Walkin' downtown

This was an awesome warm weekend and of course, I wanted to spend it outside.

I haven't been downtown for a while and I really wanted to take a serious walk and get out for a whole day. Since I have a guest here (her majesty, Ana Flo), we decided to use this nice weather and go somewhere I usually wouldn't go alone.


I wanted to go apple picking, but Ana didn't feel like it. So we agreed upon spending some time in High Park and some time downtown. I haven't been downtown for a while so we were curious at what's there to see.

Turned out, there's plenty to see, especially if you're bored and yearning for a little city hype.

I wanted to visit Brookfield Place to see a World Press Photo Exhibition, so we headed there first.


Some nice, some interesting but mostly sad stories told thru photographs by award winning artists and photojournalists made a strong impression on both of us. I recommend to go and see for yourselves.

We took a walk towards the lake and on our way there we stopped at Union Station - the place I've seen only from the outside until now, so we decided to walk in and take a peek at what's in there.

Outside, hungry pigeons chilled on the Union Station sign.



Soon enough we found ourselves by the lake and enjoyed the sun and warm breeze.

We entered the Power Plant gallery where we took a look at three standing exhibitions, but I was most impressed by "Black Cloud", an installation by Mexican artist Carlos Amorales. 30000 black moths cut out of paper and placed on the walls of the gallery made a splendid view.

More about him and his moths you can find here

After coming back towards Eaton Center and a huge meal, we needed a break so we had a coffee on Nathan Phillips Square. Plenty of people was there, despite being the Thanksgivings day, and they laughed, took pictures by the Toronto letters, posing for selfies, smiling, chattering and enjoying a beautiful afternoon. I do love to look at people sometimes. When they're happy.

We spend some time in High Park (as if that was a fair alternative to apple picking), but it was nice. Crowded, but nice. We barely found a parking spot after a while of driving around, just before we almost gave up. I swear, half of Toronto was there that afternoon.

We even made it to the Cherry beach.

It was a good weekend. I hope this weather will last.

I want to make an apple pie, so I still have to go apple picking...

5 interesting facts about Toronto that I like the most

I was just having a conversation with someone about something and somehow we mentioned Yonge Street.

I've been told, as every tourist probably, that it's the longest street in the world. And this person told me that, despite common belief, that's not true. Of course, I needed to double check that online, which is how I came across some other interesting stuff about Toronto in general.

Among tons of interesting facts, here's top five I like the most:

1. City of Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

It's also one of the most clean, safe, peaceful, large, cosmopolitan cities on this planet. Ok, we kind of knew that before, but it's good to know that's still true. Also, Toronto has the third largest percentage of immigrants at almost 50% (right after Miami and Dubai). That means that almost half of Toronto population was born outside Canada.

2. There are over 1600 named parks in Toronto.

Uu I love that one. Parks are everywhere, really. There are small ones (I wouldn't even call them parks, but they do have that table with the name on it and a few square feet of green grass and some flowers), and there are big ones. The largest public park in Toronto is High Park, but there's plenty of big parks and gardens all over the city. There are areas where you can feel like you actually live on a farm instead of in Toronto.

3. Toronto hosts over 70 film festivals every year and  Jim Carrey lived here!

The most popular is Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In fact, TIFF is known as second most prestigious such festival in the world, right after the one in Cannes.

Jim Carrey was born in Newmarket and has lived in Scarborough and Burlington. Mike Myers was born in Scarborough. Sandra Oh was not born in Toronto, but she's also from Ontario, as well as plenty other famous people I like.

4. Bien sur je parle francais! Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?

Even tough Canada has two official languages, English and French, French is the 12th most spoken language in Toronto. Actually, over 180 different languages and dialects are spoken in the city. That kind of speaks for itself about the Toronto population.

5. Yonge Street is the longest street in the world. Is it?

It's not. It's not 1896 km long, as people think. However, it was listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the longest street in the world, because apparently it once was, or at least it was considered to be, going all the way from Lake Ontario (Queens Quay) to Lake Simcoe up north. Yonge Street is actually 56 km long, and the rest of it is Ontario's Highway 11, which people have mistaken for Yonge. So, technically, it's not, even though some people still say it's true. Either way, it's famous for it.

And I don't really care where it ends. I love where it begins, right at the lakefront, downtown. A beautiful place to hang out on a lovely spring day with a camera in your hand...

Walking thru the Village of Murals

Just recently (before all this spring began) I was looking for a nice place to take a walk. Since all my walks are usually close to the lake, I decided to move a little bit up north and see what's going on there. That's when I came across the Islington's Village of Murals.

Located on Dundas Street West, between Islington and Kipling, there's a whole bunch of murals, mostly painted by an artist John Kuna.

More precise, there's 26 of them along the area and their purpose is to illustrate places and people from neighborhood's history, mostly from early 1900.

The Pub With No Beer

Next to every mural there is a board with the name and description of the illustration, explaining what, when and why.


It's like walking thru the museum of past.

There are people around you walking fast, cars are driving by, it's busy weekday, everyone's hurrying somewhere and then you set your eyes (because you can't miss it) on "The Pub With No Beer".




That's the mural that depicts smiling faces of workers leaned on the truck full of empty bottles cases, and makes you wonder how simple and happy people must have been then, even though they worked hard and had little.

The faces of Islington

There is something in each mural that brings out the nostalgia, happiness, proud, sorrow or compassion.

I'm sure it brings out a lot more to the people grew up in the area than to me, being a complete stranger. But it still makes you feel different, walking with those murals on every step as opposed to just walking, minding your own business.

Mimico Creek

This way, you remember to notice - or you notice to remember. Either way, it's a nicer walk with that contrast between now and then.

Portraits Of Our Past

The illustrations are beautiful and I admire the whole action of making it happen. The murals really make the place look interesting and fun, but also they show the proud and appreciation of the past.











What amazed me the most is that all of the murals were intact. They are clean and graffiti free, and that tells me that there is obvious respect for the illustrations themselves, for the past and for the neighborhood. I hope they'll stay that way for a long time.

The Old Swimming Hole, Aftermath, Harold G. Shipp's "First High Flier!"