I wrote this back in early July, and delayed posting because of wanting to add Photos. And it's taken until now (September 26!) to actually get the post up, with a few additions to the original.
Last Saturday [July 7] morning, we met up with a friend from Abu Dhabi/Kuwait, who calls Hamilton home. Donna's on her way to Kabul to work, and is back home for leave.
We met Donna at Union Station and TTC'd up to the ROM. I'm one of those who is not at all impressed by the Michael Lee Chin "Barfed Crystal" attached to the ROM. But we've heard so much about how wonderful the light is for exhibits inside, that we decided it was worth checking out. Plus, we had an out-of-town guest, so to the ROM we went. You now enter the ROM through the Crystal - just a big white and grey open space - no atmosphere at all. We did walk down to where the old entrance lobby was - it has so much character and really set the tone that you were in a special place. I hope the have some interesting plans for that space.
That sense of wonder right from the moment you enter the building is lost now, in a sea of grey and white.
We wandered through a number of the exhibits in the main ROM building, but the building, and the exhibits, seem to have lost much of the character and old feeling they had. It just felt sterile to me.
We then decided to go see the inside of the Crystal. That was a challenge all in and of itself - No, you can't access the Crystal directly from this floor, you have to go to that floor, and then around that corner, and around another corner. The main bank of elevators isn't working yet, so you get up in the Crystal via a freight elevator - Lovely!
We finally found a nice open (so far exhibit-less) area and were impressed by all the natural light coming in - what a wonderful exhibit space!
Then we followed the signs to a special exhibit - the History of History - what a joke! It was just a few items with no descriptions. The items themselves are supposed to speak for themselves. Oh, and all the natural light? Most of it had been blocked out by blackout curtains fitted to the windows and skylights and the exhibit was lit by potlights - something about the natural light would damage the artifacts. Well, so much for all that nice bright light and white walls and the whole reason for the Crystal!
OK. Enough of my griping. I didn't like the Crystal when I first saw it a few years ago under construction, and the steel girders looked like a kid's game of Pickup Sticks. And I still don't like it. Inside or out.
After an hour or 2, we'd had enough of the ROM and headed back out into the wonderful Summer Sunshine and west on Bloor towards Spadina and then Bathurst. We stopped in my favourite pub in the area - Dooney's - for lunch. They have the most amazing version of Huevos Rancheros (I think they call it Huevos Dooney's), and some pretty excellent Eggs Florentine. And beer. I think Frank had a Roast Beast sandwich of some sort, and really enjoyed it. (He's not emotional about food as I am, unless he hasn't had any - then he's really emotional: Me Eat Now!)
We wandered over past Honest Ed's, but didn't go in. In hindsight, given the passing of Ed this past week, maybe we should have - it may never be the same again. And over to Markham Street. I was surprised that South of Harbord, Markham becomes a totally residential street, with some quite large homes and huge old trees. South of College, the homes become a bit more modest, but still quite interesting.
This house must be owned by someone with some sort of OCD. I'd love to spend some time talking to the homeowner and finding out all about their collectibles and assorted plants.
And then, just before we got to Queen Street, I saw this absolutely awesome residential street. I had no idea Toronto had such interesting areas. I don't think the photo does it any justice.And just down the end of the street, around the corner to the left, what did we find, but Kensington Ice Cream! I'd heard about this place, but never knew where to find it. And finally we did!
Wow! Such amazing flavours! Hot Ginger Ice Cream and Rhubarb-Apple. Even "ordinary" chocolate has a twist to it. Yum! I'll be back.
We finished our walk by heading west on Queen Street through a number of Art Galleries and Boutiques, right down to the Gladstone, where we hopped a Streetcar back to Union Station.
All in all, a very good fun (tiring!) day with a special friend.
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