Went into the city on our own to see the sites we’ve never had an opportunity to see before. We drove from Cambridge to the GO Train and into the city.

On the top of the list was the CN Tower some 1,800+ feet (550 meters+) off the deck.

Needless to say, Barb was not thrilled at standing next to the window. We got the tickets all the way to the top.

The area was once a railway hub. They have preserved the essence of the area and have partially re-developed one of the bays in the railway turntable…

…into a brewery. It just doesn’t get any more Canadian than that…

Next was the  ferry over to Toronto Island. For years I have wondered about how it was possible to have an island within 15 minutes by ferry of downtown that hadn’t been  completely over run by developers. 

The only semblance of modernity is the airport…once there it takes you back to a time without cars and has this amusement park vibe of decades back…

Stress seemed to drop away the ferry drew closer to the island. We wandered around the island for several hours before returning to the city.

It was a magical experience. Being this close to a major metropolitan center yet completely insulated. It was like Lewis Carroll had created this unique place and told no one.

Further research provided the purely Canadian answer…If you’re not a relative or current owner it’s nominally  35-45 years to become a resident…First you go on a list, but the list only holds 500 people…So first you’ve got to get on that list, then as properties come up…it’s offered to the first person on that list, if they decline on to the next one on the list. So-on and so-on. On average 1-2 properties come up every couple of years. Note, you only get a long term lease, the trust that administers the island reminds me of the leasehold “Trusts” in Hawaii. One glaring difference tho…Toronto manages it for the benefit of the people who live on the island, Hawaiian land trust manage it to extract as much cash as they can…from everyone for *their* benefit.

Once the ferry delivered us back to the mainland we headed uptown.

Dissent is alive and well in the city. For those digiti-cognisenti, the former host of the very popular CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) program “The Q”, Jian Ghomeshi (a world class Misogynist) who had been fired from the program and subsequently charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking…

…was released without prison upon signing a peace bond which does not include an admission of guilt on the day on the day were in the city. This was left on the steps of the old court house when it was announced…

Headed back down to the GO train we went through this plaza, very cool.

Before we headed back we decided upon Italian for dinner.

Great ending before heading back…

An hour on the train, and 35 minutes in the hamster ball we were back in Cambridge.