Kestrachern

During the summer of 2005 I made two trips to Toronto for the explicit purpose of exploring the city to determine if it would be my next place of residence.   Later that year I became distracted at Burning Man and found myself in San Francisco, but that is another story.

I like Toronto.  For those of you who have never been there are marked similarities to San Francisco (If you’ve not been there either well you’ll simply have to travel more often) in diversity, culture, technology, transportation, geography, and climate.

I was still learning to take more photos during my visits so there are not as many as I would wish at this point.   I traveled all about the city predominately in the more of the core of the city.  The financial district holds little excitement during the weekends so the culture shifts to the north and west, Chinatown, University of Toronto, Little Italy, and the clubs become more of a focus.   There are lots of trees in the urban areas of Toronto and this gives it a feeling of more space and comfortability than what I recall in San Francisco.  There is a slightly softer feel to the geography as well, hills are present but do not have the same degree of relief.  Not existing on a peninsula Toronto has had the ability to grow and expand and the gentrification process that occurs in every city has not thrust the cost of living to the same heights as other cities.

I liked that I was not bound to my car but could easily traverse the city via foot or public transportation. The city was clean.  Cleaner than any metropolis I have found in the US.  There were not simply trash bins on the street corners, but recycle bins with three separate slots glass, plastic and ?? (aluminum or paper I cannot recall)

The music scene there is very interesting.  One of the places I visited was a punk rock venue called the Bovine Sex Club to catch the Screaming Blue Demons.  (Female singer accompanied by two males who played guitar and drums wearing blue masks) Way fun!

I also made a trip to Casa Loma, one of the grand residences in Toronto, built in 1914. Beautiful, gorgeous, and sad as the initial owner declared bankruptcy shortly after its completion.

Once my time in St. Petersburg draws to a close I’ll return to exploring Toronto as my next destination.