The Toronto Summer Dawn

Yes, I woke up at 5.00 just the other day. No alarm clock, just me. As I became aware of the time, it dawned on me that I could use that to go out and get some shots of the sunrise.

I was actually thinking of doing that the day before, so my inner clock made a decision instead of me and decided to go with it, thus conveniently wake me up at 5.00 am.

I got my coffee and warmed up the car and soon was on my way.

There is a nice spot relatively close to me where you can sit on the lakefront and enjoy the view of the cityline, so I headed straight there.

What I learned here, in a huge city like Toronto, is that whatever crazy thing you do, you won't be alone in it.

Accordingly, there was a couple sitting on the very same spot I was going to sit, I guess waiting for the sunrise too. So I sat down 10 feet away. Just me and them and ducks. A bit weird. And we're all waiting.

Turned out the spot where I was sitting was a great one, as the sun was positioned right next to the CN tower silhouette. So the sun began to rise and it was quite a view.

I don't see the sunrise often, even though I am an early bird. There was a mist or a light fog around, but the colors were still nice.

On my way back, a snail blocked my path so I shot him too, quite a few times. Good thing he's not really  a cheetah so I had time to put on my macro lens before he vanished.


I didn't feel like going back home so instead I headed over to my favorite bridge to see what's happening there at 6 am. 

People walking, bicyclists bicycling, runners running, dogs on a leash snooping around. 

I'm always amazed by that bridge and it feels nice standing in the middle of it. 

Never been there so early in the morning, but it's as alive as thru the day, and the sight is even more beautiful.

There are little parks around and butterfly sanctuaries, but I haven't seen any yet.

On my way back, I saw weird flowers - they looked like they were withered, but still hanging in there. I just thought they looked pretty. 

My excitement didn't really last long after that and I started to think about the nap. I felt like I could use the rest of the sleep, or another cup of coffee to stay awake until noon, at least. I guess this early bird got lazy lately...

Cherry Blossoms shooting in High Park, Toronto - a couple of things to know

So, I've been waiting for cherry blossoms to bloom. That's no secret.

I love them, they look beautiful and I simply wanted to see them in High Park, because apparently there's plenty of cherry trees there, and it might look awesome. I've been monitoring carefully every day, so that I wouldn't miss the chance to see them and so that I could be there on time to take some photographs.

I know it's a popular place to go and see the cherry blossoms and I knew there would be a few people around. Especially since I was going there in late afternoon, around 6 pm, during the rush hour. But what the hell, a little traffic I can stand, cherry blossoms are definitely worth enough to fight it. And the park is huge, so what if there's going to be a few people there, there's enough room for everybody.

Little did I know that the truth was nowhere near that.

Yes, the blossoms are fantastic. But a "few people" part was total delusion.

It took me about 20 minutes to reach the Sunnyside beach (which is completely normal, especially that time of day), but then it began.

From there, to reach the High Park by car, it would normally take me 5-10 minutes, if I'm getting in on the east entrance.

Yesterday, it took me 25 minutes to get close to it, another 20 minutes to get inside the High Park and another 10 minutes sitting and waiting for the river of cars to move.

There were millions of cars, millions of people walking and I was sitting there and  jealously looking at them.
Well, me and other drivers in cars in front of and behind me.

I loudly said "nice" and reminded myself not to loose my patience, but it was already gone. I was trapped inside the park, on the road, not moving anywhere.

And even if I reach the parking lot, which was, I finally came to conclusion at that moment, impossible, there would be no chance in hell to find an empty space to park.

I swear, it was like half of Toronto came to see cherry blossoms yesterday. So I figured, me seeing them will not happen, not today.

I decided to turn around and exit the park same way I entered. I turned around and I realized that the way back to the exit is as crowded as the direction I was going in the first place.

Nice, I said to myself again and I also said lots of Croatian words I do not want to translate now.

After another 20 minutes, I was finally coming close to the exit.

On my way back, I've noticed the signs that said: "Welcome to High Park! Cherry blossoms! Due to anticipated high volume visits, we provided additional parking lots at Sunnyside beach, Lakeshore Blvd." Again, nice.

So that was a cardinal mistake. It took me around 2 hours to get there and back home without even getting out of my car and with no photos. And I wanted to see those blossoms so badly.

So this morning, I eagerly woke up at 5.30, left my place at 6 am, and I was at the High Park parking lot next to the cherry blossoms at 6.15 am. What a joy!

And what a sight to see! 

I was not alone, no.

There were already people there, mostly with cameras, trying to capture the best of the blossoms. It was amazing.

After a while, the sun came up enough to light the blossoms and the view was spectacular. It was definitely worth it and I'm glad I got there so early.

Aside from the families, amateur photographers and exercise group, there were professional photographers capturing the loving moments of couples, there were some wedding photo shootings, there was a rich old lady with two dogs and a photographer taking her portraits with the dogs....

Plenty of interesting things to see and very amusing. Gotta say, lots of stuff going on at 6.15 AM in that park.

So, word of advice: if you want to go there while the cherry blossoms are blooming, avoid going by car, unless you plan to be there early in the morning.

Or just get there at the dawn and see for yourselves how mesmerizing it is.

I can't believe I actually wanted to wait for the weekend to go there.
Despite all the beauty around me, there would be lots of Croatian words echoing thru the cherry blossom paradise.