Toronto Trip
This Thursday Jill, Amanda, and I embarked on a trip up to Toronto for a film audition of mine. We were completely hardcore, deciding to leave at 5am during snowy conditions. The ride up wasn't too terrible at all. There were a few moments where I was concerned that we may have gotten lost, but we made it through just fine.
We ended up parking in some garage at about 10am and the car was left there as I had a Margaret Cho moment. That was when I made the final decision that it would probably be easier for us to just take the subway to the audition that was up in North York. We were all quite excited as we headed on our way, especially Jill and Amanda with their coffee from Tim Horton's which is apparently more of an institution in Canada than it is in the States.
We were a little confused as to which train we were to get on but a very nice Englishman walked right over to us and asked us if we needed help. That was very sweet of him. Turns out we needed the Yellow Line heading North. It was on the subway that I learned it was both Amanda and Jill's first time ever on the subway. I certainly hope they enjoyed. Unfortunately we didn't get to experience any creepy subway people, because that would have been even more fun!
After riding the subway for a time we learned that we could only ride it up to Finch. That wasn't far enough. Thankfully a Torontoin helped us out and told us that we could take a bus up to Steeles and that we could us the day passes we had purchased to do so. So we get on the bus. Of course before we did we found one particular street sign to be wickedly amusing.
Don't you think?
Anyway, the bus took us to York University but that was as far as it went. We hadn't really been paying much attention to addresses so we risked taking a walk back up to Steeles to have a look. We were at 2700 and we needed to get to 4611. We tried our best to make it, but it was cold and we were without scarves, hats, or gloves. If I had been going it alone, I so would have just kept on going, but I didn't want my friends to suffer so ultimately I decided to give up. There will be other auditions. So we turned around and began the slow trip back to the bus, which took us back to the subway.
Once we came back above ground and walked outside the weather conditions had quickly gone to the worst. It was full out blizzard conditions and we were freezing. So we rushed to a shop and bought ourselves some matching winter gear. Aren't we cute?
Once we were warm and toasty we were able to brave the outside and we walked over to Yonge street which was slightly familiar to Amanda and I. I probably would have known the area better if I hadn't of walked around it the first time in a fever-induced fog. However, we became very lucky and walked right past the Delta Chelsea and got directions to the Eaton Center from the service desk. When we got to it, there was a shimmering Christmas tree decked out in crystal to welcome us. Oooh pretty.
And we were all quite hungry by then so we stopped into Red Lobster for lunch. We also each got a cocktail of our own. Jill chose the Bahama Mama and Amanda and I opted for the strawberry pina colada. Both were quite delicious. By then I was obsessed with finding Lush and our waiter was so awesome because he directed us right to it. And once we were there I went nuts and bought $80 worth of merchandise. Don't worry I'm not going to be a complete Grinch, some of it is for gifts.
Then we got lost again. It turns out I forgot our only Toronto map at Red Lobster. This was the last known picture of it.
I figured it would be best for us to see a movie and hopefully wait out the storm before leaving. A girl told us to walk down to Queen st and head West. Unfortunately we were so turned around that we didn't know which way was West. So we stopped and started asking people if they knew where a movie theatre was and that we knew it was right next to a bookstore called Chapters. No one knew! They kept on giving us directions back to the Eaton Center. Finally, this really nice woman who was shopping inside a store helped us out. She heard us asking people and she just walked right up to us and said that she knew where that was. She even said that if she were headed that way she would give us a ride, but she wasn't. We told her that was alright because we could walk there and then she said "But it's storming out!" We assured her we'd be fine and then she even walked out with us to make sure that we turned the right way. She was my favorite! She even explained that most people don't know where anything is because they don't live in Toronto they only come in to work there. That made sense.
So then we finally started walking the right way and we basically knew this for sure because we went a few familiar places such as the condom shop and that weird tv station. Jill got excited because they were "Making tv!" and there was some chick out with a camerman interviewing people and I happily said that I didn't care what the hell they were doing they were still lame. She totally heard me and I loved it! Then we found John St. and the movie theatre. It took so long to get there though that only King Kong was playing at the time we wanted. Plus I was seriously running low on green so we didn't go and instead went to Chapters. By then I was so cold, tired, and cranky that I didn't even have to try very hard to make an evil angry face.
Finally the snow started to slow down and it was definitely time to go. Before we left I just had to get some of my favorite cider from Starbucks and then we went back to the subway so that we could find the car. I was quite happy riding on the subway snuggling with my boo.
So basically our trip and it's ups and downs but I like focusing on the positive side of things. So what if we got snowed on, we also had a blast singing Christmas carols while plunging through it. So what if I slipped and almost fell every 2 seconds, I had fun doing it and I got to scream everytime I did. So what if we were lost and had no idea where we were going. We figured it out and had a splendid time doing it!
And seriously how can you even say you had a bad trip when you look at such a warm and friendly picture such as this.
Merry Christmas everyone!