toronto – Molly On the Move

Whirling Mirvishes

January 20, 2013February 8, 2013 Molly On the Move

A morning full of Tom Board left our afternoon free to explore the quirkier side of Toronto. In desperate need of sustenance, we circled out from Casa Loma and found ourselves on Bloor Street. It was overflowing with Asian cuisine, much to the dismay of my dad. As we searched, we saw one of the zaniest stores I’ve seen on the corner of Bloor and Bathurst: Honest Ed’s. Besides 23,000 lightbulbs, the facade sported ridiculous sayings, like “Honest Ed’s repulsive, but his bargains are appealing!”

Honest Ed's — Honest Ed’s, a famous discount on Bloor Street. It was built in 1948 and takes up an entire street block.

We decided Ed was creepy and his bargains unappealing. With a turn on Bathurst Street, we found ourselves in Mirvish Village (Ed Mirvish being founder of Honest Ed’s). Happening upon a restaurant with Dad-friendly-cuisine, I walked in and asked “Do y’all have menus?” The waiter’s eyes popped out of his head as he exclaimed “It’s contagious!”, confusing me because I had no idea to what he was referring. But then he leapt into praise of the hallowed “y’all.” Ah-ha. Never before has “y’all” been met with such enthusiasm abroad. Evan was eager to please and even made us a pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade, the seeds lolling at the bottom as proof of his efforts.

Fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Shop in Mirvish Village.

This looks a lot prettier than it tasted.

We bid adieu to Evan and headed to Kensington Market, since Sibling Two and I got it into our heads that we were trendy and so were markets. Kensington Market was hip bordering on seedy, but had its moments. Which all involved food.

“When it comes to cheese…we speak your language!”

Fiddleheads.

Hungary Thai.

That wraps up Toronto…for now at least. It is such a vibrant city. I’ll be back someday!

Enjoy your MLK weekend!

Canada, Destinations, Toronto

Board-om at Casa Loma

January 13, 2013March 8, 2015 Molly On the Move

Another afternoon in Toronto brought the family to Casa Loma. Casa Loma is more castle than a “casa.” It is really big. It has lots of rooms. It was built between 1911 and 1914 by Henry Pellatt, who brought hydroelectricity to Toronto. I have already bored you.

Spare me a second and we’ll turn that bored into Board.

Endless rooms and vibrant gardens did not make Casa Loma memorable. What made Casa Loma memorable was Tom Board.

Tom is an 86-year-old volunteer at Casa Loma. He has been working there for 52 years. Though he is retired, he gives tours on his own time. When Tom singled our family out of the crowd, it was our self-guided audio tours that retired.

Without any preamble, Tom assumed responsibility for showing our family around the residence. We were amazed at his spryness – he bounded up stairs faster than any of the rest of us – and continually flirted with my mom. As we passed through one of the many bathrooms, Tom told Mom to get in the huge clawfoot bathtub so Sibling Two could take a picture. It would be funny, he said…

Mom: Do I take off my shoes?
Tom: You take off everything.

That happened.

During 52 years, you can imagine that Tom saw a lot. His three daughters, for example, all got married at Casa Loma. And of course he was privy to the many movies that have been filmed there, like X-Men, Chicago, and The Pacifier. During the filming of the movie Cocktail, Tom showed the principal actor down the elevator. He remembered thinking as they descended, “Who is this guy?” Then Tom Cruise stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Tom.”

So there you have it. Is Casa Loma worth visiting during your stay in Toronto? Probably. Is Tom Board worth visiting during your stay in Toronto? Absolutely.

Library.

Back.

Sundial in the gardens.

Back, seen from the gardens.

Canada, Destinations, Toronto

The Distillery District

July 25, 2012December 14, 2012 Molly On the Move

Leaving the financial district of Toronto behind, a couple hundred turns of our spokes took us back a couple hundred years. The Distillery District is one of the best preserved examples of Victorian industrial architecture on the continent. Established in 1832, the old distillery stopped producing distilled products in 1990 and in 2001, the decision was made to transform it into a vibrant artistic and cultural center in Toronto.

And vibrant it was. We carted our bikes down the central lane, bordered by Ethiopian sculptures. Besides a plethora of restaurants, people wandered in and out of floors and floors of art galleries.

Rolling bikes past a cafe — Rolling our bikes past a cafe

Canada, Destinations, Toronto

“We’ve been expecting you.”

July 22, 2012November 13, 2014 Molly On the Move

Interior of Union Station in Toronto. The outside has been under construction for a few years, but the building remains as stately as ever behind the orange cones.

Probably the most famous farmers’ market in Toronto

St. James Park, right across from the famous St. Lawrence Market.

Spectator sculpture on the stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays

The Eaton Centre, a mammoth shopping mall.

Harborfront of Toronto – view of Lake Ontario

For the past two weeks, my family and I have been traipsing around Canada, poking our noses into the crannies of Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. Of course, having the appetite for foreign lands that I do, I ate up every second. Toronto uses one of the creepier tourism slogans I’ve seen (hence the title). But the banners sporting that slogan didn’t deter my family from our visit. We arrived in Toronto around noon on a Saturday, and had scarcely dropped our belongings in the hotel when we set out on foot to meet our bike tour guide. If you have limited time to explore a city, I would recommend a bicycle tour in a heartbeat – especially if the city is as bike-friendly as Toronto. My family used Toronto Bicycle Tours for a four-hour tour of the city and could not have had a better time. Rick, our fabulously savvy tour guide, knew every in and out there was to know about the city, brimming with knowledge that I shall pepper throughout my anecdotes. Toronto’s skyline is marked my skyscrapers and mega-apartment complexes. The tall buildings are the darlings of Toronto’s financial district, which Rick took us through. Since it was Saturday, the financial district was deserted.

The modern Ernst & Young Tower was built over and around the old Toronto Stock Exchange Building

Cow statues in a park in Toronto’s financial district.

According to Rick, the old (and thereby pretty) parts of Toronto were demolished in the decades after World War II in order to give the city a fresh, modern face. Toronto, Toronto, what were you thinking? The buildings that escaped the modernizing witch hunt soften the spikes of the skyscrapers. In posts to come, I’ll spend more time on some individual areas (the Distillery District, Baldwin Street, Kensington Market, Casa Loma, etc.), but see the gallery at the top for some highlights of the tour.