More Toronto, eh!

 

Toronto continues to be a city transformed as the warmer weather has really kicked in.  The grass is a lush green and the garden beds are ablaze with colour.  I still cannot get over the size of the tulips.  They are as tall as my waist and come in just about every colour – even stripes.  The patios are full and when you walk around in the evening, it seems as though the entire population of Toronto is enjoying a walk or simply sitting outside. 

Ice Hockey is the main sport of Canada and just about every Torontonian supports the local team – The Maple Leafs (or Leafs as most people refer to them).  The supporters are very loyal, as the Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967.  They recently made the playoffs and everyone was very excited however they have been knocked out.  Maybe next year.

We actually went to an ice hockey game earlier in the season.  It was entertaining but I couldn’t help wondering if the spectators were there to watch the hockey or to barrack for the frequent brawls which broke out.  I read in the Age that a Canadian ice hockey player is travelling to Melbourne to highlight the long-term effects of concussion.  I can’t help thinking that if they stopped whacking each other over the head with hockey sticks they might reduce the number of concussion incidents.

We also attended a basketball game.  I attended an NBA game a number of years ago in Miami and wasn’t impressed with all the American hoopla that accompanied the game.  I had hoped that it would be different in Canada.  I was wrong.  The game seemed to be played in between all the entertainment that was going on.  Cheerleaders, people firing t-shirts from cannons, music blaring, crowd being encouraged to yell the loudest and advertisements being shown on massive screens.  It was all very bewildering.  Even Michael got a little irritated as he believed that they were calling time outs just so that more dancing girls could perform.

We have been keeping up to date with the Australian Football via the AFL channel on the Internet. We are able to watch the highlights of each game and any game that we wish in full.  It is good to see Hawthorn sitting in their rightful place on top of the ladder with Sydney languishing in 5^th place!  We are hoping to catch a game of Australian Football whilst we are here as there is a local competition in Toronto.  They play football in the summer here.

The Art Gallery of Ontario has an exhibition “Revealing the Early Renaissance” which we went along to.  The exhibition was very well done with many beautiful and interesting works.  The gallery itself is world class and has a good variety of works.  One room contains over 40 speakers playing the most amazing choral music.  Just lovely.

They say politics is a dirty business and in Canada that is certainly being proven true.  The mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, is currently embroiled in a crack smoking scandal.  Drug dealers have purportedly filmed the mayor, smoking crack and have showed the footage to reporters and are trying to sell the film for $200,000.  The mayor didn’t comment for over a week before finally releasing a statement stating that he does not smoke crack.  His opponents have leapt on the fact that he did not say that he has never smoked crack.  This is just the latest scandal that has dogged the mayor since he was elected.  Type his name into YouTube if you want to see some amusing footage of him walking into a camera.

Calgary – Yee Haa

 

We decided to venture a little further afield and spent the weekend in Calgary.  We flew from Hog Town (Toronto) to Cow Town (Calgary).  Yes, these are legitimate names.  Toronto’s nickname was Hog Town and Calgary’s was Cow Town. The flight was just over 4 hours and wasn’t too bad.

 

We arrived to discover Calgary literally awash.  They had 200mm of rain in one day and it was cold.  Both Michael and I were unprepared, as we had left our cold weather gear at home as we had become used to the warmer weather of Toronto.  We spent the first day mainly at the hotel, as each time we tried to venture out we got soaked.  We went out for dinner to a lovely seafood restaurant that had been recommended to Michael.

 

Saturday came and the weather, whilst cool, had cleared.  We decided to hire a car to go for a drive to Lake Louise and Banff.  It was the first time that Michael had driven since leaving Australia in August and he didn’t too badly – he only drove on the wrong side of the road once.

As soon as we left the city we started to draw close the Rocky Mountains.  What a magnificent sight.  Snow capped, rugged peaks jutting at unusual angles.  I have never seen scenery as breathtaking.  Truly beautiful.

 

We arrived at Lake Louise and by then the clouds had darkened once more.  We had lunch and decided to take the gondola to the top of the mountain.  The whole way up, Michael and I scanned the forest below to see if we could catch sight of a bear.  We had been told that a grizzly had been sighted the day before.  No luck, but by the time we had reached the top of the mountain we were in the midst of a snow storm.  We walked through the snow to the interpretive centre which had various stuffed wildlife on display along with information on how to survive a bear attack.  The centre was informative with very friendly staff who told us that they couldn’t believe the snow they were having either.  We had a look at the look out but due to the fact that it was snowing heavily, we couldn’t even see the lake below.  The forest looked absolutely stunning though.  Thick snow blanketing everywhere.  We took the gondola down again, once more scanning the forest for bears but no luck.

Travelling back along the highway to Banff and what do I see on the grass verge munching contentedly on dandelions – a grizzly bear!!  I could not believe that a bear would be out in the open like that.  I guess, when you know that you are at the top of the food chain, nothing much scares you.  Anyway, I can now tick off the number one item on my list of things to do/see in Canada.

 

Banff is a lovely tourist town tucked into the foothills of the Rockies.  It is a very pretty place in itself but coupled with the magnificent panorama of the mountains it is fantastic.  We took a very pleasant walk around the town and stopped for a coffee whilst listening to street buskers perform.

Sunday morning was glorious with the sun shining and the whole of Calgary out to see the Lilac Festival.  One of the main streets was blocked off and completely filled with wonderful local handcraft stalls selling everything from clothes to jewellery to dog treats and everything in between.  We watched the opening parade, which was comprised of an odd assortment of marching bands, cheerleaders, belly dancers, Fallon Gong and dogs.  Entertaining to say the least.

The Glenbow Museum was hosting an exhibition of Escher works so we quickly hurried over there.  There were over 50 pieces and it was interesting to see these complex lithographs up close.

Colombian Ground Squirrels

Thanks to our weekend in Calgary, our Canadian wildlife count has increased.  We saw prairie dogs – cute but disappear very quickly when they see you have spotted them, Columbian ground squirrels – busy little things, white tailed deer – very pretty, grizzly bear – fabulous animal and bison – big shaggy things.  We also saw a racoon but that was in Toronto – broad daylight slinking through a car park.  I would still like to see a moose.

Toronto Eh!

Toronto, eh?

Hello again everyone.  I thought it was about time for an update on our Canadian adventures.

Well, time flies faster than weaver’s shuttle, as they say and we have now been in Canada 4 months.  We have spent the bulk of that time rugged up in winter coats and boots as all the locals told us that we timed our visit for the coldest winter in 18 years.  Lucky us!  When we first arrived, we frolicked around like little snow bunnies however the novelty of snow soon wore off.  I will say that seeing the city blanketed in white was very beautiful.  It is quite bizarre that two weeks ago we had snow but on the weekend we experienced 30 degrees and actually got sunburnt.  Talk about a temperature shift!  I had to race out and buy some summer tops and shoes.  I must say that it is nice to see my arms again after having them covered since October.

Toronto is a modern city, as I have said before, with lots of high-rise office buildings and condos everywhere.  We have taken up residence on the 29^th floor of an apartment complex in the heart of Toronto. Living in a one-bedroom apartment is certainly different to living in our large home in Melbourne.  At least there is no upkeep, which makes our time our own.  The view from our window is of Dundas Square, which is right opposite the Eaton Centre (major shopping centre).  There are giant billboards lining the square lit by neon lights all day and night. In fact, the lights are so bright we had to ask our estate agent to install curtains in our bedroom as the blinds did not block out the bright lights of Toronto and our room at night was as bright as daylight. The first month we were here, we were greeted every morning by the sight of David Beckham in his underpants.  Now we have a giant Beyonce in a canary yellow bikini. 

We have established a routine for ourselves, which includes a weekly visit to the St Lawrence Market (voted number 1 market in the world by National Geographic).  We have quickly become known to the stall-holders with many of them going out of their way to shake Michael’s hand. They quickly worked out that we are Australians (could have something to do with the fact that Michael booms G’Day Mate to everyone).  The funny thing is that they have great difficulty understanding Michael’s accent.  Whenever he introduces himself as “Michael”, they inevitably think that he has said “Marco” and thereafter address him as such.  He has given up correcting them and so now answers to both Michael and Marco.  No one seems to have trouble understanding me however, one person did ask me if I was from Newfoundland!?  The produce at the market is sensational however the price of meat is much higher than Australia, especially lamb, however seafood is a lot cheaper. Cheese is also very expensive and it is nothing for Michael to spend up to $65 on cheese. The same quantity of cheese bought at the Melbourne Queen Victoria Market is less than $30.  The sale of alcohol is controlled by the government and can only be purchased at the LCBO so there is no competition.  The range is pretty good and you can buy Australian wines however we have been trying the Canadian wines and have found some pretty good ones.  Don’t bother with the vodka though.

We have spent our time exploring the various districts of Toronto however we have been limited up until now by the weather.  Toronto has suddenly come alive with the onset of the warmer days.  Patios have opened up everywhere so that people can soak up the sunshine and now that daylight savings has commenced, it doesn’t get dark here until 9.00pm.  Over the past fortnights all of the trees have burst into bloom and there are huge tulips and daffodils everywhere.  The various festivals will start soon.  We have already been to a couple of parades.  St Patrick’s Day parade was good – we didn’t even have to leave our apartment as we could view it from our window.  We also went along to the Greek Independence Day parade.  Like Melbourne, Toronto is a multicultural city.

Now that we don’t have any pets, we have adopted the squirrels, which are found in just about every park.  We never leave home without a bag of nuts in case we come across a hungry squirrel.  They are very cute and quite friendly although I don’t hand feed them as one of our friends has told me they carry rabies (not sure if that is true, but I don’t want to find out the hard way).  Michael has also taken to carrying around dog treats for the dogs belonging to the homeless.  Our Canadian wildlife count now includes squirrels, ground hogs (cute but very fat), chipmunks (so tiny and fast that if you blink you will miss them), deer and Canadian geese.  I would still like to see a bear and a moose but I believe that I will have to go further out of Toronto to see those.  Apparently coyotes are occasionally sighted in Toronto.

Canadians love their dogs and spoil them unbelievably.  There are numerous upmarket dog boutiques catering to all their doggie needs, such as grooming, gourmet dog food, toys and coats and there are many doggie day care centres also.  When it is snowing, the majority of dogs wear little booties on their paws to protect them from the salt that is spread to break up the snow.  Nothing looks cuter than a dog in booties, particularly the usually butch varieties such as rottweilers.  It is very hard to take them seriously.  We have not seen many greyhounds here, as there is no greyhound racing in Canada.  The greyhounds that we have seen have been adopted from the US and the owners are happy to stop and chat and let us pat their dogs.

The one thing that I cannot get used to in Toronto is the number of homeless.  It is heartbreaking to see them, especially in the winter, when they huddle for warmth on top of the subway gratings surrounded by snow.  It is shameful that such an affluent country cannot come up with a solution.  I will say though, that the Canadian people seem generous towards them with many stopping to give them coins, talk to them and give them a cup of coffee. 

The Canadian people on the whole, seem very friendly.  We have been fortunate to go out with a number of people since arriving and they have been good fun.  Every single one of them seems to have an Australian connection either having been to Australia, planning to go to Australia or friend/relative/flat mate having been or going to Australia.

Another thing that amazes me in Toronto is the widespread use of marijuana.  It is illegal here except for medicinal use but all I can say is, there must be a lot of sick Canadians, as you cannot walk down the street without smelling it.  Michael and I walked past the Massey Hall where Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were performing and we nearly got knocked out.  They held a pro-marijuana rally in Dundas Square the other weekend and the stench was so bad that Michael felt sorry for all the dogs that were there breathing the fumes.

Finding a good cup of coffee was initially an issue for us.  We spent a number of weekends trying various cafes and had just about resigned ourselves that we were going to have to drink stewed coffee out of gigantic cups for the duration of our stay when we found the perfect place.  The café is called Fahrenheit and is run by a group of hipsters.  They greet every customer by name and whenever I walk through the door they shout “Annette” with their arms open wide in that over exuberant, enthusiastic way that Canadians and Americans have.  We have also found a few other cafes that know how to make decent coffee but they are few and far between.

On Anzac Day we went along to the Dawn Service held at the Canadian Forces College.  It was a beautiful ceremony with the master of ceremonies a Major from the Australian Army.  The Australian consul was there along with the honorary New Zealand consul and, rather surprisingly, the Turkish consul.  Each spoke and it was moving to hear the Turkish consul talk about Gallipoli from a Turkish perspective.  The whole service took place accompanied by a chorus of honking Canadian geese.  Gee they are loud!  One curious thing though, they didn’t play the Australian national anthem.  They did however play Waltzing Matilda – I hope they don’t think that is our national anthem!

Montreal – The Paris of Canada

Now that it is warm, we have decided that it is time to get out and see a little more of Canada.  It is our wedding anniversary (27 years for those of you that care about such things) and so we have a perfect excuse for heading to the Canadian city of romance.

We took the train from Toronto to Montreal and I can thoroughly recommend this mode of transport to anyone.  We travelled business class and the seats were comfortable and the service was excellent.  The food was delicious and the wine kept flowing, so what more could you ask for?  The train announcements were in English followed by the French translation until we crossed into Quebec and then the order was reversed.  It still amazes me that Canada is one country but there is one province where they speak a different language.

 

We arrived in Montreal and took a taxi to our pre-booked hotel in the Latin Quatier.  This is where the euphoria of our adventure rapidly evaporated.  Our friends had warned us that the area we had booked into was “not the best”. The words “den of iniquity” and “cesspool” would have been a more accurate description. Having passed 4 strip clubs, we arrived at our hotel, which was situated next door to – you guessed it – another strip club.  We went up the steps into the foyer of the hotel to be greeted by the sight of torn carpet and generally run down premises with peeling paint.  Michael went to check in but they had cancelled our booking.  Michael then goes to check in on the spot whilst I was hissing “just book for one night” with Michael giving me his “you’re such a princess” look.  We then proceeded to carry our bags up the four flights of stairs (no lift) to our room whilst I explained that if the hotel was ok we could always book another 3 nights the following day.  We arrived, panting, at our room, which was the size of a shoe-box to discover – no air conditioning.  I opened the only window to find that it opened a mere 4 inches and that not one single breath of air entered the room.  We were both sweating profusely by this stage. Michael had decided without any prompting from me that perhaps we would check out the next day and find somewhere else.  I can honestly say that I have never been so hot. 

Next morning we were up bright and early, as both of us had given up on trying to sleep.  We caught a taxi from the hotel to the Marriott, which is in the downtown area.  When we arrived the taxi driver pointedly told us that we were now in a very safe neighbourhood where we could walk around.  Anyway, you could say that my spirits lifted enormously.

 

We spent the day walking around the city.  The new part of the city is very nice but unremarkable in any way.  To quote Michael’s mother “you could be anywhere in the world”.  Michael found a lovely restaurant Upstairs where we could sit outside and listen to the jazz being played.  Montreal is famous for jazz, hosting the Montreal Jazz Festival every year.

 

The next day we spent the morning walking along the St Lawrence River.  The river was a trading hub with many factories built along the banks.  Many of the factories are now closed with a number of them redeveloped as apartment complexes.  We also tried to find some squirrels as I had bought a kilo of nuts with me.  Unfortunately, despite hunting high and low, we were only able to locate one lonely squirrel and he wasn’t hungry.  Lunch for us was at a lovely restaurant Jardin Nelson with a large outdoor area.  We spent the afternoon soaking up the sunshine and listening to more jazz.  This was followed by a brief walk around the shops and I am now the proud owner of some Moose earrings. Dinner on Saturday night was at an old French restaurant Le Mas Des Oliviers that appeared to be a very popular local place with a lot of people dining and known to the friendly staff. Yes French and friendly - must be Canada!

We ventured to the old town on Sunday and this is where Montreal becomes interesting.  They have managed to keep a lot of the old buildings and the area is full of interesting galleries, shops and restaurants.  All very lovely.  We even located an Art Nouveau Metro entrance, which had been donated by Paris.  It has been beautifully maintained and made you wish once again that Paris had kept them all at their Metro stations.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was our next port of call.  A beautiful, modern museum, with a good selection of works including Monet, Rodin & Rembrandt.  Unfortunately we had to spoil it by going to the modern art section the highlight (lowlight) of which was two toilet brushes on display.  Dinner that night was at a fantastic Spanish restaurant Bocata .  Superb.

We spent our last morning in Montreal looking at more shops before heading to the best lunch I have ever had.  A friend of Michael’s had recommended that we try a little restaurant called March de la Villette in the old town.  We ordered a charcuterie board and a cheese board to share, both of which were to die for.  I even got to try Pate Foie Gras, which was divine.  We shared a carafe of red wine and so ended our stay in Montreal perfectly.

 

In summary, Montreal is a beautiful place full of great food, good wine and fabulous jazz.  A perfect place to spend some time.