Toronto Trip June 2012 Day 5 Saturday June 9

UPDATED: February 1, 2021

This is the fifth of a series of posts dealing with my second and most recent trip to Toronto. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.  Due to how recent the trip was, there are no updates to note below.

Aidan and I went to a pub on Bloor last night.  It was too noisy and I quickly got overwhelmed so we went to another roughly across the street from it.  It eventually became noisy too but only gradually.  We sat outside and early on a voyeuristic white cat watched the patrons from above. I'd have liked to have taken a photo of it but it was dark and to get a good shot I'd have had to have zoomed in with my camera and be not at all discrete.  It rained a little which cleared out a few people.  I got home a little later and it poured minutes after.

Today I'd probably be half on itinerary, half off. Part of it was covered on Tuesday (which reminds me that I switched Fri and Sat around) and the rest covers a relatively small stretch or if not small, quite linear at least.  But Toronto all day today.  Just need to check something else online and I'll be off!

[NOW: The above was written in the morning; the rest I wrote in the evening.]

I had a smaller itinerary for today than usual (both because I planned it that way originally and because part if it was done on Wed; I also switched around Fri and Sat); so only part of this day fell under the itinerary.

For all subsequent reports including this one, BD=Blood-Danforth subway line, YUS=the Yonge University Spadina subway line.

 

[Now: The former is now Line 2, the latter Line 1; all transportation this day TTC/Toronto Transit Commission.]

First, off itinerary, I walked along Bloor to the McDonald’s in front of the Royal Ontario Museum and had breakfast there.  Then I walked down Avenue Rd (yes, that’s its name) to Museum Station and took the YUS south to St Patrick Station.  There I took a westbound Dundas streetcar to near Denison Square. At the Square I got the photos of the Al Waxman statue. I noticed today that the statue was near Kensington Market.  Waxman played the lead character in The King of Kensington (an old Canadian TV series).  I took another streetcar east on Dundas to Yonge-Dundas Square.

At Yonge-Dundas Square they had a lot o Volkswagens, one made to look like Herbie the Love Bug.  I went down to Danforth Station and took the northbound YUS to Finch and from there took a 600? to Yonge and Steele, thus finally connecting me with my itinerary.  That far up north, Yonge is in the 6300s in the evens side and in the 6900 in the odds side.  I was feeling relaxed so after a failed attempt to find one store in Centrepoint Mall (I did check out another closing Zeller’s), wandered back south to Finch, noting that the other stores north of Finch I wanted to see were gone as well.  I took the YUS south to Sheppard Yonge and from there on a whim decided to check out the other subway line there (Sheppard) and took it to Don Mills. This took longer than expected. I’d planned to visit the HMV at Fairview Mall across from Don Mills Station, but it proved to be in the opposite end of the mall and I decided I’d wasted too much time there as it was.

 

[NOW: HMV is now defunct. Sheppard line is now Line 4.]

I took that line back to Sheppard Yonge and went to Sheppard Square. I bought some pop at Dollarama and visited Sunrise Records, then took the YUS line south to Eglington Station. I bought a comic hardcover at Yonge St’s BMV Books, then took the YUS line south to St Clair. I visited Book City, the took the St Clair streetcar west, skipping a few places I took tell from the window were closed.  

 

[NOW: That Sun rise Records is now closed.]

I visited the 2Q Video at St. Clair and Oakwood and then took a 63 bus south to Ossington and Dupont, a very boring stop.  Unfortunately the 26 bus never showed up except the bus going the other direction. I finally gave up after waiting around 20 minutes and, never seeing the bus hiked around 20 blocks to my next destination, the west side of Dundas St.  I bought Smallville season 10 on blu-ray for about $17 at Pandemonium. Hairy Tarantula had turned into a role-playing game shop that did have some DVDs but no purchases. Also not at Dundas West Pawnbrokers and the nearby dollar store which had a tine DVD selection.

 

[NOW: 2Q Video and is now closed. Not sure what store I meant by Hairy Tarantula but it was probably a different store.]

I got more DVDs at Big Daddy’s and then visited Dencan Books and the Book Exchange. I headed south down Clendanan to Annette, more than a little worried because it was time to chance the 26 again. This time it arrived just after i reached the stop, so I took it to Jane Station, where I took the BD west to Royal York Station in the area of Toronto formerly and still informally called Etobicoke.  

 

[NOW: Big Daddy's DVD and Dencan Books are now closed.,]

I visited Excalibur Comics and had lunch a Tim Horton’s; a fire truck parked there for food. I took the BD east from Jane to Lansdowne. where I walked to Aidan’s place and dropped off some stuff and checked my messages. I saw Aidan’s sister there but she was listening to music and I don’t think she noticed me.

Now done with my itinerary, I walked to Zoinks (I think it was en route that I saw the kitty in the window for the first time since Tues; it was sleeping this time) and then took the BD (entering the station at Ossington on the same side I did when I visited Aidan’s old place last year) to Bathurst.  I visited Suspect Video before getting some DVDs at Honest Ed’s.  Honest Ed’s is a huge two building store with a bridge above connecting the buildings. Lots of discount stuff’s of jokes in and out of the store poking fun at Ed’s while praising the prices. Outside there’s flashing lights. If you only visit one store in Toronto, I’d make it this one because it’s a unique experience.

 

[NOW: Suspect Video and Honest Ed's are now closed.]

I took a streetcar south from Bathurst and Bloor. I kept seeing it go down Bathurst so I figured I’d just get on and see where it went.  It actually went down to near the waterfront before turning west. I didn’t want to go that far west so I switched streetcars, got some great waterfront shots, and got off at Union Station.  I wandered back to King St and got more photos of the Walk of Fame; I wandered south to the CN Tower on a whim, thinking of going up it, but didn’t feel like paying the $24.  I wandered back to King and got a pop from a street vendor (they tend to be a bit cheaper there than convenience stores)  I also passed the Walk again, this time more by accident than on purpose.  

I made it to Queen St and took a streetcar east as far as it went, which turned out to be outside a pub where some either live or canned off key karaoke could be heard outside. I took a temporary shuttle (during construction part of Queen is closed to shuttles) to Queen just north of Kew Beach. I ordered a pizza from Pizza Pizza, wandered to Kew Beach, wandered back have given it some time to cook, wandered back to the beach. Not as packed as I thought it would be.  Maybe it’ll be more packed tomorrow when I visit with a friend. I took a 93 bus north to Woodbine Station and took the BD west to St George.  It’s mainly used to connect people to the YUS so it was hard to get out of.

Walking west on Bloor, I passed a really talented street performer (violinist?), got a Slurpee at 7-11, visited Labyrinth Comics (another place I kept missing last year and so was determined to get to this year. I crossed the street to BMV Books on Bloor.  I walked to Spadina and took another streetcar to Queen St.  I walked east and visited BMV Express.  I went further east and saw a fountain by the old and new City Hall. In March people were skating on it, and a building did mention the rink, so it’s a mulit-purpose fountain.  A woman was singing on a sound stage.

 

[NOW: Labyrinth and BMV Express are now closed.]

I walked further east and then turned north on Yonge, walking to Yonge-Dundas Square. This time part of the square had water coming up from jets and there was a Latin American performing group, so it was a completely different experience than the Volkswagen show earlier.  I have to say, while Victoria gets street performers and many are talented, they’re talented on an amateur level.  However, the free live performers I saw today, especially the last group were what I’d consider to be professional quality. I think this was the first time I really appreciated the appeal of live entertainment of this type. 

I relaxed at the square a bit longer (it’s probably one of my fav Toronto places).  Then I went back down to BD. On the other side of the tracks was a crazy guy. I took the YUS to Bloor and from there walked downstairs to Yonge on the BD line and took it to Dufferin and returned here.  As with a few other returned trips, it stayed a while at Christie; puzzling.