And now, let’s get back to recounting the details of the great Canadian Adventure, shall we? Because I gotta tell you people about Memoire et Racines, not to mention GBS, but I ain’t skipping ahead!
Our last day in Toronto involved less wandering around than the two previous ones, in no small part because we needed to keep some time free for solarbird to get back to Chez Cow and prepare for her house concert! But that said, we did have a good wander about through the late morning and early afternoon.
The first stop of the day was at the Ontario Legislative Building in Queen’s Park, so that cow could drop off tasty Montreal bagels for a friend. On the way, Dara and I spotted various amusing signs out the windows of the bus, so I took pics. I was disappointed that “Dragons and Skulls” did not in fact sell either dragons OR skulls–it was apparently a defunct Chinese gift shop. “Adult Movie Pet Food” just made me giggle on general principle for the juxtaposition, while “Cabbagetown” made both me AND Dara giggle and think of Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s cabbage vendor NPC!
A very disappointing sign
This was the sign of a small shop near Cow's place, which turned out to have been a former and now closed Chinese gift-type shop. I was rather disappointed that it had not in fact sold either dragons OR skulls.
A very confusing sign
"Adult movie" and "pet food" are not concepts I'd ever thought to see juxtaposed!
A very awesome sign
Dara and I both saw "Welcome to Old Cabbagetown" as we went by this place on the streetcar, and we both IMMEDIATELY thought of the cabbage seller in "Avatar: the Last Airbender" and "Avatar: Legend of Korra"! Apparently this is where he wound up after CabbageCorp folded!
Once we got to the Legislative Building, we peeked into the lobby, as far as we could get in the building without joining one of the formal tours, and we did snap a few pics while we were in there. There was nice art on the walls as well as the ceremonial mace used by the Legislature.
At the Queens Park legislative building
We stopped briefly at the legislative building to drop off bagels for a friend of Cow's, and we had just enough time to set foot in the front foyer and snap a couple of pics. This was some of the art hanging on the walls.
Also at the Queens Park legislative building
This is a symbol of office and looked awfully impressive.
More art at Queens Park
This was on the opposite wall from where the mace was being displayed.
The Queen's jubilee
This was the display case celebrating Queen Elizabeth's jubilee. To wit: oh right, we're visiting a monarchy!
After that we wandered through a bit more of the park, specifically cutting past a building that cow told us was the medieval studies building for the University of the Toronto. There was a neat sign there all in Latin–and how many signs do you see on colleges anywhere, TOTALLY IN LATIN? I also rather liked an ivy-covered arch nearby.
Then we cut over to the Village, Toronto’s LGBT district, and I snapped more pics of urban art that caught my eye on the way. We stopped at Glad Day for books (where I picked up a potentially interesting novel called Three, mentioned in my last book round up post). We stopped for yogurt (which was tasty). We popped into a candy store (where I giggled at the sight of an ancient Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox, which I recognized because my brother had had one of those when I was a kid!). And we stopped to look at an AIDS memorial, which was touching.
The only sign I've ever seen in Latin
Once we were done dropping by Queen's Park in downtown Toronto, we cut through the U of T campus and specifically past the medieval studies building. Where we found this sign in Latin! I have no idea what it says, but hey, Latin!
The arch at the medieval studies building
This was a nifty arch near the sign in Latin.
We can rebuild our lunch
Why did I take a photo of a Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox? Because we stopped in a candy store on the way to Riverdale Farm, and the candy store had ancient lunchboxes, and I saw this one, and recognized it from when I was a kid!
AIDS memorial
We went through the Village, Toronto's LGBT district, on our way to Riverdale Farm. They have a touching AIDS memorial there, one to which they add new plaques every year with the names of AIDS victims. This was the first set of plaques.
More urban art in Toronto
I liked this mural, and this bit was only a portion of the full thing stretching along an entire block.
One more bit of urban art
I liked this one, especially the meta-ness of a painting of a hand painting a painting!
But the thing I liked best about this particular day’s wandering was Riverdale Farm. I hadn’t ever encountered an urban farm before, and it was really pretty neat to be able to wander through a farm right in the middle of a major city.
Rooster
A very proud-looking rooster at Riverdale Farm.
Uninterested chickens are uninterested
These chickens wanted nothing to do with us and our cameras.
Suspicious rooster is suspicious
And this rooster did not look amused with our shenanigans!
Pair of geese
A white goose and a black goose. I liked the contrast!
Tiny rooster, big noise
This tiny rooster was doing his damndest to cock-a-doodle-doo louder than the one back in my first farm picture in this set!
Tuckered-out pigs
It's hard work being pigs. Zzzzzzzz.
Hey! Do you have food?
This turkey, on the other hand, was highly interested in us. At least up until the part where it realized we did not in fact have food.
Feeding time for the horse
The horse seemed generally uninterested in anything but noms.
Also feeding time for donkeys
The donkey wasn't any more interested in anything besides noms than the horse, really.
Hi Cows!
"Cows are my friends!" -- GIR
These cows are not so friendly
But considering that it was hot and humid and about to rain, I don't blame them for seeking shelter!
A very tiny Rapunzel tower
We had no idea what this was for until we got around to the other side, and saw a sign talking about chemical storage. Which was a way more prosaic use for this structure than I was hoping for.
Once we were done wandering around the farm, the weather took a turn for the worse–and just as we made it off the bus near Cow’s place, it finally opened up raining. I’d brought my raincoat, thankfully, so I didn’t get too wet. Dara was not so lucky!
But it was all good, because the rest of the day pretty much went to Dara’s house concert. Attendees If and Sarah were very fun to chat with (and I in particular had great fun talking to Sarah since she works for Kobo and I was pleased to be able to yak about putting Faerie Blood up on Kobo’s new Writing Life site), and they took well to Dara’s music, particularly “Sad Muppet”! A very nice way to round out the Toronto phase of our trip!