I know that we've all seen posters and flyers stapled to telephone poles and just about everywhere else, but when I saw this pole, I thought it was pretty funny. Just look at all those staples!
Ok, back to our trip. We visited AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario and that was really fascinating. I am continually amazed at the talents of so many people! Take a few minutes and click HERE to check out the current and upcoming exhibits.
When we left the Gallery, we wanted to find a nice shaded area to sit and relax - and perhaps people watch for a while. We headed down McCaul street a ways and found some benches next to the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD U) which is also called "Canada's University of the Imagination." We could see in the windows and were really impressed with some of the works. I think in the maybe 30-45 minutes we were there, we saw at least ten students walking out of the buildings with paintings and various other project. I finally got the nerve to ask one of them if I could see his work and was happy that he obliged. He had been working on a series of self-portraits that were quite interesting. The basic shape and features were the same in all the paintings, but his colors changed to represent his various "moods, feelings and emerging persons." I didn't exactly "get" everything he was saying, but it sure was intriguing.
I forgot to mention that we got a late start on the day so our first stop was actually for lunch. (Remember, the trip is really all about Jack's culinary tour of Toronto!) We chose a Vietnamese restaurant that Jack had seen on one of his trips to the pharmacy. The food at Pho Tien was delicious and there were so many choices!
After lunch and the Gallery, we found a couple more book stores and enjoyed some time in each of them. I spent quite a bit of time looking at the local sections of the stores to see if I could find some "hidden treasure" within the city. I never did find that special place, but I did learn a lot about the city and the Alexandra Park area that is slated for renovation.
Just for fun, we rode the metro, street cars and busses. We could have walked to each of the places we went, but decided the ride would probably be best for my foot and what the heck, it would be fun. In case you don't know it, I do not live in a large city or town by any means. We don't have street cars or busses to get around, let alone a metro system. Heck, there aren't even cabs here. I know it will sound strange to those who live in the city, but it was fun for us to use the transit system.
Knowing that we wanted to end up in Greektown for our evening meal, we made our way to the Danforth Ave. area and just bummed around. There are LOTS of interesting people and shops in the area and that was fun. We went to Pappas Grill for dinner and enjoyed ourselves while dining on the patio. The restaurant was not very crowded at all so we were able to chat with the staff quite a bit. Lisa, Yaman and Jane were very nice and answered all of our questions about the various foods offered on the menu as well as some basic information about Toronto and Greektown.
We stopped back at Alexandra Park on our way "home" and enjoyed the skateboarders and other park-goers. It was a wonderful day and even though my foot was pretty sore, I was happy with our choices of the day.
Stay tuned for part 3 of our Toronto trip... Click HERE to see the final post on our Toronto trip.
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