Tag Archives: Toronto

Saucer-eyes

diversity, Food, Leisure, Museums & galleries, , , ,

In choosing Canada as our home, we were aware that one of the possible downsides is that paid holiday (vacation) time is significantly less than in the UK. However, we felt that this was balanced out by an apparent Canadian capacity to make the most of leisure time. The weekend just past certainly saw us embrace this spirit, nourishing mind, body and soul!

Friday evening: etchings by Rembrandt and Freud – the Rembrandt so incredibly fine and detailed, the Freud bolder but no less masterly, both capturing so much more than a visual likeness of their subjects; then fabulous photos, model ships and (as AGO members) VIP entry to the King Tut exhibition, recapturing an earlier fascination in the breathtaking beauty of so many of the items on display.

On to fire and ice – the Angel of the Apocalypse belching flame into the darkness as we skated, the trees glinting red and gold with Chinese lanterns to welcome the new year of the Tiger, as pillow-fight snow-flakes drifted down;  a huge screen, held in the embrace of City Hall’s twin towers, provided a constantly changing vertical stage filled with oriental images and peopled by fan dancers, stick fighters and more. (On Sunday we caught a different acrobatic  spectacle by Compagnie Les Passagers with a more elemental theme.)

Winter City Winter City - Compagnie Les Passagers Winter City - Compagnie Les Passagers

Appealing to our senses, the foodie explorations encouraged by the fixed price Winterlicious menus are a delight – we enjoyed two great meals over the weekend.  A late Saturday lunch at Pure Spirits took us to the Distillery District, followed up with the post-prandial pleasures of checking out our favourite galleries there, as well as lusting after high-style lights at Artemide.  And we can’t seem to resist the wonderful Quebecois cheeses, St Lawrence Market offering up this week’s temptation!

On Sunday, we went Tumbling Into Light – amazing music, dance and visual imagery! Deeply moving, its intention to reflect the constant spiralling of light into darkness into light (individual, cultural, cosmic), I was awed by the twin awareness of the hugeness of the human capacity to encompass pain and the hugeness of the human capacity to manifest beauty.

On our way home from an early supper (Moroccan at 93 Harbord), Winter City claimed our attention again with an eerie performance by Glacialis, an Ice Orchestra. Who would have believed that ice tubes would resonate so wonderously in response to a hot flame!

So often here I am conscious of that I can still be that saucer-eyed child, utterly present, utterly entranced and engaged . . .

More highlights and milestones

connections, Food, Leisure, Museums & galleries, Toronto, , ,
  • Eating Poutine, a cholesterol laden Canadian snack speciality consisting of fries (chips), gravy and cheese curds. I wasn’t sure about the idea, but actually we really enjoyed it and will now seek out more authentic renditions.
  • Becoming annual members of the Art Gallery of Ontario – this will allow us gradually to enjoy and absorb what is a really interesting and well curated collection. The new Gehry Galleria Italia is a fabulous space, currently housing a magical sculptural exhibition of trees re-visioned (we loved this)
  • Buying my first pair of ‘leisure skates’ – my UK figures boots are just too uncomfortable!
  • Skating on a natural rink in Glen Stewart park at the foot of a ravine that drops a way just below where we live – steep wooden steps lead down into a magic woodland walk by a stream, currently flowing between snowy banks we were the only people on the ice – magic!
  • Commitment (voluntary) to a local community arts/regeneration project, Art of the Danforth, an art walk planned for April (I’m sure I’ll write more on this as things develop!)
  • Entertaining our first guests in our new home on Friday evening, genuinely a delight!
  • Getting our OHIP cards – we are now covered by the Ontario Health scheme. But with a shortage of family doctors, finding one is the next challenge.

Coming up we have:

  • Toronto’s Winter City festival – spectacle, music, multi-culturalism and more!
  • Winterlicious, (part of the above) Toronto’s winter food festival, a fabulous chance to try new restaurants at very affordable prices. We have, over the two week period, booked two lunches and two dinners, including lunch at Canoe, arguably Toronto’s top restaurant (Jess ate there back in September and is still raving about it!)
  • Music and multi-media show at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts

It’s a small world – talking to BBC Wiltshire Sound

General,

I’ve done a number of interviews for BBC Wiltshire Sound over the years on behalf of organisations I’ve been working with. And it also happens that an old friend of mine is now producing the morning show.

Which is how it came about that shortly after 8am on Monday morning I recorded an interview for them about the choice to emigrate and Christmas in Toronto.

The hardest thing was that there is so much that I could have talked about – I hope I managed to say something interesting and get across some of the delight of creating a new life. It was a useful reminder, amidst the flurry of filling, sanding, painting and cleaning, of what an amazing experience this is and how much we have seen and done, even if we’ve had a lot of practical things to get through and have hardly started really to get to know our city.

The interview will be broadcast tomorrow morning in two parts (subject to last minute scheduling changes) and I’m told it will be available on the BBC i-player at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/

Update: You can reach the broadcast at:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p005j8ch/Mark_ODonnell_17_12_2009/.
This is the whole program, but if you use the slider at the bottom of the  player (the little grey mark on the pink line), you can find the relevant sections at the following time points: 1:45:05, 2:28:50 and 2:41:45. The program is only available online till Thursday 24 December.

Loving Toronto

Toronto

I just came on a list of 175 Reasons to Love Toronto – we haven’t yet begun to do more than skim the surface of this wonderfully diverse, vibrant, human city, so only a few resonate right now. But I’m looking forward to referring back to the list to inspire our exploration . . .