...your maple leaves are lovely!
This is the song my nephew and I have been singing for weeks in preparation for our trip here to Toronto. We haven't gotten beyond that one verse, or even carried much of a tune, but it's been fun to sing a little ditty to keep the big TO in the forefront of our minds.
Well, here we are. Mom and I went to the Brad Paisley concert last night, with Jimmy Wayne and Dierks Bentley, and the show was fantabulous. But all that fantasticalness didn't end until after 11, and so it was midnight before we got home. Midnight, dude. And we had to leave for the airport at 5. And of course I hadn't packed...are you crazy? So I packed. I got to bed at 2:30 this morning, and I got up at 4:15 to head to Dulles. By 4:18 I was ready for Canada to secede from North America and break off into the sea like California keeps threatening to do.
I admit I even ate donuts from 7-11 this morning, regardless of my current nutrition kick, because at 5 am in the car with my brother, my nephew and my mom, it was either an eclair and a chocolate donut or 20 to life in the Federal pen for multiple homicide.
Man, that sugar went right to my brain. I was almost quasi-human by the time we rolled up the terminal. The flight was uneventful, thank God, and the United people can be forgiven for the extreme lack of hotties on the plane, since I was definitely not looking my best this morning. None of that really matters though, because when I looked out the window - there it was. A new landscape. No matter how often I travel or what new places I go to - I still get a little teeny thrill in the adolescent section of my brain every time I go someplace new, and it goes a little something like this:
YAY!
This morning - my Yay! was here:
Lou was a little wound up (though he got the most sleep of all of us) and almost as excited as I was to see land. He was very firm in telling me that Lake Ontario was not a lake, but was in fact the ocean, since it was "100% huge." He then proceeded to tell me I was crazy when I told him that we had gotten the sharks that were carrying our luggage from that ocean. "Don't be silly, Aunt Mel. Sharks don't carry luggage - they EAT it. Duh."
Allllrighty then.
(Lou, by the way, is a camera HOG, unless he's in a mood, and then he lets the paparazzi know that pictures are a privilege.)
In any event, we arrived safe and sound in Toronto, and got to the hotel in one piece. We're staying at the Intercontinental Rodgers Center, and already I love it. Sometimes the bigger hotel chains are hit or miss, but these guys are on the money. It's beautiful, there's no lines, the staff are all on top of their game, and best of all, they brought out the big guns at the first sign of the cranky six year old we towed in from the street. Within seconds of us getting to the counter, he had a cup of crayons, a "check-in" sheet to fill out, a gift backpack full of goodies, and his own "check-in" counter. SCORE.
So check-in was painless, which is always nice. (Every one I know who has children just nodded. Just FYI.)
We haven't really planned our itinerary for this week, but I wanted to hit Kensington Market today, since on the last Sunday of every month the city shuts the neighborhood down to traffic and makes it a pedestrian only zone. Apparently, it's usually chokingly crowded, but the intermittent pouring rainstorms today cleared everyone out, so the brief periods of sunshine we enjoyed were refreshingly elbow-in-the-kidney free.
All in all, though I didn't take time to explore all of the really cool vintage shops (present company had NO interest), I really like Kensington. The houses are all very colorful...
...the gingerbread and house adornment is out of control...
...and there are some there that just make you look, and look, until you finally admit that you just don't get it.
All in all it's a cool place though. We walked around for a few hours, I bought some really odd and random things in shops where we hid out from the rain (I'm not sure that I really need a pink glass salt bowl or an oxidized copper Mexican wolf head bell...but they're cool.), and I found some things that were we not in a recession, I would buy just because. Just because they amused me, just because I can't believe someone spent money to produce them, or just because I know that one day I'm going to have to participate in a Secret Santa gift exchange, and this would be the perfect revenge.
Then I ran around and photographed all the graffiti...
...even the stuff in the Cheese Store window...
...(along with my trusty sidekick, who only wants to race down alleys as long as he's winning)...
and we people watched like fiends. And, oh, my friends...was there some people watchin' to DO. Here are the highlights:
The parking police, who only seemed to be concerned with the parked vehicles in front of fruit stands. Every single time I saw this guy he was in front of a fruit stand. Maybe he's trying to get more fiber?
My nephew was impressed with this lady, who was carrying two juvenile iguanas, and wearing another one on her head. I tried to get a front shot, but she was moving at a good clip... but I would be too if I was carrying three scaly bags of testosterone laden reptile aggression.
And last, but not least, my favorite of all of the sidewalk vendors. I have NO IDEA what they're actually selling, but I'm pretty sure it comes accompanied with a mantra on peace, love and understanding, with a few Buddhist/Maoist/Taoist/Marxist thoughts thrown in for flavor.
My only complaint about the afternoon in Kensington is that I noticed that all of the trash cans were overflowing, and there was trash piled in every available alley space. There were even trash cans that were wrapped in restaurant cellophane, to keep anyone from adding any more trash. I found out later that there was a trash strike going on, which explained it, but all I can say is THANK GOODNESS it wasn't hot out, or the smell would have been all I remembered.
Kensington, all in all, was 110% worth the street car ride up there. We stopped by Chinatown on the way back to the hotel...
...and I am SO GLAD that there is not a hardcore neighborhood like this in DC - the fruit alone would make me go broke. We bought Rambutan, plums, donut peaches (yay! Donuts! Uh, wait, what?) and all kinds of deliciousness that we usually can't get at home. The stalls in Chinatown here were so colorful I really just wanted to hose everything down so it was glistening and spend about four hours taking pictures. Although I got enough weird looks taking the few shots I did that I recognize the idea is impractical (especially since one of the vendors was negotiating with a woman to buy a box of mangosteens...for $160!!!).
But they were so pretty. My favorites were the mangosteens...although I have no idea what they taste like...
...and the Dragon Fruit. No idea what this tastes like either (and it's ridonkulously expensive, so when I eat everything I already bought, we're coming back for this and the mangosteens), but I'm a Dragon in the zodiac, with all the weaknesses therein implied, and so I covet it. Prrreeciousssssss.....
But we didn't linger long in Chinatown. Mom and Lou were both exhausted, (although I was carrying everything, and isn't the Sherpa supposed to be the first to throw in the towel?) and so we headed back to eat and crash. I stopped for a minute to enjoy a young man very emphatically telling a pigeon to cross the street...
...but didn't get a chance to snap off more than a quick shot since Mom and Lou were already heading for the street car.
All in all, our first day in Toronto went smashingly. The weather was bearable, the people are great (even the odd snaggle toothed man who sold me the pink salt thingy, who "has an aunty in Fairfax and may come back down to visit now that Dems are back" but welcomed me to Canada with a great conversation and a hug when I left), and the view from our hotel room cannot be beat. There's a little something for Mom and I...
...and a real live working Tidmouth Sheds train depot with a rotating roundabout that kept my nephew enthralled for hours, and fed his train obsession marvelously.
Toronto, I heart you.
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