Canadian views

16 October 2015

Our last evening in Gravenhurst was another wonderful family affair, sharing pizzas, memories and stories with Maggie, Alan, Jen and Marina. Although Katie wasn’t well enough to join us we did get to spend some quality time with her in her little room of happy things. She was in better spirits than she had been the day before, still frail but less tired, and she joked with Commando about doing a trathalon, as she had herself some time ago.
“It’s the swimming that puts me off,” Commando laughed. “I’ve never been a strong swimmer. Maybe one triathlete in the family is enough.”

The next morning we were up bright and early to make the most of the last dawn views from our lakeside balcony. In fact there were still stars visible in the deep blue sky through the branches of the Muskoka pines and a thin line of copper above the trees on the far bank. We managed to heat the blueberry pancakes in the little kitchen and finished up the granola sitting on the bed looking through the window as the sky lightened. There was no rush to leave so I sat outside while Commando showered and cleaned his teeth, watching the bear in the woods survey the layers of pink and gold in the sky and the rosy ripples on the lake. With a cup of coffee to keep me warm I watched the trees slowly take on their autumnal hues as it got lighter still and then, regretfully, left them to get myself ready. A view like that is hard to leave behind but what a joyous start to the day.

After we’d packed everything up and double checked the room to make sure we’d left nothing behind we loaded up the car. Commando was nervous about the drive, especially the end of the journey in Toronto where the traffic was likely to be much worse than the quiet country roads in Muskoka. He set up the sat nav and, with one last check around the chalet, we set off. My job was to keep a lookout for speed signs, road signs and anything else that might be important.

Once we left Bethune Drive and got onto the Highway 11 things were fairly plain sailing. Occasionally a sign was worthy of comment, something to make Commando smile. We passed Camp Hillbilly which made me think of the old TV show. We crossed the River Severn and passed through Severn Bridge which was nothing at all like the one between England and Wales. I really wished we could stop at Happyland because it sounded so nice.  Then we hit Barrie, the largest town we’d passed through so far. Traffic built up and we passed a couple of sets of roadworks where they appeared to be resurfacing and lanes were closed. Shortly after this we went from Highway 11 to Highway 400, two lanes became three and the traffic increased, especially the huge trucks. Two more sets of roadworks had me wondering if they were preparing the roads for the harsh Canadian winter. A sign for Bethesda had me thinking of Central Park and one for Strange made me smile. When we got to Vaughan we passed Canada’s Wonderland and a huge roller coaster. From then on it was city driving all the way to the end of the 400 and the beginning of the 401, then the 427.

The traffic got worse and worse until we turned onto the Gardiner Expressway that would lead us into the centre of Toronto. Now it was slow going but the tall buildings grew closer and closer with every mile. It was hard to keep concentrating when we spotted the CN Tower on the horizon but now we had smaller city roads to contend with to take us to our hotel and even heavier traffic. There was also the issue of finding somewhere we could park. Googling told me the hotel did have a car park but we weren’t sure if there would be a space for us as we’d not planned on arriving with our own vehicle.

We were on York Street in the midst of the skyscrapers. Commando was using all his concentration to deal with the traffic and the stop signs at every intersection when I spotted a sign saying Parking, Hilton Hotel. With a sigh of relief Commando turned in and we drove slowly round looking for an easy place to park for someone driving an unfamiliar vehicle with the steering wheel on the wrong side. We found one in a corner and I noted the green signs saying level three, thinking we’d probably need to know this later.

Back out on the street with our cases we still didn’t know how to get to our hotel. We’d emerged, still on York Street but not in the same place we’d driven into the car park. We were completely disoriented and had no idea which way to go. Luckily, we had a map so we got it out and tried to get our bearings. Within about ten seconds a lady came up to us.
“Are you lost? Can I help?”
This is not something that would happen in England and it caught us completely by surprise, especially as she actually walked us to the front of our hotel even though she’d been going in the opposite direction. What a wonderful introduction to Toronto.

Things got even better when we got to hotel reception. It was still only quarter to twelve and all our paperwork told us we wouldn’t be able to check in until three.
“We know we’re too early to check in but we’ve just driven from Gravenhurst. Would it be possible to leave our bags here until three so we can go and get something to eat?” Commando asked.
“There will be no problem at all sir. In fact I can check you in right now. Let me just see which rooms I have available. I’ll try to find you something with a good view, not overlooking the side of a building,” the kind receptionist said. After tapping away at his computer he smiled, “I’ve booked you into 1904, that’s the nineteenth floor.”
Was everyone in Canada this nice? It seemed impossible but so far everyone we met seemed keen to be as kind to us as possible.

“What ever the view is, it’ll be hard to top the last one,” Commando said as we got into the lift.
It turns out he was wrong about that. It’s hard to compare two such different scenes and this one didn’t have all the majesty of Mother Nature but it was without doubt the best city view I’ve ever had from a hotel room and I’ve stayed in more than my fair share. We both stood for a long time staring out over the city laid out below us. White clouds scudded across the blue sky and between all the skyscrapers there was a green park, a fountain and an interesting looking old building. It looked like a painting of a city except the cars on the road below were moving.
“See that odd curved building that looks like it has a flying saucer in the middle of it?” Commando said, “I think that’s where the marathon finishes.”

There was one of those pod type coffee machines in the room so we had a coffee and rested for a while from the drive. While we drank Commando checked out the map. He had to go to an expo to pick up his race pack and, as we’d been able to check in so early, thought we could get it out of the way during the afternoon, leaving the day before the marathon free for resting. It sounded like a good way to get used to the city and stretch my legs after sitting in the car most of the morning so I said I’d go along too.

Straight away we noticed it was easier to cross roads than New York. In Toronto they have the same rules about turning right through a red light but here the cars and the trams creep around the corner and wait patiently for pedestrians to cross. There also seemed to be a Tim Hortons on every street corner along with a Starbucks, in fact I’ve never seen so many Starbucks in one place before. This could only be good news. We also saw the CN Tower from time to time through the buildings. Commando promised we would go to the top before the week was out. On Bathhurst Street we crossed a rusty looking railway bridge we dubbed the smelly bridge because there was a definite whiff in the air. The bridge may have been smelly but the views were interesting. A train was passing on the railway lines below and I was surprised to see it was a double decker, like the ones we’d travelled on in Amsterdam with odd lozenge shaped carriages. There was also an interesting park but the gates appeared to be closed and the clouds beyond were black and threatening so we carried on past.

Just around the corner from the Starbucks on Bathurst Street, as we turned into Fleet Street, we saw a wonderfully bizarre sculpture of two toy soldiers. Later Googling told me this was a monument to the war of 1812 with a gold Royal Newfoundland Regiment soldier standing victorious over a toppled silver American soldier. The statue, the brainchild of Vancouver author Douglas Coupland, is intended to depict the British victory. Oddly, I’d never even heard of the 1812 war and had to Google that too. Turns out the reason for my lack of knowledge is that, although the war lasted two and a half years and was fought by the USA against the UK, its North American colonies and its Native American allies, we see it as just a part of the Napoleonic wars. In truth it was caused by issues arising from the Napoleonic wars, namely trade restrictions and the impressment of US merchant sailors into the Royal Navy. This is possibly an oversimplification but I liked the statue anyway.

Then the rain began to fall. It got so hard we had to shelter for a while in the doorway of a building but, after a while, it calmed down a bit and we set off again. Eventually we found the expo centre, quite close to the lake side. Maybe if it hadn’t been raining I’d have gone for a look but, as it was, I wandered round with Commando looking at running gear. Once he’d collected his race pack we made our way back, basically retracing our steps from the outbound journey. Thankfully the rain seemed to have given up for the day and our next task was finding somewhere to eat. It was almost three o’clock and our early morning breakfast was long forgotten.

Back over the smelly bridge, which still had an unpleasant pong, we turned onto Front Street. We were now walking towards the CN Tower and figured there was bound to be a cafe or restaurant along there somewhere. At first it was all businesses and car parks, although we did pass a wonderful street of houses that looked as if they’d been uprooted from England and dropped there. Further on Commando spotted a funny statue, a man in a flat cap sitting on a bench, and asked me to sit next to it so he could take my photo. I wished I’d had my cap with me.

We’d passed a few Tim Horton’s and Starbucks by this time but we were holding out for something different so, when we came to a huge department store complex that said it had a food court, we went inside. There was so much choice it was difficult to decide but, in the end, Commando went for some spicy Thai Soup and I went off to get us a Hero burger each. As this is a famous Candian chain it seemed like a plan. It turned out to be a good one.

Surprisingly, we found our way back to the hotel fairly easily, but then Commando was in charge of the slightly soggy map. We spent a few hours freshening up and just chilling. Ok, so there may have been some sleeping going on for a while. As the light began to fade the view from the window got better and better. Lights began to come on and the clouds took on a golden hue then slowly turned pink. A red helicopter circled the city and I wondered if there were helicopter tours like there had been in New York.

By the time all the city lights were on we were ready to go out for a little evening wander and a search for a proper meal. We started with a coffee in a nearby Starbucks, sitting at a table in the window with a backdrop of twinkling city lights. After that we ambled down towards the CN Tower. It was lit up bright blue as we approached but, just after we got there it began to change colour. The light show was wonderful and we stood on the street just staring up at it for ages. In fact I even took a video. Commando said he liked it best when it was red and white, Saints colours.

Click below for the video

trim.9AAD38D3-0FA2-4673-BAB4-533EA9EF3E00

Once we’d finished gawping at the pretty lights we discovered that finding somewhere to eat was going to be harder than we thought. There was a major baseball game going on. Apparently it was the play offs for the World Series and the Toronto Blue Jays were playing the Kansas City Royals.
“It’s a bit like the FA Cup,” Commando explained.
Every single restaurant and bar was teeming with Blue Jays’ fans wanting to watch the game.

In the end we gave up and headed back towards the hotel. On the corner, right on the edge of the pavement a homeless man was sleeping in a tangle of blankets and cardboard. At first I wondered why he’d chosen such an odd place but, as we got closer, I could see he was directly over one of the subway vents. Obviously the hot air that comes up from them would keep him warm. Even so, I couldn’t help wondering what would happen when it got even colder and there was snow on the ground.

Back in our room we ordered room service. Commando thought it might be fun to watch the game on TV. This might have been interesting if we could work out the basic rules. Surely it was like rounders but with more protective gear? At school we played rounders in the playground, you hit the ball with the bat and you ran round the bases, simple. Turned out there was a lot of ball throwing that didn’t end up in hitting and there didn’t seem to be any running at all even when the ball was hit.

Neither of us had a clue what was going on but we tried to root for Toronto, seeing as we were in the city. Sadly, they lost.
“Does that mean they’re out of the World Series then?” I asked Commando.
“No they play a series of seven games and the first team to win four goes through to the next round.”
“Right. Who do they play next then?”
“The same team. They play seven games against them. The next one is tomorrow.”
The more I learned the less sense it made. Give me the football league any day. Every team plays every other team away and at home. They kick the ball, if it goes in the net it’s a goal, the team with the most goals wins. They get three points for a win, one point for a draw. The most points wins the league. Simple.

With one last look out the window at the lights of the city, we went to bed.