Bray, and Archambault. Continuing on, Coopsco proved too hard to find but I bought a book on the philosophy of Doctor Who from Librairie L'Occasion. After lunch at a McDonald's on Rue Maloney I walked to Librairie Louis-Fréchette & Bouquinerie à Dédé and got some DVDs. I had the choice between a slightly shorter and more scenic route and a route with more French signs and more chances of getting refreshments. I forgot to refill the water bottle so I chose the latter and did find a place to get vitamin water.
Because Google put the route to my next location through a confusing park path I got a bit lost and lost a bit of time. Finally I did get to Cédé Troqué. I got a pop for today and granola bars for tomorrow at Dollarama before walking to Librarie du solleil. I grabbed dinner to go at the same McDonald's as before. The weather had actually turned sunny. Sadly getting turned around had eaten up more time than anticipated so I didn't get to explore Ottawa again for too long, and one store that got both the last two days unfortunately got bumped again. I ate my dinner by the Parliament and walked along Banks. I walked through Sparks pedestrian street. En route to the Rideau Canal for a quick mini stroll a car was leaving a huge cloud of gas exhaust behind it. After the mini-stroll I had to fold and admit to myself I had pushed myself too hard today and couldn't explore further.
Annoyingly, and this happens too frequently with hostels, the washer was broken so I had to had to hand wash my clothes because otherwise I didn't think I'd be let on the bus tomorrow because of all my power walkings. Hope the smell of Tide isn't too strong on my chosen shirt and that it dries enough by morning. No energy and almost no time to find a laundromat.
Eastern Canada Trip 2024 Day 9 Thursday June 12 Ottawa to Toronto
This is the 9th 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 kept being woken up by that one snorer at Saintlo Jail Hostel. Did a final mini-exploration of the upper floors and checked out. I got to Rideau Station via Rideau Centre. A bit of a maze so I'd have been better off entering from the outside instead of the mall. I took a Line 1 O-Train from Rideau Station to St-Laurent Station. There I transferred from a Megabus/Coach Canada bus from Ottawa to Kingston. The driver had a sense of humour like Westjet workers used to have before they started striving to be more like Air Canada. There was a traffic jam the other way I think caused by a collision. At Kingston I transferred to another such bus to Toronto. On both buses had granola bars and a vitamin drink as makeshift breakfast. There was a minor traffic jam; another collision I think. I walked from Union Coach Terminal to the baggage storage place. At Union subway station I got a 90 minute pass and took a 1 Line train to College Station.
I couldn't check in that early at Neil Wycik Hotel but I could leave my bags. I walked to the Toronto Metropolitan Police Museum. To get in the building I had to go through an airport like check: items on tray, walk through metal detector. The museum is only a small part of the building but it's by donation. I took a 1 Line subway train from College Station to Lawrence Station. I wanted to visit Paradise Comics, which I seem to keep missing on trips but there was a note saying back in 5 minutes. I wandered north along Yonge St and had lunch at McDonald's and visited Hairy Tarantula (games and comics). On the way back, Paradise Comics still had the same note as before.
I continued back to Lawrence Station and got another 90 minute pass. A 1-Line train arrived shortly but its power got cut off apparently due to an incident on the tracks, I finally gave up and left the train and the station and walked to my next destination, BMV. I got a couple of comics trades there. I went to the nearby Eglinton Station, which I was trying to get to before, and took another 1 Line train to St. Clair Station. There was another delay leaving but just a short one. I visited Yonge St.'s Book City. Due to renos I wasn't able to take a westbound 512 streetcar like I'd hoped but instead took a 512 temporary bus. I visited Dundas West's Type Books then Pandemonium (music and DVDs).
Bloor St's Dead Dog Records seems to be gone. I revisited Eyesore Cinema and Doug Miller Books. At Seekers Books I found a bio on the late wrestler/actor Andre the Giant in comic book form. Everyone on the set of The Princess Bride seemed to like him. I visited Bloor St's BMV. Church St's Dead Dog Records had closed for the day. I went to my usual McDonald's near Yonge-Dundas Square, but this time noticed a soda option so I drank that rather than more sugary pop. I revisited Edward St's BMV then spent a few minutes at Yonge-Dundas Square. A woman said (to me?) to put away the camera but I pretended not to hear her.
[NOW; Dead Dog Records is still around; I just misremembered how far west on Bloor it was.Yonge-Dundas Square is now Sankofa Square.]
I checked in at the hotel. My room is on the 13 floor; good thing I'm not superstitious about that. The view is okay but not what you'd expect from that high up. Laundry is on the 4th floor but included in the price of the room.
I've decided to skip the Grand Rapids area tomorrow for a number of reasons: partly to make it easier to meet with friends (one does want to meet tomorrow but hasn't given a specific time or location yet) but more importantly it's two hours each way and there's not a huge margin for error with my timings if I want to get everything done. More importantly, even though I really enjoyed my last visit there many years ago, if weather permits, I think I'd rather just stroll around Toronto some more.
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