The City from Below

I went into Toronto having no plans or directions to any particular sights and I happened upon some great things anyway. The one thing that I knew about Toronto was the CN tower so as the skyline got closer I kept making turns toward that giant needle. I ended up on Yonge Street and parked my car in a lot near Church and Wellesley.

Here there were street performers as well but they were the more compact sidewalk kind. One was a man who moved like a mechanical man making the whirring noises of the motors that moved his joints and face by whistling. He had a sign in front of him that said “coin operated”. There was another torch act that started his music and hype before he was set up and lost most of his crowd as he struggled to get some props out of his bag.

I found that Younge Street was incredibly pedestrian-friendly. The side streets are staggered so that they usually terminate at the street and rarely cut through. This means that all traffic on and off of these streets is turning so it isn’t hard to cross. I walked over a mile down the street without having to wait once at a crosswalk. There were also large bike lanes on a lot of the roads along with a bike-share program, though I only saw the bike-share bikes riding around but never found a rack where I could get one.

There seemed to be a lot of new buildings going up and not a single one was without some curvy feature. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a recent sky-scraper in Toronto that didn’t twist or bend at the top. It gives the city a modern feel and helps minimize the imposing stature of the buildings.

I find a restaurant with outdoor seating on a side street to sit out and enjoy the weather during dinner. The ground shakes noticeably every time the metro passes under the restaurant. After eating I walk up the street looking for a park that was built on an old elevated rail that went around the city. I saw it while driving in and walk for a mile or so up Yonge street towards a bridge that looks to be overgrown with green. Unfortunately this isn’t the park and it is getting late so this will have to be another thing I explore another time.