I have so much to show you from our little day trip to T.O. that I can't possibly do it all in one post. So today I'll show you the sights, and tomorrow I'll have a post more focused on the shopping that I did. Oh the vintage-y goodness, you would not believe!
Anyhow, today here are some of the interesting things we saw. We spent almost all of our time on Queen Street. How I love Queen Street. We started out on Queen East, in Leslieville. There were lots of great design/interiors shops. So many great things to see. I miss city life. I forget how smacked up against all the rest of humanity you are in the city. This house is a great case in point.
You can try to create your private space all you want, but you can kind of never forget that your neighbors are just a few feet away from you. And whether you like it or not, their choices affect you. You can tell that the owner on the left is quite house proud, and did some lovely reno/maintenance, with the gingerbread trim and bright clean brick. Not so much the people on the right. I can just imagine what they think of each other.
And I love some good graffiti. You just do NOT see good graffiti where I live now. Oh sure, there is paint sprayed on walls, but there is no pride. The tags don't have any style at all, and the closest you get to imagery is crudely drawn phalluses.
We had a quick look into a pawn shop, at Hubs' request. I'm not a big pawn shop fan. I find them depressing (all those desperately sold off dreams) and sadly lacking in good junk or fun kitsch. Look at this whole row of tools; BOoooriiiiing. But then I noticed something else. See that clock.
Yep. That's Winnie the Pooh enjoying a ciggy. Nice.
Had late lunch at a sweet little diner. By the time we were done we had the place to ourselves.
This is the 'sign' on a storefront on Queen Street West. I lived in T.O. aaaaages ago, when we first got married, and this storefront was there then too. And oddly enough, I have no idea what kind of store this is. The windows are blacked out, and it was locked when I tried to get in this time. Maybe its a bar? I dunno. If there are any Torontonians reading this who DO know what this place is, I'd love to know.
And just to show that there is some nature is the city, look at these lovely little seed pod plants we found. We have the same ones at home, but I don't know what they are called. Its funny, I go on a lot about missing the city, but then when we were there I was totally looking for signs of the country, seeking out the green.
And BAM! There it is. Green aplenty. It just grows vertically instead of horizontally.