This morning I decided to spend the day in Toronto - just because I can! I was getting dropped off in town and luckily we were meant to leave the house at 10 (For some reason I got the impression that I had to be up at 6am on a Sunday, but thankfully I was way off!) I was ready early and as I got dropped off at Toronto, Dawn was being picked up from work, so I saw her for all of 10 seconds. This day trip to Toronto was going to be better than last week's because a) it wasn't pissing down with rain and b) I had more of an idea of what I wanted to do. I got to Toronto at 11 and I mainly came in town to see the shoe museum which opened up at 12. But it was a fair way to get from Union Station to the place, so I spent an hour walking there and taking in all of the sights and sounds of a busy city - even for a Sunday. I like venturing out on my own. I'm in my element. I don't need to worry about getting lost and if I get off the beaten track, the better it is for me (although hard to do in a city the size of Toronto!)
As I arrived at the museum, so did 3 deafening fire trucks racing up Bloor St West and parking right outside the shoe museum. I had to think twice about going in, but the drivers were just sitting in the front seat having a bite to eat, so I figured it was safe to go in. Although why they flashed their sirens to overtake everyone only to park at a museum and have lunch is still beyond my realm of justification. The building itself is shaped like a shoe box (apparently. I'm still yet to see the resemblance! Can you?)
I went in and there were 4 exhibits - 2 permanent and 2 on rotation. One of the permanent ones was the most interesting of all - and the exhibit I stumbled upon first. It's called "All About Shoes" and it details the history of footwear from around the world without being dry and bland about it. Although I did lose interest at the second permanent exhibit, which was more of how indiginous tribes made their footwear (it wasn't totally boring, but I was just expecting more after being wowed by the first exhibit. I guess I was just admiring Roger Federer's shoes too much (Yes, he donated them to the museum. And I'm in shock that he is just one year older than me!) Here, take a look:
(And I think he did end up winning that Masters Cup match in Shanghai against Andy Murray last week - the one I got hooked on and the one that made me barrack quite loudly like the good ol' sport loving Aussie I am!)
Just in case his runners got misplaced in the change rooms, he can find them again because he's got his name on them - HOORAY! I left the museum just after 2pm. The sun was out and I was planning on going on a discovery walk in Cabbagetown, just east of Toronto. I would only have needed to catch a subway for 2 stations, then off on my own I can go exploring. But as I got to the subway station, I couldn't buy any travel tokens coz both machine weren't working and there was no staff at the ticket booth and I had no other way to get in, as the gates only open up if you have a token. So I took that as a sign of 'Don't go walking in the middle of nowhere today, you'll end up being REALLY cold and perhaps freeze your cute butt off". It was already -1 degrees in Toronto and I didn't fancy a walk around parks with only one subway station that was close enough to catch. Another time - perhaps earlier in the day when the sun is still up.
So I made my way back to where I was coming from and I wanted to find Nathan Phillips Square - the place that opens up in Winter for ice skaters. After not knowing where I was, I just kept heading South and taking turns all over the place - and it turns out I found it by accident! There was a tourist office open and I asked "Where's Nathan Phillips Square?" and he tried not to laugh when he said, "Um, right behind you". And being the tourist that I am, I wanted to ice skate, but the surface was being prepared and ready to be open for skating on Thursday, so right then there was only snow. So I pretended to ice skate on the snow and looked like a tool in front of some bewildered Japanese tourists! I'm glad I'm cute enough to get away with it still!
In my trusty Lonely Planet I found some suggested walking tours, all starting and finishing at major landmarks across town. One ended at Nathan Phillips Square - and I only had just started. So I decided to take that particular tour and do it backwards. It was quite interesting. Because of the Christmas season, I ended up seeing some Chirstmas windows from major department stores (Just like the Myer Christmas Windows, for you Aussies out there!) They were very elaborately done with a lot of attention to detail - I really liked them - despite me not being an overly Christmas loving kind of person. I managed to find a laneway that takes you to a little labyrinth in the middle of the city, just outside the Eaton Centre. What you do is you think of a question and then follow the labyrinth from the outside all the way into the centre. This is meant to be a calming and meditative exercise to do when feeling a bit stressed from life in the city. And if it weren't so cold and if the snow hadn't covered the pathways to the centre of the labyrinth, I would have done it. But my toes were still a bit blue from going to the Christmas Parade yesterday, so I wasn't about to take my chances. I continued walking the tour backwards and found a printing place that is haunted by the ghost of the first mayor of Toronto who was an avid printing press fan. Then saw some cool architectural buildings in the heart of the city - especially the Toronto Stock Exchange building. That you can tell is very old but very well maintained. I even managed to go on the Canadian Walk of Fame (very lame that you HAVE to see it!) There were only about 18 stars on there (cue 'lack of Canadian talent' jokes here!)
The sun went down and here, when it goes down, the temperature just drops with it - there's no gradual decline, it's instant (I discovered that the other week when I was walking home from the gym at 4pm. The sun was still shining really brightly that I decided to take the bike path home. This path is pretty during the day, but has a creepy vibe at night. As soon as the sun set, it became quite dark and cold very quickly and I ended up running to the house on the path. Got home just before it got pitch black) and I decided that was my cue to go back home. So I caught the train out to Oshawa (just in time, otherwise I would have needed to wait an hour for the next one), then got picked up by car.
Legs are sore (nowhere near as bad as last week - just sore enough to realise that I did do some exercise and got to know the city of Toronto a little bit better with the only way to do it - by getting lost in it!)
I have been watching The Amazing Race here and there are 2 more episodes to go. I'll be in Madison when the final ep is played - possibly with Chris - and I need to make sure I see it, coz it's getting good. I have a week to go before going to Wisconsin and I want to figure out what to do while there (when Chris, Michael and Mike are at work). Time to do a bit of research on this one...
See ya later :)
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