Our final full day in Toronto was one filled with music. While searching the web for interesting things to do, we found the Toronto Jazz Festival schedule and planned most of our day around that. There are a large number of musicians and venues during this event and it is really cool that something of this magnitude was going on while we were there. Many of the concerts are free of charge while others charge as much as $70 per ticket and the times range from 8:30am until 11:00pm. Overall I think there is something for everyone here.
For our first concert of the day, we made our way to Nathan Phillips Square to enjoy an afternoon of music by Heavyweights Brass Band. This band was a lot of fun and very energetic. Here they are getting ready to play.
Toward the end of their concert, they walked around the entire Square playing their instruments and many people followed dancing along behind them. It reminded me of a New Orleans funeral procession.
I think Jack enjoyed himself!
Besides our musical tour of the day, we continued our culinary tour as well. We stopped at Swatow on Spadina Ave. and enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal. Jack's BBQ pork dish was awesome and my szechuan vegetables were yummy! This restaurant is just one of probably a hundred in just a short stretch along the road. I don't know exactly why we chose this one, but I'm glad we did.
We continued on our musical adventure to the Pure Spirits Patio in the Distillery District where the Andre Roy Trio would be performing. We had planned to arrive at the venue quite early so we had a chance to walk around and explore this very unique area. This blurb from the District's website will help explain what I'm talking about.
Home to many of Toronto's hottest designer boutiques, unique cafes, artisan shops, performance venues and award-winning restaurants, The Distillery District is the place to see and be seen. An internationally acclaimed pedestrian-only village, The Distillery features more than 70 ground-floor cultural and retail establishments in the restored red brick, Victorian-era buildings of the renowned Gooderham & Worts whiskey distillery. One of Canada's hottest tourist attractions, centrally-located and just a short walk from downtown Toronto there is always something happening at The Distillery. Have you visited us lately?
There is still a lot of construction happening at the Distillery but there is one place in which I am particularly interested. Do you think this may be the back wall of a bar or restaurant for quilters?
There are actually two of these walls with the cool star pattern.
The structure below looks like a bar or counter that has a tumbler pattern in the tile work. I'll have to keep my eyes open and watch the progress of this place.
I forgot to mention something that Jack saw while making his first trip to the pharmacy the other day. While walking through the park around 8:45am, he saw a group of women doing T'ai Chi together. He stopped to watch briefly and was thoroughly pleased. He went back later to see the tail end of their exercise and returned the next morning to watch as well. On that final day, he spoke with the leader, an older Chinese woman who noticed his interest. In her broken English, she invited him to join them every morning at 8:30. Oh, if only he had seen this earlier in out trip! That would have been wonderful for him. I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but Jack helps facilitate a local T'ai Chi Chih group twice a week and he just gets so much pleasure when the entire group (15-25 people) are all doing the same thing at the same time. I have to agree with him. It is beautiful.
All in all, we had a wonderful time in Toronto! My foot still hurts and I'll call the doctor tomorrow to see what he says. I'm not using the crutches, but it doesn't take long for me to want to sit down and give the foot a break. I've been doing my plantar fasciitis exercises faithfully in hopes that is the problem and that it will end soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please. It has to be ok! After all, we're soon heading out to visit a quilting friend in Tennessee!
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