Toronto the Good

I love this city; I really do. I grew up here — that might be part of it. I moved around a lot, after my parents' divorce, but I went to school downtown, so that was my stability. We went trawling through Kensington for vintage clothes and cargo pants. We went through the Queen West goth shops before they left to make way for H&M. I had always assumed that I would go to the University of Toronto, so Ottawa was kind of a surprise, and moving back was pretty much inevitable.


View of downton Toronto from the John Street roundhouse
Anyway, every summer I hatch a plan to explore the city a little more. There are the obvious places — High Park, the Beach, the Toronto islands — but lots of small places, too. That little tiny park near OCAD. OCAD, period. Or, for example: did you know that, in the summer months, they run a vintage streetcar on the Lakeshore line?


Last weekend was Doors Open, of course, so that was the perfect place to start. We went to the John St Roundhouse, above; we'd been there before, but trains are always fun.

We tried to go to the new green roof on top of the Horse Palace, at Exhibition Place, but misjudged the time, so I settled for a sunlit shot of the arena:


Green roofs seem popular this year; another opened on top of City Hall (the new one). We went to the one at MEC last year. It's very cool, but here's a lesson I learned: do not wear a skirt. The access is via ladder (indoors to out), and there is a gusty wind.

...
All of this was actually triggered, not by Doors Open, but by the Bloor Street Viaduct. It's one of my favourite architectural structures in Toronto, but hard to photograph, especially with the Luminous Veil (which I still hate, by the way). Last week, though, I had to figure out how to get underneath it, as Pd is playing league soccer this summer in a field down there, basically next to the Bayview extension.

Looking up at the viaduct
You can go down into the valley quite easily, it turns out. There are stairs near the Castle Frank subway station, by the school. They're a little bit hard to find, but once you're there the entire thing is actually very straight forward. And the view of the viaduct soaring above you is worth it.