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.

    

it's good to be home

More to come from the Vancouver weekend, but before I start my day here this morning, just let me say, it's good to be home.  Especially when you come home to Van,

who cooked us dinner, and especially when Van went out and got apple cider doughnuts and salted maple ice cream for dessert. 

I mean, they're not the only reasons (OLIVE!!), but they sure do make a return really great.

a few last things from FSM

So let's see, what else have I not mentioned from the time on Pohnpei?

Dogs!  There are stray dogs all over the place.  When we first saw them, we were told that we should bring a stick while out walking.  Happily, we didn't need a stick, but during the second dinner, , there were a couple of local canines that hung out around and even under the table in hopes of being fed.  Yes, I treated one to a little bite of my dinner, I admit, but not this cutie who was staring up at me from under the glass top table.

Pretty flowers!

I mentioned the local tuna.  I've also mention the dinner of parrot fish.  On the first day, when we went out walking, Brian took us into a market he had visited seven years earlier.  And lo!  Fish! 

Lots more than this, many more varieties.  Also, local limes and avocados. 

Nice to see the local produce.

Speaking of fish:  more tuna! 

We had a lot of tuna while there.  I am not complaining.

And speaking of food in general:  Namiki dougnuts! 

We had them the first morning we were there on the boat.  Later that night, I was talking with the president of the Board of Regents for the college, and she told me that her sister, who lives in Las Vegas, craves the doughnuts.  I believe it.  I went out walking the next morning and went past it.  Before 7AM there was a steady stream of cars pulling up to buy doughnuts.  I made sure to go back on the Friday morning with teammates.  $1.25 for a dozen!  We bought two-dozen and brought the extras to share at the hotel and college.  Yum!

What was also funny that morning was that we were on the hunt for souvenirs.  Yes, that early.  And while walking post-doughnuts, a flatbed pick-up truck wheeled around and pulled up.  Out popped this guy who turned out to be Stevenson's old university roommate.  A lot of chat and laughter, and then, when he found out what our expedition was, he got us to hop in (Jill in the front with him, the guys in the back),

and drove us into neighbourhoods

where we successfully completed out mission.  And then he drove us back to the hotel - we were pressed for time that morning.

One more post to come from Micronesia - the jaunt back - and then onto the posts about Hawaii!