Saturday, May 15, 2010

If I knew what I was doing, life would be boring

This is my third trip to Toronto for work, but this time I decided to spend the weekend downtown before working the event in Mississagua. Things got off to a good start: my flight was pretty uneventful with just a few minor delays, and I successfully navigated the Toronto bus and subway system to get to the Eaton Center, which is basically a huge mall right next to my hotel.
The subway opens into Sears, so I plowed through and into the mall area, looking for an exit. I ended up going the full length of the mall with all my luggage before finding an exit. It turned out to be a few blocks.
At this point I'm lost, which is par for the course, frankly I'm surprised I managed to get to the Eaton Center using mass transit without incident. Funny that I get lost in the mall and not on the subway system. I call a few people back home for some guidance, and Becca is the first one to answer. She laughs at my misfortune, and it was pretty funny, and then finally manages to get me directions from her super slow computer. Basically, I walked right back the way I came, only outside the center, passing a port-a-potty in front of Old City Hall (perhaps it was fortuitous that I got lost!)and arriving at the Marriott. The front desk told me that the entrance from the hotel to Eaton Center was on the second floor. And here's the kicker... after dropping my stuff off I went through the walkway and ended up in Sears...

The Eaton Center was just big. I didn't see anything really special about it, just a big mall. I had a roast beef sandwich at the food court, which was really good for mall food, and then just wandered about. I drifted into Y'alls Canada Store and bought a few nick-knacks while on the phone from a surprise call from Sheila.
I wandered back towards Sears, but decided to take a different exit and emerged outside next to a big square. On the corner there was a street musician band next to one guy shouting about Jesus and another one shouting about Muhammad.
I went back to my room, dropped off the new stuff, and then decided to go back to the port-a-potty to get a picture for my calendar. I need a partner in crime, way to hard to get a good pose while I'm also holding the camera.
After several tries I called it quits and decided to wander the streets around the center.
I stumbled upon a free outdoor concert, which turned out to be a concert of teen bands raising awareness for teen homelessness in Canada. An odd cause, but I donated some change. The first band was all chicks, and as I walked up they started playing Zep! She played a very impression Jimmy Page solo too. I stayed through two of their original songs, which sounded amazing except for the lyrics. A second band came on, but they sounded like a terrible Allman Brothers Band knock off, so I wandered a few more blocks to see if I could find anything interesting. I didn't so I slowly meandered back to the stage in time for a 3rd band. They were really young and had great voices, but the music was nothing special, so I listened for a song and a half before calling it quits. By this time my feet were starting to hurt so I just wanted to get to my room and rest for a bit.
The room itself looks nice, the Internet is a bit spotty and some of the TV channels are a bit fuzzy, but that shouldn't matter as I hope to be out and about more than in.
Tomorrow I have tickets to an afternoon Blue Jays game, but the morning is still up in the air. I'll do a bit of research tonight or maybe just play it by ear in the morning. I am close to China Town and a pedestrian walking center, so that could be pretty fun.

1 comment:

Melise said...

Glad to see you posting again; it must mean you're traveling again. Toronto sounds enticing--we'll have to get there some day. Love the stumbling upon a street concert!