End of Summer Series

To finish my string of vacation posts, here is Part 1 of the Toronto Series. Abe & I traveled 4.5 hours to Toronto last Wednesday. He had a conference and a graduate program-subsidized hotel room downtown, so I tagged along.

My adventures began Thursday morning. I took on the city with only my Timbuk2 messenger bag, Keens sandals, and 3 Toronto travel guides.


First stop, Ontario Science Centre. I don't have many photos, maybe because I wasn't very impressed. My analysis of their exhibits needs its own blog post, when I'm ready to get more philosophical and less travelical, so more on that later.



Early afternoon I was back downtown - Chinatown, to be exact. I took the subway here, started walking, and didn't stop until it was 8 pm and I'd seen most of the city. Lunch was delicious shrimp dumpling and noodle soup, for $3.95.




From Chinatown I headed to Kensington Market. I wish I had more photos of the market. Tight city streets lined with Indian boutiques, Chinese bargain shops, and vintage treasure houses. The shops are all in old Victorian-style (maybe? I think?) homes. Or, the odd vehicular reclamation project car.





I trekked across town to the Bata Shoe Museum, which may be one of the coolest museums I've been to. 10,000 shoes, telling stories about different cultures, religions, women's high heels through the 1920s-1980s, and Sir Elton John.



After that, Crepes A Go-Go, a small French bistro, where I had an amazing buckwheat crepe filled with strawberries, brie, spinach, and a drizzle of maple syrup.



During my 45-minute walk bag to the hotel, dusk was settling in, so I got some nice shots of city buildings. Toronto is a very clean city. There were some street corners where I could stand, look in all four directions and not see any trash - not even cigarette butts.