Agricola Street Doors

I took a walk north along Agricola Street this afternoon. And yes! I spotted a few gorgeous doors.

Some absolute glowed in the slanting November afternoon sun.

And here’s a snazzy door knocker:

And sunny streets cape.

Linked with Norm’s Thursday Doors.

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Ascend

I’m cooling my heels in downtown Toronto. Husband is working here and I tagged along for a pre-Christmas visit with my youngest son. And even though I’m sitting pretty high (in a hotel room on the 42nd floor), the view from here has me looking up. Way up.

Toronto’s iconic CN Tower is practically next door. Built in 1976, and the equivalent of a 147 story building, the Tower held the title of the world’s tallest freestanding structure for 32 years. Now, I think, it ranks 9th in the world and 3rd or 4th in the western world. Something like that. Everyone wants to go UP, UP, UP it seems …

If you are so inclined, you can travel by glass elevator – through the channel in the middle of the structure – to the observation deck and dine in a revolving restaurant which obviously offers amazing views.

Last summer, my very brave (crazy?) sister participated in the Sky Walk – in which she paid for the privilege of being strapped in a harness and hung over the side of the building from a platform ABOVE the observation deck!

And at night, the whole thing it’s lit up. I noticed the colour of the elevator shaft moves and changes as the car travels up and down.

These photos are not great. My excuse is that they were all taken through the window from the warm coziness of inside the hotel.

Did I mention it’s a tad chilly here in Toronto this week? A cold snap has descended (after a pretty mild autumn) and it’s been getting colder every day! This morning we woke to -14C, with a wind chill of -27. It feels like -27 out there!!! So! Photos are being taken from inside.

You can see “smoke” off the lake this morning – as the relatively warmer water evaporates off the lake. And if you look very closely, you can see the vapour reach up for the clouds. Mesmerizing pretty … from in here.

WPC – ascend

Transient

“No permanence is ours; we are a wave that flows to fit whatever form it finds” 

– Herman Hesse

Spotted in Covent Garden May, 2017.

WPC – transient

From Up High to … Underground

Last week I dug myself out of the snowbank that is Nova Scotia, and followed my traveling husband to Toronto for a couple of days.  He was off to work….. I was his sidekick.

  

Our “home-away-from-home” was the snazzy new Delta Toronto Downtown.  That’s some pretty high living for a girl from the country.  High indeed!  Our room was on the 46th floor – the top floor.  And we had access to the Signature Lounge – I could get used to this.  The expansive windows of both our room and the lounge opened up to some pretty spectacular views over the city, a still partially frozen Lake Ontario and Toronto Island.  We looked down on the airplanes landing at the small airport there.

 

From those heights, we went off to explore the PATH – that underground walkway that covers over 30 kms (19 miles) of Toronto – under Toronto.  It’s pretty crazy:  these tunnels connect 50 building/office towers of the financial district and provide 371,600 square metres (4 million square feet) of retail space.  Thats 1,200 shops and services – looking around, I couldn’t think of a single convenience that was missing.  Except, maybe a public library – but there are book stores!

The idea is that a person can get from a subway stop or the railway terminal to work, or a hotel (there are 8 connected to PATH) or any number of cultural venues and conveniently shop and eat (I can’t say “dine”) along the way.  All without ever stepping out doors.  Which is very sensible – Toronto is a northern city, and the PATH “provides a safe haven” from winter’s cold and snow and summer’s extreme heat and humidity.

I can vouch for the convenience – I made my way through the PATH nearly every day we were there (me, and 200,000 or more other folks).  But, I can’t help but feel there is a little something “sci-fi” about it.  It’s like a whole other city beneath a city – all comfortably climate controlled, but without the benefit of sunlight.

I also had a little trouble orienting myself underground.  Eventually, I recognized “landmarks” and was able to move through pretty efficiently, I think.  But for a while, I know I went round in circles 🙂  For me, the signage wasn’t clear.  Apparently, though, there is a system.  According to the website, each letter in PATH is a different colour, each representing a direction. The P is red and represents south. The orange A directs pedestrians to the west, while the blue T directs them to the north. The H is yellow and points to the east.

Now you tell me!!! Simple – When you know how.  I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time.

More on this trip soon…..

Weekly Photo Challenge – Scale

A little fun playing with scale at an architectural model of a proposed condo complex.  Should we invest?  Would this make a good retirement home base?  Would we “fit in”?

Designing a Day

This is a rare moment. A day to do with what I will. Okay, not the whole day, but a large part of it. Oh! The options are truely endless…..because I’m in Manhattan! Galleries, museums, epic landmarks, the parks, the shops(!); the list goes on. The New York Public Library or people watch at Grand Central Station? Perhaps I’ll pick up some theatre tickets. I’ll meet up with my husband in the evening, but until then, the day is mine…..all mine. And the nicest part? There’s no rush…no schedule….no stress. I’ll see what I see, when I see it. But for the moment ….I’ll enjoy this…and really be here in this moment. The anticipation of a day to myself.

That is bliss.

Magic! The Michael Shand Trio

It was an enchanting scene:

I was perched about three rows up, in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, a three-story high space surround by walls of glass overlooking the corner of University and Queen St. in the heart of Toronto.  It was a warm mid-day at the end of September, the trees still green and leafy. At the intersection, the pulse of the city throbbed with vehicles, cyclists, and swarms of pedestrians all moving to the beat of traffic lights.  Inside, I was wedged onto my bench between two obviously seasoned concert goers.  The effect was at once, both intimate and expansive.

The real magic happened when the Micheal Shand Trio began to play. The effect of jazzy musical energy filling that environment and perfectly complimenting the scene outside was magnificent.  The concert lasted a little less than an hour….but I’ve been re-living it ever since. Magic!!