So I’m doing something a little different with this post in that it’s getting written longhand in a notebook first. Not because I don’t have my Chromebook. That’s tucked away in my bag safe and sound. There’s something about sitting in the big, beautiful yonder of northern Ontario though that just demands a pen and paper. So I’ll copy this over later. For now, there is writing.
It was harder getting to Canada than I expected. The cruise was scheduled to arrive in Boston at 6:00am, so I’d booked my bus from the nearby station at 7:25am. Well, it turns out U.S. Immigration didn’t like those plans. Though U.S. citizens were allowed off the ship without so much as a passport check, we were not allowed off until 7:45am, after all the non-U.S. citizens had been cleared. And so I missed my bus.
Changing my ticket was easy enough, but the next bus with an empty seat didn’t leave until the 7:40pm overnight service. Without any other real options, however, I paid my exchange fee, stowed my bag, and set off to make the most of my surprise day in Boston.
A quick Google search told me there was an affordable walking tour leaving from Faneuil Hall, though it being Sunday I mistook the departure time and showed up half an hour late. Nevertheless, being at Faneuil Hall put me right in the heart of Historic Boston, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t learned most of this history in school. So I explored Quincy Market, walked along Boston Harbor, poked around the King’s Chapel Burial Ground, and made my way over to the Paul Revere House.
I’d been in Boston as a child to visit my older brother at school, but either I didn’t see much or I was too young to remember. My most vivid memory from that trip, in fact, is not the city at all, but rather sitting in my brother’s back bedroom reading Make Way for Ducklings and wishing I could visit the duck statues in the Boston Public Garden. If we did visit them, that’s one of those memories I lost, so I made sure to rectify that problem. The only thing that could have made it better was not having to walk through the Hemp Festival in the Boston Commons to get there, and possibly fewer children using the statutes as a jungle gym.
Eventually the time did come to board the bus though, and I did so happily. It wasn’t the most comfortable bus ride, and I didn’t sleep as much as I would have liked, but it did get me to Toronto at 10:00 the next morning. Jess had to work, it being Monday and all, but I met her for lunch and dropped my bag in her office so I could explore unencumbered.
Over the next three days I spent a lot of time reading and exploring Toronto. I finally got to see the Toronto Music Garden on the shore of Lake Ontario, and the gorgeous, Georgian gothic revival campus of the University of Toronto. I found several branches of the Toronto Public Library, lots of lovely cafes, and even an unexpected Nando’s. Remember that delicious, delicious Portuguese inspired restaurant from London?
Tuesday night I was invited to join community supper with Jess and her University friends in Toronto. It’s a weekly tradition for them, getting together to hang out and reminisce. Though I had already met the roommates, I was glad to get to know them better, as well as put faces to some of the other names I’d heard about. As I find is common among friends of friends, we seemed to get along well. From my end, at least, I consider them all quite lovely people.
The last day I spent mapping the network of underground tunnels, called the PATH, that connects many of the buildings in downtown Toronto. I hear it’s very convenient in winter when it’s too cold to go outside, or when it’s raining outside, which is at least two or three days a week. Exploring the sunken city was fun for sure, but I think the people watching was even better. Suits, suits, and more suits.
That evening Jess and I took the train out to the suburbs where we picked up her car and set out for the unspeakably picturesque wilderness of northern Ontario. Or… more northern than Toronto anyway. You see Jess family owns a cottage on a lake up north that her grandfather built with his own two hands more than fifty years ago, and despite the wear and tear that many years is bound to produce, it is perfection.
Taking advantage of the first day’s gorgeous weather, we went hiking in Bruce Peninsula National Park. As in much of the region, the autumn leaves were just starting to change, and the views of the waves of Lake Huron crashing against the tree-lines cliffs were mesmerizing. Though an over-abundance of school children meant I didn’t get to see the famous grotto, we did spend a lot of time just sitting on rocks staring into space, so I can’t say I really minded at all.
We took care to leave the park early enough to go grocery shopping, pick up a pizza, and catch the sunset on the vast expanse of Sauble Beach. It was as picturesque as you might imagine, and out experiments with tailgating proved beyond a doubt that I could live out of a Prius on a cross-country roadtrip should the fancy strike.
That night we had a small camp fire down by the dock, but it was too cold to stay for long. Apparently temperature dropped to two degrees celsius overnight, but somehow my watery Texan blood survived regardless. We took the next day off anyway though, lazing about the cottage with plenty of books and food. In the afternoon we went down to the dock again. Jess napped in the hammock while I read in the back end of her father’s tethered sail boat and then we watched the sunset for the second day in a row. When there’s nothing else you have to be doing, it’s kind of the perfect ending to a perfect day.
Jess’ parents showed up that night to spend the rest of the weekend with us. Though we had to cancel a sailing trip due to rain on Saturday morning, they took us for breakfast at a delicious local cafe, followed by stops at all manner of mom n’ pop bakeries, cheese shops, and vegetable farms. Back at the cottage with our fresh provisions, we set about grilling sandwiches over the fire in pie irons. I cannot describe the resulting meal as anything other than delicious.
Evening consisted of lemon meringue pie and several rounds of board games, a pastime which I have missed thoroughly. I very much like Jess’ family as well. A kinder, funnier, more quick-witted group of people it would be hard to find, and they built lovely roaring fires throughout the day and night. They even drove us back into the city from the suburbs when we got back Sunday afternoon.
Sunday night was a bit chaotic between preparations for Jess’ first day in a new office the next morning and finding moth holes in some of the wool in her apartment, necessitating a full scale closet evacuation at the same time we were doing laundry and cooking dinner. We still found time to watch Legally Blonde the Musical thought, even if it had to be paused at one point for a second round of debugging.
When Jess went to work Monday morning, I stowed my bag at the bus station and set out for my last and quite possibly best day in Toronto. The weather wasn’t great, but I felt like walking, so I made my way out to the Toronto Necropolis, the last sight I’d missed on my first visit to the city. The route there took my past the adorable Riverdale Farm in the heart of the city and gave me a glimpse of Riverdale Park, spanning the city’s miniature river that feeds into the lake.
My pleasantly unexpected discovery for the day was the Redpath sugar plant, rising up in front of me as I wandered down the waterfront. I didn’t go into the museum, but the entire perimeter of the plant smelled of slowly melting sugar, making me wish the weather had been warm enough to take up residence at the aptly named Sugar Beach next door.
After my day of exploring I met Jess one last time before she had to board a train back to the suburbs and I had to go catch my bus. Parting, as usual, was sweet sorrow, but I choose to embrace the sweet part more. In this day and age contact is only a phone click away, and I am sure I will see Jess again before too long. We already have plans for the next time I go to visit, and the next next time, and possibly a time after that as well. I’ve also been tempting her with stories of tubing down the rivers of Texas, and maybe one of these days I will be able to lure her on to an Alaskan cruise. I suppose a lot of that depends where I end up in the next few months. Only time will tell!
It was harder getting to Canada than I expected. The cruise was scheduled to arrive in Boston at 6:00am, so I’d booked my bus from the nearby station at 7:25am. Well, it turns out U.S. Immigration didn’t like those plans. Though U.S. citizens were allowed off the ship without so much as a passport check, we were not allowed off until 7:45am, after all the non-U.S. citizens had been cleared. And so I missed my bus.
Changing my ticket was easy enough, but the next bus with an empty seat didn’t leave until the 7:40pm overnight service. Without any other real options, however, I paid my exchange fee, stowed my bag, and set off to make the most of my surprise day in Boston.
A quick Google search told me there was an affordable walking tour leaving from Faneuil Hall, though it being Sunday I mistook the departure time and showed up half an hour late. Nevertheless, being at Faneuil Hall put me right in the heart of Historic Boston, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t learned most of this history in school. So I explored Quincy Market, walked along Boston Harbor, poked around the King’s Chapel Burial Ground, and made my way over to the Paul Revere House.
I’d been in Boston as a child to visit my older brother at school, but either I didn’t see much or I was too young to remember. My most vivid memory from that trip, in fact, is not the city at all, but rather sitting in my brother’s back bedroom reading Make Way for Ducklings and wishing I could visit the duck statues in the Boston Public Garden. If we did visit them, that’s one of those memories I lost, so I made sure to rectify that problem. The only thing that could have made it better was not having to walk through the Hemp Festival in the Boston Commons to get there, and possibly fewer children using the statutes as a jungle gym.
Eventually the time did come to board the bus though, and I did so happily. It wasn’t the most comfortable bus ride, and I didn’t sleep as much as I would have liked, but it did get me to Toronto at 10:00 the next morning. Jess had to work, it being Monday and all, but I met her for lunch and dropped my bag in her office so I could explore unencumbered.
Over the next three days I spent a lot of time reading and exploring Toronto. I finally got to see the Toronto Music Garden on the shore of Lake Ontario, and the gorgeous, Georgian gothic revival campus of the University of Toronto. I found several branches of the Toronto Public Library, lots of lovely cafes, and even an unexpected Nando’s. Remember that delicious, delicious Portuguese inspired restaurant from London?
Tuesday night I was invited to join community supper with Jess and her University friends in Toronto. It’s a weekly tradition for them, getting together to hang out and reminisce. Though I had already met the roommates, I was glad to get to know them better, as well as put faces to some of the other names I’d heard about. As I find is common among friends of friends, we seemed to get along well. From my end, at least, I consider them all quite lovely people.
The last day I spent mapping the network of underground tunnels, called the PATH, that connects many of the buildings in downtown Toronto. I hear it’s very convenient in winter when it’s too cold to go outside, or when it’s raining outside, which is at least two or three days a week. Exploring the sunken city was fun for sure, but I think the people watching was even better. Suits, suits, and more suits.
That evening Jess and I took the train out to the suburbs where we picked up her car and set out for the unspeakably picturesque wilderness of northern Ontario. Or… more northern than Toronto anyway. You see Jess family owns a cottage on a lake up north that her grandfather built with his own two hands more than fifty years ago, and despite the wear and tear that many years is bound to produce, it is perfection.
Taking advantage of the first day’s gorgeous weather, we went hiking in Bruce Peninsula National Park. As in much of the region, the autumn leaves were just starting to change, and the views of the waves of Lake Huron crashing against the tree-lines cliffs were mesmerizing. Though an over-abundance of school children meant I didn’t get to see the famous grotto, we did spend a lot of time just sitting on rocks staring into space, so I can’t say I really minded at all.
We took care to leave the park early enough to go grocery shopping, pick up a pizza, and catch the sunset on the vast expanse of Sauble Beach. It was as picturesque as you might imagine, and out experiments with tailgating proved beyond a doubt that I could live out of a Prius on a cross-country roadtrip should the fancy strike.
That night we had a small camp fire down by the dock, but it was too cold to stay for long. Apparently temperature dropped to two degrees celsius overnight, but somehow my watery Texan blood survived regardless. We took the next day off anyway though, lazing about the cottage with plenty of books and food. In the afternoon we went down to the dock again. Jess napped in the hammock while I read in the back end of her father’s tethered sail boat and then we watched the sunset for the second day in a row. When there’s nothing else you have to be doing, it’s kind of the perfect ending to a perfect day.
Jess’ parents showed up that night to spend the rest of the weekend with us. Though we had to cancel a sailing trip due to rain on Saturday morning, they took us for breakfast at a delicious local cafe, followed by stops at all manner of mom n’ pop bakeries, cheese shops, and vegetable farms. Back at the cottage with our fresh provisions, we set about grilling sandwiches over the fire in pie irons. I cannot describe the resulting meal as anything other than delicious.
Evening consisted of lemon meringue pie and several rounds of board games, a pastime which I have missed thoroughly. I very much like Jess’ family as well. A kinder, funnier, more quick-witted group of people it would be hard to find, and they built lovely roaring fires throughout the day and night. They even drove us back into the city from the suburbs when we got back Sunday afternoon.
Sunday night was a bit chaotic between preparations for Jess’ first day in a new office the next morning and finding moth holes in some of the wool in her apartment, necessitating a full scale closet evacuation at the same time we were doing laundry and cooking dinner. We still found time to watch Legally Blonde the Musical thought, even if it had to be paused at one point for a second round of debugging.
When Jess went to work Monday morning, I stowed my bag at the bus station and set out for my last and quite possibly best day in Toronto. The weather wasn’t great, but I felt like walking, so I made my way out to the Toronto Necropolis, the last sight I’d missed on my first visit to the city. The route there took my past the adorable Riverdale Farm in the heart of the city and gave me a glimpse of Riverdale Park, spanning the city’s miniature river that feeds into the lake.
My pleasantly unexpected discovery for the day was the Redpath sugar plant, rising up in front of me as I wandered down the waterfront. I didn’t go into the museum, but the entire perimeter of the plant smelled of slowly melting sugar, making me wish the weather had been warm enough to take up residence at the aptly named Sugar Beach next door.
After my day of exploring I met Jess one last time before she had to board a train back to the suburbs and I had to go catch my bus. Parting, as usual, was sweet sorrow, but I choose to embrace the sweet part more. In this day and age contact is only a phone click away, and I am sure I will see Jess again before too long. We already have plans for the next time I go to visit, and the next next time, and possibly a time after that as well. I’ve also been tempting her with stories of tubing down the rivers of Texas, and maybe one of these days I will be able to lure her on to an Alaskan cruise. I suppose a lot of that depends where I end up in the next few months. Only time will tell!
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