Toronto: Wrapping Up

A bit overdue - photos from my final Toronto day. I will certainly miss Canada's largest city - though if I were to move to Canada, I'd still pick Vancouver as my hometown.

Starting out at Eaton Centre again. I took another photo of the billboards, this time concentrating on Sarah McLachlan. That is the best photo of her I've seen in a long time, if ever. Thanks to the likes of McLachlan, Canadian musicians - and women rockers around the world - have a level ground to compete on.

There is a somewhat pricey diner below this sign - selling eggs-oriented breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It appeared to be part of a national chain as well. I ended up having a late breakfast there.

I am in the subway, in order to reach Casa Loma. And I see that on June 2nd, I will be able to buy a DVD of He's Just Not That Into You, with an all-star cast including my favorite Greek Goddess, Jennifer Aniston.

I have reached Casa Loma, the largest residence in Canada. It was the residence of Sir Henry Pallatt, who made a fortune developing hydroelectric power on the Niagara River, and was influential in the economic development of the Toronto area and early Canada as a whole. While such mansions are common in the US, where showing off one's wealth is considered the reward of one's hard work, Casa Loma is one of a kind in Canada. Casa Loma feels a lot like California's Hearst Castle in many ways.

Pallatt lived here until 1924, when business overexpansion drove him into debt, and the loss of his hydroelectric power monopoly forced him to liquidate everything he owned. The Kiwanis Club has maintained the mansion as a tourist attraction since 1937, slowly but steadily restoring many of the sections.

This photo shows the indoor conservatory. Pallatt and his wife were renowned horticulturists, I was told.

Climbing up the narrow spiral staircase, I have reached the highest level in the mansion tower, with this great look at the city skyline. A lot of bricks were covered with tourist graffiti - some in Asian scripts!

Those row houses in front, which I had passed to get here, felt very British in character. One of these days, I need to get back to England, and really expand my reach well beyond London. Maybe beyond England and into other parts of the UK.

The outdoors garden, open from May to October, is also a gem.

It's starting to get a bit warm again, even though forecasts called for the day's high temperature to be just 19 degrees Celsius. I am again wearing my trusty tights and boots, topping them off with a dress-shaped floral tunic featuring poet's 3/4 sleeves (a very popular look during my teeny bopper years) and a black trench coat. My makeup is also a bit heavier than usual, especially with the eye pencil, and I am feeling a teeny bopper spirit inside my 33-year-old body.

I proceeded to the harbour, where my real age started to catch up with me. My left foot was starting to hurt, as if I had fractured a bone! Walking became very challenging.

I decided to do a touristy harbour boat tour, shellling out $27. That got me an hour in a boat with a guide to explain the various sights, with an option to get off at Toronto Islands and explore.

Here is an interesting sight. This bridge came from an Amsterdam canal, as a gift of the Dutch Royal Family who had been based in Toronto during World War II. The last thing I need right now is a reminder of my past travel hellhole with way too many parallels to the California ethnic theocracy.

Other waterfront sights include former industrial warehouses turned into art galleries, as well as Rogers Centre, the home of Toronto Blue Jays and formerly known as the Skydome. Rogers is one of the three major players of Canada's cell phone industry (Bell Canada and Telus are the other two), and all AT&T phones - including my iPhone - use Rogers when roaming in Canada.

I landed at Centre Island, one of over a dozen islands that make up the Toronto Islands, separating the harbour from Lake Ontario.

The Islands have many features. Some natural sections doubled as the Florida Everglades in a movie - in fact, the CN Tower made a 3-second appearance in Florida in that movie, I was told. There are recreational facilities, including a small amusement park seen above, open daily June-August and weekends May and September. There is even a clothing optional beach on the west side - one of two in Canada - but due to jurisdictional differences, it's legal to be naked on land but illegal to be naked in the water (fine is $65). As the Islands are quite chilly compared to inland, I wouldn't dare get naked here...

The Islands even host an airport, Toronto Island Airport, which hosts Porter Airlines, offering frequent propeller aircraft service to Chicago, New York, and other major cities.

Due to the foot pain, I decided to return to my hotel for a quick break. Then I added even more eyeliner, changed into that white Aritzia long shirt, topped off with a long suit jacket, and headed back out. Aside from my lack of pants, I could've passed for a Toronto commuter. (Though I was really feeling even more like a teeny bopper this day.)

My first destination: the Distillery, a gentrification of a distillery and several other industrial buildings just east of downtown on the waterfront. The gentrification is still ongoing, so not many things to see/do right now. Love the "abandoned factory" ambience, however.

I then headed west on King West, taking a northbound bus (#63) on Shaw so that I could head back east on Queen West. West of Bathurst, Queen West maintains its original rough-and-tumble independent funky vibe, while between Bathurst and Yonge, it feels more corporate and trendy. Again, due to my foot pain, I didn't do much walking. I finished off with a Thai fast food dinner at Eaton Centre, as well as shopping; while I wanted to buy dressy boots as an alternative to my flat suede casual boots (that'd give my "pantsless suit" ensemble a bit more polish), I had no luck, and instead ended up with a Gap black mini, which I kind of needed to replace my worn-out black microminis. Due to Gap's generous sizing, I found that a Size 6 was a good fit.

My journey back to California started after only an hour or two of sleep. I declared only USD $120 worth of purchases to the US customs, who have presence at all major Canadian airports (including Toronto Pearson). The US immigration officer grilled me with a dozen detailed questions, but the questioning was smooth and I cleared US entry formalities without fuss.

It's now about 7 in the morning. I am on a very old United plane as it leaves Toronto. The left of the shoreline shows the Toronto Harbour as well as faint outlines of the CN Tower and a few other skyscrapers.

This was a very miserable flight due to a very cut-rate purser who had a knack for insulting the passengers' intelligence. If this were my first flight on United Airlines, it would've certainly been my last as well. I usually have far better luck with United's flight crew, both pilots and flight attendants, however.

As I had cleared US immigration and customs in Toronto, I was a domestic passenger upon landing at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. This is the underground corridor that links the two main United terminals at O'Hare. Of course, O'Hare is United's home airport, and American also maintains a large presence.

Continuation to Los Angeles was on a newly renovated Boeing 767 aircraft, featuring United's new flat-bed business class and revamped first class. The economy section had seen next to no improvements, however, and I was very unhappy about that. While flying on an airplane in general, and on a United flight in particular, is normally a joyous occasion for me, and usually ends up taking me to a better place than where I leave from, today was certainly NOT one of those days, especially considering that California was reaffirming the ethnic theocrats' greatest contribution to the state politics, the constitutional ban on gay marriage (Proposition 8), as my half-renovated 767 was descending over San Bernardino.

I already miss Canada - especially its constructive approach to immigration (rather that the destructive US approach). I will make sure to visit more often.

Photos from Chicago

It was dreary, and it was chilly, but Chicago was marvelous nevertheless when I made my day trip there last Sunday.

Lincoln Park. This is actually the parking area for the park's zoo.
Hancock Tower, which I had visited last year, is visible.

The orchid room in the Lincoln Park Conservatory - well worth a visit.

Second Unitarian Church, located in the Lakeview district a mile or so north of Miracle Mile.
The front doors are not the entrance; real entrance is toward the back on the right hand side.

Frank Lloyd Wright's house and studio, located in Oak Park, 10 miles west of the Loop.

Looking forward to yet another return to Chicago in the future. In the meantime, my return to California will involve changing planes at O'Hare.

Chicago... again

I am practically knocked out, after all day in Chicago.

The drive between Indianapolis and Chicago was uneventful, with I-65 going through a rather flat, rural terrain, interrupted by the town of Lafayette, home of Purdue University and a Subaru assembly plant. Major construction work in Gary made navigating the I-65/I-80 junction tricky, however. My rental Fusion was very comfortable, and got over 26 MPG.

After a three-hour drive, I arrived in Chicago; I found it hard to believe that the city's world-famous skyline was greeting me once again! This was also my first Chicago visit with a car, so I decided to savor it, by taking Lake Shore Drive from McCormick Place to Lincoln Park. I remembered doing the same stretch last year, as a passenger in Marianne Wood's BMW convertible, and thought of her, though she had a packed schedule today and couldn't make time for me.

I arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo at 9:30 in the morning, and spent about 45 minutes going through the small, free zoo. The zoo was underwhelming, but the neighboring conservatory, with its orchids and koi ponds, was quite a sight. I also savored the famous vista of the skyline again from the zoo, with John Hancock Tower being prominent.

I headed for my next destination, Second Unitarian Church, and arrived there right between the two morning services. I attended the second morning service at 11:30, where the sermon emphasized being Earth-friendly by not living beyond one's means - while I agreed with most of the sermon, I also remembered that sometimes pushing the boundaries is what makes positive changes in the world happen. The pastor was a middle-aged blonde woman said to be a Southern California native, but I couldn't chat with her. However, I did chat with many other members - and joined the church's monthly LGBT lunch at a nearby Thai restaurant, where most of the chat revolved around the church's participation in this coming June's gay pride parade, but I also got to spill the beans about my background, my novel, how Unitarianism comes into both, and more.

When all was said and done, it was 2 PM already - I pushed on to Oak Park, 10 miles to the west, where I toured Frank Lloyd Wright's home. This being an older home (1899-1909), it didn't look like a Wright masterpiece from the later years, but the budding elements - overlapping octagons, suspended pianos, and green color theming throughout - were all there. I was too tired to truly enjoy it though.

I left Chicago at 4:30 local time, and by the time I returned to Indy, it was 8:30 after time difference. And those "In God We Trust" theocratic plates really nagged at me from the moment I crossed back into Indiana.

I took a few pictures, but won't be uploading them tonight - I am too tired, and I have business to mind tomorrow morning.

Indianapolis

I am in Indianapolis for a week-long stay, and my first impressions are not good.

I was aware of Indiana being more Republican than similar surrounding states, though a prominent Democrat, Senator Evan Bayh, also calls Indiana home. But nothing prepared me for all the "In God We Trust" license plates here - up to one in four of all privately-owned cars. While "In God We Trust" could be considered a generic nonpolitical message, like "Choose Life," everyone knows that these messages are the work of Christian theocrats.

Though I have to say that I can easily see the same happening in California, especially Southern California, and it's the liberal ideologues of Northern California that prevent such plates from becoming reality in California.

I am heading over to Chicago tomorrow to attend a Unitarian church and do sightseeing. If I wanted only the Unitarian church, there are a few here in Indy, but I'd rather venture out to Chicago. I also got a marvelous view of Chicago today as I changed planes there, and it only makes me want to get out there tomorrow even more.

My ride here is a Ford Fusion V6 that was built only this month, with 370 miles on it. It's a much nicer car than its predecessor, the miserable Contour that I used to drive, though I was expecting a four cylinder model for fuel economy. The rental car company offered me a Hyundai Sonata for a few dollars more, and it is an even nicer car, but I didn't want to risk looking like a Moonie. I hope the Fusion will let me visit Chicago tomorrow in style.

Minutemen United

Apparently, a group by this name has been crashing the services of moderate churches, to force them to take a more homophobic stance.

This is rude - and that's an understatement.

On Ellen Beth's blog, the discussion is on Ellen's Republican Congressman, Mark Kirk (IL-10), pretending to support gay rights through sponsorship of a hate crimes legislation, yet doing nothing about this kind of demagoguery, which isn't limited to Columbus, Ohio, but is also an issue at IL-10 and nationwide. Ellen charges that Kirk has been nothing more than a shill for the politics of Karl Rove, who turned homophobia into a potent weapon for the evangelical Republicans.

Columbus Dispatch
Ellen Beth's Illinois Tenth Blog

Pictures from Chicago, last May

I promised these, but never delivered - until now.

One of the more unusual sculptures found at Millennium Park, which is a re-developed section of Grant Park. (May 26)

Field Museum of Natural History features the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex in existence - Sue. Nobody knows if Sue is indeed a she, though... (May 26)

The ever-glorious Chicago skyline, as seen from Shedd Aquarium. (May 27)

A newly hatched chick at the Museum of Science and Industry's famous incubator. (May 28)

Streetside chess masters offering $2 games, Michigan Avenue along Grant Park. (May 28)

Not too many photo opportunities in Chicago, as I did too much museums and too little of everything else. Maybe next time will be more diverse!

A personal anniversary

Ten years ago today, I packed my bags and headed for New York's Pennsylvania Station, hopping on a train called Lake Shore Limited, early evening.

Thus started my month-long adventure on the Amtrak system, which allowed me to experience Chicago, San Francisco, and the state of Texas for the first time, as well as visiting Los Angeles, before returning to New York City. The only requirement of my ticket was to visit a maximum of three cities, and return to New York City within 30 days; San Antonio, Los Angeles, and San Francisco became my three cities, and Chicago was a long layover.

I was in no mood to fly that summer, after being double-charged for a ticket change fee by United Airlines the previous Christmas (even though United apologized, and refunded both charges).

This was the only time I crossed North America by land, both ways. I later drove from New York City to Los Angeles after finishing college, but that was one-way. In addition, having driven to Montreal and Quebec City a few weeks earlier, I was covering a lot of ground, requiring me to deal with three languages depending on the location (English, French, Spanish).

There were many picturesque memories from that trip, and I still have the photos somewhere. The various landscapes in different parts of the US were, indeed, awe-inspiring, whether they were the night lighting of St. Louis's Gateway Arch, the series of ten Colorado River canyons (seven of which are accessible only by rail), or the rugged beauty of California coast. Both Chicago and San Francisco captured my heart - leading me to live in the Bay Area for a bit, and to visit Chicago again this past May.

Amtrak's notorious delays, however, mean that I am in no mood to attempt a similar trip, anytime soon. (The Sunset Limited from San Antonio to Los Angeles left 8 hours late, and arrived 12 hours late!) If I get truly in a train trip mood, I would rather use the punctual European trains, and explore a whole other continent that way.

Chicago...

And yes, I am back from Chicago.

My hotel's business center was closed for the weekend, so I did some minor blogging (for Democracy Cell Project) and emailing from the Apple Store on the Magnificent Mile. But I couldn't touch this blog, and certainly couldn't upload any photos; the photos are still in my camera.

But it was three days of activism, bliss, and fun. Now, back to regular work life I go...

Chicago

I'm traveling to Chicago tomorrow night. This will most likely be my last post before departure.

Not only will I get to meet with activist Marianne Wood (and sing some Dixie Chicks songs together), but I also expect to visit the peace activists in Grant Park, as they lay out empty boots to symbolize the war dead in Iraq.

Blogging in Chicago will be limited due to my lack of a laptop. I can forget about uploading pictures until after I return. However, my hotel will have a business center, so at least I will be able to post a few times.

I hope this trip will be as special as my trips to Seattle and Vancouver last year.

And speaking of Chicago

Chicago beat out Los Angeles to represent the US in its 2016 bid to host the Summer Olympic Games.

Congratulations, and good luck. You'll really need it, considering all the ill-will that the US has gathered with W's foreign policy. On the other hand, if Moscow '80, Seoul '88, and Beijing '08 could host the Summer Olympics, anything can happen...

Newest Travel Plans

I have just confirmed reservations for a Memorial Day Weekend in the Chicago area.

Why Chicago?

I am planning on meeting a few activists; I am trying to include Ellen Beth Gill, whose blog I read often, and Marianne Wood, to discuss the ins and outs of living in an affluent, Republican congressional district - just like my own. At least Gill and Wood had a strong Democratic challenger last year to vote for - I didn't have one, not even a weak one.

I also want to spend a few days in a city that becomes temporary home for my novel protagonist Sarah, as she trains to become a flight attendant for United Airlines. Of course, my flights are on United (despite its racial profiling as of late).

Chicago is also a city rich in civic life and culture, contrary to what former Chicagoan Donald Rumsfeld says (leading another former Chicagoan, my writing mentor Gayle Brandeis, to protest loudly on her blog). I want a slice of that culture; my only previous visit to Chicago, ten years ago, took all of six hours, and that doesn't do the place justice.

I hope this trip will rejuvenate me like my trips to Seattle and Vancouver (and multiple San Francisco visits) last year.