Toronto Birthday Party

It is a completely silent trip into Toronto from Pearson International, no radio, no conversation, just the quiet hum of the Honda CRV. It is my very first Uber ride and I’m relieved I’ve been able to download the app, upload my credit card information, book the ride and find the right car. When Ayhan, the driver, drops me off at Seonag & Geoff’s house in north Toronto I tell him he looks like Joey from Friends. In halting English he tells me he is a Kurd and has no idea what I am talking about. So much for American culture’s long reach. And no wonder it was a quiet ride.

I’ve arrived a day before the rest of my travel companions; Judy & Jake, Erin & Josh, and their son Blake fly in tomorrow. Seonag & Geoff are at a friend’s cottage for the weekend and I have a blissful evening to myself. Time to rest up for what will be a whirlwind week of sightseeing. Craig has stayed home with the critters and is no doubt enjoying the time to himself, without me nagging about sunscreen & hydration, too much time in the garden, and how bad cheese and red wine are for him, etc.

The smokey haze that’s been reported in the news is much less thick than I’d expected. The sky is blue, the setting sun casting warm light on the many high-rises, and the temperature a balmy 24 degrees. Perfect tourist weather. Later in the week it will heat up and get very humid, but not smokey. YAY!!

We are here in the Big Smoke partly to celebrate family birthdays, to see a Blue Jays game and take in some of the cultural offerings in this, Canada’s largest, city. Hotel prices being what they are, we are most grateful for our free lodgings. Many thanks S & G!!!

My niece Erin has our days planned down to the hour, with activities carefully spaced to allow for brief moments of downtime. We happily go along with her itinerary and only occasionally complain that we are tired. We log some impressive distances: 14,000 – 16,000 steps on our longest days.

Jake & I are both over 70, Judy’s not far behind at 69, Blake is diabetic, and yet we troop around Toronto as though we are fit as fiddles. Josh & Erin, no spring chickens themselves, and tasked with caring for Blake (counting carbs, giving insulin to lower blood sugar, giving snacks to raise it) are often out front of our group, leading the way.

Day one is slated for the zoo, the largest in Canada, a massive park, covering 700 acres of land in Scarborough. It’s a warm day; some of the animals are reluctant to show themselves, but we luck out on a few sightings. The African animals, more accustomed to the heat, are more visible. We see lions, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, zebra, gorillas and several antelope. Not surprisingly we find the polar bear lounging in the shade.

Day two, Casa Loma – Spanish for “hill house” – a majestic castle sited smack dab in the middle of the city, is on the itinerary. Built between 1911 and 1914 by financier Sir Henry Pellet, the house showcases Gothic Revival style.

Costing about $3.5 million (in 1910 dollars) and taking 299 workers three years to build 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet, it was the largest private residence in Canada in its day. Pellet’s financial difficulties meant he only lived in the house for 10 years. It was briefly a luxury hotel, then left vacant, and eventually taken over by the city of Toronto and turned into a tourist site. In recent years the castle has served as a filming location for a variety of movies.

Day three we take the subway to Union Station and spend the morning touring the CN tower and Rogers Centre. At 1815.3 feet, the CN Tower held the record for the world’s tallest free-standing structure for 32 years, from 1975 until 2007, when it was surpassed by the Burj Khalifa, and was the world’s tallest tower until 2009 when it was surpassed by the Canton Tower. It is currently the tenth-tallest free-standing structure in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure on land in the Western Hemisphere. In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. A signature icon of Toronto’s skyline, the tower attracts more than two million international visitors annually. It houses several observation decks, a revolving restaurant, an entertainment complex and a section of glass flooring that is vertigo inducing.

We stay downtown, grab a bite and take in an evening ball game. The New York Yankees are in town to challenge the Blue Jays, who are on a winning streak that started many weeks ago and will carry on after this game. Unfortunately we see them lose, 5 to 4. But it is an entertaining game, with lots of hits and exciting plays, right to the last inning. Blake philosophizes that he’d rather see the Jays lose by a run than win by a landslide, a rather mature attitude for such a young fan.

The evening is amazing in many ways. The positive energy in the stadium. The way 40,000 plus people can come together to support their team. The crowd clapping and cheering after the American national anthem is sung. The orderly way everyone exits at the end of the game and walks as a group to Union station.

Day four we start at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup. Nothing about the recent sexual assault scandals and yet turn on the news and hear about a Canadian Junior Hockey team being tried for this crime. Later in the week we will learn that they are acquitted. The juxtaposition is a bit jarring.

As well, while there’s nothing about racial bias in hockey, there is a single, rather token, photo of a first nations team, from a Saskatchewan residential school. The school, St. Phillips, was close to where I grew up in south-eastern Saskatchewan. I saw, first hand, discrimination against the local first nations people. And I’ve read Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”, a story about a young Ojibway boy making his way as a young hockey player in Ontario. Not an easy road to travel. I guess no one can call out the Hockey Hall of Fame for being “too woke”.

From there we head downtown for a boat excursion on Lake Ontario and are treated to great views of the city skyline, a bit of a diversion into one of the Toronto Island canals, and blissfully cool breezes. Back on land we stumble across a small museum dedicated to basketball.

Day five we visit the aquarium, housing 5.7 million litres (1.25 million gallons) of marine and freshwater habitats from across the world. The exhibits feature more than 20,000 exotic sea and freshwater specimens from more than 450 species. Standing on the moving sidewalk, gliding past the various exhibits, is almost as good as scuba diving. Without the worry of a shark attack! The jellyfish tanks are always my favourite and in this very crowded space they remind one to just chill and go with the flow.

Day six we’re off to Kensington Market, probably the lowlight of the trip, as it is rather shabby looking and not particularly interesting. We grab some smoothies, hop into an Uber and head to the Royal Ontario Museum. Having been before and seen the permanent exhibits, I head up to the 4th floor to spend a few hours at Auschwitz.

The exhibit is one of the most comprehensive ever presented on the subject. Survivor testimonials, historical documents, and first-hand accounts by emancipating forces create a powerful connection to the exhibition’s more than 500 original objects. The very existence of Auschwitz—the largest documented mass murder site in human history—is almost impossible to fathom. And yet, to quote the exhibit’s subtitle, it was “not long ago and not far away”, reminding us that it could happen again. Look no further than the current political shift to the right occurring in many countries, including our neighbours to the south.

I’m left with a sense of horror. And the walk to the subway stop along Bloor St, through the high-end Yorkville shopping area, only serves to intensify that feeling. Such a contrast to the awfulness of the holocaust. A Honk for Gaza gathering is a call to action that both seems out of place in this wealthy enclave and harkens back to the holocaust. Another jarring juxtaposition.

That night, our last in Toronto, we celebrate three birthdays – Jake’s, Judy’s & Blake’s – at The Keg. I’m reminded of all we have to celebrate in our lives. Not just birthdays. Freedom!! To travel, to dine out, to explore our world, to vote, to walk down dark city streets and feel safe. What privilege!!

Whereas the Creator rests on day seven, we do not. I sleep late and then decamp to the airport for my flight home. The rest of the family head to London in a rental car for a tour of Banting House.

I’ve booked my very well-priced flights on a site called Cheap-O Air. What could possible go wrong? To start, I keep getting messages about other flights and it is only when I get to the airport and talk to an agent that I realize I’m being offered earlier flight options. It is tempting, but none of these flights are non-stop. I stick with my original booking, an 8 PM flight, Toronto to Kelowna direct. Unfortunately the flight is delayed and we don’t leave until after 9 PM. By this time I’ve been at the airport for 6 hours. The plane is full and I’m crammed into a window seat – thankfully not the middle one – with two very large people next to me. Getting over and around them to access the washroom is like doing a couple of challenging yoga poses. Not that easy!

As we approach Kelowna – have I mentioned we’re already an hour late? – the pilot announces that the two runways there are poorly aligned with the wind direction for the size of our plane, it’s not safe to land, and we are carrying on to Vancouver. It’s after midnight when we land at YVR, where we sit for over an hour, not allowed to deplane, then an additional half hour to refuel, before we get clearance to try another landing in Kelowna. No one is reassured when the pilot comes on the intercom to tell us that “we have sufficient fuel to return to Vancouver, if need be”.

Craig & Chichi are there waiting when we do successfully land, looking rather tired; they’ve been at the airport for several hours. By the time we retrieve my checked bag (my cheap-o ticket does not allow for a carry-on), get to the car, onto the highway and home to Vernon it is close to 4AM.

It’s not a great end to an otherwise fabulous trip; a week made most enjoyable for the time spent with Blake doing all kinds of things I would not otherwise do. Hockey Hall of Fame I’m talking to you!! For a week I take a break from the bleak news of the day and the quotidian rhythms of life to just enjoy being with a curious, energetic, adaptable, genial 10 year old, seeing the world through his eyes, vicariously experiencing being young and uncynical. Such a blessing!!