Road trip! Part 3

Toronto!

After a wonderful weekend with my in-laws, it was time to begin making our way back north.  We would spend a night and a full day in Toronto, although originally the plan was 2 nights and 2 days.

Leaving their home around 8 p.m. that evening, we made the journey into the city courtesy of a lift from friends I had made on the immigration forum.  They drove the hour from their suburban city to where we were then we all went out to dinner, then instead of our original plan of taking the train into Toronto from their city, they drove us all the way into Toronto itself.  We were wonderfully surprised and very grateful for their generosity.

Like any other large city, Toronto is magically-lit up at night.  I had forgotten to pack my camera in my handbag, and ended up only having my phone available for taking photos.  Still, it was impressively beautiful to drive into and finally see the city I had only managed to "breeze" through the last two times I saw it.

We had booked a hotel downtown, quite close to Nathan Phillips Square.  How close would only become apparent the next morning!  That is New City Hall towering over the Square, the buildings are as iconic and symbolic of Toronto as the Empire State Building is of New York City.

You might be asking, so if there is a New City Hall, is there an Old one?  Actually, yes, there is, and our wanderings would take us right past it.

That marvelous Victorian building is not the only one of its kind in Toronto, many architecturally interesting buildings have been preserved at various points throughout the city, cropping up to surprise you in the midst of the functional glass-and-steel high-rises, like this beauty:

Once we were on Yonge Street (pronounced "young"), we decided to keep walking on it all the way to the waterfront.  During my "Canadian immersion" phase last year, I had watched the news on Canadian stations and many times had heard of "Yonge Street".  I would often wonder to myself just how long this street was, as it seemed to be just about everywhere.  In point of fact, it is.  To quote Wikipedia:

Yonge Street (pronounced "young") is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at 1,896 km (1,178 mi).^[2]The construction of Yonge Street is designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada.^[3] Yonge Street was fundamental in the original planning and settlement of western Upper Canada in the 1790s, informing the basis of the concession roads in Ontario today. Long the southernmost leg of Highway 11, linking the capital with northern Ontario, Yonge Street has been referred to as "Main Street Ontario". A large part of the route follows an ancient well-established Aboriginal trail that linked the Lake Ontario waterfront to northern parts of the region. It was also the site of Canada's first subway line.

Yonge Street is also the north-south basis point for determining East and West street numbering in Toronto.  We would visit a number of points along the street, including the famous Eaton Centre, Yonge-Dundas Square and the Hockey Hall of Fame (naturally, this is in Toronto!).  The first point we got to on our journey was the Hockey Hall of Fame, located almost unobtrusively in a former Bank of Montreal building:

I elected to keep walking rather than actually visiting inside the Hall of Fame, hockey not being one of the sports I watch or follow.  I know the name Wayne Gretzky, of course, and that there seems to be a great deal of fighting during hockey games that bears no relation to actually achieving the object of the game, but other than that I know little else.  Utterly un-Canadian attitude, I know.  I might have to work on that!

Continuing further down Yonge Street, some more of the impressive glass-and-steel towers that dominate Toronto's skyline came into view.  One of these is the TD Tower, named for the Toronto-Dominion Bank, one of the largest banks in Canada.  Formed from the merger of the Bank of Toronto and Dominion Bank back in 1955, TD is one of the best-known symbols of Canadian financial life.  According to their website, TD has some 11 million customers nationally in Canada.  That means every third Canadian you meet banks with TD.  Their financial prowess shows in their rather impressive headquarters building:

As we continued our walk towards the waterfront, at 18 Yonge Street I was pleased and surprised to come across a display of a bronze grouping showing a male and a female with a baby in her arms.  Upon closer inspection of the plaque displaying its name, I learned the grouping was titled "Immigrant Family" and done by artist Tom Otterness.  Naturally, I couldn't resist having my photo taken with it:

After what seemed like a great deal of walking, we reached the beginning of Yonge Street, the waterfront area of the city that presides over Lake Ontario.  At what must surely be a rather prestigious address, 1 Yonge Street, one finds the Toronto Star building, seen here:

From here, G decided we should see something of Lake Ontario, and so we ventured to the ferry terminals.  The Centre Island Ferry was our choice, a popular destination if the number of eventual passengers that joined us on the ferry was anything to go by.  There were at least three groups of students of early primary ages, all herded along by long-suffering teachers and parents as they purchased tickets and settled their charges in safety aboard the ferry.  Approximately fifteen minutes on the water would see us cross the water and arrive at Centre Island.  We took a number of photos during the ferry ride.  I was especially fond of views of the CN Tower, which only got better as we got further into the water.  Just a few of the photos we took:

As you can see, there are a lot of beautiful views.  It was lovely out on the waters of Lake Ontario, the day was warm enough that the breeze from being at the front of the ferry was not unpleasant, and yet cool enough that all the walking we did was not unbearable.

From Centre Island, we headed into the Arts/Design and Fashion Districts by walking along to Bathhurst and then Queen Streets.  We bought lunch at a suitably arty cafeteria with the rather astonishing name Clafouti.  My egg salad on a croissant was nonetheless quite tasty.  Enjoyed on a park bench with a bottle of water, it made for a nice respite from all the walking and sightseeing.  Being as G had grown up in and around Toronto, we were in his childhood backyard, so to speak, so there was a lot he wanted me to see.  A couple of places included a community centre that had once featured a mural of his on the exterior wall and the "halfway house" where he was reintegrated into civilian life following his tour of duty in Afghanistan, while attending classes at George Brown College to earn his millwright certification.

As the afternoon wound on, we decided it was time to do some shopping, so we headed back up Yonge Street to check out the stores in the famous Eaton Centre.  My first stop was the restrooms, which turned out to have quite the line-up.   It moved efficiently enough, and when I was out we made our way around, looking into various stores.  In the end, most were considerably more up-market than we needed, what works in Toronto would not work in E.L., after all, the high fashion looks sported by the store mannequins would be quite out of place for me.

With what shopping we wanted to do out of the way, we ventured into Yonge-Dundas Square for more sightseeing.  The views there are instantly recognisable to anyone who watches Canadian morning television, as a number of the channels have studios overlooking the famous square.  Here are two views from our time there:

With the afternoon slipping away, G decided on one final treat for me: Marble Slab Creamery.  The name is actually quite literal, the ice-cream is worked on marble slabs which have been frozen, this preserves the integrity of the ice-cream while the employees mix up your favourite compositions.  I choose chocolate ice-cream liberally sprinkled with M&M's, and we enjoyed it sitting outside the store in deck chairs provided by businesses participating in a promotion to lure pedestrians into relaxing on the street.  The lane next to the sidewalk was blocked off by flower planters and chairs were placed outside the stores, allowing weary pedestrians to sit for a few minutes, enjoy traffic cruising by them on the one hand, while surveilling their fellow passersby on the other hand.

Treat done, we made our way back to the hotel for a rest and a change of clothes after a shower.  We would cap off the evening with sushi for dinner, at a restaurant on Queen Street, appropriately named Sushi Queen.  Service, price and ambience were all excellent, and it was a worthy cap to a beautiful introduction (a proper one) to the city of Toronto!

After dinner, it was time to pack our bags and get ready to back to the Metro Bus Terminal.  We boarded our bus shortly after midnight for the 1:00 a.m. departure.  It was just after 6:30 a.m. that we arrived back in Sudbury, tired from a long, somewhat cold (to me, anyways) night on the bus.  With limited choices for breakfast that early in the morning, we opted to wait until we got home to eat.  We were collected in Spragge by the same jocular bus driver who had ferried us there in the school bus five days earlier, and arrived back in E.L. just after 10:00 a.m.

Next time: the arrival of fall and fall fashion survival guide!

Road trip part 2

Having been "there and back again" (huge Tolkien fan, I just had to say that), I am now prepared to offer my opinions and observations on the joys, or lack thereof, of road tripping by bus in Canada.

Aside from the whole experience of being on the road, there is also the fact that this trip culminated in my first ever face-to-face meeting with my in-laws.  Although my husband and I had a very 21st century romance, meeting online as we did, I did not meet my in-laws until this trip and I felt not a little unlike an arranged bride, or mail-order bride.

I was warmly accepted, however, and whatever nerves I may have been prone to as the very first woman my husband took home to meet his mother soon dissipated under their unreserved welcome.   At a summer party held the day following our arrival, I was introduced to everyone as "G's wife, newly-arrived from Jamaica" and everyone was likewise polite and welcoming.  I was able to tell the story of our meeting and marriage once or twice, and told how it all sounded very fairy-tale like!

That I was the only non-Caucasian present did not make me feel the least out of place, and as the party-goers were all likewise in their 30's and 40's (save for my nephews by marriage), I was able to relate to the topics they found to speak on and mingled freely, much to G's delight.  He even teased me later that I was quite the social butterfly and did very well in putting aside my natural reserve on meeting new people.

Back to the road trip, though.  Given the fact that we had some 565km (351 miles) to cover, by necessity our trip started early.  I was already packed from the night before, G chose to do his the morning of travel.  By 6:55 a.m. we were quite ready to leave, and found ourselves on the porch staring out at the rain misting down.  My breath began to frost on the air!  Naturally that put paid to our plans to walk into town with our backpacks, so we ended up calling a taxi to take us to the bus depot.

The depot in town is an office just off the highway.  The Greyhound office is small, but was wonderfully warm to be in considering the wind, drizzle, and temperatures outside and the fact that under my hoodie I wore only a t-shirt over my underthings.  I had neglected to add a second layer on top (to make three in total) and I was feeling it.   Naturally I had a good laugh at the idea that I was feeling this way on an August morning!  First and second travel tips: dress for the weather, and make note of the minimum pre-boarding arrival time requirement.  Greyhound's is at least an hour prior, especially if you are purchasing/collecting your tickets the same day as travel will occur.

The bus to begin our journey turned out to be one of those smaller yellow school buses.  Again cause for much hilarity, as I would for the first time ride "the short bus".  However, as more people began to arrive, it became apparent that the short bus would not do at all, so with only twenty-five minutes to go before our 9:00 a.m. departure time, the driver departed with the short bus and returned with a standard sized school bus in the recognizable yellow.  Yes, I have pictures:

Greyhound Office, Elliot Lake

The short bus!

Standard sized bus

With everyone ensconced aboard the second bus, we departed down Highway 108 and drove the nearly 30km that took us to the junction with Highway 17, otherwise known as the Trans-Canada Highway, because it runs across the country.  At the junction we actually turned west and headed in the direction of Sault Ste. Marie, but only going as far as Spragge, the next town (not sure, it might be best described as a village or a hamlet, it's that small) on the highway.  In Spragge, we off-loaded and waited for the Greyhound bus coming from out west.  Yes, the bus we took was coming from other cities and towns all the way from British Columbia through the prairie provinces and on into Ontario!  Here it is:

Spragge layover

Greyhound bus to Toronto

From Spragge, we departed east for Sudbury around 9:30 a.m., the next major stop and the major Greyhound depot in the region.   The trip lasted some two hours and a little bit.  It was an overcast and cool morning throughout, rain dogged our miles from town to town.  Before we got to Sudbury, however, we would make stops in Spanish and Espanola.  The Spanish stop was a drive-by, basically, as no-one was waiting for the bus and the ticket office is located in a building fronting the highway.  In Espanola we did a quick loop around their city hall and paused long enough to collect a few more passengers.  The rain was coming down in a steady drizzle at that time.  Here is Espanola's city hall:

From Espanola we then headed for Sudbury with no more stops.  At around 11:40 a.m., we pulled into the Greyhound depot in Sudbury and were advised our layover would last until 1:00 p.m.   We had time to get lunch, stretch our legs and acquaint ourselves with the rest rooms at the stop.  Most persons chose a conveniently nearby McDonald's for lunch, some made use of the vending machine fare offered inside the depot, most selections being priced around $2.00 (a toonie).  There was also a coffee/tea/sandwich shop, where I managed to get a cup of hot chocolate for $1.75.  It was a Keurig machine, but the shortage of milk left a little something to be desired, to my taste anyways.  

We opted to get lunch at the Greek eatery across the street from the depot.  The pork savlaki (a kind of wrap) with tsatziki sauce was worth every penny.  Ask them for extra sauce, they will add it.  They also do chicken variations, if you are not fond of pork.  I took these shots of the Sudbury Greyhound Depot and Herc's Eatery:

Herc's Eatery

Sudbury Greyhound Depot

Traveling tip number 3: Carry a selection of coins on you for purchasing items from vending machines and cash-only vendors.  Unlike Jamaica, loonies (one dollar Canadian coin) and toonies (two dollars Canadian coins) and the smaller fractions, quarters (25 cents), nickels (5 cents, the larger) and dimes (10 cents, smaller than the nickel!) are actually useful for making purchases.

1:00 p.m. arrived with no sign of our bus, which had departed for servicing after decanting us at the depot.  We were advised to leave our bags on board if we so preferred and also to mark our seats, as persons who had previously been on the bus would be boarded in priority to persons starting their journey in Sudbury.   A number of other buses arrived, picked up passengers for Ottawa, Montreal and other points, still with no sign of our bus.  Some forty-five minutes after we were supposed to have departed it finally showed up, delayed by a traffic accident, the driver said.  This meant that we departed Sudbury fully one hour later than originally scheduled.  

It was at this point in our journey that I began to feel apprehensive.  We had barely an hour between our last stop in Toronto and the departure of the train which would take us out to where my in-laws actually resided. As it was the last train of the day and our tickets were economy, non-refundable and non transferable, we would be severely inconvenienced if we did not get to Union Station in time to catch the Via Rail train.  With an hour lost to the stopover in Sudbury, I worried we might be left stranded in Toronto overnight.  G was not happy, and determined that if we did miss our train, Greyhound would surely hear about it.

We continued south through more of the Georgian Bay area, what is commonly called "cottage country", where many southern Ontarians own weekend/summer cottages where they spend warmer days in outdoor pursuits.  It is a very picturesque area, but as we were mostly on the highway, I saw little more than glimpses.  We had one very short stop in Parry Sound, where I was able to take these pictures:

Highway

Travel Centre at rest stop

Boat on display outside Parry Sound travel centre

Further south, we entered what was obviously farmland.  Large tracts of land covered in corn began to roll past, with farm houses and barns being typical features.  We were by now in Simcoe county, and G said that if we made it to the city of Barrie around 5:30 p.m., there was still a chance we could make the train.  We began rolling past Barrie around 5:40 p.m. and he said it was good enough.

Signs began appearing welcoming us to Toronto, and it was soon obvious we were on a major artery leading into the city.  One sign proclaimed the population of Toronto as 2,500,000, which is essentially the same as the entire population of Jamaica, give or take a a hundred thousand or two!  We made it to a highway leading to the Yorkdale Mall, and observed planes overhead going to Lester Pearson International Airport, where I had landed about 10 weeks earlier.  There was a brief stop at the Yorkdale Mall, and then it was on to our final destination downtown.  Another fifteen minutes served to bring us to the last stop at the Toronto Metro Coach Terminal, on Bay Street.

Plane on the way to LPIA

Yorkdale Mall

Yorkdale Bus Terminal (inside)

Yorkdale Bus Terminal (outside)

Unfortunately, at this stage of our travel I had little time to take photos and did not manage a photo of the Metro terminal.  Immediately we disembarked from the bus, we were headed down a flight of stairs and hurrying through Atrium on Bay, a set of shops below buildings on Bay Street that also had a subway station.   I had to stay hard on G's heels as he moved quickly through the crowds.  We paid for our subway tickets at 6:36 p.m. and were on the platform for barely a minute when the subway pulled up.  Two stops later, we were inside Union Station.  It was 6:46 p.m., our train was leaving at 7:05 p.m.

We raced through Union Station to find the kiosks where we could scan our online confirmation barcodes and receive our tickets.  When we found them, we quickly scanned the pages and received our tickets, two pieces printed for each traveler.  We were then directed to a distressingly long line as being the one going to our train, and joined it somewhere in the middle as it snaked its way onto our train's platform.  Our car was the sixth and last, and barely had we made it onto the train and sat down, before the bell was being rung and the train signalling it was pulling away.  We had made it, after all!

On the platform

Safely on board the train

Traveling tips number 4 and 5: Pre-book your tickets for the bus and train whenever possible.  Travel light, you never know when you might need to make a run for it!

An hour and three stops later, we had arrived at the suburban city my in-laws call home.  We were greeted outside the train station by G's mother and sister, then driven the short distance to their home.

In Road Trip part 3: Toronto!