Sat 20 Jul - Toronto, ON

East Toronto and the beaches...

Today we took a tram to the Beach suburbs of Toronto with the intention of walking back home from there. We were not sure of the distance before we started but it was about 14km by the time we got home according to Runkeeper.

The 501 tram route runs east/west through Toronto's downtown and is according to National Geographic is one of the worlds' top 10 tram rides. We were not convinced of this "claim to fame" based on the portion we saw but it was nice enough.

Our $3 each bought us a ticket but we were not sure where to get off, so we pulled the cord once we started getting glimpses of Lake Ontario in an area called "Beaches". Couldn't go too far wrong.

Pretty simple actually and within a block we came across this sign.

This section of the beach has a wooden boardwalk and a dedicated jogging/bike path as well. Plenty of people were outside enjoying their Saturday morning as the weather was a bit milder. We did not see any swimmers.

The closest person to the water was this little guy, probably attracted by the geese. Very cute.

Parkland surrounds the beach area, with picnic areas, but last night Toronto had a pretty wild storm and trees and branches were down in several places. Despite this massive branch leaning on the roof there was a family setting up for a party underneath this shelter...their choice but the chainsaw guys were nearby...

Beach volleyball was in full swing. It seemed just like Manly with Saturday morning comps underway.

At the end of the beach the path curls around the bay to a mini park headland. We headed this way and continued along the jogging/bike path for a while until we got to a very dull section on the edge of LakeShore Boulevard. You don't see the waterfront because the sewerage treatment plant is in the way and heavily fenced in.

 

When the path appeared to head towards the bay, but along a stretch of road that looked equally dull, Hans opted to head inland but Di wanted to persist with the "waterfront path". An impasse! Not really - we went our separate ways.

 

Apologies to any native Toronto person or person who is particularly fond of Toronto, but we think Toronto is really a pretty ugly city. They make a deal out of having a "Riverside district", but when you get to the river, yes, you can walk along the side of it, but this is the "scenery". Freeway, derilict bridges, structures from an industrial past etc.

Hans walked along the path looking west towards downtown. Note the light green doubledecker trains they have here. We were not sure whether they are commuter train (we think so) or long distance trains.

Lunch time for Hans and what better place to have it than inside St Lawrence Market. Buster's Sea Cove had far more customers than any other eatery there so that will be it.

Buster's Fish and Chips was enormous and very tasty. Hans finished the fish, but had to let go of half of the chips or so.

Meanwhile Di persisted with the "waterfront path" but at times was annoyed by having to basically walk along the edge of the road where clearly industry overruled the public good. Again, pretty ugly.

But it eventually got better at North Shore Park near Toronto's Outer Harbour. The path started to go through "bush land" with water glimpses.

Occasionally the path even got pretty...

Finally Di reached the waterfront - first at the Toronto Windsurfer Club.

Then Cherry Beach. The lifeguard on duty seemed to be watching the geese, drinking water and looking at canoeists as there were no swimmers. Understandable because after the heavy rain the water looks kind of brown.

Di stopped for a break here. The surrounding area was nice with some grass, shade and picnic tables which were being used by a few large groups for a lunchtime BBQ. Smelled good.

The "waterfront path" from this point on to the city is all along the side of roads. Not too good for walking but this section was a little more interesting - the bridge was closed to vehicles but still open for pedestrians and bikes at each edge. The council had warning signs posted of a 200kg limit and the bridge was in terrible condition so it was almost as if they thought it would be OK to lose a few bikers or walkers - not too reassuring.

Like Hans, Di intended to have lunch at St Lawrence Market but on the way she got distracted by this superstore in a warehouse area. Lots and lots of Chinese people were going in and out.

Aaah - Di's kind of shop. A huge warehouse full of Asian speciality foods and produce. Everything looked great. This veggie section had lots of ingredients that Di had not see or used before. What's a lobo? On the top shelf near the right, it looks like brown sticks. Some more research required.

The other fabulous thing was that like Walmart they had tasting samples offered in different locations. Of course Di tried these too but avoided the pickled sea cucumber (next time...maybe)

The highlight was this section, where the locals seemed to be getting their lunch. Everything looked good and was very cheap but BBQ pork is a favourite in our family, and that counter had a queue, so Di's lunch choice was simplified.

Delicious, fresh BBQ pork for lunch for $2.84. Forget St Lawrence market (for now).

Di loved the T&T supermarket and if only we had a kitchen here she would have shopped up a storm. After happily wandering every aisle it was time to move on.

On the way home Di went to a nearby Dollarama (the traveller's friend) for some snack supplies for our bus trip to Montreal tomorrow. Another bargain $3.75 for sweet treats.

Also on the way Di passed through a park with a lot of homeless people resting on benches and the grass. One chirpy man said good morning (yet it was afternoon) and asked if Di was interested in going with him for "a Pizza and a Pepsi". The question that came to mind...who's paying? She declined graciously.

Home around 1.30pm with Hans close behind. We compared notes snd photos then rested for a few hours (as the day has heated up to close to 30 degrees again).

After a few "pre dinner" drinks in the room we headed out again, on a quest for more drinks and later dinner.

It was all happening at Dundas-Yonge Square (aka Toronto's Time Square). Today appeared to be a youth Unity Festival on but the rapping and music was rubbish for us oldies, so we moved on.

As we have found out so often, the buskers were better than those on a stage. We loved these guys, lots of fun even though they murdered "Smooth" by Santana. "Ghostbusters" theme and Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" were better. We donated to their "tuition fund" and listened for a while.

The guy with the microphone below was doing his best to yell over the top of the music about "Jesus is love"...

But in a Saturday night crowd there will always be a mix of views and characters. The guy with the sign "Gods create hate" was about 20 meters from the microphone guy, with the band and us in the middle. Tolerance is a great thing in big cities.

After a few blocks of fruitless searching for a pub or bar with good karma nearby we headed to the Flatiron area instead where we had noted quite a lot of bars. Yep, it was easy to find a few candidates there and we chose an Irish pub, called The Jersey Giant, with big open windows, a typical pub interior and a crowd.

Hans chose a Richards White from a $5 pint list - different but it grew on him so a second followed without hesitation.

Di chose a lethal but delicious Cosmopolitan cocktail - 3 shots combined of vodka and triple sec and topped up with cranberry juice. Very "Sex in the City". Too easy to drink and one was enough

We lingered at the pub and then around 8pm looked for dinner. We decided against anything heavy and expensive so our local Turkish kebab place was an easy choice - the local cops ate here too.

Di took some time deciding but had a beef kebab - also a bargain and delicious. Hans had been joking with the staff about Di being the boss - but then he took his meal and left Di to pay - yep, definitely the boss if she has to pay.

A $5.99 (+ tax) quarter chicken deal with all the sides was an easy choice for Hans. It was a huge meal with a great spicy sauce and a garlic hummus and if we were here for longer we would come back.

We are feeling satisfied with our drinks and dinner and are happy to step back into our hotel, out of the Saturday night mayhem. We realized that we actually haven't taken a photo of Bond Place. It looks very 70s on the outside but then inside has been very much modernized and we were quite happy with the place.

Back in the room, we realise that a good ol Bourne movie is on so good night.

 

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