Gearing up for our long-awaited trip to the Northwest Passage we thought we would arrive early at our departure point, Toronto. We wouldn’t wish to miss the boat. Well actually the charter flight to Greenland that will take us to catch the boat (or is it a ship? I must check that out).
Why you ask are we flying to Toronto, Canada, to then fly back to Greenland? Well that’s just the way it is, and we don’t want to rock the boat/ship, which is fine for those travelling from the US or Canada, but not so good for those ‘guests’ (that’s us!) from Europe. But to make the most of it we decided to book a couple of tours.
As it turned out, we couldn’t have chosen a busier weekend. We had booked into Downtown Toronto, by Lake Ontario (rather more hectic than I imagined with the hotel overlooking the Toronto Police mooring, lots of sailing and the small but busy Billy Bishop city airport).
Toronto was to prove the location of two important events this weekend: The Toronto Carnival on Saturday, and the Blue Jays baseball team playing the Detroit Tigers at their home ground – the Rogers Centre – on Sunday.
Unfortunately the timing of the Carnival did not fit well with our schedule, but we did see many scantily-dressed men and women embarking onto the city’s streetcars (trams). It is evident that sales of baby oil and glitter soured this week as a result of the Carnival.
Our food tour was departing from Kensington Market in central Downtown. With images in my mind of London’s Kensington Market hippy days of old, we headed to meet the tour guide and 10 other hungry tourists. Alas, Kensington Market is not a covered marketplace as the London venue once was, but a district, nonetheless vibrant. It, interestingly, has a vintage clothing section, but this is nothing like the elephant-flared trouser days of Kensington High Street.
We were informed that Canada has a high immigrant population at 51% and Toronto has a grand history of integration. This area was populated by British workers, and later by Jewish immigrants who adapted the Victorian houses into family-run stores. Consequently the area became known as the Jewish market, and later Kensington Market. These converted houses can still be seen today.
Our food tour took us to seven different outlets, starting at Nu Bugel, a bagel cafe. I have never been keen on bagels, but found out that the consistency and taste of the product varies according to the company producing it. The best bagels, we were told, needed to be cooked on a wood-burning stove, and the secret of the taste depended on the water involved, a particular favourite being honey-flavoured liquid. Certainly, the smoked trout bagel at this cafe was the best I had come across, with a woody sweet taste.
We were then off for a taste of the Caribbean at the Golden Patty. Here we ate beef patties, although we could have had goat or many other meat and veggie varieties. This was a spicy but strange concoction involving what was best described as a samosa within a bap.
Over the next two hours we ate jumbo empanadas with stringy mozzarella; double fried fish which was rather good and would be a fine fit within UK fish and chip shops; and Swedish ginger cookies.
This was all rather filling, but one visit we would not recommend was to a Tibetan cafe serving tea made with butter and salt, and no milk. Nobody could finish that drink. It was an acquired taste.
Throughout the walk we saw a lot of painted houses and an unusual take of horticultural art – car planting. This was a community project amongst which those involved shared the produce. A smart idea, but not an installation one would want outside one’s house on a permanent basis.
Our walking tour the following day took us around the commercial district when we found out that there are more than 20 miles of underground walkways, containing shops and cafes. These walkways enable people to avoid the coldest of weathers in the winter and the hottest of days in the summer.
We saw fine architecture, mixing old with new. There was even a financial building with gold reflective windows containing real gold.
Some philanthropists had donated art around public squares and there were lots of floral plantings giving a clean, relaxing appearance. Below is Tembo, mother of elephants, by Derrick Hudson, a beautifully-crafted sculpture.
A few sites stood out for us during this trip. One was a fountain featuring dogs, now known as dog fountain park, which is timely since the rise in small dog ownership in Toronto seems to be a similar trend throughout many countries since the Pandemic.
Another rare opportunity was to see the vault of what was once the Dominion Bank at One King West. This 40 tonne vault was built in England in 1913 and shipped to Toronto where 18 horses dragged it to its final destination underground. Today weddings and celebrations can be held within the vault.
Another good view was the trompe l’oeil artistry on the rear of the Flat Iron building, a competitor to New York’s building of the same name.
But what of those big events attracting visitors from far and wide? One lady from Washington DC who was on our walking tour had travelled to Toronto to take part in the Carnival. She had travelled alone, and brought her costume with her. She told us how she had used an app to arrange to meet other solo travellers who had all glammed up, jumped into an Uber, and managed to get into the parade. “This was hard work,” she told us. “The Carnival paraded along four miles of the lakeside. That was a lot of non-stop dancing in the heat. I was exhausted after two miles.” While we did not get photographs of the Carnival some willing ladies posed for a couple of images of their head and leg decoration after the event.
And what of the Blue Jays game? To delighted Toronto fans the team won 4-1 against the Detroit Tigers, but I bet it was not as exciting as England’s win in the UEFA Women’s football final at Wembley.
Copyright: Words and photos Sue Barnard 2022