Saturday
This was a day of chores and errands with some relaxation thrown in.
Finally fruits and vegetables are a decent price! This huge broccoli was only $1.39.
For dinner we had beef Asian wraps, our go to favourite these days.
Sunday
We headed out to Midland, about two hours north of Toronto to see their murals, 39 in all! Plus the largest, outdoor, historical mural in North America.
Thanks to
Violet Sky for the tip about the murals!
We had a delicious lunch, ahi tuna for me and a chicken Greek salad for John.
A selfie with this HUGE trumpeter swan. Trumpeter Swan sculpture by MIchael Taylor honours the work done by the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre and other conversationalists who reintroduced the threatened species to Georgian Bay. The sculpture has a wingspan of 25'.
Oh, yes, THAT mural!
This mural measures 80 ft high and 250 ft wide and is the largest outdoor historical mural in North America. It displays Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons as it would look like in the 1640's.
With the abundance of local produce we had corn on the cob for dinner.
Monday
My birthday and a significant one at that. I snapped a few pictures on my way to get a haircut.
I met John with plans to go to Canyon Creek (Canadian chain) for lunch. Not a fan of chains, but they do a mean prime rib. Seated, and server informs us that they didn't get their beef delivery so no prime cut of any kind, no steaks not even a beef stew. Well, we left shaking our heads!
We decided on an old favourite owned by Michael Bonacini, who I have mentioned here before as he also owns Canoe where we usually celebrate birthdays. But it was a nice day and his grill was perfect as we could sit outside as we finally had a REAL summer day.
The view of new and old across from the restaurant.
This plaque was outside the office tower that the restaurant is in. It seems there was a hotel on this spot called the American Hotel.
Inside the restaurant the walls are lined with white books (wallpaper).
We both had steak frites which was great.
Then we walked over to the two buildings I had blogged about last for John to see them.
After that big lunch we had a light supper of salad.
Tuesday
John headed out to an appointment and I walked from Union Station to University to track down some sculptures and buildings.
MaRS Discovery District is a not-for-profit corporation founded in Toronto in 2000. Its stated goal is to commercialize publicly funded medical research and other technologies with the help of local private enterprises and as such is a public-private partnership.
The Heritage Building (formerly a wing of the Toronto General Hospital),
Taken from University St. looking south, the Shangri La Hotel, CN Tower and Canada Life building.
The bus terminal has been given a facelift.
I happened upon this Henry Moore Three Way Piece #1 Points in the Northern Ontario building.
Dinner was chicken divan (had to use that broccoli) however, I made my own cream of chicken sauce rather than buy Campbell's.
I had an appointment in the Davisville and Yonge area, so I stopped to get a Presto card. John had gotten his yesterday.
PRESTO is an electronic payment system that eliminates the need for tickets, tokens, passes and cash. PRESTO works across local transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and Ottawa, making paying for your trip simple, convenient and secure.
Since I was early and had read that there was a sculpture park in the area I set out to find it to little avail. I did find some pieces.
Like this bright orange something or other, I'm still researching it.
And peppers appeared on my hot pepper plant!
Dinner was chili and Greek salad.
Thursday
I met a friend for lunch and she suggested Ninki in Scotiabank Tower.
It was perfect, I even told John I am taking him there soon!
We both had a bento box that was a huge value for the price.
It began with also came with miso soup, which I don't care for. We also both selected the chicken and it was incredibly moist and crispy!
bento box A $15
shrimp, imitation crab, vegetable tempura, 3 dumplings, steamed rice & 6 pieces california roll AND choice of: chicken, salmon, beef or pork
My photo isn't great.
I met John and we had planned to go to the Distillery District but we waited and waited on a bus and decided to just stay downtown.
So we found some more brains in Brookfield Place and Bay Adelaide Centre.
Brookfield Place is absolutely stunning for photographs.
The Clarkson Gordon Building, also known as the Heritage Building, is a distinct part of the Brookfield Place complex. The property's façade was disassembled stone-by-stone, restored and reconstructed in order to be incorporated as part of the Allen Lambert Galleria.
Downtown is packed with tourists. Caribana is on this weekend.
The National Bar Association was holding its national and its first international convention here.
And the National Bar Association was taking advantage of Caribana and hosting their own party on August 2nd at the Royal York Hotel.
The National Bar Association is the nation's oldest and largest national association of predominantly African-American lawyers, judges educators and law students.
From there we decided to have a drink in the Library Bar in the Royal York Hotel, always on our to-do list, now done.
This may become a regular stop as we only have to cross the street to get our bus home!
Dinner was leftover chili and salad.
Friday
The morning was spent cleaning and running errands, planning to go the the Distillery District (which we didn't get to yesterday) for lunch. Nope, the skies opened up.
And so the day continued, rainy. We decided to hop on the bus and go downtown for some groceries and a housewarming gift for a friend.
We wandered around the stores before coming back home.
BOOKS
I had started
The Good Sister set in contemporary Mexico expecting an interesting read. I persevered but eventually gave up. I loved the descriptions of Mexico City and Mazatlan, places dear to my heart. Everyone raved about the book on Goodreads, but it just couldn't get to me.
I started
The Torment of Others and am enjoying it as I have read a lot of Val Mc Dermid and have always enjoyed her books.
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