but how was Toronto otherwise, Peter?

A week and a half ago, early on a Saturday morning, I found myself on a plane at LAX, heading to Chicago

where, after some lounge time, I boarded a second flight to Toronto. 

A long (and kind of pricey) cab ride into the city (but the driver was very good conversation, a lovely man) and I was at my hotel, the Hyatt Regency on King Street.

I'd had a long day with mostly lounge and airplane food to eat at, well, odd times, and though I wasn't super hungry, I did want a late dinner, so I headed to the hotel bar for a bite and drink.  That turned into a long while with a Floridian named Amy sitting next to me, chatting to me. 

No, not hitting on me - her husband was at the other end of the bar - and yes, she was rather tipsy.  But she was friendly, and I enjoyed the chat.  Sometimes that's the fun part of being at a bar.

I slept in the next morning.  And by sleep in, I mean 7:00-7:30 range.  Not bad for me.  I grabbed a decaf latte at the Starbucks on the ground floor of the hotel,

then wandered out for a walk in the city. 

How funny that we were at the corner of King and Peter! 

Apt?  Sure, why not?  I wandered through fairly quiet streets over to the city hall area, taking photos as I went. 

Then it was time to get back to the hotel

- Allison was due to meet me to go for brunch, and I needed to get ready.

Brunch was over in the Distillery District, at a place called El Catrin Destileria.  We met up with Allison's friends Jen and Greg whom I don't think I'd seen in the more than 15 years since Allison's wedding.  Oh, and their cute little dog, as well.  The tacos I had were decent,

but it was nice to sit out on the patio on a fine day and catch up more than anything.

The afternoon after that passed simply:  Allison and I headed to the Oasis pop-up store, chatted a bit with the folks in line with us, and spent two hours waiting to get into the store.  In fact, Allison had to head home before I got in the door as her daughter was due home.  I did get in eventually, though, and bought a football jersey to wear to the concert.

And then, friends, it was the concert evening, though not before Allison and I had pizza with her daughter.  The night ended late for such an early morning ahead.

Before I knew it, it was onto the first of two flights the next day - connecting through Denver this time - sporting the other Oasis shirt I bought. 

A sixty hour trip in total, from home to back home.  Wow!  I'm not sure what will next bring me to Toronto and when, but I'm glad I at least had a nice little glimpse of it outside of the concert. 

COTU

A quiet week that led to a busy week of travel.  I am in the Centre of the Universe for a whirlwind visit.  Good old COTU.  More to come!

COTU

Ah, Toronto.  So beloved, I sometimes think, by USians, so not loved by many of us in Canada.  And yet, there I was this past weekend, visiting the largest city in my homeland.  The things I do for friends...

I joke, somewhat.  There really is an ambivalence toward Toronto that seems to be cultural in other parts of Canada, including where I come from.  Truly, Toronto is not a bad city at all.  It's remarkably multi-cultural, and really, anything that you want to find in Canada will probably be there aside from things that are deeply French Canadian.  It's a huge city, so there are some lovely neighbourhoods.  Shopping and dining, and entertainment and sports.  Toronto has a lot to offer.

But it's also a city that I don't think has ever recovered from how badly it cut itself off from the lake, this despite a growing number of highrises and other developments in between the freeway and the lakefront.  It's not exactly flat, but for a Midwest city (because it really is, geographically), it needs the lake to define it.  Van also noted that it's a city that seems to be tearing down a lot of its heritage and becoming more and more anonymous.  The tall towers on Yonge and splattering outward from that street could be in many other major world cities, and while that says something good about Toronto's increasing importance on a world stage, it's a little sad to be in among them and think that it's hard to know what city you are in.

The truth is, I find Toronto to be a little boring.  Not bad, no, just kind of dull.  If it wasn't for Allison, really, I'd have no reason to go back (ALA is unlikely ever to return there).  But Allison is there, and she is one of my dearest friends, and she did have a 50th birthday last week, so back we went.

Traveling to the east means a whole day of travel once you add in time zone changes.  Conrad, Van, and I started out midday, heading to LAX at lunch time after I had some work meetings, then on from there to Chicago to connect. 

By the time we made it to the hotel room and unpacked and went to bed, it was past 1:00.  Ugh.

We let Van sleep in the next morning.  Heck, I slept in the next morning.  That was a long day of travel the day before.  Happily, Allison (with Merp in tow

- yes, our whole online happy hour group converged on Toronto for the weekend, and Marie had flown in the day before as well) wasn't going to meet us until lunchtime, so we had the luxury of that sleep.  It was a sunny day to be downtown, and after a brunch together, the five of us wandered toward City Hall

and in the general direction of meeting up with Rachel at Union Station with a detour or two to see other sights.

 

That stroll included a stop at an Unholy Donuts,

which was the right thing to do on a vacation day.

I'll comment on the afternoon cocktails and on Allison's birthday dinner in another post or two since they deserve some special commentary.  Let me instead skip ahead to this past Sunday.

We'd spent the day on Saturday down in the Niagara region, but Sunday was a Toronto-only day.  Conrad and I let Van sleep in again, telling him that we would wake him in time to meet Allison for brunch.  That left the two of us to head out and stroll around a bit of the city, walking five miles in all. 

Nice walk, a fine morning for it.  The walk done, we gathered Van up and headed north to join Allison at Uncle Betty's.  I've been there a few times, and it makes for a decently reliable place.  A croque-madame for me, and it was satisfying.

 

We then wandered farther north on Yonge, past Lawrence, then into some of the residential areas.  Van had only been to Toronto once before, briefly and for business years ago, so I think he greatly appreciated seeing something other than the hubbub of Yonge Street downtown.

We parted ways with Allison for the weekend and caught the subway back downtown.  I left Conrad and Van at the station near the hotel and went to browse books (and Roots) before coming back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

I can't remember how I found our dinner restaurant, but it was a nice find.  I'm not usually optimistic about dining in a downtown business district, but Richmond Station proved to be an exception to that.  Good cocktails (the Apricot Jam for me)

and some very tasty food (suckling pig for me for my main). 

We shared a bottle of a wine from a winery that Allison and I had visited several years ago as well, which was a cool find. 

A terrific meal to end off our time in the Centre of the Universe.

    

still here

Look, I know it's been a while. I've spent time recently thinking the blogging thing - why am I doing it, for whom? No, I'm not overcome with angst, but I did realize that the blog hasn't been as fulfilling as it used to be. And I'm not yet sure whether and how to continue. I'll think on it more. I have, however, been adding photos to Flickr. I've not forsaken social media.

But golly, much has gone on since last I posted:

Garden party at the home of Rick and Deann Bayless of Frontera Grill, a prize won in a silent auction. No, they weren't there.

A good bye dinner at Mercat a la Planxa for CG before she moved away. Excellent dinner, bittersweet having to have it.

I had a few days in Baltimore with my best friend, Todd. Conrad joined us for most of it, and among the highlights was a long-awaited dinner at Woodberry Kitchen. And I ran a marathon.

Conrad and I had concurrent conferences in Pittsburgh, a quite appealing city. The time there was marred only by the cold I was suffering post-marathon.

John and Bryan treated us to birthday dinners at Frontera Grill.

I spent a long weekend in Toronto with Allison, my Best Woman, and her husband, Sean. Much shopping ensued.

There's a lot more I could write, I know. I have baked and cooked. We've had other meals out (like Sunday night, at Yoshi's celebrating Rachel's birthday). It's been a lovely autumn all in all.

Many of those moments are no longer fresh in mind, though, and I think it best to not look back too very much, just move ahead. I'll return to the blog again, certainly, even if it's to close it down. I still don't know. For now, though, a glimpse of a busy and fulfilling autumn.