hello from toronto

once upon a time the city looked like this



now (much of it) looks like this



this



this



this



this



and this



but there's a lot of greenspace, with parks in every corner of the city



the parks can be really beautiful: and it can be hard to accept that you're actually in a city in some of them



trails that run along the creeks through the city can feel quite wild



there's a good subway system



and trams (aka streetcars)



the city stands on edge of lake ontario, one of the five great lakes





and it's nice to walk or bike along the lakeshore









the lakeshore is a happening place (eg this intimate and totally wonderful flamenco gig that took place 28.08.03)



and besides the more obvious interesting things (like the cn tower) you might see street hockey



('cus everybody is into hockey -street hockey being a warm weather substitute for 'real' hockey played on ice) like this



or you may see things by the side of the road, like this



you can skate in front of city hall for much of the year



you can skate on lake ontario if the weather is really cold



but it's more common to skate on one of the many lakes in parkland in toronto.



or you can hang out in one of the many ethnic enclaves (this is chinatown)



often the architecture is a mixture of old and new



which is kindof interesting



it's common to see chipmuncks in the garden



and racoons



but both of those critters tend to hide out over the winter months...
the winter of 2002-3 was great. this is me taking the dog for a walk



as you can see, there is snow on the ground



the snow that year was the 'best' for a decade (or 'worst', depending on your point of view)...



yippee!



this is the humber river, that flows through toronto into lake ontario.
-this was completely frozen in the winter 2002-3



the edges of lake ontario were solid enough to walk on



and the trees looked really pretty, laden with snow like this
(views from various windows of our house)







it was fun being out in the snow that year



in the winter you can use cross-country skis in city parks







i wonder if first nations people here skiied...







algonquin provincial park is only half a day's driving north
of toronto, and it is 6,000 square kilometres of wildness
-in summer it can look like this



-in winter it tends to look more like this





in winter it's beautiful up there nonetheless

all of the water from the vast upper great lakes system
drains south through the viagra falls, not far from toronto







canada's cool.

that's all folks!