toronto Keyword
Toronto
Toronto, not high on my list of “must sees” to begin with had quite a hard act to follow in New York. The city is the biggest in Canada with a population of around 8 million (depending on who you talk to), but it seemed empty and unsure of itself.
The tower that looms over the skyline is an example of this insecurity. It was built to show the world the power of Canadian industry and woah, was it mighty. Well… it was. It has since been surpassed in height and in the next few years there are several more buildings on their way to knock it further down the ladder. The Toronto feels a little like they are not accepting the fact that things are just moving forward, a constant progression that they are being swept along with rather than driving.
Don’t get me wrong, the people of Toronto aren’t backwards and the city is fairly modern but something just feels off. I feel I needed maybe more time and more local help to come to understand the importance and purpose of this city. Maybe it is that my impressions of Toronto were coloured slightly by the 35 day garbage strike that covered the city in a pall of rancid stink and litter. Or maybe even the unusual vibe of the hostel where a large portion of the residents were long-termers who’s attitudes formed a kind of “us and them” segregation that was hard to break the barriers of.
I did manage to get out and see a bit of the city, but it held no real wow moments, other than acting as a platform for me to launch into Niagara Falls. I went for a few beers at The Horseshoe, out clubbing with some other backpackers but was well and truly over it an hour in. I had a quiet night in watching movies and then quite the opposite drinking vodka with danes and germans till the wee hours of another night. Oh, and in what seems to be a staple of his holiday, I got completely and utterly drenched by a massive storm that swept over the city while I was out wandering. The skies opened up so much that within minutes of the torrential rain starting not a single inch of me was dry. I did provide a little entertainment to a collection of gym goers who had taken shelter in their lobby when I came in asking for a plastic bag to put all my electronic equipment in, dripping bucket loads of water on their floor and leaving bare foot prints leading out from their little refuge and into the dark beyond their doors. Some people look at me strangely when they see me walking barefoot through the city, but I believe feeling the ground beneath the hardened soles of my feet helps me to really connect with a place, to make it feel real. I don’t think there is a single city I have visited where I didn’t spend at least a day barefoot.
I said goodbye to Toronto with no real sense of dolefulness after a night of chatting with some frenchies until 5am. In fact I am sitting on my bus to Montreal right this moment wrapped in excitement in seeing somewhere new. I’ll also be meeting up with some of the nicer people I met at the hostel who will be making their way up to Montreal in the coming days. I hope to have a quiver of local knowledge to deliver when they come a-knocking.
CN Tower
I’ve always wondered what in the human condition triggers this desire to “stand on the shoulders of giants”. To get up high, find a new perspective. It seems a universal thing. All over the world there are observation towers in skyscrapers, lookout points from mountains. We seek grand views. Do people yearn to rise above their lot, or do they wish to witness their insignificance first hand? I can not tell. One thing I know is, the CN Tower, once the tallest free standing structure on land in the world (now only bested by the still incomplete Burj Dubai), is a magnet for people seeking to look down on the world that they occupy.
Construction of the Tower was completed in 1976. The tower rises 553.33 meters over the Toronto Skyline and is quite easy to see on the horizon from Niagara nearly 200km’s away. The tower features two main observation decks, a glass floor, a restaurant and other touristy attractions. I spent around 2 hours up the tower, most of which was spent waiting in line. Looking out over the land at such a great height is pretty amazing. Watching firetrucks the size of my thumb nail scoot around the city was cool. The view does provide a change in perspective. The CN Tower is also probably the last “big” thing I will climb on my adventure, which is rapidly approaching its end, both in time left and amount of funds. *gulp*