Toronto
It's traditional that I update LJ when I have Toronto exploits to report. Thus:
Friday 4 PM, left work. Tried to pick up textbook cheque from FEDS used bookstore, except it wasn't March 6. Oops. Caught GRT to terminal, waited in the cold for a few minutes, got on Greyhound. Bitched about the lameness of Greyhound until Cambridge or so. Annoyed winged_spirit. :P
Arrived in Toronto, got dinner of croissant sandwich with no toppings, because the girl never asked what I wanted on it. Rode subway to Toronto Reference Library. Listened to people talk about freedom of expression and the environment (interesting!), argue about whether or not they were "activists" (amusing!). Conclusion: here in Canada, the government doesn't interfere much with free expression, but corporations do.
Rode subway+streetcar to hostel, checked in. Room was very cold, thanks to previous occupant leaving window open in subzero temperatures. Slept. Woke. Tried to sleep more, but was not allowed to. Went across the street to hippie-yuppie store and bought breakfast. Returned to room, realized why window had been left open, opened window.
Walked down Queen to Active Surplus. Marveled at bins of useless (and sometimes awesome) crap. Walked out with colourful duct tape. Wandered down Queen to subway, helped somebody get to Finch (maybe). Caught subway to Yorkdale. Wandered around Yorkdale until we found Bath and Body Works. Bought delicious-smelling soap.
Subwayed back down to the AGO. Explored AGO from the top down. Was vertigoed (not in a good way) by Gehry's curly outdoor walkway. The new building is impressive. The Gallery Italia has a very West Coast Contemporary feel to it. Gehry has a bit of a reputation for putting ego ahead of practicality, but he seems to have exercised restraint here, and the result is good.
Tried to buy organic ice cream, but organic ice cream seemed to have stopped existing. Headed off to Kensington Market to pick up stock cubes, since it's traditional! Admired cute girl dancing in a window. Almost didn't find health food store, but then did. Visited hippie store; winged_spirit got a hippie-scarf. Then back to Union Station, lined up for train home.
Train trip was good. Much better than Greyhound, but that's not surprising, since stabbing myself in the face with a rusty knife is also better than Greyhound. But I digress. Observations:
* Rail travel resembles air travel more than bus.
* VIA youth fares are good.
* The trip would've been faster if we'd gone at full speed for more of the trip. I don't know whether the slow bits were because of bad track, grade crossings, or NIMBY noise concerns, but all those can be dealt with. They need to fix this.
* Even at low speed, VIA could handily beat Greyhound in nearly every way. Why are there are there only two trains per day to Toronto? This is really the biggest problem with VIA. I would never take Greyhound again if VIA had more trains.
Friday 4 PM, left work. Tried to pick up textbook cheque from FEDS used bookstore, except it wasn't March 6. Oops. Caught GRT to terminal, waited in the cold for a few minutes, got on Greyhound. Bitched about the lameness of Greyhound until Cambridge or so. Annoyed winged_spirit. :P
Arrived in Toronto, got dinner of croissant sandwich with no toppings, because the girl never asked what I wanted on it. Rode subway to Toronto Reference Library. Listened to people talk about freedom of expression and the environment (interesting!), argue about whether or not they were "activists" (amusing!). Conclusion: here in Canada, the government doesn't interfere much with free expression, but corporations do.
Rode subway+streetcar to hostel, checked in. Room was very cold, thanks to previous occupant leaving window open in subzero temperatures. Slept. Woke. Tried to sleep more, but was not allowed to. Went across the street to hippie-yuppie store and bought breakfast. Returned to room, realized why window had been left open, opened window.
Walked down Queen to Active Surplus. Marveled at bins of useless (and sometimes awesome) crap. Walked out with colourful duct tape. Wandered down Queen to subway, helped somebody get to Finch (maybe). Caught subway to Yorkdale. Wandered around Yorkdale until we found Bath and Body Works. Bought delicious-smelling soap.
Subwayed back down to the AGO. Explored AGO from the top down. Was vertigoed (not in a good way) by Gehry's curly outdoor walkway. The new building is impressive. The Gallery Italia has a very West Coast Contemporary feel to it. Gehry has a bit of a reputation for putting ego ahead of practicality, but he seems to have exercised restraint here, and the result is good.
Tried to buy organic ice cream, but organic ice cream seemed to have stopped existing. Headed off to Kensington Market to pick up stock cubes, since it's traditional! Admired cute girl dancing in a window. Almost didn't find health food store, but then did. Visited hippie store; winged_spirit got a hippie-scarf. Then back to Union Station, lined up for train home.
Train trip was good. Much better than Greyhound, but that's not surprising, since stabbing myself in the face with a rusty knife is also better than Greyhound. But I digress. Observations:
* Rail travel resembles air travel more than bus.
* VIA youth fares are good.
* The trip would've been faster if we'd gone at full speed for more of the trip. I don't know whether the slow bits were because of bad track, grade crossings, or NIMBY noise concerns, but all those can be dealt with. They need to fix this.
* Even at low speed, VIA could handily beat Greyhound in nearly every way. Why are there are there only two trains per day to Toronto? This is really the biggest problem with VIA. I would never take Greyhound again if VIA had more trains.