[Read about the first part of this trip here.]
Along the way we stopped in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a quaint 19th century town with cute shops and restaurants - think Old Town Alexandria, but a little more spread out. The area around Niagara-on-the-Lake is well known for its wineries, but we didn't visit any, as I long ago learned not to take Valerie, who isn't a wine drinker, wine-tasting (that's a story in itself). Instead, we had a good time browsing the shops in town. I even bought a cool shirt - the kind of thing I'd wear to a gig We had a lovely lunch, then got back into the car to continue on to tuh-RON-nuh.
Our son David's partner's parents are Torontonians (yes, this is the right term - I looked it up). They met us for dinner at a hip, upscale restaurant in the downtown TIFF Lightbox building, home to the Toronto International Film Festival. Don't tell anyone, but I thought the food was just OK. The appetizer and dessert were quite good, but the main course was lackluster - a very fishy-tasting Canadian trout on a few pearls of couscous. Valerie felt the same way about her dinner. The company, though, was wonderful, and we lingered so long we basically closed the place down. This is only the second time we'd met Doug and Kate, but we share a bond via our children and have really hit it off.
The next morning Valerie figured out the Toronto mass transit system, which can involve hopping between subways and streetcars, and went with Kate to explore another art museum. Of course, the day also included shopping for craft supplies (Kate is an accomplished artist and was understanding of Valerie's arts & crafts shopping). While they did that, I hopped bikeshare bikes to several places around the city. First, because my main destination wasn't open yet, I previewed the Distillery District, which we'd be visiting together the next day, then I headed to the waterfront where I rented a kayak and paddled out to the Toronto Islands, a small set of barrier islands just off of the city. The good news is that their kayaks were better than the typical rental boats, but they put me in a Tsunami 145, which is meant for big boys - you could have fit two of me in it. Unable to brace very well inside this bathtub of a boat, I wound up relying on the rudder to steer. Still, I had a good time paddling my way across a busy waterway watching ferries and water taxies heading to and from the islands and planes taking off from Toronto's downtown airport (which seemed to service mostly smaller, regional propeller planes and general aviation). Unfortunately, in my haste to get underway I had forgotten to take my water bottle out of my backpack before sticking it into the hatch, so I had no access to water to drink. It was a hot day and I headed back when I started to get parched, which meant I wound up being out a little short of my allotted two hours of rental time. I'll note that with this outing I added Lake Ontario to my list of Great Lakes paddled (still to do: Lakes Michigan and Erie).
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| Bikeshare bikes and bike lanes (Toronto has good cycling infrastructure!) |
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| Toronto as seen from a kayak |
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| Exploring within the Toronto Islands |
After kayaking I hopped another bikeshare bike back to the hotel (I would have taken a taxi or streetcar but I was dripping wet) and had just about enough time to shower and change before heading out by bike again to meet Valerie, Doug, and Kate at The Rex, a downtown jazz club. We were there for the club's early show, which featured a group of young musicians playing trad jazz, led by "Trombone Charlotte", a vocalist and trombone player who was very talented musically as well as being a very engaging performer. Even non-jazz-fan Valerie enjoyed the show. I'm happy to report that the club, a suitably divey jazz bar, was nearly full, even for a 5 PM show featuring young local talent. I ordered dinner there, a tofu sandwich which turned out to be just that - a slab of tofu on a bun. Somehow, it was actually pretty tasty. After the show Doug and Kate pointed us in the right direction, and thanks ton Valerie's knowledge of the mass transit system we made it home to our hotel with no issues.
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| Charlotte McAfee-Brunner and her band at The Rex |
Saturday morning we walked over to the St. Lawrence Market, a bustling traditional food hall marketplace. DC doesn't really have anything equivalent - I guess Eastern Market would be the closest thing, but St. Lawrence is much bigger and has a broader variety of groceries, prepared food, restaurants, kitchen items, and so on. We love that sort of place, and had a really good time there. There was a store with bulk food where I bought soy nuts (crunchy roasted soy beans - for a while these were a health food staple, but they've kind of disappeared in the U.S.), while Valerie bought a variety of chocolates.
Then we went over to the Distillery District, a collection of buildings which had started life as the Gooderham and Worts Distillery, but which now is a trendy SoHo-like collection of shops - looking back, it's funny how much of our trip was spent at places which could be described as "19th century something-or-other now transformed into 21st century coolness". As mentioned above I had been unimpressed when I visited the place the previous day, but it turns out it's much more alive on a Saturday afternoon than Friday morning. There was a band playing in a big courtyard outfitted with inflatable sofas. The shops were humming. Valerie got some top-notch ice cream (I was still recovering my my Sweet Jesus treat in Niagara, but I took a taste of hers) and I had so enjoyed the curried vegetable tart I had gotten a bakery the previous day that I got the same thing again.
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| Checking out the band at the Distillery District |
After a quick nap back at the hotel (hey, we're old), we caught some good Thai food for dinner then took the subway to the streetcar to the ferry which took us out to the Toronto Islands, where were catching a Grateful Dead tribute band at the marina bar. I didn't know exactly how to get to the bar from the ferry terminal, but fortunately Deadheads are easy to spot and we befriended a tie-dye wearing guy named Joe, who showed us the way. The band was pretty good, and the vibe was excellent. Marina bar with a view across to the Toronto skyline. Warm summer evening (but not DC hot!). A big crowd of people, all digging the music. Joe introduced us around a little (people tend to know one another in Deadhead communities), plus I chatted with some other people (Canadians are friendly).
Let me tell you something I heard from a lot of people in Canada, including otherwise mellow Deadheads - they're really pissed at the U.S. Trump's annexing Canada/51st state schtick has been very poorly received by Canadians, and multiple people told me they're avoiding travel to the U.S., and boycotting American products. More than one suggested we escape America and come live in Canada. Of course, Canada isn't perfect either.
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| Ferry - that's Joe dead center wearing the hippie hat |
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| Cherry Garcia Band (start of the show - later on it got much more crowded!) |
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| City view from the marina |
We had discovered on our way to the islands that the ferry schedule was pretty loose - the 7:40 ferry didn't depart until around 8 PM. One the way back, after comically stumbling from the marina to the ferry terminal in complete darkness, we arrived early for the 10:20 ferry, but it turned out there was a 10 PM ferry which wasn't even listed on the schedule. We walked right on, then took a taxi from the ferry terminal back to our hotel.
By our last full day we were tired of touring and decided to take it easy. I ate breakfast and worked out on an elliptical machine, then when Valerie woke up I went down with her and ate breakfast for a second time, and we played a few hands of canasta in the breakfast room. When we finally got moving we didn't go far, just directly across the street to the Allan Gardens Conservatory, yet another 19th century building housing an indoor botanical garden. I wasn't expecting much but the place turned out to be lovely, well kept, well landscaped, and stuffed with all kinds of pretty plants. We also returned to St. Lawrence market to pick up flowers to bring to our dinner engagement. While we were there we also bought more soy nuts and chocolates, since we liked them so much and they were a good deal.
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| Allan Gardens |
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| Central hall of Allan Gardens |
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| At Allan Gardens |
That evening Doug and Kate had us over for dinner. They live in a residential neighborhood of the city about five miles (oops, 8 km) outside of downtown. That's pretty analogous to where we live (about 6 miles from downtown), though their neighborhood is a little more urban. It feels kind of like my first neighborhood in Brooklyn, with brick houses packed close together, separated by impractically narrow driveways. Actually, their house reminds me a lot of my friend Asapearl's house - similar layout, and likewise decorated with an artist's eye for style.
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| With Kate and Doug |
We had a lovely evening together. Then, in the morning Valerie and I headed out for the long drive home. We crossed the border without incident, and a mere 10 hours later we were home!
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