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.