rickps | Vacation Day 4

My generous hosts, Kent and Brian (still not on LJ but I'll break Kent's resolve soon), took me for a Toronto neighborhoods tour.

First stop was the Distillery District. There seems to be a trend in many cities to convert run down warehouses into chi-chi shopping/art gallery/boutique restaurant spaces. From my experience, some work well, others are visual and economic disasters. In Toronto's case, the District is simply beautiful with tremendous attention paid to maintaining the character of the old spaces yet adding a modern flair. And surprisingly, I'm told it's economically solid as well. The hot chocolate with chili we sampled was incredible. Well worth the trip if you make it here.

Next was the Harbourfront Centre. Attempting to cash in on Toronto's waterfront, I thought it was all that the Distillery District was not. Harbourfront felt commercial, touristy, thoroughly whitewashed to eliminate anything which could be slightly offensive. Add the presence of several hideous high rise residency towers and you get the picture. It was worth the visit, but just.

Our tired legs demanded some sitting time so we did a drive by tour of Toronto's Chinatown, Kensington Market, University of Toronto and Parliament buildings. We drove past the Royal Ontario Museum primarily to sneer at the Libeskind carbuncle addition to the classic older main building. "Butt ugly" has never been more perfectly presented. Unless it's another Libeskind structure...

A buzz through Yorkville, Forest Hill and then back to the gay village. We were all fairly thirsty and decided to drop by the Black Eagle, a bar I'd been to and enjoyed many years earlier. Not this visit. Sad, sad people. Some sort of fund raiser was just winding down. Money for a leather organization I was told. Two jocked men had been painted by the clientèle and were in the process of being raffled off (winner could remove the jock, in public or in private). Nobody seemed surprised when the raffles made very little money and the defrocking ended up as a private affair. Dinner at Just Thai in the village (very tasty), dessert with my friend Rob, and a long but satisfying last day in Toronto came to a close.

Off to Montreal tomorrow where exciting (?) adventures await our traveler.