Toronto Trip '08

I know that's its been over a week since Andre and I got home from our little Toronto excursion, but I've been trying to get caught up on the rest of life. I was going to write the whole thing down, but that would take forever. So here's a highlight reel. Happy reading! (If you only want knitting related stuff, skip to Tuesday, where I get to go shopping!)

Saturday

We didn't get to head out until Saturday morning, since Andre's holidays didn't start till then. Our destination on Saturday was infact not Toronto, but slightly north, in Orillia. It's far enough north from Toronto that rather than head south on the the 416 to the 401, we took the Trans Canada Highway almost due west, and through the south end of Algonquin Park. The trip itself was mostly uneventful, Andre being a good safe driver, and the roads being in pretty good shape. The majority of the trip was single lane rural highway though small towns and some truely breathtaking scenery. And it was snowing just a little bit, which made everything that much prettier!

I will say that if you're planning a trip to Orillia any time soon, I can definately recomend the Knight's Inn. It's a newish establishment, so everything is in good order, and it's super close to everything that you could need. We got in in the early afternoon, and after dinner (Arby's, man we need one of these in Ottawa!), we got ready for our concert!!

For those that have never heard of it, Nashville Star is like American Idol for country music. Now, I'm not really a country fan (except for some of the new stuff like Garth Brooks and Dixie Chicks, etc), but can these guys ever sing! Basically, everybody sings, the judges critique (seriously, Jewel, you're awesome, but not really country), and then the American public gets to vote on their favourite. The top four finalists get to go on a "world" tour (USA, one in Canada, one in Mexico), before the winner gets to settle down and record the promised disk. All four finalists were truely spectacular, but I think that for the first time in a long time, the Americans voted in the right person!

The tour's one Canadian stop was at Casino Rama in Orillia, and was infact the main reason for this whole trip! The show itself was amazing!! First, big big kudos to the house guitarist and fiddler, who are some of the most tallented people I've seen in a long time! The performers themselves put on a high energy show, with songs both new and old. The only thing that could have made the show any better would have been decreasing the average age of the audience, which was probably about 60ish. There were a few younger people in the croud, like us, who were jumping around and singing along. But most people just sat and listened.

After the show was almost as much fun as the show itself. It had started snowing just as we got to the casino, but it had kept on snowing all evening. By the time we left there was a good 4 inches of snow on the truck, and more coming down every second! It almost would have been worth it to hang around and watch the performers leave ('cept they were probably staying at the hotel), since 2 of them are from the deep south of the states, and had probably never seen snow like this before! Andre, being the amazing husband that he is, told me to wait while he brushed off the truck. A bored Jen is a mischevious Jen. Unfortunately, the first snowball at Andre missed. As did the second! We lent our snowbrush to a slightly dazed-touristy-looking guy to clean off his car, and promptly launched into an all out snowball war. I lost. Snowballs to the head have that effect. The trip back to the hotel was slow but uneventful. Thank goodness for our wheel drive!

Sunday

We woke to find that the snow had continued all night long, with another 3" on the truck since we got back the night before. And since Andre was so good as to go out and gather dinner the night before (despite having already driven 5 hours to get us there), it was up to me to head out for the morning Timmies run. All I can say is 4wheel=AWESOME. People stuck in the Timmies parking lot entrance with their brakes smoking=sucks. At least I managed to get out with out actually hitting anything trying to get turned around and avoiding all the traffic. But it was a close call for sure!

The drive into Toronto was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. When we pulled out of the hotel it was still snowing, but only the really sparkly stuff, and only a little bit. Let me tell you, the scenery for that first 30 minutes of driving was beautiful. Then it snowed so hard we couldn't see past the car in front of us. After about an hour of driving the snow stopped, and it started getting warmer outside. By the time we pulled into Toronto, the only way you could tell that we'd seen any snow at all was from the rather significant collection of it we were hauling around in the bed!

We pulled into Exhibition place with a few hours to kill before dinner, so we wandered around the west end of Toronto for a bit, in a neat little quarter that looked like it was mostly artisan workshops and high end lofts. We stopped for a quick lunch at the Brazen Head, an Irishy Pub. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, give it a try. Especially the breakfast ceasars! Oh, and there's a working wind turbine at Exhibition Place too. Very cool! I wish they could set up a wind power co-op somewhere around here. We'd buy in for sure.

Dinner was (supposed to be) a surprise for Andre's birthday. He's always wanted to go to Medieval Times, so we went! For those who haven't heard of it (seriously Navya?) it's like dinner theater only way more fun. Basically, you buy tickets, show up, and get a table number and colour. Then you're admitted into the castle, aka the lobby with the big bar and the gift shops. The drinks are a wee bit expensive, but you get to keep the cups! Eventually you're admitted into the arena where you find your tables and meet your serf/wench (aka server). Dinner is served ala times, so no cutlery, but the food was sooooo worth it! Tomato soup, garlic bread, roast chicken, beef ribs, baked potato, and pastery for dessert. The portions of food are served between "acts" of the show... there are alternating scenes of jousting and tournament fun and games, and light shows, plot talking, falconery display, so the food gets served when it's not going to distract from the show itself, and you get to eat as you cheer on your knight. In general, the plot's really predictable, and the acting and little over the top at times, but if you're going to have a good time and not taking it too seriously, then you're in for a great evening! In the end our knight lost, but we still had an amazing time. If you're going in the not too distant future, ask for Sam the Serf. He's a riot! Andre's only complaint of the whole evening is that Sam was... well... male... and he was promised a wench!!

After dinner we made for the hotel, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. We had another big day tomorrow!

Monday

By the morning the snowy weather had turned cold and windy!! It's strange being away from Ottawa, which is in a vally, away from major bodies of water... the lakeshore effect of strong winds takes a bit of getting used to. And it's supposed to be mild(er)! After breakfast we planned out our day. The second half of Andre's birthday surprise was scheduled for 2pm in the heart of downtown, but first we had to get there.

So we walked. Yup, Andre and I set out from the far end of Queen Street West, and walked the length into the Eaton Center. It's been a while since Andre and I have had a good long walk together, and it was perfect. We talked about all kinds of things, and spent some good quality time together. One of the things we talked about were what we want to do with our lives. Andre wants to set himself up as a custom furniture builder, and I so badly want to help him achieve that. He keeps telling me that I should quit my science, open a yarn store and knit for a living. And he’s only half joking. Some days, I really do want to do exactly that. But then I get back into the lab and I realize just how much I would miss science.

All this talk of changing career paths, dropped a comment, “if I can’t open a yarn store, why don’t I just teach? Lots of people ask me, and I really think I could.” Well, didn’t Andre get his teeth into that one, and now, as soon as we get home, I’m going to look into starting up knitting classes. It’ll be interesting to say the least, but now I’m kinda excited about it!

The walk to downtown took us about 2 hours with a quick stop for lunch. Once at the Eaton Centre we did a bit of Christmas window shopping, and discussing, so when we get back we've got our list! Before we left, we got changed. The second birthday surprise required "smart casual" dress, so slacks and a button up shirt for Andre, and not-jeans and a sweater for me. It was only another few blocks before we reached our destination.

A few years ago, in the same weekend that Andre proposed, we went to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier for High Tea. It was so much fun and the food was so good that we've gone back every year since. When I first started planning our trip, I was talked to my mom about suggestions for what we could do, and she came up with expanding our tradition. Why not try to have High Tea at every Fairmont Hotel? So, now, thanks to Andre's birthday, we can cross Fairmont Royal York in Toronto off our list. Only several more in different provences to go. Although I've been thinking about an excuse to get back to Quebec City... maybe this is it!

High Tea, for those who don't know the history, was originally conceived by Queen Victoria in the 1800's. She decreed that there should be something between lunch and dinner to satisfy the peckish appetite. And thus, tea, with its selections of finger sandwiches, cheeses, fruits, and other bite-sized goodies was created. High Tea at Chateau Laurier is held in a sunny dinning room overlooking Elgin Street (I think it's Elgin). The atmosphere is calm and everything is light and airy. At Royal York, the dinning area is in the center of the building, with no windows. While the architechture is beautiful in it's own way, it seems like a space that would be much better suited for night-life cocktails rather than a leisurily tea. But the food was still excellent, and we had an enjoyable afternoon together.

After tea, we ventured forth onto the subways for the first time on our own. We even had to transfer! Our final destination was the appartment of some friends of ours, Jenny and David. I've known these guys for so much longer than I'd care to admit, and with them living in Toronto, we never get to see them as much as we'd like. Even this time, it was visiting in shifts. Both are involved in theater, so their home lives are a little skewed from what we 9ish to 5ish people are used to. David was home when we got there, and it was nice to catch up with him for a bit. Eventually though, he had to head out to work, so we appartment crashed until Jenny got home an hour later. She's working 4 jobs at the moment, and how she manages, I'll never quite understand. The rest of the evening was a delightful dinner at a local pub, and more catching up on our lives. We have known eachother for so long, we can be appart for months (the last time we saw them was our wedding back in June!) and all we need is an hour or so, and it's like we saw eachother yesterday.

Unfortunately, since there was work in the morning for Jenny, the evening ended all too soon. But there are still two things that require mentioning:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!!!! In a few days, I know, but always worth mentioning!
And that the universe, while infinitly large, is also scary small. On the way out of the building we shared the elevator with a very hansom guy. Who happened to recognize us. Yes, believe it or not, we rode the elevator with the bartender from Medieval Times. Coincedence just doesn't seem adequte some times.
We made it back to the hotel on the streetcars (uber cool, we need some in Ottawa!!) with no other surprises, the day a complete sucess.

Tuesday

Most of the trip was planned around Andre's birthday, and some surprises for him, but there is no way that I'm going to another (larger) city, without checking out at least one yarn store!!! So we packed up our gear, loaded the truck, and made for the other end of Queen Street. Yes, I was going yarn shopping in style, and the Purple Purl and Naked Sheep were in my sights.

The Purple Purl is a MUST stop in for any fiber loving warm blooded person in Toronto. They need to start franchises, cause really, we need a place just like this at home. It's beautiful store with more yarn that I could ever imagine being able to use (well... maybe not in my wildest dreams, but some of those are really wild). There were SOOOO many colours and brands and an excellent selection of local handspun and dyed yarns. We were there for almost 2 hours I'm sure. It was just way too much fun. And Andre put up with me the whole time with no complaints. I suppose it's no different than me with him at Lee Valley, but we've got one of those at home!

While we were there I had another new experience. Another customer was talking with one of the owners about a sweater she was working on and how she couldn't seem to make the collar behave the way she wanted it to. For the first time in my life I found myself deep in conversation with 2 expert knitters, and actually feeling like I could keep up. They even liked one of my suggestions, and it looks like it's going to be the basis for what she tries next. Never have I felt so right.

Eventually Andre starting looking really bored, so I figured I should make up my mind about what I was getting, and we should go. Coming in I knew that I wanted yarn for a pair of beautiful knee-high socks from Knitty, so that's what I went looking for. I eventually decided (with some encouragement from the hubby) on a chocolate brown and another medium blue/grey/brown for these socks. They are hand died, 100% wool, but soooooo silky. I can't wait to get started!! The Purple Purl had just celebrated it's first anniversary the weekend before we were there, and they had left over loot bags! Mine had a beautiful pair of wooden needles and matching crochet hook, as well as a ball of bamboo/cotton blend, and another of soysilk. More yarn!! Horray!!

No shopping trip is complete after just one store, so on we went to the Naked Sheep, just a few more blocks up Queen Street. Another huge selection of yarn, some the same, and some very different. But the stores themselves were very different. Purple Purl was a lively (almost) cluttered bustle of exciting looking things, whereas Naked Sheep was more subdued and orderly, all of the yarns getting equal face time and organzied just so. But this can have its advantages, and I did find some things that I might have overlooked in another setting.

We were the only ones in the store, and the more organized feel meant that I got my shopping done a little faster. I picked up some gorgeous Malabrigo yarn with a special project for a special person in mind (who shall remain nameless in case she's reading this), as well as a big bunch of super soft grey wool, whoes destiny will eventually be a sweather for me. All in all, I'm sure I spent more on yarn today that I probably should have, but still, it was so worth it, and now I have more to knit!!!!

After a quick stop for lunch we piled into the truck and made for home. The driving was mostly good (only one white-out type storm front) and we made it back safe and sound. All told, we had a fantastic trip, I got more yarn, and life is again wonderful. So, for the last time till next year, happy birthday Andre, I hope it was a good one!