Eastern Canada Trip 2014 Day 5 Saturday June 14 Toronto

UPDATED: February 10, 2021

This is the 5th of a series of posts dealing with my fourth trip to Eastern Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports. Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to add further clarification.  These are indicated by “NOW”. After I booked the trip I unexpectedly had to move and was staying at a friend’s place at the time of the trip, so I was already pretty tired before the trip back.

It was a bit distracting yesterday doing the trip report because there was a bit of a bantering between an Israeli guy and a Korean woman and the woman was hyper and LOUD. The lights wound up on in the room all night. Surprisingly that somehow seemed to have helped with the sleep, not hurt it.  Even more surprisingly, there were no music issues coming from the pub despite it being a Friday night,

[NOW: The hostel I was staying at was The Only Backpackers Inn.]

On the downside it's been overcast for at least part of the day every day of the trip so far, and it's starting to affect my mood.  Forgot to mention yesterday: on Thursday it was supposed to rain slightly so I packed a coat and it didn't rain. Fri was supposed to be better weather so no coat. It rained a bit in the morning.

And I guess I'm off, after grabbing a coat as it doesn't look pretty out there.

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

I walked along Danforth/Bloor St E (including a short trail I got curious about) and then south along Yonge. I noticed that the first McDonald's wanted to charge me more for breakfast than the one for yesterday so I wound up on a quest to find a cheaper McDonald's out of the principal of the thing. The fourth try overall (3rd on Yonge) I decided was good enough.  Dundas Square still had their beer fest display. I grabbed a sandwich from 7-11 for later and then took a 504 streetcar (all transportation again Toronto Transit) to Royal Oak Station purely as a cheap sightseeing vehicle.  Arriving at Royal York Station I took another streetcar (506) back to King Station.

There I took a Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina) train to Bloor Station and then took a line 2 train (Bloor-Danforth) to Keele Station.  I met up with my friends Dave and Jan and we walked south. We went through a children's zoo and closer to Humber Lake saw a chipmunk. Since I had a time issue, we decided to explore the west end beach area including the bridge over the Humber River rather than try to get back to the north end.  We took a 501 streetcar east (Jan and Dave getting off midway). I got off at Bathurst before taking a 511 streetcar south to Fort York.

[NOW: I met up with Dave and Jan at High Park; that’s where the zoo is.]

I walked to Coronation Park, where bikers were getting ready for the um, world bike ride where stuff comes off.  It was a bit of a bust due to the weather earlier. Still a number of people but not as many as you`d expect for Toronto. I`d arrived early to watch body painting but that amounted to writing words and the like.  Naked News was there with a reporter and after the bikers took off I overheard them talking about reporting issues like a reporter not listening and asking a question that the interviewee had already answered (not an issue with the reporter present but apparently in the past).

[NOW: The formal name for the bike ride was  World Naked Bike Ride.]

There was conflicting info on the end of the ride and it was threatening to rain (it was bluffing) so I walked around the waterfront until construction moved me to Spadina Ave where I took a 510 streetcar to Spadina Station.

I took a line 2 train to Donlands Station, moved stuff around in my bags and grabbed my large bag. I took another line 2 train back to Spadina Station and dropped off said large bag at my friend Aidan`s place.

We walked around a bit. We saw his dad`s dog and I introduced him to Bumpkin the rabbit, who proved to be smarter than I had thought: there is a sign that used to read, “Please Don`t Feed the Rabbit”, only Bumpkin had actually nibbled away the “n`t” so it now read “Please Do Feed the Rabbit”.

 

[NOW: Doug Miller Books moved across the street. Bumpkin has passed away.]

We parted company at Honest Ed`s. I bought a smaller carry-on case I expected to need and then ate dinner at Hero Burgers in the same complex; a little pricey but very good; I had the 8 oz burger. I took a packed 511 streetcar to Dundas (there was the outdoor market Little Taste of Italy but I just felt like relaxing and stayed on) and a 505 streetcar to Yonge-Dundas Square.

 

[NOW: Honest Ed's and that Hero Burgers have closed.]

The beer fest was still happening and I lamented that there wasn`t a similar outdoor space just to hang out. But then I remembered there was and close by, so I walked to where the two city halls are, where there was a rectangular pond, water jets, and live music Exactly what I needed to relax.

[NOW: the older city hall is called Old City Hall, to distinguish it from the more modern complex. the outdoor space is Nathan Phillips Square.]

After it started to cool off I look a Line 1 train from Queen Station to Bloor Station and then a Line 2 train from Yonge Station to Donlands Station. At the hostel I got back my key deposit and then grabbed another drink at the same place as yesterday before returning to the hostel.

[NOW: The drink location was a nearby LCBO.]