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...

First day of summer in Toronto

Oh yeah. Summer is finally in Toronto, and it arrived with style.

First day of summer was hot and heavy around here (mostly because of the famous Canadian humidity in the air).

Even though the weather forecast announced storm and rain all Sunday long (forecast is always wrong when I'm making plans and I'm used to it by now), the day was beautiful.

Toronto-style cloudy (kind of cloudy where sun is never behind actual clouds), hot and breezy.

So, instead of staying inside and watching movies I've already watched before, I actually enjoyed being outside most of the day.

First I made a mistake in the morning (well, because I do listen to the weather forecast after all) and went for a walk in my tennis shoes and pants and almost died of the heat.

People are out there taking walks, kayaking, sitting in shade and talking, sleeping on the benches, doing photo shoots, eating ice cream, sunbathing on the beach, looking at dead fish at the beach and pulling their kids away from it, playing with their dogs, barbecuing and fishing.

They also wear flip flops and shorts because they don't listen to the forecasts like I do.



So, after I realized there's not going to be any rain that day, I changed to flip flops and bikini and I actually went to the beach... just to be there.

To lie on the sand, to walk barefoot and to soak up the sun.

Nothing better on a lazy, first day of summer afternoon.

I was just about to start enjoying the sounds of kids and dogs playing around when I noticed the dead fish right in front of me. It was huge, half eaten and I still don't know how it got there.

I even got into the lake, which was freezing - still around 16 C.

There were some people actually swimming, but mostly dogs and little kids enjoyed the water. I was surprised how many children were there standing and playing in the lake, and even more surprised by the parents who let them do that, or actually encouraged it. I mustn't forget, I am in Canada though, and the kids are apparently born and raised to be little polar bears.

The kids seemed to be happy in the lake though.

The dogs seemed to be happy in the lake.

The surfing (or whatever he was doing) guy was happy on the lake.

The view on a dead fish was spectacular.

The only thing better than the sun was the hot wind blowing. That's the real thing. That's when I know the summer's really here. Hope it'll stay for a while. Or at least till end of July, when I'm leaving to feel some real salt on my skin at the Adriatic Sea.