That Day In Toronto

Walking along Lake Ontario at Toronto's 'Beaches' boardwalk and the sky opens up with a sound light and water spectacle. It cooled down the air and brought excitement for the race back to the car. Treacherous and obstacle ridden throught he park of hundred year old trees, at least... make sure not to take cover.

Later, 20 minutes by the side of the road, windshield wipers slapping while waiting for the river-like, underwater sensation to pass. We head downtown. For a city in the midst of a garbage worker's strike it's the cleanest I've seen in 10 years. Gazing through the windows up at the varied architecture. Past revamped museums, fortress like librarys, and victorian universities. We even saw a design school in the sky. We hopped out in front of a UofT building and went in to ask if we could have a gander at their grand hall, but were told that if they had to turn the light on for every tourist then they'd never get any work done. So much for the donations money right? But I jest, we have met nothing but kindness so far and I haven't even mentioned any of that.

We head up off to the CN tower and rode the elevator up. A clean 20 seconds to the top, glass windowed. Due to the weather the sight was predominantly grey and brown. The roofs of buildings are all depressing even from that height. It's only when you get to jet-engine altitudes that everything starts to seem quaint. Lake Ontario melted from shore to horizon in one flash of slate blue and made me think of the enevitability of infinity and the transient nature of moment... almost, and then, only for a second. The glass floor was completly unwalkable. I didn't manage to get more than a feet inches or a few seconds out onto it at any time. Children lied on it face down freely. I started to feel a little vertigo... such an uneasy feeling. Fabri did try to convince me, and I him, but there's no messing with instinct in these cases. At the end of that little game we were both ready to be sick and ready to come down.

Shared a slice of pepperoni pizza. The guy before us got the last appetizing piece of all-dressed (in Canada, pepperoni pizza is a Diavola... and Pepperoni is peppers.... go figure that out).
We went to the Distillery district and had a look at how they convert x-industrial spaces here in NA. Saw some work we liked by an artist – NAVA WAXMAN: Compositions in mixed media and wax– in a gallery, ate some chocolate and drank some coffee.

Stopped at a hospital that houses on it's grounds a wonderfully preserved estate house for banquets and festivities. Stunning and surprising. Got out of the car on the middle of a bridge over a ravine to look at a brook below. Stopped traffic temporarily.

We met the boys and Marty and Tam for dinner at Santorini, a Greek restaurant not far from their house. I ordered the brochette plate and Fabri a greek salad and it was more than enought for our european intestine. The kids were great and alot of fun to hang out with again. We had coffee back at Mel & Esther's and then got off to bed early after repacking the suitcase.