At least all the landmarks on this walk were still there

#16 Landmarks

With famous attractions, professional sports venues, and grand architecture, this walk takes in many of Toronto’s most visited buildings.

DATE: Tuesday, August 25th, 2009.

TIME: 7:33pm – 10:24pm (including a delicious dinner)

After a bit of a hiatus, we are back to our walks. And with only a week left till I have to start going to work again, looks like we have 46 more walks to do!…Kidding, kidding…. I’ve long come to terms they won’t all be completed this summer. Anyhoo, back to the walk at hand.

It was a gorgeous evening and we were doing what is probably the most "touristy" walk of them all. (Kind of weird cause we’ve been to all the venues, and it’s not really that big of a deal to see them again. My brother’s condo is along this route so I’m always in this area.) We start famished and will finish bloated. We have a little scare early on as when we get off the street car, I drop the card and wind almost carries it onto busy Bathurst street. Good save Alma! What would we have done if we had lost it?!?!

Oh goodness, when Mon had dropped that card… my heart stopped. The wind got ahold of it but fortunately I stopped it fast enough with my foot before it went into oncoming traffic. I seriously wouldn’t know what to do if it went on the road… maybe… "ah, mon…you get it"

1. Fort York

Built to defend York from the American invasion during the War of 1812.

A couple of Fort York memories. I always remember those Engineering parties at Fork York during Frosh week. An outdoor party under the shelter of tents (yes it did rain one year). Lots of drinking, lots of dancing – and usually a lot of walking to avoid steep cab fares (steep when you’re a university student making no money).  Some good times… and gross times as all they had were porta potties….

The other memories that come to mind are of grade 8 history when we studied the war of 1812. This is actually a story you haven’t heard Alma! I started to type it in here, but it’s long and boring so I’ve done everyone a favour and stopped. If you are dying to hear it, ask me about it personally. Though you’ll probably regret it later.

Mon has the greatest memories… My only memory of Fort York as a kid was learning how to square dance and eating some sort of stew. I’m not cool enough to have partied it up during Frosh week. 

So, the card tells us to follow the path along the fort’s southern fence to the main gates. I don’t think I’ve ever been through the main gates of Fort York before.

It’s not the greatest area, but the graffiti has all been cleaned off the stone.

I noticed this out of the corner of my eye when we were passing by. There are these strings hanging from that post. I immediately thought of chimes. We weren’t able to get a closer look, so no idea what they are.

 Kinda wished this shot came out better… it looks kinda patriotic?! Not really… ah whatever. 

The view from the front gates of Fort York. The fort is closed for the day so we couldn’t go in even if we wanted to. But we are both disappointed to see a sign (see the picture below) that says that there is free admission to Toronto Historic sties on weekends in July and August. EEK! We’ve been wasting our summer! And with one weekend left, doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to take advantage of that deal.

Sucks that we didn’t get to take advantage of that… Maybe it’ll happen next year and we’ll get our walks finished! Perhaps that’s a bit too hopeful.

 FYI: I did check out the site and Casa Loma which we visited earlier this summer is not one of those free sites. But the Spadina House Museum is!!!!!

If you look at the leafy portion of this tree, you’d think that it’s just one large tree. But turns out it’s 2! The 2 trunks kind of look like legs.

Nice pic, Mon! I love the look of the tree and it’s background. I think Mon is starting to get used to her camera! Way to go!

 

This is the back entrance to the fort – or the Engineering party entrance as I tend to think of it. We would have taken more pictures from this side as you get a better view of the grounds and the fort walls, however, were some sketchy people about.

Yeah, those guys were sketchy…

FYI there were so many pictures of the CN tower from this walk. I’ll give you the final tally later. This one Alma took from Bathurst street.

There are a lot of pictures of the CN tower because I want to show that you can see the tower practically every corner you turn. This is just one example…I love silhouettes. I like the look of this pic. Maybe due to the placement of the tower underneath the "starburst" rails.

Our next stop is the Sky Dome- oops I mean the Rogers Centre. I will never get used to saying that. Anyhoo, we walk along Front street making our way to Blue Jay way.

A blurry picture of Alma taking a picture of what no doubt must be the CN tower. It’s not a jab at you Alma; what’s a Toronto skyline without it???

Is that what I look like taking a picture? I don’t think I look that touristy.

At this point, we are just way too hungry to keep going, so we grab a bite to eat at Finn McCool’s on Front. Really good food. The appetizer we ordered, Blarney (?) Chips were sooooo good. I have to say, we seem to have good Irish pub karma. Will never forget that free meal we got at the Irish pub in Whitby with the Twins – the night we went to the corn maze last November.

Yum! I’m so glad we found this pub. My meal was alright, it was a salmon pie. I was a bit surprised they didn’t offer any vegetarian meals, but the fries were to die for! We scarfed those fries like no tmrw. Yumm… We should definitely go back to have those fries and have those 4 beers for 12 bucks!

Cheers!!!! We had some Irish dark beer – can’t remember the name. I liked it, Alma didn’t. In the background you can see Alma’s grilled veggies that she said were really good, but she was too stuffed. We were both really full leaving the pub. I was kind of uncomfortable the rest of the night after eating so fast.

We left the pub after 9:30pm so it was dark and we still had plenty of pictures to take. So they’re not the greatest shots, but oh well.

2. Rogers Centre

The building was the world’s first fully retractable domed stadium and is home to the Blue Jays and the Argos.

I believe I have alluded to the fact that I hate the name change. It will forever be the Sky Dome to me. I really bugs me how it’s become common in professional sports for the facilities to be named after the corporate sponsers rather than the team, or the city, or an architectural design. Rogers Centre, Air Canada Centre, BMO Field!!!! "Maple Leaf Gardens" is cute and punny. The ol’ Pitsburg Penguins arena was known as "the Igloo", the San Jose Shark’s building was "The Shark Tank", the Anaheim Ducks "the Pond". But not anymore! Even names like "the Forum" (as in the Montreal Forum – which in all fairness is nonexistance now) and "the Colisseum" are out of favour. Sense by annoyance? Anyways, I digress….

 The Audience sculpture on the north-west facade.

I insisted we get a picture as the card speaks of the scuplture!

 I must add, this is one of our first walks at night… so I think I might’ve taken 5 shots of this sculpture before actually getting a decent pic. 

I wished this picture wasn’t that blurry, but alas… I don’t own a tripod … ppl… squint your eyes  to have a clearer image!

Just in case you were wondering, the Jays lost to the Tamp Bay Devil Rays 7-3 that night. But Aaron Hill got his 30th homerun of the year. Yea Aaron!

Directly below The Audience sculpture on the north-east facade.

Needless to say, the dome is open on such a nice night.

It is rare for me to see the dome open at night. Yay!

3. CN Tower

At 553 meters (1815 feet) tall, it is the world’s tallest free-standing structure and boasts the world’s highest wine cellar in the revolving restaurant, the 360.

Well actually it no longer holds that record. Something else we’ll have to tell the card makers about. It held the record for 31 years. In September 2007, (so before the cards were published) it was passed in height by the still under construction Burj Dubai.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai 

But it is considered one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World according to the American Society of Civil Engineers- so take that Burj Dubai! 

Although this blog only contains 4 pics with the CN Tower, I’ve counted at least 10 in our stock of photos (6 didn’t make the cut). And I know Alma must have some more.

I don’t want to say how many I took… okay, I will. 14! Actually that’s not bad… I thought it’d be worse. There’s another CN tower pic hidden on our blog… can you name the entry?

Ooo, ooo, ooo! Took me some brain racking (promise I didn’t cheat): *** Entertainment District – behind the giant thimble***  

The pretty lights an area at the base of the tower.

 There’s some quality about this scene makes it look like a model to me….

I can see why you would think models…I guess it kinda has some sort of "fakeness" to it. But this is one of my favourite pics of the evening. It’s not blurry! I just love how illuminated our city can be… even without being christmas.

I can’t remember the last time I went up the tower and to the restaurants. I know I’ve done it somewhat recently- meaning in the last 7 years- probably taking a visiting relative. My most memorable trip was in grade 12. My good high school friend Sonia opted out of OAC and was graduating. So I organized a graduation party for her. We took her to dinner at the 360. I remember feeling so ripped off with the meal. In all my other visits, I had a parent or someone to pay for my meal so I hadn’t felt it before. We got one of those "combos" – the appetizer, entre, and dessert for a set price. I remember the "Caesar Salad" was a single lettuce leaf, a thin strip of fresh parmesian, and a drop of dressing. There may have been a crouton. Can’t remember…. It was a fun night though. We took pictures lying down on the glass floor and all our heads put together in a circle. ahhh, high school….. That was 9 years ago. wow!

4. The Roundhouse (255 Bremner Blvd)

…..which houses the Steam Whistle Brewery.

I’ve never been on the Steam Whistle tour but I do want to go. My brothers have been a zillion times. They live (or in Carl’s case lived) next door and enjoyed the freebies and the beer glass you get with the tour.
I went on their tour last year and you get a free glass and a drink! I’m not the biggest fan of their beer but it’s not bad. You should go, mon.

  

During Frosh week – actually the night of the Fort York Engineering party – we went to the Sky Dome (it was called that back then in 2001) to see a Blue Jay game. Remember that Alma? I’m pretty sure all the colleges went – I know New College was there cause I saw my friend Karolyn from elementary school there. Anyhoo, to avoid paying for buses to get us down there, and to keep with the Frosh Week spirit, St. Mike’s (my college) held a mock protest. What were we protesting you ask??? PANTS. That’s right. We were supposed to not wear pants that night (opting for shorts, shirts or other inventions – I still wore jeans) and we walked down to the Dome. A few of the male frosh leaders cut open the frosh laundry bags to make skirt-like things. We made signs saying things like "Say no to pants" and my favorite "Jesus didn’t wear pants".  We got bystanders who thought we were funny to drop their pants (ie punk kids on Queen Street). Outside Queens park we shouted it out with various chants. And at the US consulate someone wrote on the concrete "Bush wears pants". It was all quite humourous. Anyway, after the protest and before the game we went to the Roundhouse and had a BBQ on the property. Yup that’s right, what a loosely connected anecdote. But I always think about the protest when I think about the Roundhouse.

The Metro Convention Centre (not officially on the walk)

Metro Convention Centre… umm… what to say, I remember in high school we had to go there for a french book fair… and I got some french author’s autograph. I probably still have it tucked away in my  ’school memory’ folder…along with a lot of useless stuff. Ah.. to be a pack rat. (Mon, i can’t believe you threw out that small piece of paper!)

5. Air Canada Centre

Home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors.

We approach the Air Canada Centre from the north west side. Another Monica Pet-Peeve: I hate how the building looks now with the added buildings. They’ve built a set of condo’s and office buildings where the parking lot used to be. Now you can barely see the ACC from Bremner. Really stupid. Really pisses me off. It was so nice before. Now it’s lost amongst the buildings. You can’t see the words Air Canada Centre. Aiye! The building is no Maple Leaf Gardens. Doesn’t have that history. But I’ve always liked the actual building. And the fact that it is so accessible from the subway and the highway. With MLG you’d have to walk a bit from the closest subway station and though it’s not that far, when I was a kid, it felt like it was.

ACC! A many a Raptor game was seen here. I watched two playoff games 2 years in a row. One was against the NJ nets. I went with my dad and the crowd was ridiculously loud! A lot of Vince Carter bashing. Unfortunately we loss that game…

They’ve seem to have put up a giant screen. During the season there are TV’s outside showing the game- mostly for the smokers who’ve stepped out for a break. But this is extremely new. So new, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t up a few hours ago when I walked by it to meet Alma for the walk.

I think you’d notice if the screen was up.. but maybe you didn’t if it wasn’t on yet…who knows!

After we completed the walk and were walking by to get to my car, a few construction workers and a security guard were talking to a guy on the street and they were looking up at the under-construction Maple Leaf Square Condos. The guy was saying he could see someone up in the building walking around.

Galleria entrance – taken by Alma.

Galleria entrance – taken by Monica

I don’t know how to use my camera – it was afterall recently inherited from Carl. But let’s pretend this is an artistic shot that I intended….

Galleria

Ticket Office

Main enterance to the actual arena from inside the Galleria.

Another picture taken by Monica! Good job!

According to the card, we were supposed to visit the fan shop (it’s obviously closed) and the legend illustrating the facilities architectural highlights. No idea what legend they are refering to…

This picture was taken in the passage in what is technically Union Station (but really is in the nowhere land between Union Station and the ACC) to Bay Street. Now I made a Harry Potter reference that Alma thought was too forced. I said this area is kind of like the scene from the last and final book (SPOILER ALERT) in the chapter titled "King’s Cross". In this scene Harry is unconscious in the real world after attempting to sacrifice himself and has a subconscious conversation with the deceased Dumbledore. The surroundings are simply described as white, big empty space. And later Harry says that he thinks they are in King Cross train station.

This reference was sooo forced!

        

Bay Street Side of Union Station/ACC

As we walk down here, Alma notices lots of big spiders and their webs. She took a few pictures but hasn’t posted any of them here. In any case, Alma told me an ancedote about large spiders. Then I reminded her about the large spiders in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Alma at least said this reference was apt.

I didn’t take any pictures of those massive spiders. Just looked at them. I think I wanted to though… those spiders just reminded me of the time where I had to make a phone call in a phone booth in berlin. There were 3 big spiders in different corners of the booth. I kept my eye on all three of them but at one point, I didn’t know where one was.. so i had to end my conversation with my mom early.

6. Union Station

The largest train station in Canada.

It’s late on a Tuesday night, lots of people are about, and we are embaressed to look like tourists taking a picture of Union Station from the main entrance on Front Street.  So that’s why there aren’t any pics from the street.

   

  I like this pic. It might be due to the blue and yellow lights kinda alternating and leading to completely darkness.. or the fact that it looks like the ceiling is an upside down sidewalk or something

The Great Hall.

See those windows all the way at the top? Some of them are open. How do they open and close those???

 you know.. a guy with a really tall ladder! Great for ppl that are scared of heights… me! Or maybe a guy with a super long pole… 

 

Well, that concludes our walk. It was a beautiful evening, good food, and I like the attractions on this walk…. except that it wasn’t anything new and different.  A lot of "been there, done that".

Monica Rating:   3/5 moons. Once again, not a bad walk, but not overly exciting for a born and raised Torontonian.

Alma rating:  3/5 cameras. Cause it was our first night walk. It’s also been awhile since I’ve seen Fort York and to kinda hit the major touristy sites, isn’t that bad. Mon was right, it was definitely a gorgeous night to have a stroll and it’s prolly the best way to see the city lights.