I took Hideaki for a two-day trip to Toronto, about a 40 minute drive/train ride from our home in Brampton. He has been only once before, for a quick half-day tour including the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, and not much else considering it was February and -10C. So this was the first time I really got to show him the city. We arrived at Union Station about 10, and headed east on Front Street to the St. Lawrence Market, passing the Flatiron Building on the way:
It was already hot and our backpacks were heavy, but Hideaki really enjoyed seeing the sights of the city. He's lived in North America before so I didn't think he'd be so impressed, but I guess Los Angeles is a very different city. He described Toronto as an "aji no aru machi" (literally, "a town with flavour"). I'd have to agree.
After arriving at the market, we had a good look around (the place is full of wonderful shops and great for just looking around- I'm always especially impressed by the cheese and olive selections), we grabbed a quick breakfast (a backbacon sandwich) and picked up some stuff for a picnic lunch. Next we headed to Harbourfront and caught a ferry to the Toronto Islands. After a few hours of walking around in the heat, it was wonderful to sit down and feel the cool breeze of the lake. Unfortunately the ferry was very crowded and the sky had grown overcast, so we weren't able to get a nice picture of the Toronto skyline (you know the one I wanted- like the picture this guy got).
The Islands are just like I remember them- pretty, full of happy families, and covered in Canadian Geese. Much less goose poop though. Here's Hide trying to make friends with a goose:
After a bit of exploring, we headed to a picnic area near the beach and had lunch. While we were eating Hideaki was able to found out why everyone hates seagulls (there aren't any in Japan and he'd thought that the ones he'd seen so far were cute). We had originally planned to rent bicycles, but after hearing a girl at the information centre say cost between $6 and $20 per hour, I decided we should walk. A real dumb thing to do, and if I'd actually thought about it (beyond my immediate "$20 times 2 people times 2 hours equals $80 ohmygodnowayforgetaboutit" reaction) I would have realized that the $20 bikes were probably those big four-seaters. So we just walked around, getting hotter and hotter. I'm such a cheapskate.
I was trying to convince Hide to go to the nude beach at Hanlan's Point (we hadn't thought to bring bathing suits, and I really wanted a swim) but he wasn't into it. But I had the map and so I steered us there anyway. He realized what was going on when we came within view of the beach, and flat-out refused. And seeing that virtually everybody on the beach was a middle-aged male, I was secretly relieved.*
A few minutes into the long walk back to the ferry, it started to rain. Then it started to pour. We got thoroughly soaked, and then as soon as we got to the shelter of the ferry dock, it stopped. Nice. Back on the mainland, we took the subway to the Metropolitan Hotel and checked in. Kind of a fancy place and I was sure they'd take one look at (and whiff of) our wet clothes, dirty backpacks and muddy feet and claim to have lost our reservation. But nope, they let us in.
After cleaning up and relaxing a bit, we headed to the Distillery District for dinner. This is a new area (or rather, a newly renovated and revitalized area), so I'd never been. It is supposed to be chock full of shops, galleries, artist's studios, cafes and the like, and it probably was. But most of the shops seemed to be closed (at 6:00 on a Wednesday?) and it was hard to tell which galleries/studios were open to the public and which weren't. It's a very nice place to walk around though- full of old, well-preserved and picturesque architecture, with every surface covered in brick. A few cafes and bars had some very inviting patios, and if we weren't about to have dinner we would have definitely stopped for drinks. I'd really like to come back sometime, perhaps when there was more going on.
Dinner was at Perigee. It was my first time there, but I've heard so many good things about it and had been really looking forward to it. Rather than try to explain the restaurant myself, I'll direct you to this review.
We went with 7 courses, me with wine to match each course. A feature of this restaurant is that each diner (in each party) gets a different dish. So since we always share our food, it was more like 14 courses. Except it wasn't- in addition to those courses, the meal started with bread and an amuse bouche, and included an intermezzo and pre-dessert. Wow.
To say it was fabulous would be an understatement. To say our socks were completely blown off still wouldn't do it justice. It was one of the best meals of my life. And not just because of the fanciness of it all- the food was truly delicious.
This post is long enough without including 19 pictures of our dinner, so please check out my Flickr site. Pictures (and explanations) start here. I've done my best to describe each dish, but with the complexity of the dishes- not to mention the sheer number of them- there were a few things I couldn't remember.
After we were done, I went to the ladies room and returned to discover my husband shaking hands with the head chef, Pat Riley. Mr. Riley had been nice enough to pose for a picture too:
After dinner we took a walk around the entertainment district and Queen St West, thinking we might hit a club or bar. But we were too tired and full (and after 7 glasses of wine I really didn't need another drink), so we just went back to our hotel.
More pictures from today are at Flickr. Toronto street and market pictures start here, the ferry and island pictures here, and the Distillery District pictures here.
* A few days later I did a little research and it turns out Hanlan's point is a well-known gay hangout. Doh! That actually would have been just fine for me- much better to be left alone than to be ogled by dirty old men- but it might would have made Hideaki a wee uncomfortable.
Funny, the free tourist map we got shows a section of beach with a picture of three happy naked young people of both sexes playing with a ball, and is labeled "Hanlan's Point Clothing Optional Beach. Rather than a more accurate label of "Hanlan's Point Gay Nude Beach" accompanied by a picture of a bunch of fat old men.
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