So when a special speaker is scheduled to speak on June 22 at St. Paul's, I thought that would be a good time to visit. We also thought this time of the year - late spring early summer - would also be nice for visit to the Toronto area. Richard also suggested that we get a few of the old boys from our class in Hong Kong together.
I had not done much planning until a couple of days before the trip, although I decided early on to spend a couple of days somewhere outside of Toronto, and a few days in Toronto itself. Since west of Toronto would be Niagara Falls, and south would be the lake, it would either be east or north. North, with its many lakes, looked interesting, and the town of Gravenhurst is a couple of hours from the airport, and that's where we will stay for the first two nights. As I type this entry late Wednesday night, it looks like it will be a quiet couple of days.
Wednesday 6/18. We took Lyft to the airport. The airport was very quiet, with the "no touch ID" option we basically walked through security (without using CLEAR), and had time to visit the United Club near Gate C90. The Club evidently was renovated recently, but surprisingly crowded. It did offer a decent breakfast, though.
Between United and Air Canada there must be about 10 one-way flights between EWR and YYZ, most - if not all - in the Embraer 175 which seats fewer than 80. It does look like they are quite full - at least the United flights (I have no visibility into Air Canada seating). Anne and I bought the tickets separately, so only I got upgraded as she was way down the list for upgrades. The 1-hour flight was relatively smooth, although the seat belt sign was on the whole time. (HINT) Someone asked a flight attendant if he could bring his carryon aboard, she said there is space for 25 of them, so it all depends on when one boards. Indeed overhead bin space was limited, but I didn't see a lot of people walking up and down the aisle looking for stowage space. And by my estimates more than 25 carry-ons can be accommodated.
Against my expectations, this United Club breakfast was decent.
The plane landed about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, but we had to wait 30 minutes for the gate. The immigration and customs agents we encountered were polite and pleasant, and the process was quick.
The way to connect to WiFi onboard seemed to have changed (or I hadn't flown a commuter flight for a while). It took me a while to figure it out. In any case, the connection was so poor, and available only when altitude was higher than 10,000 ft, that I didn't get much use out of it.
Rental car counters are "at the airport," but it took a while to get to them. It's been a while that I used Avis Preferred, so I was surprised at how efficient the process was.
There is only one toll road in the Toronto area, so we decided to avoid it and not rent a transponder. The Avis agent agreed. However, it turned out to be quite a chore to avoid the toll road, and it took us perhaps 30 additional minutes to get to our destination. (Later I found out Google Maps has the "avoid tolls" option, so we had no problems with our return trip.)
We got to Gravenhurst early enough that we could complete the "Lake Muskoka Circle" drive after dinner in Bracebridge. At Bracebridge we visited the waterfall in town. The other interesting location is the lock at Port Carling connecting Lake Muskoka with Lakes Rosseau and Joseph. It was beginning to rain more heavily, so we opted not to make any more stops as we completed the loop. We got back at around 9 pm, and bought a burger from A&W across the parking lot shared among several businesses.
The totem pole and the statue of (most likely) an indigenous woman point to the First Nations roots of the area (Bracebridge). The building houses the legal clinic for those in need of such services.
The waitress thought I wanted to substitute soup for chips (thus no extra charge) at the Old Station Restaurant in Bracebridge. It gave me an excuse to get a snack at A&W later this evening.
Bracebridge Falls in town.
Up until it moved, we weren't sure if this was a real heron.
The lock at Port Carling is wide enough for Wenonah II (which we sailed on the next day). It connects Lake Muskoka with Lakes Rosseau and Joseph. The water level changes about 3 feet.
Accommodations. Fairfield Inn, Gravenhurst, Ontario. (2 nights)
Thursday 6/19. The weather cooperated (mostly) for our 2 1/2-hour ride on Lake Muskoka. The tour guide/narrator managed to name many of the islands we saw on the trip; he has done this for many years, and who is to doubt him? In any case, he made the trip reasonably interesting.
Wenonah II (the name means "Eldest Daughter" in the native language) is a steamship that was built about 20 years ago. The ship wasn't crowded, but the lunch slots were sold out when I booked the passage (we probably wouldn't go for that anyway). As with trips of this nature, people began to lose interest after 60 to 90 minutes; I did wish they would talk more about the geography and geology.
Evidently many celebrities own summer homes in the area. Property are expensive. The guide mentioned C$2000 per inch, which I take to mean a property worth C$5M would have about 100 ft of lake front. Indeed the real estate magazine lists properties valued more than C$20M.
Wenonah II at the Gravenhurst Wharf. If I recall correctly, the tour narrator said the ship has a hybrid propulsion system as there are not that many steamship captains anymore.
I have seen several of these gag weather stations. Since it is not to be touched, it is basically inoperable.
Otherwise quiet in this wharf area. Indeed the boat rental office in the area seemed to have closed (customers are still posting reviews, though).
This gap (Lighthouse Narrows) looks tight for the ship's 28-foot beam. Of course the Port Carling lock at 32' is much narrower.
On Google Maps this is just called the Lighthouse.
Even these two small outcrops have names (which I forget). There is a Canadian flag planted on the small one on the left. Not going down without a fight, or at least a statement.
Former POW camp site during WWII.
We bought dim sum from Rickshaw in town for lunch. While waiting for the food, Anne talked to the owner who mentioned there were many Chinese working in the area, many for Western restaurants. She also mentioned the Indian Restaurant that opened recently drew away a lot of their business. Well, we had dinner at the Indian Restaurant later today.
For the afternoon we drove to Arrowhead Provincial Park, stopping by High Falls in Bracebridge along the way. The highlight of the Park (for us anyway) was the Great Bend, and we got a refresher course on the nature of meandering rivers.
High Falls in Bracebridge.
Great Bend in the Arrowhead Provincial Park.
A refresher on a meandering river.
Dog Beach on Arrowhead Lake isn't living up to its name today.
Friday 6/20. Our rental car rental return was 2:30 pm, and the charge for an additional hour is around 75% of the daily rate, so we wanted to make sure we would make it back in time.
Note the car (Nissan Murano) has a range of over 1000 kms at highway speed. The driving dynamics wasn't that much better than our 6-year old VW Tiguan.
Lake Huron, however, is only about 1 hour away, and we would like to say "we've been there." We left the hotel at about 10:15 am. The drive was mostly through sparsely populated areas, but pleasant enough on a nice day. And it was nice today. So we now have Lake Huron checked off our list. While I hadn't been keeping track, this would complete the HOMES list. I count Lake Superior as one we visited when we went through the Soo Locks That was back in 2009. (And I just found out the locks connect Lake Superior with Lake Huron, so by that measure this was our second visit. Or I could have slept in.)
After a brief stop at Waubaushene Beach, we drove to the airport, filling up the gas tank before we returned the car. The cost of gas for this trip was C$75, and we drove 600 km.
Turns out this was our second visit to Lake Huron.
The little brown patch on the lower left corner is part of the small "beach" at Waubaushene Beach. It was being cleared of vegetation in preparation for the summer. A smaller (and muddier) version of South Amboy Beach.
We took an Uber from the airport to the hotel. The driver failed to show up for 20 minutes, and then told us he passed by the pickup area three times. (I have screen shots of our messages.) The bill from Uber had a "wait charge" of several dollars, I contested it via their APP, so now I have a few Canadian dollars sitting in my account.
W didn't have our room ready yet when we showed up at around 3:45 pm, but it was available soon afterwards. By using these upgrade nights we have a suite, although the room looks out to nothing interesting. The room has a modern design, but not very functional. Examples are these frosted glass doors for the bathroom - the light from the bathroom would disturb someone sleeping in the bedroom. After a few tries we still haven't gotten the touch-based light switch system completely figured out. And we could use a simple hot water kettle for coffee, instead of the Nespresso machine provided. Most disappointing, however, is that the free breakfast we get is a la carte in their restaurant (no buffet option), and there is no lounge where guests can go to for something to drink.
The living room of our suite. I sometimes think the designers of many hotel rooms have not spent actual time in the rooms they design. While we appreciate the room, it does have several poorly designed aspects. (Reviews seem to say regular rooms are even less friendly; but "it could have been worse" probably shouldn't be the tagline for hotels that consider themselves luxury establishments.)
Back to our afternoon. Cruises of one hour duration on Lake Ontario are offered by (at least) two companies; only one had availability when I looked into it. We grabbed something to eat at the food court (not part of W), and took the subway to Union Station, from there the walk to the dock was about 15 minutes. The cruise is on a pontoon boat that can take perhaps 80 people, there were fewer than 20 people on board. (The prior sailing was quite full.) We were basically taken to the Toronto Islands just south of the city. Interesting sights include the City Airport, the Toronto Yacht Club, and the 275 houses on the island where the wait to get a unit is 80 years - if the guide is to be believed. She did provide interesting and amusing commentary during the trip.
Triton VI takes guests out for a one-hour cruise.
Small plane attempting to land at City Airport. We did see a plane take off right after it landed: failed attempt, or a student practicing "touch and go"?
As viewed from Toronto Islands. Most prominent feature is, of course, the CN Tower. Sailboats dock at the Island Yacht Club Toronto, where there is a community of houseboats. The Skydome (now called Rogers Centre) to the left of the Tower was in the process of retracting its roof.
Interesting how the three blocks are connected together.
I have met with Peter R over zoom for about 3 years to do Bible study. This would be our first face-to-face meeting. We met up at St. Paul's Bloor Street, and had a drink (soda for me) at Bishop and Belcher. This pub is Peter's regular haunt, and we met up with a couple of his friends.
Accommodations. W Hotel Toronto. (3 nights)
Saturday 6/21. Our breakfast at the hotel restaurant was okay, I still prefer the buffet style breakfast many hotels at this price level offers, though.
Bill for breakfast for two. Ours were free because of our Bonvoy status.
We first visited the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), located several minutes from the hotel. While the exhibits were quite interesting and informative, the most impactful was the special exhibit "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." It's a constant fear that similar hatred would one day drive the world into similar darkness.
Traditional Yan Luo Wang. I thought there was one of them, evidently there are several. My knowledge of Chinese mythology is minimal to non-existent.
Tang ceramics.
Images/Imprints of how the three Abrahamic religions were introduced in China. The one on the left describes how Judaism came to Kaifeng (first known synagogue in 1163), the middle one is about a Muslim Mosque in Xi'an. The Nestorian Stele was erected in 781.
Statues of Guan Yin's (Goddesses of Mercy).
Mortuary temple of Pharaoh Hatshepsut (a woman).
Cleopatra. (Note: I used Google Lens to identify many of these images.)
The lithograph "Head of an Auschwitz Prisoner" was created by Picasso in 1955.
The auditorium seats about 1000. Perhaps 800 seats were taken (on the generous side).
Performance of Verdi's Requiem. The choir had close to 100 members (actually combination of two choruses), and the orchestra must be 80+ strong.
Sunday 6/22. Two objectives for this visit were met today with my attendance at the St. Paul's Bloor Street Anglican Church, and lunch with a group comprising several of my high school classmates.
The restaurant on the ninth floor was closed for renovation, so for breakfast we went to the "Living Room" on the sixth floor. Same menu, so same mild disappointment.
The church is a five-minute walk from the hotel, and the earlier service was just letting out when we showed up at 11 am. Richard was where he said he would be (front right), and several of the Connect groups showed up: Carol, Sue, Peter, and Maggie (we met after the service). The speaker Nikki Gumbel preached on the topic "Vision in Troubled Times," and it was communion Sunday (we skipped the communion). After stopping by briefly for "tea and cookies," several of us made our way to the Moon Palace Restaurant - Anne and I caught a ride with Jane, the rest took the subway.
St. Paul's Bloor Street Anglican Church.
Inside, just as we got in.
A few of the "Getting Traction" members. Anne, Irene, Richard, myself, and Carol.
Lunch at Moon Palace. From left: Ricky (Richard's colleague), David, Miranda, Anne, Richard C, Richard L, Bernard, myself, Jane, and Raymond. Raymond is visiting his mother; he lives in Phoenix.
Array of dishes ordered.
The other highly recommended restaurant in the area is Pearl Yorkville, which is a few minutes walk from our hotel. Anne and I had dinner there.
We couldn't pass up the Lobster "summer special" offered at Pearl Yorkville.
We visited the Ripley's Aquarium of Canada in the evening. With the senior and late entry discount, the price was very reasonable. Most aquariums are organized in a similar manner: jelly fish, coral reef, sharks, and local sea life constitute several of the exhibits. I was surprised the "protect our environment" message was not that in-your-face.
The Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is right next to the CN Tower and the Rogers Stadium (former Skydome).
Google says this is a sand tiger shark. The different species in the tank are shown on a TV screen, but the screens refresh so quickly that it is difficult to do the identification whilst looking at the exhibit.
Sawfish ...
and lionfish are standard displays in aquariums.
Monday 6/23. Our flight back to NJ wasn't until 6 pm, so we got a late checkout of 3 pm from the hotel (a nice perk). The same flight the day before was delayed by 2 1/2 hours. For our flight the plane would be making it's fifth trip for the day, so significant delays are quite possible. The Embraer 175 had turnaround times of less than an hour, while the blocked times were generous: 1:45 hours for our flight that took a few minutes over an hour.
Our first thought was to visit Markham, one of the several "new" Chinatowns in the Toronto area. After we got on the subway, we found out to get to Markham would require a ride on a commuter train, which ran once every hour. We decided it might be tight timewise.
So we opted for CN Tower instead. For Monday around noon, the lines were not long. We spent sometime walking the two observation decks.
Streetcar (Tram) 509 from Union Station got us close to the CN Tower. No additional fare beyond the subway fare (C$3.30) was needed.
The upper observation deck is at elevation of 346 m (1136 ft for visitors from the South).
View of the Toronto City Airport from the upper observation deck.
View from lower observation deck. There are a couple of "open areas" which are still enclosed (as far as I can tell), but no climate control. For the adventurous, there is always the Edgewalk.
To get to the airport via public transport required a subway ride and then a commuter train (GO UP). The trams (streetcars) and subways we had been on were never crowded, but the train was quite so: we could barely move during the 25-minute ride. One reason was track inspection because of the heat (high 90s). Frankly, since the trains still ran every 15 minutes, that should have no implication on how crowded they were.
US Immigration and Customs are located at the Toronto Airport. I was surprised that (i) MPC is accepted, and (ii) the lines were quite long. Since I just got a new passport, I had to enter the new information into the MPC APP, and add Anne's information to my APP - last time we used the APP the officer suggested that we did so. I also needed to make a few submission attempts before success. One more thing, even with TSA precheck I was supposed to remove the computer, which I didn't realize; that resulted in additional screening.
We still had enough time for a lounge visit. Priority Pass allows us to visit Plaza Premium, it was at capacity and I had trouble joining the wait list. Instead we visited the Air Canada lounge. We grabbed some of the limited offering (can't really complain) as light meals. For the flight I got upgraded, Anne didn't because we had different reservations.
Metrolinx operates the rail system in the Great Toronto Area, including the GO Transit system. We saw this train pull up at the Dundas West Station. This station is close - but not connected - to the Subway Dundas Station. Weather in Toronto can be brutal.
Windshields have to be cleaned, this is how they do it.
We took an Uber home. Even with the $10 CSR discount, Lyft was still too expensive.
