Mile 9196

 We have been in Toronto, ON now for several days, but our mileage didn't increase very much (because I only measure those by car), even though we made a lot of miles on foot, with the bicycles, with public transportation.  Toronto has a perfect transportation system, buses linking to train and tram stations, schedules aligned to each other, and doesn't matter how heavy the traffic is, schedules are kept.  Our camp site is about 20 miles outside Toronto, and we didn't have the least of a problem.

 After a rest day doing laundry, cleaning the dust of Labrador from our equipment, and doing some small repairs we take the bicycles and make a coffee ride.  This ride didn't end up very lucky for me, as I kissed the bike path and reached the coffee place with a scraped knee (it has changed colour by the time I'm writing this from red to a nice blue-black), and some bruised ribs (they hurt like hell), and an elbow hurting from which I don't know yet where the pain really originates.  But I got my coffee and a wife who took good care of me by running to the nearby pharmacy to get some first aid stuff to cover my wounds.  Anyway, we were up and running, and made our miles in Toronto.  We arrive at Union Station, yes that's right, it was modeled after its big brother in New York, Grand Central, and is a National Historic Site of Canada since 1975, and a Heritage Railways Station since 1989.  

Union Station

 Just a little further down is the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a must for me to visit.  But I'm not willing to spend $275.00 for a jersey of my favorite player, neither $60.00 for a hockey puck.  So it is just looking around, and then getting stopped by a security guard telling me I could make pictures with my cell phone, but not with a camera.  Beats my logic.  Anyway we saw what we wanted to see, and moved on.  

 Hockey Hall of Fame, 'At the Grease" by Ken Danby, 1972 in response to his first encounter as a player with a masked goaltender.  He saw the goalie as an anonymous warrior meeting all comers, imposing in stance and character.

 We find Berczy Park and its two teared fountain and its dog and cats sculptures.  There are 27 dogs below a golden bone on top of the fountain, and one cat at the edge of lower basin.  The park was built with donations from dog lovers in Toronto and is a nice place to be.  Just at the end of the park is Toronto's very own Flatiron Building, the Gooderham Building.  Even though is is closed for renovation, they left the 'trompe l'oeil mural' open,  and one gets a glimpse of that beautiful building.  

Berczy Park, one cat, one bone, 27 dogs

Gooderham Building, 'trompe l'oeil' mural

 St. Lawrence Market, opened 1902, incorporating the 1845 Toronto City Hall into the structure.  It has to levels with more than 90 vendors selling everything from cheese, meat, fish, olives, vegetables and fruits, sandwiches, and more.  It's a culinary heaven and shopping food here is a pleasure.  

St. Lawrence Market, ....

... almost like Quincy Market in Seattle, WA

 From here it's down to the Distillery District, founded by the Gooderham and Worts Distillery 1832 it produced over 2 million US gallons of Canadian whiskey a year, and was later bought by rival Hiram Walker, another large Canadian distiller.  With the deindustrialization of the surrounding area in the late 20th century, and the winding down of the distillery operations, the district was left increasingly derelict.  Nevertheless the closing of distillery operations in 1990 was the new beginning for a reinvention of this district as a residential, artist, restaurant and entertainment area.  No space here is rented to any chain or franchises, and that's exactly what makes the charm.  A great place to hang around, and that exactly what we did.  

Distillery District

 Other attractions were a little further out, and we took the easy way with a hop-on, hop-off bus to bring us to those places.  Most impressive in my view the Casa Loma (Spanish for 'Hill House'), a Gothic Revival Castle-style mansion and garden, constructed 1911 to 1914 as a residence for Sir Henry Pellatt.  Originally estimated at a cost of $250,000 CAN, it ended up costing Pellatt 3.5 million CAD and almost brought him to ruin (remember Hurst Castle in San Simeon, California; William Randolph Hearst had almost the same experience 1919 to 1947).  

Casa Loma

There were also dozens of street murals in Toronto, which to list here would be too much, and churches, and fire houses, and hundreds of brick buildings, one nicer than the other, and of course the the Museum of Modern Art, the old Railroad Roundhouse, Rogers Stadium and the CN Tower, the harbour district, the Amsterdam Bridge.  

CN Tower next to Rogers Stadium

Some of the many murals in town

The Royal Ontario Museum, Woodpecker Column near CN Tower

Roundhouse and Railway Museum near CN Tower

 Then there are all those districts like China Town, Little Italy, the Irish, the Portuguese, the French, the .... districts, Toronto is so full of immigrants, so diverse in cultures, you get a total impression / picture overflow by all those sights.  I need a rest day to sort it all out.

"Diversity is our strength."  -  Motto of the city of Toronto, nothing needs to be added to that