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Published: December 5th 2006
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Birds Eye View
Toronto from the CN Tower On the 2 hour bus from St Thomas to Toronto I marveled at the number of flags flapping along the way. At first sporadic appearances were made but as we drew nearer to Toronto they multiplied in number and size, the mighty maple leaf waving hello at me, in case I forgot for a moment where I was. About 30 minutes outside the city I started keeping count, reaching 37 flags in 15minutes. By then this game was getting a little boring so I struck up a conversation with Jim. Upon my probing, Jim replied this nationalistic zeal comes from a need to forge an identity, being so close in proximity and culture to the US. As Jim puts it, Canada is like the little sister of the most well known, popular, bitchy girl in school.
Basically, Canada is America's New Zealand...
Anyway, down to business. We had a good week in Toronto. It was nice for Jim to return to where he lived for 4 years but to also see it from a visitors perspective. For me, Toronto struck me as a busy city with plenty to offer. It reminded me a little of Sydney
Me, CN Tower
on the see through flooring. as well and a week in a big city was enough to remind me why I eventually left Sydney altogether. But it was fun filled and action packed with a Pearl Jam concert, wedding, Cn Tower, Kensington markets and other sightseeing.
We were there for a wedding and sightseeing and it all went well enough. The wedding was a lavish affair, a big italian wedding with plenty of food and more than enough vino. With waiters constantly filling my glass, I quickly lost track of what I'd consumed and became quite inebriated. Luckily, I did nothing to embarrass myself and almost everyone was in the same boat. It was lots of fun. I wish the same could be said for the next day! It was the most awful hangover of my life. Hangovers and I are neither strangers nor friends and this was the unfriendliest hangover in the world, keeping me hugging the bowl on and off for most of the day.
To make things more unfortunate we were staying at Jim sister Kathy's place and it was Mothers Day. Jim's parents drove to Toronto to spend it with the 3 of us and
I was very embarrassed at my state but Jim's mum was as sympathetic as any non drinker (and having never been a drinker) can be. Sadly the same can not be said of Kathy who was exceedingly cold (forget the Big Chill, I'm talking the Big Freeze here) and would not speak to me. Unfortunately this has continued and now, even several months later, Kathy and I don't speak. On the odd occasion when there are family gatherings that force us into the same post code our dialogue is kept strictly to "hello" and "goodbye". It's a shame, but I guess you can't get along with everyone and I've gotten along with everyone else in Canada so far so thank God for small mercies, eh?
Anyway, I digress. Back to Toronto news. We stayed the week in Kathy's apartment, which she kindly vacated for us, spending that week with her boyfriend. This was exceedingly nice of her. Our only obligation was to keep the place orderly and give care to her dog, a psychotic jack russell terrier going by the name of Ricky. We fulfilled these duties remarkably well and, once establishing that there are certain chew toys
My Chariot Awaits
The Toronto subway system is an efficent, effective but wholly unglamorous mode of transport. I felt rather out of place all done up for the wedding at 11am! you just DON'T touch, escaped without being further attacked. Ricky is the kind of dog that will wag his tail and demand affection one minute and maul you savagely the next. I put it down to LDS (Little Dog Syndrome) and tread VERY carefully.
We spent some time lounging at the apartment, relishing our own space (if only for a week) and making the most of the gym facilities. We spent a leisurely day browsing at the Kengsington Markets which are found on the edge of the Chinatown district. Full of alternative types, muso's and poets with nice little cafes and cheap asian grocers. In some streets we were swept back to our time in asia (reminiscent of Bangkok perhaps) finding $3 t-shirts and the like.
I took in my first ball game and it was just like I'd imagined, just like the movies. I'd been in training for this moment, having been subjected to a couple of games on the TV first. I quickly picked up the rules and the names of several players of 'our team', the Blue Jays. So we saw the Jays play at their home ground, they lost, but I enjoyed
The First Waltz
The happy couple during the customary dance a real deal hotdog from a vendor and a beer and a pretty good time was had by all. Have to say that I don't mind baseball at all, but football is still not winning me over. I have to admit also when they played 'Take me out to the ball game' I got goosebumps and that 'Oh-my-God-I'm-really-in-Canada-feeling'.
We walked the streets of Toronto and had a few dinners and drinks, catching up with friends of Jim's which was nice. We ventured up the CN Tower (tallest free-standing man made structure in the world or some such title) for some photo ops and a birds eye view of the city. For my aussie friends, the CN Tower is similar though a larger, better presented, slightly more upscale version of the one in Sydney. It has the viewing platform, with a section of see through flooring and the uber expensive rotating restuarant. It costs an arm and a leg and possibly your first born to get up the thing, but we luckily acquired 2 free passes which suited both our budget and our frugal natures.
The highlight of our week was seeing Pearl Jam play and they
were simply amazing. The scalpers tickets definitely DIDN'T suit our budget or our frugal natures but we were loath to miss them. What a great night, the band rocked out and it was one of the best concerts I've seen. They were even better than when I saw them in Sydney a few years ago.
All in all it was a good week, though pretty expensive especially considering we had free accomodation but I'm glad we did it. I survived the big smoke, the wedding, the hangover, the psycho dog and the sister unscathed and journeyed back to St Thomas. That pretty much wraps up the weeks happenings so I'll go and be back soon with more stories. Til then, take care.
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Claire
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You look gorgeous for the wedding Leigh, loving the long hair.