I headed off to my next stop.

Downtown Toronto is pretty easy to navigate, except when you come out of Union Station and there’s construction work everywhere. And that's where I found myself at 5:15 on a weekday. But once I got my bearings, I headed to the Blue Jays stadium, Rogers Centre. It’s pretty hard to miss, what with the CN Tower right next to it. That tower is a godsend, really – if you ever get lost, just find it and you’ll be able to orient yourself.

I remembered my experience the previous night at the Argos football game and decided I should try to get something with long sleeves for this game. Stupid me told myself that a cardigan might be a good idea for this trip, but when I looked at the forecast, the temperatures didn’t seem to be problematic, and so I left the cardigan in the closet at home. Unfortunately, Toronto is on a lake, and with that lake comes a lot of wind. So while on the way to the stadium, I lucked into a store called Team Canada, boasting a large array of sporting apparel. So I stopped in and got myself a new Blue Jays hat and hoodie. The hoodie was $49, or about $20 less than what I had seen the night before. And I even got a compliment on it while I was in the Jays store inside the stadium. They couldn’t believe I had paid so little for it.

My original plan was to go to a Jays game on Thursday, when they would be playing in the afternoon. No real need for long sleeves, and the views would be great. But then Thursday’s forecast was nothing but rain. They have a retractable dome, and the last time I was here, they had closed it. I wanted an open game this time. So I switched up my plans and opted for the first available game, on Tuesday night. It was not a disappointment.

I got a little certificate for my “first game” – I didn’t get one last time, so hey – as well as a free drink for staying sober. And then a pair of the “cheerleaders” were walking behind me right after the game started, and they asked me if I wanted a free t-shirt. Apparently they knot 2 of them up and use them as pom-pom-type thingies before the game starts, and then they give them away after their first job is done. Lucky me. I also bought a souvenir soda and a foot-long hot dog, a measurement they are not kidding about. I confess to having had a really enjoyable time – maybe because we won and were never in danger of losing (yes, I used the pronoun “we” there, since I may as well consider myself a fan; I’ve been to more Blue Jays games than Atlanta Braves games in the past 4 years).

Wednesday was a day I really had to change up from my intended schedule. With the rain coming on Thursday, I wanted to do as much “outdoor” stuff on Wednesday as I could. The first of those things was a visit to the Kensington Market. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turns out that it’s just several square blocks of indy shops and cafés. I feel a little bad for saying this, but my first stop there was at the Krispy Kreme – I hadn’t had one of those things in months, and I wasn’t sure what time any of the food vendors would open at Kensington. It was a good call, since the only things open for food and drink were coffee shops before 11. I got there just before 10. The Kensington Market definitely has a local, townie kind of feel to it. Lots of small restaurants (and one, where I enjoyed brunch, called Canadian Bacon), thrift shops, fruit stands and butchers. Arts and crafts too. One place had a car parked in front of it, and out of that car were growing trees and other plants. Filled with dirt. I called it a “car-den” since there was no other signage to indicate what we were meant to do with it.

I enjoyed my brunch – bacon, eggs, some good toast and home fries – and the waitress complimented my NASA t-shirt. She said she had one just like it. Earlier when I was walking around, another lady asked me if I worked for NASA. I said no, but she said her son did. Okay.

After lunch, I stopped by the UofT bookstore, trying to find something academic. I found nothing that I wanted, in my price range. They really don’t have a good selection of apparel at reasonable prices. I guess I didn’t learn my lesson from last year. But while I was there, my feet began to kill me, and I felt like taking another nap. Damn caffeine-free lifestyle. Luckily, I was only 2 blocks from my place. So I did.

After a siesta, I walked up to the Royal Ontario Museum. It was pretty full of people and things to see. Again with my Toronto City Pass, I just walked on to the desk without going through the ticket line. They have a dinosaur exhibit that is pretty cool, and that’s coming from someone who knows a thing or two about dinosaurs. They’ve also got floors devoted to antiquities, and frankly it was more than anybody will ever take in completely. I enjoyed the sections on Ancient Egypt, and the exhibit about indigenous peoples of Canada was quite well done. I had thought that 2.5 hours would suffice at this museum, but I was mistaken. I arrived at 3 and it closed at 5:30. I barely scratched the surface of the old Chinese and Asian wing. But I did find some Art Deco furniture and stuff that I would like to have in my own apartment. If I go back, I’ll devote an entire afternoon to that museum.

My final item on the day was the Art Gallery of Ontario. It has free Wednesdays, meaning nobody pays at all from 6-9PM on Wednesdays. So, rain or shine, this was what I had planned to do on this evening of the trip. In hindsight, I should’ve planned better than doing two massive museums back to back. Oh, well. I will say that my tired feet and my caffeine-free brain probably didn’t help this museum score any points with me. It had its moments – unlike the ROM, this had paintings primarily. There were a few modern pieces that I found intriguing, or just funny. But the big draw of this museum currently is the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit. And nobody bothered to tell me that you had to get a special extra ticket at the front desk to gain admission to that exhibit, and at certain timed entries. It was going to be my last stop, and then I saw all these people with tickets, and a ticket taker said that they had “sold out” at that particular time, etc. How do you “sell out” of free tickets? Nevertheless, I’ve seen enough vaginas masquerading as flowers in my lifetime; if I went back downstairs to the front desk for anything (including free tickets for a later entry to the vaginal flowers), my feet weren’t going to take me back up another flight of stairs. So I meandered to the other side of the museum and found some awesome impressionist and modernist paintings. I do like those Moderns. By the time I left the gallery, it was pouring down outside. Glad I neglected to bring an umbrella on this trip.

And that’s it for my first two full days in Toronto. Check back later for tips on the aquarium, the CN Tower, and the history of shoes. And some more poutine.

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