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Man I hate ice on the ground. Even with a lot of penguin waddling, my foot slipped once in an hour walk -- not much, but definitely moving in an unintended way. But after hiding at home yesterday, I did make that walk, going to PAT, a Korean store, to pick up yet more KF94s maybe.
Omicron did not obviously slow down dine-in, I saw on my way.
( Cut for length )
Omicron did not obviously slow down dine-in, I saw on my way.
( Cut for length )
1 Dec update
2021-12-01 12:25Stayed in Sunday and Monday due to snowing at near-freezing temperatures. The cold is one thing but I hate being around the possibility of ice. No, I didn't enjoy Boston winters, why do you ask? Plus I don't travel with snow boots, just crocs and shoes.
Yesterday was slightly nicer and I had a dental cleaning, plus some shopping, and going for shawarma. I rediscovered how *long* the wait to walk at Dufferin is. Toronto definitely not optimizing for pedestrian comfort. I also had two car scares on the shawarma walk: crossing Bloor, a truck tried to run the yellow light and would have been stuck in the intersection if we pedestrians hadn't waited to let it pass. And combing back, some other car left-turned into a driveway in a way I wasn't happy with.
It occurs to me that when Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes talk about stroads, they mostly use examples of suburban six+ lane roads with lots of parking lots and businesses (thus creating tons of intersecting paths and chances to hit someone.) It occurs to me that while urban streets are rarely so wide and fast and don't have quite so much parking, a fair number of them do have the proliferation of driveways and intersection risk.
Unrelatedly, I think I'd never actually run a dishwasher before staying at this place. Most places I've lived haven't even had a dishwasher. If they did, well, I live by myself and am used to washing up after meals, so I didn't use them. If staying with people who did have one, I might unload or load the thing, but left running it to the owners.
But my current hosts seemed really insistent that I use it rather than and wash, and there's no drying rack or scrub pad (though there's a brush), so I acquiesced. Actually ran it once without obvious problems. But the second time I used more soap, and... SUDS. Apparently you're not supposed to use dishwashing soap (which they do provide) in a dishwasher. Or more precisely there's hand dish soap and machine dish soap.
books: Shogun, Clavell. Long, decent. Simply dropped a plot point.
Circe, Miller. A re-read. Still good. Though Circe has a very inconvenient set of "weak god" powers.
Complete Persepolis. Had never read the second half.
Reading All the Birds in the Sky for a book group. Critics seem to have liked it a whole lot more than I am; I would have called it "poorly written" and "joyless", not a Locus and Nebula winner.
Yesterday was slightly nicer and I had a dental cleaning, plus some shopping, and going for shawarma. I rediscovered how *long* the wait to walk at Dufferin is. Toronto definitely not optimizing for pedestrian comfort. I also had two car scares on the shawarma walk: crossing Bloor, a truck tried to run the yellow light and would have been stuck in the intersection if we pedestrians hadn't waited to let it pass. And combing back, some other car left-turned into a driveway in a way I wasn't happy with.
It occurs to me that when Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes talk about stroads, they mostly use examples of suburban six+ lane roads with lots of parking lots and businesses (thus creating tons of intersecting paths and chances to hit someone.) It occurs to me that while urban streets are rarely so wide and fast and don't have quite so much parking, a fair number of them do have the proliferation of driveways and intersection risk.
Unrelatedly, I think I'd never actually run a dishwasher before staying at this place. Most places I've lived haven't even had a dishwasher. If they did, well, I live by myself and am used to washing up after meals, so I didn't use them. If staying with people who did have one, I might unload or load the thing, but left running it to the owners.
But my current hosts seemed really insistent that I use it rather than and wash, and there's no drying rack or scrub pad (though there's a brush), so I acquiesced. Actually ran it once without obvious problems. But the second time I used more soap, and... SUDS. Apparently you're not supposed to use dishwashing soap (which they do provide) in a dishwasher. Or more precisely there's hand dish soap and machine dish soap.
books: Shogun, Clavell. Long, decent. Simply dropped a plot point.
Circe, Miller. A re-read. Still good. Though Circe has a very inconvenient set of "weak god" powers.
Complete Persepolis. Had never read the second half.
Reading All the Birds in the Sky for a book group. Critics seem to have liked it a whole lot more than I am; I would have called it "poorly written" and "joyless", not a Locus and Nebula winner.
I figured I would explore PATH today (Toronto's underground city network.) I did my research about entrances, went to Union Station, found the entrance... and a sign saying that due to covid, it's open only 8-6 WEEKDAYS.
Today is not a weekday.
The physical concourse was open, but (almost) all the shops were closed. Escalators locked too.
I left and tried exploring downtown a bit, but it looked like a standard NorAm downtown, high rises and few shops, and those largely closed due to weekend. So I headed to Chinatown for Plan B, dumplings at Juicy Dumpling.
The subway worked fine. But the streetcars failed me this time. No 505 west in 20+ minutes, and then 4 or 5 at once. I didn't wait that long, I walked over, but got to see the streetcars go by as I ate. And on the walk I had to cross University, where the walk sign ran down to 0 before I could make it across. And I walk fast! It's a 4 lane road, not that wide, designed as a two-phase crossing! Jeez. Almost as bad as the 4.5 minute crossing in Brisbane.
The 'juicy' dumplings were pretty good. The chicken ones were decent, though I'd meant to order cumin chicken, something went wrong there. The siu mai was a soft paste inside, I'm not sure it was fully cooked.
Things picked up after that. I did get to verify that the 510 Spadina does run in its own ROW -- though it still bunched up! (At least just two trainsets rather than four.) Rode one south (slowly) to the end, walked along the lake, found a Little Norway park with a bit of history. 509 back to Union, and Yonge line to Dundas. My company has a couple of new Canadian clients, and I was told to go eat at them on company expense.
Eaton Center had multiple below-ground levels that actually were open, restaurants and all. It was intimidatingly crowded, even. I emerged, found the restaurant, explored. Dundas and Eaton is BRIGHT, like Times Square -- largely the H&M store, with a bright wall. Plaza with multiple digital signs begging people to get vaccinated so shopping can go back to normal. Yonge north of there had neat stuff: Jollibee, H-Mart, a strip club with funny pandemic slogans[1], a corner of food stalls, other interesting stuff.
Client's food turned out to be good, though pricier than I would opt for on my own. Take-out; eating in would have been a 75 minute wait even if I'd wanted to.
[1] "No pass, no ass" "Vaxxed and waxed"
Today is not a weekday.
The physical concourse was open, but (almost) all the shops were closed. Escalators locked too.
I left and tried exploring downtown a bit, but it looked like a standard NorAm downtown, high rises and few shops, and those largely closed due to weekend. So I headed to Chinatown for Plan B, dumplings at Juicy Dumpling.
The subway worked fine. But the streetcars failed me this time. No 505 west in 20+ minutes, and then 4 or 5 at once. I didn't wait that long, I walked over, but got to see the streetcars go by as I ate. And on the walk I had to cross University, where the walk sign ran down to 0 before I could make it across. And I walk fast! It's a 4 lane road, not that wide, designed as a two-phase crossing! Jeez. Almost as bad as the 4.5 minute crossing in Brisbane.
The 'juicy' dumplings were pretty good. The chicken ones were decent, though I'd meant to order cumin chicken, something went wrong there. The siu mai was a soft paste inside, I'm not sure it was fully cooked.
Things picked up after that. I did get to verify that the 510 Spadina does run in its own ROW -- though it still bunched up! (At least just two trainsets rather than four.) Rode one south (slowly) to the end, walked along the lake, found a Little Norway park with a bit of history. 509 back to Union, and Yonge line to Dundas. My company has a couple of new Canadian clients, and I was told to go eat at them on company expense.
Eaton Center had multiple below-ground levels that actually were open, restaurants and all. It was intimidatingly crowded, even. I emerged, found the restaurant, explored. Dundas and Eaton is BRIGHT, like Times Square -- largely the H&M store, with a bright wall. Plaza with multiple digital signs begging people to get vaccinated so shopping can go back to normal. Yonge north of there had neat stuff: Jollibee, H-Mart, a strip club with funny pandemic slogans[1], a corner of food stalls, other interesting stuff.
Client's food turned out to be good, though pricier than I would opt for on my own. Take-out; eating in would have been a 75 minute wait even if I'd wanted to.
[1] "No pass, no ass" "Vaxxed and waxed"
Toronto Nov 26
2021-11-26 18:12Woke up at 1pm, argued about prison abolition, and Zoomed a Roberta Rogow concert, so not exactly an exploration day. Did eventually leave, and despite the windy cold, was glad to be in motion. Walks are good.
The local branch library is open to 8:30 PM every weeknight. This seems unusual to me, though between travel and covid it's been a few years since I patronized public libraries, and many years since I patronized a branch library. (In Cambridge I was 20 minutes from branch or central, so I went to central.) Seems like it just opened for Sundays, 1-5 or so. Masking was mostly good, though bad at one end of the library.
Had a couple pieces of spicy dark meat chicken from Popeye's. I wasn't expecting much, but it was pretty decent for deep fried battered chicken. I remember Popeye's as being unmemorable, but I might have had their popcorn chicken nuggets rather than actual leg and thigh.
Had my first oysters. 6 malpeques. Decent, but expensive, like $1/40 calories. I think I prefer mussels, though I don't feel comfortable steaming mussels in someone else's house.
The local branch library is open to 8:30 PM every weeknight. This seems unusual to me, though between travel and covid it's been a few years since I patronized public libraries, and many years since I patronized a branch library. (In Cambridge I was 20 minutes from branch or central, so I went to central.) Seems like it just opened for Sundays, 1-5 or so. Masking was mostly good, though bad at one end of the library.
Had a couple pieces of spicy dark meat chicken from Popeye's. I wasn't expecting much, but it was pretty decent for deep fried battered chicken. I remember Popeye's as being unmemorable, but I might have had their popcorn chicken nuggets rather than actual leg and thigh.
Had my first oysters. 6 malpeques. Decent, but expensive, like $1/40 calories. I think I prefer mussels, though I don't feel comfortable steaming mussels in someone else's house.
Chinatown and such
2021-11-25 23:23Wow, I'm more behind in updates than I thought.
Ziggy's havarti slices is the worst havarti I've ever had. Possibly the worst cheese I've ever had, and I've had Velveeta.
Saturday: took streetcar to Kensington Market, which seems to be a dense a neighborhood of small shops, rather than some big open air market. Definitely busy and lively. It shades into Chinatown, which seemed pretty damn big. I didn't find any walk-in dim sum bakeries, and ended up risking dine-in for a dim sum cart experience at Dim Sum King. Only 3 carts going around, I had to order siu mai and ha gow separately. Decent. Later I Found Juicy Dumplings, which does have ha gow to go, though shinier and more to-order than te SF bakeries that would just have dim sum steaming all day.
Then walked along Queen, down Yonge, made it to the lakeshore. Found myself surprisingly long from home, Google said 28 minute drive, 44 subway (half of that walking to and from stations.) Took the 510 streetcar, which has underground termini and possibly actual right of way, up to the 2 subway.
Couple days of bad weather and just staying home. Took advantage of an English-speaking city to have an eye exam (and dental cleaning next week.) Some local walks.
Today: walked west along College, had a nice, large, and very cheap falafel sandwich from Arabeque Cafe. Ran out of friendly territory, so took the 506 rest of the way to High Park. Not a park to explore in the dark, though later I found a map indicating interesting things by day. Walked up to Bloor. North side: 8 story buildings, and US-style 1-story stores behind parking. South side: older two story office/res on top of shops. Visited Subway for water, $2.80, and a cookie, $1.00, those prices seem bizarre. (I hadn't planned to be out this long, so didn't have my own water, and all the park water fountains have been turned off.) West, then noticed the subway seemed to be aerial, so took that, but it stopped being aerial. Got off at Old Mill, where there seems to be a large riverbed park or something. Home.
Toronto has a LOT of cannabis shops, chains even, with names like "Dutch Love" (understandable) or "Tokyo Leaf" (because Japan is so well known for its drug culture?) I haven't smelled much, apart from a whiff today near the park.
I haven't taken any buses yet, but looking at Transit, one bus was every 30 minutes, while a few others were 8-15 minutes, which is better overall frequency than Montreal or Boston.
I still don't know what I'm doing after Toronto. Spain and Portugal cases are ticking up rapidly, and there's the new Nu variant to worry about. Starting to even consider staying in Canada for the rest of my 180 days, or trying to extend the stay, despite winter.
Ziggy's havarti slices is the worst havarti I've ever had. Possibly the worst cheese I've ever had, and I've had Velveeta.
Saturday: took streetcar to Kensington Market, which seems to be a dense a neighborhood of small shops, rather than some big open air market. Definitely busy and lively. It shades into Chinatown, which seemed pretty damn big. I didn't find any walk-in dim sum bakeries, and ended up risking dine-in for a dim sum cart experience at Dim Sum King. Only 3 carts going around, I had to order siu mai and ha gow separately. Decent. Later I Found Juicy Dumplings, which does have ha gow to go, though shinier and more to-order than te SF bakeries that would just have dim sum steaming all day.
Then walked along Queen, down Yonge, made it to the lakeshore. Found myself surprisingly long from home, Google said 28 minute drive, 44 subway (half of that walking to and from stations.) Took the 510 streetcar, which has underground termini and possibly actual right of way, up to the 2 subway.
Couple days of bad weather and just staying home. Took advantage of an English-speaking city to have an eye exam (and dental cleaning next week.) Some local walks.
Today: walked west along College, had a nice, large, and very cheap falafel sandwich from Arabeque Cafe. Ran out of friendly territory, so took the 506 rest of the way to High Park. Not a park to explore in the dark, though later I found a map indicating interesting things by day. Walked up to Bloor. North side: 8 story buildings, and US-style 1-story stores behind parking. South side: older two story office/res on top of shops. Visited Subway for water, $2.80, and a cookie, $1.00, those prices seem bizarre. (I hadn't planned to be out this long, so didn't have my own water, and all the park water fountains have been turned off.) West, then noticed the subway seemed to be aerial, so took that, but it stopped being aerial. Got off at Old Mill, where there seems to be a large riverbed park or something. Home.
Toronto has a LOT of cannabis shops, chains even, with names like "Dutch Love" (understandable) or "Tokyo Leaf" (because Japan is so well known for its drug culture?) I haven't smelled much, apart from a whiff today near the park.
I haven't taken any buses yet, but looking at Transit, one bus was every 30 minutes, while a few others were 8-15 minutes, which is better overall frequency than Montreal or Boston.
I still don't know what I'm doing after Toronto. Spain and Portugal cases are ticking up rapidly, and there's the new Nu variant to worry about. Starting to even consider staying in Canada for the rest of my 180 days, or trying to extend the stay, despite winter.
Yet another Koreatown
2021-11-19 18:36Long walk today, east along Bloor to Koreatown. But first, a note on the weather.
The last couple days have been 6 C whenever I check my weather app, but this has varied in feel. Yesterday afternoon I was prudent, wore my jacket over my hoodie, plus my winter hat, and still felt a bit chilly, especially in my legs, which usually are pretty tough. I'd been fasting all day, I dunno if that's part of it. Still, I had my walk. Coming back with Greek takeout, walking west I think into the wind, felt *particularly* chilly, and I put on my gloves (which lurk in the jacket pockets, unused since Feb 2019.)
The noon walk today was comfortable in my hoodie and sun hat. Definitely more sun, maybe less wind.
At 3:30 today the same outfit felt chillier, but I wanted to challenge myself, and figured it couldn't get cold enough to endanger me. After a while of movement, it stopped feeling chilly.
Conclusions: non-committal shrug. I'd still like to flee south to Barcelona, even if Canada is like the best covid country I can go to.
Anyway, Koreatown. Basically a long stretch of Bloor. Lots of Korean restaurants, some Asian markets. I noticed multiple fruit/produce shops, and there are a couple near each other on College too, Toronto (or Canada) just plain has a lot of them. Nothing too exciting about the area but I marked a lot of highly rated restaurants to maybe go to or pick up from.
Random note: Toronto seems to call convenience stores "variety stores". I'm still not used to them not being 'deppaneur'.
Other random note: At least three different parks here are sunken into the ground. Either Toronto had a bunch of pits that got turned into parks, or it's a design choice. Maybe to hide the street from people in the park? I wonder what it's like in the summer, if you're being hidden from breezes too. There was a sign in Quebec City about French gardens being sunken, but I'm not sure it's the same thing.
I ended up dining in an empty Japanese (probably Korean pretending to be Japanese, given 'bulkoki' on the menu) at 4:30, though it started filling up after that, including with an elderly woman coughing without a mask on. Yaaaay.
Bought some frozen dumplings.
brin_bellway had suggested cheaper groceries could be found at a No Frills in the mall. I'd been going to walk home, but walking 38 minutes to a grocery store felt too much; happily, the subway was *right there*. So I zipped over. "No Frills" makes me thing of something small and limited. It's huuuuuuuuuge. I can't say if it's cheaper overall, but did seem to have the cheapest bread I've seen in Canada, while still purporting to have flavors. And the store is about as far as the Metro store, though with a more residential walk -- OTOH, also less walk down those depressingly long blocks.
Hopefully I'll finish my work tonight, then I can go tackle Kensington Market and Chinatown tomorrow.
The last couple days have been 6 C whenever I check my weather app, but this has varied in feel. Yesterday afternoon I was prudent, wore my jacket over my hoodie, plus my winter hat, and still felt a bit chilly, especially in my legs, which usually are pretty tough. I'd been fasting all day, I dunno if that's part of it. Still, I had my walk. Coming back with Greek takeout, walking west I think into the wind, felt *particularly* chilly, and I put on my gloves (which lurk in the jacket pockets, unused since Feb 2019.)
The noon walk today was comfortable in my hoodie and sun hat. Definitely more sun, maybe less wind.
At 3:30 today the same outfit felt chillier, but I wanted to challenge myself, and figured it couldn't get cold enough to endanger me. After a while of movement, it stopped feeling chilly.
Conclusions: non-committal shrug. I'd still like to flee south to Barcelona, even if Canada is like the best covid country I can go to.
Anyway, Koreatown. Basically a long stretch of Bloor. Lots of Korean restaurants, some Asian markets. I noticed multiple fruit/produce shops, and there are a couple near each other on College too, Toronto (or Canada) just plain has a lot of them. Nothing too exciting about the area but I marked a lot of highly rated restaurants to maybe go to or pick up from.
Random note: Toronto seems to call convenience stores "variety stores". I'm still not used to them not being 'deppaneur'.
Other random note: At least three different parks here are sunken into the ground. Either Toronto had a bunch of pits that got turned into parks, or it's a design choice. Maybe to hide the street from people in the park? I wonder what it's like in the summer, if you're being hidden from breezes too. There was a sign in Quebec City about French gardens being sunken, but I'm not sure it's the same thing.
I ended up dining in an empty Japanese (probably Korean pretending to be Japanese, given 'bulkoki' on the menu) at 4:30, though it started filling up after that, including with an elderly woman coughing without a mask on. Yaaaay.
Bought some frozen dumplings.
brin_bellway had suggested cheaper groceries could be found at a No Frills in the mall. I'd been going to walk home, but walking 38 minutes to a grocery store felt too much; happily, the subway was *right there*. So I zipped over. "No Frills" makes me thing of something small and limited. It's huuuuuuuuuge. I can't say if it's cheaper overall, but did seem to have the cheapest bread I've seen in Canada, while still purporting to have flavors. And the store is about as far as the Metro store, though with a more residential walk -- OTOH, also less walk down those depressingly long blocks.
Hopefully I'll finish my work tonight, then I can go tackle Kensington Market and Chinatown tomorrow.
Toronto update
2021-11-19 12:15There is something within 5 minutes! A walk yesterday found a corner store in 3 minutes. Currently kind of a gourmet convenience store waiting for its coffeehouse license, but it would be a way of getting milk or bread in 1/4 the time of going to Metro (Canadian supermarket chain, not subway.) I had a nice talk with the proprietor, too. He, and a guest from Paris whom I met in Montreal, agree that Canadian groceries are expensive.
Later on my walk I found a combined florist and coffeeshop. In Montreal I'd seen a combined convenience store and plant shop.
I also found a school in what I call "brick castle" style, though with a wing in a newer style.
Today I found a meat store, with "smoked pork chops", and a game store; I haven't been in one of those in a few years. They had Hanabi and Bang, though not Chrononauts. Sadly I don't socialize enough to justify carrying any of them.
Staffpeople in the meat store weren't very masked, though to be fair they had the door propped open.
A few days ago I found a big park, and a mall; I may well use the mall, for underwear and eye exams. There was also an informational placard about proposed redevelopment of the north parking lot, with some interesting info: Toronto wants transit areas, within 500 meters of a subway station, to have a minimum density of 200 "persons and jobs" per hectare, or 20,000 per km2. The area is currently at 14,000, and unlikely to reach the target even with new development. I got excited, since 14,000 people/km2 is a pretty respectable density IMO, but then noticed the "and jobs", which is a qualifier outside of my experience.
I'm in Dufferin Grove, from other sources apparently a bit under 11,000 people/km2, as a mostly residential area.
Odd bit about Toronto: I have yet to see toilet paper sold as single rolls, even in convenience stores. I'm pretty sure I was able to in Montreal. Does Scott, the usual brand, not distribute in Ontario or something???
Later on my walk I found a combined florist and coffeeshop. In Montreal I'd seen a combined convenience store and plant shop.
I also found a school in what I call "brick castle" style, though with a wing in a newer style.
Today I found a meat store, with "smoked pork chops", and a game store; I haven't been in one of those in a few years. They had Hanabi and Bang, though not Chrononauts. Sadly I don't socialize enough to justify carrying any of them.
Staffpeople in the meat store weren't very masked, though to be fair they had the door propped open.
A few days ago I found a big park, and a mall; I may well use the mall, for underwear and eye exams. There was also an informational placard about proposed redevelopment of the north parking lot, with some interesting info: Toronto wants transit areas, within 500 meters of a subway station, to have a minimum density of 200 "persons and jobs" per hectare, or 20,000 per km2. The area is currently at 14,000, and unlikely to reach the target even with new development. I got excited, since 14,000 people/km2 is a pretty respectable density IMO, but then noticed the "and jobs", which is a qualifier outside of my experience.
I'm in Dufferin Grove, from other sources apparently a bit under 11,000 people/km2, as a mostly residential area.
Odd bit about Toronto: I have yet to see toilet paper sold as single rolls, even in convenience stores. I'm pretty sure I was able to in Montreal. Does Scott, the usual brand, not distribute in Ontario or something???
Toronto streetcar
2021-11-14 23:57Cold and rainy today, but I planned to spend most of my time in a streetcar, and did. This is 100% genuine streetcar, running in a traffic lane; was okay on Sunday but must be hell in rush hour. Plus having to cross a lane of traffic to get on/off. (US streetcar-like things IME tend to be more approaching light rail, with secure right of way and passenger platforms -- still get stopped by red lights, though.) Still, nice way to see a good chunk of the city.
Masking was good, and like half the seats are marked "don't sit here" for distancing. There was a token/cash fare machine.
Twice someone got on, then got off again before the streetcar moved. ???
Thrice there was honking which I suspected was some driver honking at the streetcar, as if that would accomplish anything. Can't prove it, though.
506 to East Chinatown, walked around, had some bad dumplings from a bakery, better Vietnamese food, back to College station to reload my Presto card, which I'm told cannot take passes. Feh.
TTC pass pricing is high. You need 5 fares to have a day pass make sense, and 49 fares for a monthly pass. I'm used to US prices of 38-39 fares for a monthly pass, meaning anyone who commutes to work 5x a week might as well get a pass and be able to ride as much as they want.
Also the monthly pass is *monthly*, not 28 or 30 days from purchase. So wouldn't make sense for me anyway, coming in the middle of a month. Reminds me of Montreal's weekly pass, which outright starts on a Monday rather than being a 7-day pass.
Toronto is more American than Quebec: there was a camp of homeless tents in Allan Gardens park. Montreal had homeless people but I never encountered such clusters.
Masking was good, and like half the seats are marked "don't sit here" for distancing. There was a token/cash fare machine.
Twice someone got on, then got off again before the streetcar moved. ???
Thrice there was honking which I suspected was some driver honking at the streetcar, as if that would accomplish anything. Can't prove it, though.
506 to East Chinatown, walked around, had some bad dumplings from a bakery, better Vietnamese food, back to College station to reload my Presto card, which I'm told cannot take passes. Feh.
TTC pass pricing is high. You need 5 fares to have a day pass make sense, and 49 fares for a monthly pass. I'm used to US prices of 38-39 fares for a monthly pass, meaning anyone who commutes to work 5x a week might as well get a pass and be able to ride as much as they want.
Also the monthly pass is *monthly*, not 28 or 30 days from purchase. So wouldn't make sense for me anyway, coming in the middle of a month. Reminds me of Montreal's weekly pass, which outright starts on a Monday rather than being a 7-day pass.
Toronto is more American than Quebec: there was a camp of homeless tents in Allan Gardens park. Montreal had homeless people but I never encountered such clusters.
Montreal/Toronto
2021-11-14 09:54I did go out Friday after all. First to Kametsuru, to get mugicha, which involved a really annoying walk from the closest Orange line station, through a tunnel under a freeway. Then to get into the Undercity/RESO, which I messed up. I thought I'd start at Place de Artes, walk south to Chinatown, and west. But I couldn't find an entrance. Staff said "McGill" but I thought I knew better.
Reader, I did not.
I did get in at Complex Desjardins, found stuff, walked through long empty tunnels to Chinatownish, did find a narrow but nice indoor area with a high skylight and funky sculpture. Then flailed around a bit -- there were many maps, but none with a "you are here" dot -- ended up walking overland toward McGill, but found an entrance by a Cathedral. That was definitely the Real Thing. Of course, in the end it's basically a shopping mall and food court.
What gets me is that for all the hype about how big it is, in length and area, there wasn't that much? And it doesn't seem fully connected. Useful for Montrealers in the know to dodge winter, but not the continuous undercity I thought it was.
OTOH Toronto's PATH may be more like that.
Anyway, train to Toronto yesterday. I splurged on business class, which got me a business lounge, early boarding, and seats that weren't obviously more comfortable, but are further apart -- 2 adjacent seats are separated by a small coffee table, so your elbows don't jostle. Not that I had a seat mate anyway. I got a fair bit of work done, and intermittent views of Lake Ontario.
First impressions of Toronto:
The subway system is more accessible than Montreal -- granted, Montreal sets a very low bar. Bonaventure station, connected to Montreal Gare Central, did have an escalator up from the platform -- shocking! -- but getting to the train station still involved revolving doors and some stairs -- just a few, but enough to block a wheelchair or someone too weak to lift their luggage (not me, fortunately.) Toronto's map suggests maybe 1/3 of stations are accessible? Which I think is a lot worse than Boston (if everything is working), but better than Montreal.
The 1 train has open connections, like the green and orange lines in Montreal. Unlike Montreal, there are ads in the cars -- for colleges and a homeless shelter. The station displays tell you the frequency, but not the time to the next train, unlike the Montreal displays which give you live tracking. The train had an old LCD display announcing the next stop, plus a NYC-style updating map of colored lights.
The 2 train had separate cars, and no visual display whatsoever.
Within 10 seconds on the street I observed my first asshole speed demon driver.
Both Dufferin, Toronto and Monkland, Montreal, like really long blocks. Like 4 minutes. My house is 10 minutes from one street with shops and 6 from the other. Or maybe it just felt that way; Google claims it's under 900 meters from Bloor to College, but I'm right in the middle. Having to walk 5+ minutes to get to something that isn't housing isn't something I've experienced since... Honolulu, Nov 2019?
As I anticipated, it's weird for me to be in Canada and not have French as the default language, since up to now almost all of my Canadian time has been in Quebec.
Reader, I did not.
I did get in at Complex Desjardins, found stuff, walked through long empty tunnels to Chinatownish, did find a narrow but nice indoor area with a high skylight and funky sculpture. Then flailed around a bit -- there were many maps, but none with a "you are here" dot -- ended up walking overland toward McGill, but found an entrance by a Cathedral. That was definitely the Real Thing. Of course, in the end it's basically a shopping mall and food court.
What gets me is that for all the hype about how big it is, in length and area, there wasn't that much? And it doesn't seem fully connected. Useful for Montrealers in the know to dodge winter, but not the continuous undercity I thought it was.
OTOH Toronto's PATH may be more like that.
Anyway, train to Toronto yesterday. I splurged on business class, which got me a business lounge, early boarding, and seats that weren't obviously more comfortable, but are further apart -- 2 adjacent seats are separated by a small coffee table, so your elbows don't jostle. Not that I had a seat mate anyway. I got a fair bit of work done, and intermittent views of Lake Ontario.
First impressions of Toronto:
The subway system is more accessible than Montreal -- granted, Montreal sets a very low bar. Bonaventure station, connected to Montreal Gare Central, did have an escalator up from the platform -- shocking! -- but getting to the train station still involved revolving doors and some stairs -- just a few, but enough to block a wheelchair or someone too weak to lift their luggage (not me, fortunately.) Toronto's map suggests maybe 1/3 of stations are accessible? Which I think is a lot worse than Boston (if everything is working), but better than Montreal.
The 1 train has open connections, like the green and orange lines in Montreal. Unlike Montreal, there are ads in the cars -- for colleges and a homeless shelter. The station displays tell you the frequency, but not the time to the next train, unlike the Montreal displays which give you live tracking. The train had an old LCD display announcing the next stop, plus a NYC-style updating map of colored lights.
The 2 train had separate cars, and no visual display whatsoever.
Within 10 seconds on the street I observed my first asshole speed demon driver.
Both Dufferin, Toronto and Monkland, Montreal, like really long blocks. Like 4 minutes. My house is 10 minutes from one street with shops and 6 from the other. Or maybe it just felt that way; Google claims it's under 900 meters from Bloor to College, but I'm right in the middle. Having to walk 5+ minutes to get to something that isn't housing isn't something I've experienced since... Honolulu, Nov 2019?
As I anticipated, it's weird for me to be in Canada and not have French as the default language, since up to now almost all of my Canadian time has been in Quebec.
