Oh Canada!
Saturday saw the reunion of the deadly duo Rick James & Dirty Dave in Rick's hometown of Toronto. He took some time off work to come down and show me a good time for which I am very grateful. I stayed at his place in the suburbs which felt just like being back in Sydney which was a nice change.
On the first evening we headed out to some of his friends places for a few drinks and then to a random house party. I was very impressed by his friends condos in the city, either his friends are loaded or Toronto housing has a very high standard. The party was cool, a bunch of media industry types with a high sense of self-importance but thanks to all the beers and tequila I wasn't phased and found some nice people to chat to.
The next day we headed out to see Toronto Zoo. I have been going to a lot of zoos lately which I love but I think I need to cut down from now on, too much of a good thing. Anyway I think we went for Rick's benefit and his friend who got us in for free (sweet!). The zoo is definately up there in my books, I would place it between Taronga in Sydney and Tama Zoo in Tokyo. The North American animals are the highlight.
A couple of days later when Rick's Japanese girl came to town we headed out of the city to the great lakes and stayed with one of Reuben's friends at his family cottage on the beach. now these beaches are not on any ocean but rather on the banks of these massive lakes but for all purposes they are the same, just without waves or salt. It's pretty bizarre going under water and being able to open your eyes and not have the taste of salt in your mouth. It was beautiful up there and Reuben's buddies were great company. We all went for a few rounds at the local go-kart joint and arcade which was good fun.
On the Thursday we took a trip up to the tourist-must-see Niagra Falls which was cool. At first glance it wasn't all that impressive but then we took the boat ride to the base of the falls and it was pretty cool hearing the thundering sounds it made and being soaked by the mist that floats away from the base. Then we did some tourist junk things like mini-golf and went to the casino to watch Reuben lose his money. Rick got lucky on a slot machine so he footed the bill for some activities.
The other main activity we did was go out to Center Island in Lake Ontario in the city for a picnic and riding bikes around. I have a feeling it was a somewhat romantic thing for Rick & his girl to do that I was dragged along to by default. But it was definately a nice place, I was a little shocked by the "Clothing Optional" beach that a number of people were taking full advantage of. I guess Toronto is fairly liberal though, we also saw a "Tighty Whitey Car Wash" on Church St (the gay district - didnt have my camera but see a photo here) which also caught me off guard.
In the evening we hit up a popular bar for my last taste of Toronto nightlife. It was pretty decent, a very lively bunch these Canadians are. We did a bunch of other stuff during the week like play a round of golf, watched an amateur ice hockey game, went to see a major league baseball game, go see the Simpsons & Harry Potter, had a beer at a local stripclub, so even though it was all pretty low key we were always busy doing something. So thanks to Rick for being a great host. It was great to meet your family (including Baba!) and extend our friendship across another country. Next time its your turn to come to Sydney and we can do it up!
On the first evening we headed out to some of his friends places for a few drinks and then to a random house party. I was very impressed by his friends condos in the city, either his friends are loaded or Toronto housing has a very high standard. The party was cool, a bunch of media industry types with a high sense of self-importance but thanks to all the beers and tequila I wasn't phased and found some nice people to chat to.
The next day we headed out to see Toronto Zoo. I have been going to a lot of zoos lately which I love but I think I need to cut down from now on, too much of a good thing. Anyway I think we went for Rick's benefit and his friend who got us in for free (sweet!). The zoo is definately up there in my books, I would place it between Taronga in Sydney and Tama Zoo in Tokyo. The North American animals are the highlight.
A couple of days later when Rick's Japanese girl came to town we headed out of the city to the great lakes and stayed with one of Reuben's friends at his family cottage on the beach. now these beaches are not on any ocean but rather on the banks of these massive lakes but for all purposes they are the same, just without waves or salt. It's pretty bizarre going under water and being able to open your eyes and not have the taste of salt in your mouth. It was beautiful up there and Reuben's buddies were great company. We all went for a few rounds at the local go-kart joint and arcade which was good fun.
On the Thursday we took a trip up to the tourist-must-see Niagra Falls which was cool. At first glance it wasn't all that impressive but then we took the boat ride to the base of the falls and it was pretty cool hearing the thundering sounds it made and being soaked by the mist that floats away from the base. Then we did some tourist junk things like mini-golf and went to the casino to watch Reuben lose his money. Rick got lucky on a slot machine so he footed the bill for some activities.
The other main activity we did was go out to Center Island in Lake Ontario in the city for a picnic and riding bikes around. I have a feeling it was a somewhat romantic thing for Rick & his girl to do that I was dragged along to by default. But it was definately a nice place, I was a little shocked by the "Clothing Optional" beach that a number of people were taking full advantage of. I guess Toronto is fairly liberal though, we also saw a "Tighty Whitey Car Wash" on Church St (the gay district - didnt have my camera but see a photo here) which also caught me off guard.
In the evening we hit up a popular bar for my last taste of Toronto nightlife. It was pretty decent, a very lively bunch these Canadians are. We did a bunch of other stuff during the week like play a round of golf, watched an amateur ice hockey game, went to see a major league baseball game, go see the Simpsons & Harry Potter, had a beer at a local stripclub, so even though it was all pretty low key we were always busy doing something. So thanks to Rick for being a great host. It was great to meet your family (including Baba!) and extend our friendship across another country. Next time its your turn to come to Sydney and we can do it up!
posted by Dave Tran at 2:08 PM
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