ni was very encouraging towards the visiting "his" city and crashing at his place. Though I did bring my tent in plans of camping a couple nights (we did one night but that was more an "event" than a lodging choice). And driusan offered a floor (didn't really happen as ni's place was perfectly fine and he didn't kick me out ...)
So I essentially spent a week at the Shaw Shack (which is a highly amusing living situation to an outsider who exited roommate living very quickly in college). Everyone was friendly, often drunk (I fit right in the very first night, but no more will be said except to say I can't say anymore than that as I just don't remember). Most days (when not sick -- see below) I went out during the day and did stuff (sometimes with ni or misslake who were quite busy of course). Nights were generally eating, drinking, chatting and general merry-making. I think I got drunk nearly every night. As I try not to drink too much alone at home these days, this was a bit shocking to my body.
Side note: buying booze in Ontario is a pain in the ass. There were quite a few "shit we should go buy booze pretty soon" moments because booze stores were going to close.
The "some" part of "sightseeing" comes from the fact that I (a) spent a couple days sick off and on (not only due to alcohol but bad food choices and feminine shit), and (b) some mental/emotional issues that will not be elaborated much. Too private and painful for world-sharing. Sorry.
So instead of angsting on stuff, I will talk about the very awesome stuff in Toronto. It is so obviously an "international" city, it was kind of shocking. It just seemed more so to me than San Francisco for instance. Granted that is partially because the Shaw Shack is in an area heavily populated by Ethiopian/Eritreans, Greeks, and Portuguese (at the minimum), but every neighborhood I went to seemed culturally distinctive and a train car was never just one "color". It no longer seemed terribly different to me by the end of the trip, but it reinforces that the areas I've lived in have been primarily white, maybe a little black (black american, not generally recent african immigrants) and hispanic.
The main benefit for me is I frequently got to eavesdrop on languages I completely didn't know (or do know a little but am very rusty) which is always fascinating to me. Well, that and if I wanted $EthnicCuisine it was almost certainly available within like a block. And then of course there were fun mom-and-pop restaurants with cheap food, often from a mixture of the local population's cultures.
Anyway, in no particular order, here is some vicarious sightseeing to be shared.
Art Gallery of Ontario
Since the AGO is under major construction, I was leery of paying full price. Luckily, ni has a membership (presumably purchased at student rates) which he was willing to loan me. The ticket issuer person looked at me kind of strange since, well, ni and I don't look a thing alike even disregarding gender. About the only thing we have in common is being a bit tall. Oh and I had an ugly, garish cut on the right side of my nose up by the eye. That can't of helped my respectability. They let me in anyway. (There is a story to that cut. It involves booze. It shall remain unshared which frankly will amuse you all more than the details.)
Amazingly, I would have paid to get into this place. I didn't "get" Henry Moore's sculptures, but ni later explained some of the point and maybe if I went back I could appreciate it more (I clearly missed the right viewing angles in many cases). Only a few gave me that weird feeling I get in front of art I like and (think that I) understand.
But the best pieces for me were the following:
- Paul Peel's After the Bath. The lighting and shadow on this and the colors are just ... I can't even be coherent about it. When I walked past it, there was the tour group going thru (museum staff explaining each work) and I wanted to shout "move you people!! I cannot see the beauty!!" I had to force myself to walk away and come back later.
- In an exhibit of contemporary Indian art (as in India the country), there was a piece by Subodh Gupta called I think (if I can read my writing) "Idol Thief - 2". It was basically a large (picture window sized) oil on canvas of a bunch of shiny pots and pans, slightly out of focus. At first I thought it was a really large print of a photograph of slightly out of focus pots and pans! I'm not sure there is any emotion to my liking this piece, but the technical skill (and patience) behind it seems impressive.
- In the same exhibit, there was another piece by Atul Dodiya that was more clever than emotionally evocative, but I like it anyway. It was called Fallen Leaves and was a series of small portraits of 20th century "fallen" figures (such as Stalin, Castro, Saddam, Nixon, MLK, etc) painted on a leaf and mounted on black wood (and then the wood squares mounted on rails). A few tastefully done birds were intermixed in the fallen leaves. It was very clever and the portraits were fairly good.
- There were some Bernini sculptures as well (the body of Christ and a bust of Pope Gregory XV). Always good stuff.
Royal Ontario Museum
I don't have a lot of detail to give about this one, except the instructions to go to it if you are in Toronto. Sadly the dinosaur bones were mostly inaccessible due to them being re-installed in a floor of the new "Crystal" extrusion/extension thing they did (which is actually stunning although I find it a bizarre choice anyway). The first nations / Inuit / whatever ("Indian" is a bad word in Canada and "native american" obviously is not quite right) exhibit was very educational and had a lot of things in it. Probably my favorite part except maybe the ecology of Ontario / Canada, but I'm a sucker for ecology and animal exhibits.
Bata Shoe Museum
Yes, there is a museum devoted to shoes in Ontario. The first floor is basically a survey of the history of shoes and various cultures use of shoes. My only complaint on that floor is that some of the stuff was a bit wrong or the text was unclear about what shoe it referred to. The biggest oversight was the lack of a very clear explanation of shoe binding. Being a bit of a feminist, I would have liked to see a gruesome picture of what a woman's foot looks like after being bound for the tiny medieval shoes Chinese upper class women had to wear. But that's just me being picky (there are definitely several good reasons they don't include so much detail that I can understand). The other floors were basically somewhat eccentric selections from the collection started by Sonja Bata and then one floor with some Chinese shoes on loan. The Chinese exhibit was too cutesy with its emphasis on year/animal stuff (I'm an earth-sheep don't you know?) but some interesting shoes.
But the museum did do a good job of putting shoes and trends in footwear in a historical context. The Baroque to Neo-Classical eras in America/Europe resulted in more "restrained" shoes with more straight lines and less decoration, which is not really surprising, but not something I'd thought about. Again for my edification, there was an extensive collection of Native American/Canadian footwear which fit right into the visit to the ROM. (Note: I found from querying of ni and misslake, and wikipedia-ing, that Canada treated its original inhabitants really no better than the United States did, but Canadians seem more guilty about it and there is more public controversy about native issues).
CN Tower
Yes, yes, you all were right. The CN tower was worth it. I went. Not much to say. Toronto looks remarkably like Tokyo-lite from up there (I went up the Tokyo Metropolitan Towers several times). Obviously much smaller, but starting to grow a similar city with several clusters of big towers with shorter buildings all around. I went up around sunset on a fairly clear day. I'll just say it was pretty inspiring and leave it at that.
National Film Board
misslake wished to have me see a few films that the National Film Board practically lets you see for free (I think ni paid $2 / person for us to get in?) Basically, this is an archive of Canadian films (short and long) where you call them up on demand (while sitting in relatively nice chairs looking at a relatively large flat screen TV) and watch them. Very sweet setup.
"The Sweater" was a short animated film of what is apparently an iconic children's story about a Quebecois boy who is a big fan of a particular hockey player on the Quebec team (as are all his playmates). He outgrows his sweater and his mom has to get him a new one from Eaton's which is a Toronto Maple Leafs' sweater. The horror! It is all very cute and touching. Also, you can apparently watch it online.
We watched a few other films, including a film about hockey that I think has cured me of any desire to see a game (sorry -- kind of violent). Also, ni found some Trudeau interview from during the October Crisis. All I can say is: can I have a president like Pierre Trudeau?
So those are the likely interesting touristy bits that actually have some meat to them. The other stuff is going to remain where it is -- inside my head and in my journal and relatively private. Suffice to say I hopefully learned a lot about what I want in my future.
Thanks to the other Shaw Shack residents (barely saw misstrish sadly!) and other Toronto infidels (driusan) for keeping me company. I missed many other Torontoans thru lack of planning and general malaise, but I figure I'll go back someday.
And in case anyone doubted it, ni and misslake are incredibly good hosts and very understanding and welcoming people. That has too many adverbs and vague adjectives in it, but that's how it is. Thanks ni and misslake.
Life is made of memories and I now have a few more. Some random pictures. Note I didn't really take a lot as it always takes too long to get out a camera and it interferes with experiencing the moment. But there are still a few.
There was apparently a bow as well, but this was the sign ni had for me at the airport. Note I ended up walking behind him as I either didn't see him coming out or whatever.
A statue of Winston Churchill near Toronto City Hall. This is a picture where you all think "WTF?"
Ontario has a lot of squirrels. Black ones were rare in my youth in Iowa so I am pleased to have a nice picture of one.
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