Prior to arrival at Toronto, I had been in touch with Tap into TO, the sister organization of Big Apple Greeter in Toronto. I had requested a Greeter for our visit and was assigned a lady called Sherry Good. What luck this turned out to be.
We rose reasonably early and went across the street to a bagel restaurant where we had breakfast. Then, suitably fueled we went the short distance down to City Hall where we were to meet Sherry. We waited in the huge lobby of the space-age new building and admired the plan of the city with the buildings raised above the surface. Toronto was due to have mayoral elections on Monday 27th October to find a replacement for their controversial mayor Rob Ford. Mr. Ford had had a kaleidoscopic career which involved drug and alcohol abuse but had finally decided not to stand again due to the fact that he had been diagnosed with cancer. However, he was running for a council seat and his brother was running for mayor. Another candidate Ms. Chow, who had connections with our Greeter Sherry, whose husband had taught Ms. Chow English many years ago.
Soon Sherry arrived and presented us with a package from Tap to To with a transit pass, some maps and other useful maps and pamphlets for our visit. After swapping greetings we set off with Sherry who had a defined route which she follows but which she diverges from whenever she spots something interesting. Sherry is a native Torontonian and has lived in various parts of the city and played roles in many phases of its recent history. She regaled us with many stories as we walked eastward towards the older part of town. She had worked in the finance industry and during this time 'busted' the bar on women using the front door of an old-fashioned men's club in the Financial District. Sherry has been very active with the gay and the AIDS communities and is a lady with strong opinions which we are delighted she shared with us. This is the way one finds out what the real pulse of the city is and even if the opinions are partisan, it is good to hear someone who holds real views about current affairs.
We walked in a zigzag fashion in a generally eastbound direction pausing to admire small parks and alleyways which we would have missed without Sherry's guidance. We visited St James Cathedral which shares with New York City's Trinity Church Wall Street as being one of only two churches in North America with a full peal of bells. The church is beautiful and has a striking tall spire. We meandered through the narrower streets of the old town and an area called 'Cabbagetown' and later 'Corktown'. We passed Bright Street a charming small street of row houses where Sherry lived at one time. We saw the Old, Old City Hall and then visited St Lawrence Market which is rated as one of, if not the best in the world by National Geographic. This is a wonderland of vendors of all sorts of goods, mostly food on the ground floor and other goods such as clothing on the basement.
We stopped for lunch of Canadian peameal bacon in a roll which was delicious and very filling. We also stopped to buy a few things like some local cheese, some spicy mustard and some elk salami. We could have bought much more but we were aware that we had to get it home!!!
We tasted some excellent Ontario wine, the lighter reds being especially good. The cheese counters and cold meats and other produce looked very inviting. Down in the basement, there were attractive woolen and leather goods, jewelry and various herbs, coffees and teas.
During our walk, we came upon an overpass which was being decorated by some talented street artists. Sherry did not know of this so it was as pleasant a surprise to her as it was to us.
We reached nearly to the Distillery District but decided that we would do that another day and that we had taken up enough of Sherry's time, it being mid-afternoon by this time. Sherry showed us how to use the streetcar and we took that back west to the City Hall where we bade Sherry goodbye after a really great day with her and we felt we knew the city so much better after our time together and that much more confident about what to see, where to go and how to get there.
We retired to the apartment for a rest before heading out to the restaurant called Lee on west King Street which got great reviews.
This evening, there was to be a partial eclipse of the sun which would be very visible in Canada and other parts of North America. As we walked to the restaurant, we tied to catch a glimpse of the this which occurred as the sun was setting. However the streets did not allow a good view and although we zigzagged across we could only catch sights of the sun which was too bright to see clearly.
The restaurant is large and expansive with a big bar area. We were seated in the far room where there were two large groups, one which looked like a rehearsal dinner for a wedding and one a 'girls' night out'. It did get a bit noisy but it was bearable.
The meal was interesting, best described as 'Asian Fusion' First we shared something called 'Singapore Slaw which is a salad with 19 different ingredients which our waiter recited as he tossed the salad in front of us. The rest of the menu was versions of Asian cuisine including a slant on Peking Duck. We shared the special of steak with truffles which was nice enough although hardly outstanding. We finished off with a couple of desserts one of which had such concentrated chocolate that it was extremely rich.
After this, we took a cab back to the apartment.
We can't thank Tap to To or Sherry enough for our introduction to Toronto and this made the remainder of our stay so much more enjoyable.
We rose reasonably early and went across the street to a bagel restaurant where we had breakfast. Then, suitably fueled we went the short distance down to City Hall where we were to meet Sherry. We waited in the huge lobby of the space-age new building and admired the plan of the city with the buildings raised above the surface. Toronto was due to have mayoral elections on Monday 27th October to find a replacement for their controversial mayor Rob Ford. Mr. Ford had had a kaleidoscopic career which involved drug and alcohol abuse but had finally decided not to stand again due to the fact that he had been diagnosed with cancer. However, he was running for a council seat and his brother was running for mayor. Another candidate Ms. Chow, who had connections with our Greeter Sherry, whose husband had taught Ms. Chow English many years ago.
Soon Sherry arrived and presented us with a package from Tap to To with a transit pass, some maps and other useful maps and pamphlets for our visit. After swapping greetings we set off with Sherry who had a defined route which she follows but which she diverges from whenever she spots something interesting. Sherry is a native Torontonian and has lived in various parts of the city and played roles in many phases of its recent history. She regaled us with many stories as we walked eastward towards the older part of town. She had worked in the finance industry and during this time 'busted' the bar on women using the front door of an old-fashioned men's club in the Financial District. Sherry has been very active with the gay and the AIDS communities and is a lady with strong opinions which we are delighted she shared with us. This is the way one finds out what the real pulse of the city is and even if the opinions are partisan, it is good to hear someone who holds real views about current affairs.
We walked in a zigzag fashion in a generally eastbound direction pausing to admire small parks and alleyways which we would have missed without Sherry's guidance. We visited St James Cathedral which shares with New York City's Trinity Church Wall Street as being one of only two churches in North America with a full peal of bells. The church is beautiful and has a striking tall spire. We meandered through the narrower streets of the old town and an area called 'Cabbagetown' and later 'Corktown'. We passed Bright Street a charming small street of row houses where Sherry lived at one time. We saw the Old, Old City Hall and then visited St Lawrence Market which is rated as one of, if not the best in the world by National Geographic. This is a wonderland of vendors of all sorts of goods, mostly food on the ground floor and other goods such as clothing on the basement.
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| St Lawrence Market |
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| And above...some of the wonderful looking stalls at the St Lawrence Market |
We stopped for lunch of Canadian peameal bacon in a roll which was delicious and very filling. We also stopped to buy a few things like some local cheese, some spicy mustard and some elk salami. We could have bought much more but we were aware that we had to get it home!!!
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| Toronto's 'new' City hall, we met Sherry, our Greeter in the foyer. |
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| Toronto's 'old' City Hall |
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| One of Toronto's charming small parks in the older part of town. |
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| Some pavement art in a small park. This work was done by an acquaintance of Sherry's |
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| A small park on the site of the old Law Courts and the last gallows in the city where there are monuments which show law books and also commemorate the abolition of the death penalty in Canada |
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| The remarkable St James cathedral with its impressive spire and bell tower with one of only two complete peals of bells in North America |
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| MAC sitting on an over-sized picnic bench in the churchyard of St James. Sherry is peeking into the picture on the right hand side!! |
We tasted some excellent Ontario wine, the lighter reds being especially good. The cheese counters and cold meats and other produce looked very inviting. Down in the basement, there were attractive woolen and leather goods, jewelry and various herbs, coffees and teas.
During our walk, we came upon an overpass which was being decorated by some talented street artists. Sherry did not know of this so it was as pleasant a surprise to her as it was to us.
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| And above......... some of the wonderful street art on the highway overpass supports. |
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| Some wonderful examples of Canadian maple trees in the fall |
We retired to the apartment for a rest before heading out to the restaurant called Lee on west King Street which got great reviews.
This evening, there was to be a partial eclipse of the sun which would be very visible in Canada and other parts of North America. As we walked to the restaurant, we tied to catch a glimpse of the this which occurred as the sun was setting. However the streets did not allow a good view and although we zigzagged across we could only catch sights of the sun which was too bright to see clearly.
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| This is what we would have seen, if we had been in the right position and had the right equipment |
The restaurant is large and expansive with a big bar area. We were seated in the far room where there were two large groups, one which looked like a rehearsal dinner for a wedding and one a 'girls' night out'. It did get a bit noisy but it was bearable.
The meal was interesting, best described as 'Asian Fusion' First we shared something called 'Singapore Slaw which is a salad with 19 different ingredients which our waiter recited as he tossed the salad in front of us. The rest of the menu was versions of Asian cuisine including a slant on Peking Duck. We shared the special of steak with truffles which was nice enough although hardly outstanding. We finished off with a couple of desserts one of which had such concentrated chocolate that it was extremely rich.
After this, we took a cab back to the apartment.
We can't thank Tap to To or Sherry enough for our introduction to Toronto and this made the remainder of our stay so much more enjoyable.
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