Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Canada & Mexico 2011
Island-hopping
I got up at 0730, feeling fully adjusted to the new time zone after another good night's sleep. Once again, breakfast was in the Executive Lounge. I was pleased to see that the rain had given way to dull but mainly dry conditions, interspersed with some very Scottish-looking occasional drizzle. Although my main objective for the day was a visit to Toronto's islands, I started off on something of a spiritual note. In a country not necessarily noted for its sense of ecumenical harmony down through the years, it is remarkable that Toronto's main representatives of the Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions of Christianity stand almost cheek by jowl on - appropriately enough - Church Street. I decided to begin by paying them a visit.
First up was the Metropolitan United Church, the so-called "cathedral of Methodism": it seemed like a reasonably impressive building, but was completely locked up. St Michael's RC Cathedral was undergoing renovations and the area around the door resembled a building site. There was some attractive stained glass inside, but the building seemed a little unwelcoming overall and was more like a sizeable parish church than a cathedral in a major city. Finally, I visited St James's Anglican Cathedral, the only one of the three to have its doors opened wide in welcome and a beautifully printed visitor's guide available in the porch. It seemed to have a little more gravitas than the others and the atmosphere was helped by a practising organist. Overall, however, Toronto's ecclesiastical offerings struck me as being of little interest from the average visitor's perspective, especially when compared to their stunning counterparts 350 miles away in Montreal.
My next - and main - objective for the day was a visit to Toronto's islands. First, however, I successfully located the Avis office that had eluded me the previous day and which I wanted to have found before I really needed it the following day. As I walked towards the ferry terminal, I remembered going to the islands during my previous visit in 1989, in hot and sunny conditions, and being impressed that such an escape from the big city was so readily available. Conditions today could hardly have been in greater contrast, with the ferry near-deserted and the drizzle now appearing to have taken hold.
Despite the sub-par conditions, I managed to have a good walk, all the way from the Centre Island ferry terminal to Hanlan's Point, adjacent to the Billy Bishop City Airport that I was scheduled to fly out of on Thursday. The ferry back to the city had a mere three passengers on board. I returned to the Brookfield Place mall - home of that elusive car rental office - and had a tasty Chinese lunch in the food court there.
| After lunch, I had another look at the area around the CN Tower, but quickly realised that I seemed to have lost the will to walk any more significant distances. I took the subway to St Patrick for a quick visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) before returning to the Hilton around four-ish. I had a rest in my room before visiting the Executive Lounge and having an enjoyable light evening meal of chicken quesadilla at the in-house Barrister's Bar. |
  ABOVE: Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) |