August 24, 2013

August 24, 2013 Rest day in Toronto.

Had a great rest day off. It was the first day since we started the trip that I did not get on the bike at all. The weather was absolutely stunning. Crystal clear blue skies and, although it reached the high 70's, there was just enough of a gentle cool breeze.

We took the 2 minute free hotel shuttle to the Toronto airport and caught the 152 Airport Rocket Express to the eastern most subway station to catch the train to town. I had decided that I did not want to do anything really strenuous on my day off, but still wanted to see the highlights of Toronto. So, I found one of those double decker buses that give a 2 hour tour of the high spots of the city. You have the option of hopping on or off if you want to spend more time at a particular spot, i.e. visit a museum,etc. A bonus feature of this tour was an optional 45 minute boat ride around Toronto harbor. I was a little surprised when Randy indicated that he wanted to go on the bus/boat tour with me.




The subway train let us off at the town square which bore a strong resemblance to Times Square in New York. There was a huge crowd of people due to a festival with activities and booths to raise funds to fight epilepsy. A huge billboard caught my eye - an advertisement to "Edge Walk" the CN Tower. "No Guts No Glory." The CN Tower is that space needle looking structure that you always associate with Toronto. Probably the tallest structure in Toronto. We were able to see it yesterday 25 miles out while biking in on the Waterfront Trail. For a mere $175 you can go to the top of the CN Tower, get strapped in a harness, and hang off the side. At first I thought you actually fell or repelled all the way down. But I think they only let you "walk the edge" at the top. My second thought was how "Amazing Race-like" walking the edge was. And what good practice in preparation for Amazing Race. I mentioned this to Randy and he rolled his eyes and said no way he would ever "walk that edge." The look I got was clear - he thinks I am crazy. And Amazing Race holds no fascination for him.




The bus tour was exactly what I wanted - a good overview and just the right amount of time. The guides were young college students who did a very good job of giving the basic background of whatever we were looking at, and adding in a touch of story telling and local color. I think what struck me most about Toronto was the variety of architectural styles of all types, old and new, often mixed in together or right next to each other.

Around noon, we reached the harbor and got off to take the harbor boat ride. We immediately noticed that airplanes were flying in low over our heads to land at the local airport. Only jets with propellers are allowed because of the really short runway and environmental concerns. Again, we had a young woman tour guide who did an excellent job. Just the right amount of time and information. I will note that she had a rather strange accent, or what sounded like maybe a combination of several accents. That was a little confusing to my ears. But what cracked me up was she had this habit of occasionally emphasizing each individual syllable in a word that gave it a long drawn out sounding affect. This would be followed by a hearty "EH!" for emphasis. For example, she might describe a feature of the harbor islands as "FAB -U - LUS! EH!" Or "LUV - E- LE! EH!" I caught myself trying to anticipate when this might occur, and mouthing the words with her. I could tell Randy was doing the same. By the end of the boat ride, I was starting to think in that new strange syllable language. As we got off the boat, Randy tactfully asked her about her accent, and she said she was from Trinidad. She even volunteered that she had a combination of accents as a result of living various places. We did not make further inquiry as to the strange syllable language.










After the boat ride, we had lunch at a harbor front restaurant specializing in pizza and pasta. I had this linguini dish with mushrooms and spinach, drizzled with roasted olive oil. It ranks up there with the top 2-3 favorite meals on the trip.

We climbed back on the double decker bus for the remainder of the city tour, and I started feeling a little sleepy. It was close to 3 p.m. and I decided to head back to the hotel and leave Randy to his further exploration of the city.

It was another great day, and I enjoyed getting to spend some time in Toronto. Tomorrow we resume riding along the shores of Lake Ontario towards Montreal.