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The Return to Toronto and a Quiet Night in Washington DC, April 2012

24 Apr

21st April 2012 – Flying out of Havana was, quite frankly, heartbreaking – not just because I was knackered after being out all night and only managed to get an hour and a half’s sleep, but because I knew I would miss the place and the people. Toronto was cold and grey, but I suppose I knew at least that more awesome adventures lay ahead of me, so I couldn’t be too grumpy!

The 21st and 22nd of April were both fairly non-descript. I arrived in Toronto on the 21st and took an airport bus into the city, where I walked to my youth hostel and checked in. I spent a couple of hours relaxing in my room, backing up photos from my Cuba trip, and then my godmother Frenda came to meet me for a little bit. We went to Union Station and had a chat and a McDonald’s before she had to get her train out to Burlington, which only runs once an hour and takes an hour to get there. I was still suffering from a total lack of sleep so I pretty much went back to my room and sorted things out and slept, as I had another early flight the next day.

The rude awakening at 5am on the 22nd of April was totally yuck. I stumbled around the dorm room at the hostel trying not to wake anyone, and managed to walk my ass into the city centre in time for the 6:30 bus to the airport. I checked in with no issues, and went through USA immigration with very few complaints, too – quite remarkable! The immigration officer pored through every page of my passport and asked a bunch of questions about why I was going to the US, but in the end I guess he correctly decided that I was no threat to their security or to their job market and sent me through. The plane was delayed by a mere 30 minutes, but we made up the time on the flight and arrived in Washington DC basically on time.

It was absolutely tipping it down in Washington. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. I managed, however, to get a good look at the Space Shuttle Enterprise (“Make It So!”), which was attached to the back of a NASA 747 jumbo jet out on the airfield; I wonder what they’re doing with it. Once in the terminal, I was raring to go – but then the luggage took over an hour to come off the belt, and when it did it was totally soaked. By the time I’d sorted an airport shuttle that was another half an hour, and the bus took over an hour in the rain and traffic to get to the city centre, so by the time I got to the hostel and the lovely staff had checked me in, the lack of sleep had once again caught up with me – d’oh!

I decided that, after more than three weeks of running about like a headless chicken in the pursuit of sun and fun, it was time to take an afternoon just to chill out and do necessary things – especially considering the pouring rain outside. My 19-year-old self would have been disgusted (“You’re in a new city! It’s your first day here! Get off your butt and do something!”), but in the end I unpacked all my wet clothes and did some laundry before working on blog updates and an email backlog.

Later I decided to venture out in search of food – I had spotted an Indian place round the corner from the hostel and thought I might give it a go. I went out, brolly in hand, ready to fight the battering winds. My umbrella turned inside out countless times and my shoes were wet through within minutes, but I figured it was worth it for Indian food! Sadly, when I got there, it was closed. So I walked a little further to another restaurant… and it was closed. And another, and another, and another. Everything was closed. I know it was Sunday, but really?!? It was 7:30pm, and right near the downtown area! I was obviously missing something. Soaked through from waist to foot, and fairly damp everywhere else thanks to the ineffectiveness of my umbrella, I decided to just stop at the first thing I found open… and sadly, that turned out to be a Quizno’s sub shop a few more blocks down. Sigh! I had a couple of sliders (one meatball, one bacon, beef and cheese) and a packet of barbeque flavoured sweet potato chips (verdict: nothing special) and then steeled myself for the walk back to the hostel, whereafter I changed into dry PJs and sat on my bed faffing with my laptop. Considering how little I had been bothered by a lack of it in Cuba, I certainly am taking to it again like a duck to water!

After making plans with Charlie on how/when to meet the next day (yay!), I eventually made it to bed at around 10:30/11pm, and slept like a baby. I reckon that if I get one more good night’s sleep, I’ll be right as rain.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tara.

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Jerk Chicken and Kickass Shortbread, Toronto, March 2012

23 Apr

Thursday 29th March – by wonderful coincidence, it turned out that an old friend of mine called Dave (who I had met while working in Montreal) had actually moved to Toronto without me knowing it, so after a quick Facebook to and fro, Thursday was the day that we decided to catch up!

As it turned out, Adrian had to go into the city from Burlington anyway, so I hopped a lift to the station with him rather than make the epic walk and risk missing the train again like the day before. I met Dave at Union Station, where he was outside having a quick smoke. As always, he looked terribly dapper with his jaunty moustache and burgundy jacket – a very welcome sight on a cold Toronto morning! Ah, it was good to see his face again; five years is such a long time to go without seeing old friends!

I suggested that we try ‘The Real Jerk‘, the place I had spotted out near DeGrassi Street the day before, so we took a little potter out of the station to King Street where we jumped on an eastbound streetcar and got off at Queen and Broadview. Inside, the restaurant was done up in wood panelling and bursts of black, red, yellow and green, and we took a table on a raised platform. The waitress seemed fairly bemused by the two of us; we spent ages deciding what to eat and then asked for a ‘taster plate’, which they didn’t have, so there was a bit of good-natured eye-rolling going on while we dithered and she teased us. In the end, we shared a shrimp roti and a plate of their jerk chicken and jerk pork with fried plantains on the side. Did I remember to take a picture of the food? No. I meant to, but I was too busy jumping onto it and devouring it to get photographic evidence of how good it was! 😀

After pretty much wiping the plates clean, we walked a wee way up the road to another little place that we had spotted from the tram on the way in – Mary McLeod’s Shortbread. A tiny little inconspicuous shop really, but filled with yummy goodies. As we walked in, the smell of chocolate shortbread was thick in the air; the lady behind the counter asked me if I wanted to try some, and of course the answer was HELL YES! Expecting a few crumbs, I was actually surprised when she just handed me an entire cookie. It was melt-in-the-mouth amazing, just the way real shortbread should be. After I had sniffed all the alternatives and poked at all their stock, Dave was very generous again and picked up a box of their butterscotch fingers shortbread for us to share. We wandered to the tram stop and went back into the city centre and took another little walk around before going back to the main concourse of Union Station, which has a grand arching hallway and access to long-distance trains. We took up a warm seat next to a heating vent and had a little chat and nibbled our shortbread to while away the time before I had to go for my train. A nice young man sitting next to us took our photo, and that was that; Dave and I had to say our sad goodbyes until the next time we were in the same city. Boooooo! 😦

I got the train back to Burlington and then walked back to Frenda’s place, where I spent the evening quietly (doing my laundry etc) until she came home later.

And that, really, was that. The next day (Friday 30th March), I got up and packed my bags for Cuba, and Adrian kindly dropped me off at the airport – no small deal considering how far away they live. I checked in and with very little hoo-ha, I was on my way to Havana for the grand adventure! But that, of course, is another story. (Which can, incidentally, be found here when I eventually finish it!)

Thanks for stopping by,

Tara. 🙂

A Day in the Big Smoke, Toronto, March 2012

23 Apr

Wednesday 28th March – I decided that it was finally time to get out of the house for the day… there’s only so much pottering you can do before you go stir-crazy! Jason (Frenda’s son) and I had also made tentative plans to meet in Toronto on the Wednesday, and I had a few errands to run before hitting Cuba, so it all just fell together nicely. Unfortunately the day turned into a comedy of errors, but not every day can be perfect, I guess! There were a couple of highlights though – specifically a pilgrimage to DeGrassi Street!!! Wooooot!!! JOEY JEREMIAH AND HIS JEAN JACKET!!!!! 😉

I got up at a realistic hour, got dressed and started the journey to the train station. Adrian had mentioned that it was a fifteen-minute walk away, so I left about half an hour before the train was due to depart to adjust for his long stride versus my little steps! Unfortunately, as it turned out, even though I was walking at a pretty good clip half an hour was not enough. I realised this just a little too late; I jogged for about 5 minutes and then full-out sprinted for another five, but it was simply not enough to get to the train. It pulled into the station as I entered the humungous commuter car park, and I had to buy a ticket before getting on; I missed it by less than a minute, and I was fuming because the next train was not for another hour. WHEN will people realise that public transport needs to run well and often?!? I was sweaty and pissed off, so I just sat on the floor heaving for breath, trying to calm down. There was no point in turning back; there was nothing nearby and nothing to do, so there I sat, grumpy and cross-legged like the Psammead, right on the concrete on the forecourt, desperate for some sun. Not a good start!

Eventually the next train came, and I got some joy (as usual) out of the shape of the Go trains. They’re green and white, and narrower at the ends than in the middle; it’s hard to explain but fairly distinctive. I sat on the train for an hour and, on arrival at Toronto Union station, experienced my next farce – not having any more cash, I had to walk a few blocks to an ATM before I could go BACK to the station to buy my daily ticket before LEAVING the station again. A daily ticket costs around 10 bucks; surely there’s some justification there for an EFTPOS facility?

Anyway, grumps aside, I decided that I should probably go to the CN tower. It was a clear day, and I’ve been to Toronto many times before and never paid homage to its biggest icon, so I guessed it was time to do so. I started the walk, but of course the direct link/Skywalk between the station and the tower was closed for renovation so I had to go the long way around. I have to say… the whole experience wasn’t much cop. I paid to go to the top but the walkway was closed, so in the end I got a view of about 45 degrees (the rest of the top circle is taken up by a restaurant), looking away from the city, across an industrial area/airport and over the lake. Still, I felt a sense of achievement in having ticked the CN tower off the city ‘to do’ list, and decided to go and freak myself out by walking over the glass floor area on the lower deck. When I got there it was, not surprisingly, very crowded and, more surprisingly, in bad nick. The glass was scratched, dirty and difficult to see through clearly, and the view down was directly over a nondescript building site. I’m sure that there are times when it’s bloody brilliant up there, but I must’ve just picked the wrong season and the wrong time. Give it a few months and that building site will probably be a beautiful garden or something! Sigh. A little disappointed, I wandered out of the tower in search of better adventure.

Boy, did I find it. I love being a nerd. I hopped the #504 streetcar down King Street, headed to the eastern suburbs, and got off just a block or two away from the infamous DeGrassi Street! Yeah, yeah, I KNOW that the school isn’t real, and I KNOW that all the good stuff got knocked down years ago, and I KNOW that Joey Jeremiah is now a bald, fat has-been, but I was still excited. DeGrassi, fergawdsake! Childhood legend! Spike! Wheels! Snake! THE ZIT REMEDY!!!! Okay, I’ll stop using exclamation marks now. I’m guessing from the area that it was once a working-class hub, but has since become a bit trendy (due, in no small part I’m sure, to its TV infamy); later investigations on my part into houses on sale on DeGrassi Street revealed prices of $900,000 and upwards. Yikes! I have to say, though, that the houses were beautiful; old-style multi-storey brick duplexes mixed with even older bungalows with little porches. I passed the corner where Yik Yu (ha ha ha) called the agony aunt on the radio; I passed the corner where, allegedly, the DeGrassi grocery store used to be; I passed a couple of the kids’ houses, I passed the primary school, and I passed the park. I was in dork heaven.

After thoroughly exploring the street from end to end, I stopped to watch the squirrels playing for a little while and then walked down to an interesting corner that I had spotted on the tram on the way in. Here, I found a little clutch of vegan bakeries, health food shops and a Caribbean jerk joint, called The Real Jerk; it looked pretty damn good. Unfortunately I wasn’t really hungry enough for a giant meal and I felt like I was running a bit short on time if I wanted to meet Jason after he finished work, so I just stopped for a delicious snack at the LPKs Culinary Groove, a vegan bakery. I had a chocolate soymilk smoothie with bananas and strawberries, and two cookie sandwiches – one double chocolate and one chocolate chip… I couldn’t figure out the filling (vegan cream? I think not) but the girl explained that it was a vegetable shortening that they used instead of a dairy one, and that they just topped it up with sugar and other good stuff to keep it tasty. Not bad at all!

From there, I raced into the city and headed for the Eaton Centre to run my errands; I had to buy suncream, bug repellent, shampoo and pyjama bottoms (my favourite ones, which I had brought with me, died a terrible, holey death in Vegas… I tried stitching them but they tore again!). I hate shopping at the best of times, but the hunt for pyjamas was the worst. I just wanted some el cheapo ones but everywhere I saw was asking $40 and above, and only sold them as a set with a top. In the end, I managed to find a thoroughly ugly pair in Sears for $12, which was on sale because it was part of a Christmas-themed set and the top had been nicked. Bargain… I think! :s

I was done by 5ish and set about waiting for Jason to get in touch regarding dinner. I waited and waited, but come 6:15 I still hadn’t heard from him. I called and left a message, but there was no answer, and by 7:15 I’d kind of had it. It turns out that in this day of comedic errors he had not received my earlier texts and had gone to play squash instead; by the time I called Frenda to tell her I was coming home, he was on the other line wondering where I was. In the end, after a bit of to and fro chaos and a rush to find a phone booth (not a simple matter in this age of mobile phones) so that I wouldn’t be spending gazillions on roaming charges, I did get the chance to see him. I got the subway out closer to his place and we had Korean food for dinner, which was really nice, but I had to leave fairly quickly to get the subway and then the train back to Burlington (and besides, he had work the next day too). What a fiasco. By the time I got to the station in Burlington it was nearly midnight and I was freezing and desperate for the bathroom; I called the local taxi number that Jason had given me and it turned out to be a number for some Chinese doctor’s answering machine. Thank god there was a man just finishing his shift at the station; he spotted that one of the digits was wrong, and gave me a coin to make the call (as I had spent the last ones I had on the calls in Toronto and the call to Doctor Wang). What a way to end the day.

Still, as I said, I enjoyed myself thoroughly on my walk around the DeGrassi area, and I enjoyed catching up with Jason, brief as it was, so the day was not a total loss. I went to bed that night confident in the knowledge that the next day would be better!

Thanks for stopping by,

Tara.

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SQUIRRELS!!!! Toronto, March 2012

22 Apr

Looking back at my time in Toronto, it really was a quiet little trip. There were a couple of days where I went adventuring into central Toronto, but mostly it was spent at Frenda’s place, using the internet and hanging out with Sophie the Wonderdog. And really, I have to say, that suited me down to the ground. I knew that Cuba would involve a lot of activity so it was kind of like the calm before the storm!

Saturday 24th March – I set my alarm for 11am, but ended up sleeping until 12:30… still trying to get my body clock into order after jetlag and unusual hours in Vegas! Frenda and Adrian were out most of the day, so I just pottered around the house. It was nice seeing bilingual products again – the maple breakfast cereal had French on one side of the box and English on the other. Flip it over – one minute you’re in Quebec, then flip again and you’re in Ontario… Quebec, Ontario, Quebec, Ontario…! Dinner with Frenda and Adrian.

Sunday 25th March – I managed to get my ass out of bed at 10, had more cereal for brekkie, and tootled again while Frenda and Adrian went out. When Adrian came back home, he and I took Sophie for a nice long walk down to the lakeshore and back. I saw my first squirrels of the trip! That’s when I knew for sure that I was in the northern hemisphere! The view from the cliff on the edge of the lake was just beautiful, and the lake’s so big that you can’t see the other side. Right on the lakeshore there was an ugly monstrosity of a house for sale, complete with a massive, hideous statue of a fisherman outside. I was just wondering which people in their right minds would want to live in a giant eyesore like that, all grey brick and ugly facade, when an ugly monstrosity of a car pulled up and a bunch of ugly monstrous people got out of it to look at the house. Sigh. There’s no accounting for taste! On the walk back home, we bumped into – and chatted to – a few people from the neighbourhood; all of them had a pronounced Canadian accent, which was surprising. I don’t often come across Canadian accents that strong! They seemed like lovely people, and all of them had dogs and cats running around the place.

After getting back from the walk, Frenda, Adrian and I all got ready, and they very kindly took me out for dinner in Toronto for my birthday, along with Jason and Julia (their son and his fiancee). The celebration was a day early, of course, but it worked out better that way because they all had to work on the Monday and I really wanted to celebrate it with all of them. We went to a place in Chinatown called ‘A Taste of China’, and the food was mind-blowingly good. There was deep-fried tofu, chilli chicken with crispy noodles, lobster with garlic and an amazing selection of greens (my favourite is always the snow pea shoots, which always seem more crispy than some of the alternatives). Yum! After dinner, we said our goodbyes to Jason and Julia, and started the long drive back to Burlington. What a lovely evening. After we got back, we all went to bed, but of course I couldn’t sleep so I HAD to watch a couple of episodes of the Walking Dead Season 2… my new addiction!!! Fantastic television, totally riveting… it was hard to stop watching and go back to bed!

Monday 26th March – My birthday! Having already had my celebration in Brissie before I left, and the dinner out the night before, I was happy to have a quiet day while Frenda and Adrian went to work. When Frenda came home, she made a beautiful salmon dish with ginger and onions, and after chatting for a while we all went to bed… and I indulged in more Walking Dead! 😉

Tuesday 27th March – more of the same as above. Quiet pottering with Sophie.

I’ll tell you all about my last two days in Toronto another time. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Tara.

 

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Sophie The Wonderdog, Las Vegas & Toronto, March 2012

22 Apr

Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been away for a while; I was in Cuba and unable to get access to the internet! I’m in the USA right now, about to start the big USA road trip, but it occurs to me that I still haven’t told you about the end of Vegas, or anything about Toronto, for that matter! As for Cuba, I’m dedicating a special page to it which I’ll update as I have the time… it might take a while to get through it all day by day, so feel free to check in every once in a while to see the updates. The page I created for Cuba can be found here, but be warned – there’s nothing much on it just yet! 🙂

So where were we? Ah yes, Vegas to Toronto. My apologies if it’s a bit perfunctory… I want to get working on Cuba ASAP! 😉

Friday 23 March – I woke up, packed and got ready before Karl and I drove to pick up Aunty C on the way to the airport. My checkin was superfast – quite the change to all the previous times I’ve been to Vegas airport, where I’ve spent hours rotting in a glacial queue praying for freedom! We went to a little place at the terminal called Alejandro’s, where we had a pretty good brekkie which was surprisingly cheap compared to Aussie airport standards. Once again: Aussies are being ripped off for every penny. I said a sad goodbye to Karl and Aunty C… geez, I love my family in Vegas! The security process was, again, quite painless (will wonders never cease), and the flight was nothing special – I basically watched crappy Entertainment Tonight-style shows and wished for it to be over!

On arrival in Toronto, I had to go to a special immigration area to get my working holiday visa cleared; there were a bunch of people all haggling with the immigration officers in broken English, which was a little sad – I’m glad I wasn’t in their position! The woman who processed my visa was actually very friendly, and before I knew it I was on my way out to baggage claim. A guy at the customs desk saw my entry ticket and yelped, “730 days? You’re going to be here for 730 days?!?” so I had to explain my situation; he looked pretty peeved and frowned maniacally but couldn’t really argue, I guess.

Frenda (my godmother) and her husband Adrian met me as I came through the doors. It’s always good to see them; I know they’re not blood relations but they do feel like family. The weather in Toronto was not as chilly as I had expected, and was actually warmer than Vegas – a balmy 14 degrees! We went straight back to Burlington as it was already getting late and it was a long drive; Frenda had made a delicious chicken with some roasted eggplant; she’s such a great cook. I was also happy to see Sophie, the house dog. Half Alsation and half sausage dog, she has tiny little legs on a big Alsation body. She is one of the most awesome, friendly dogs EVER, although she did seem less active than she was in 2007 when I last saw her; I guess age gets to everyone in the end!

After dinner I snuggled into bed and was out like a light before I knew it. And there began my time in Toronto.

Thanks for stopping by,

Tara.

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