This is the 11th of a series of posts dealing with my 2024 trip to Eastern Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public). Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to add further clarification. These are indicated by “NOW”.
I walked from Neill Wycik Hotel to Yonge-Dundas Square, then to the Free Palestine encampment at the University of Toronto, then to outside Wilson Hall before working my way back to Neill Wycik Hotel for breakfast. I walked to Union Station and got a day pass from a machine. Booking online is a lot cheaper but I don't want banking info on my phone, and I like having tickets as souvenirs. I briefly walked to the waterfront and then returned to Union Station. I rode a GO train from there to Allendale Waterfront GO Station, Barrie. Big B Comics was closer than expected. I got a trade there. I headed north getting shots of some of the parks at Kempenfelt Bay (Lake Simcoe). I walked to Rivendell Books. They did have a trade I regretted not buying new, but even though the trade was only about five years old for B&W reprints of colour material, they wanted nearly double the original price.
[NOW: Yonge-Dundas Square is now Sankofa Square.]
I walked to Video Time and got some Blu-rays. I walked to BJ's Collectibles. Mostly music with a few DVDs. I didn't buy anything there nor at Kerry's Books. I grabbed lunch at McDonald's and checked wifi there, realizing that I wanted to take a later train back. I went to Barrie Transit Center and got bus schedules as souvenirs. I walked to Kempenfelt Bay and found a spot by the water to watch an airshow. I had no idea before arriving in Barrie that an airshow was happening today but since there was I definitely wanted to see it. Of course we get airshows in Victoria too, but it's a different view, plus I'm not likely to randomly get to see this particular show again. At least one of the plans was from World War II and one plane was flying just under the speed of sound. A helicopter was also involved plus the requisite planes flying in tandem and creating effects like a jetstream heart. My camera's Sports mode was very useful for that plane.
Finally things seemed to come to an end though the planes seemed to continue to fly and do stunts. So my one quibble with the show was that it shouldn't outstay its welcome. I decided to just let myself explore and get shots of the planes as the view permitted, as I only had so much time left. At the north end of the bay I saw the police arrest someone. I wandered around the downtown area and vicinity, mainly getting shots. Then I started heading south along the bay. By this point the planes were gone. I made it back to Allendale Waterfront GO Station half an hour before the next train was supposed to leave. But it arrived half an hour beforehand and people were already snagging seats so I reluctantly left the sunny weather to ensure I got a good seat.
To make the time not a total loss I wrote some of this report using my phone during the wait. It finally took off. There was a fare check mid way, plus an emergency on the floor below (of course I always sit on the top floor of the double-decker train. I got off at Union GO Station, Toronto and headed north, grabbing dinner at Yonge St's southernmost McDonald's, which also had a soda dispenser. I briefly sat at Yonge-Dundas Square, moving locations because as soon as I sat down the first time, someone with smoker's body odour sat by me. People were playing games there: chess, Connect 4, mini-golf, ping pong. I walked back to the hotel but didn't want to go in right away so I walked east a ways before turning back.
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