Labour Day in Toronto

Labour Day is a lot different in Canada than in the United States, and it's not just due to the spelling. I had a busy day today, and it started off with a 2 hour parade! As an unexpected bonus, parking at the subway parking lot was free today due to the holiday, even though it is a Monday!

I bought an all-day transit pass because I knew I'd be going a lot of places today.

-- Labour Day Parade --

When I heard there was going to be a parade, I wondered what kind of floats I would see. But it ended up being a different type of parade. Keeping with the "Labour Day" theme, the parade was a solid two hours of Canadian labor union members walking and carrying flags! The photos below show a small sampling of the participants.

I told you there were a lot of unions, and that was only some of them! I saw two hours worth! One of the unions, ATU 113, was celebrating its 125th anniversary! It sounds like the Canadian workers unionized earlier workers in the United States.

While I was watching the parade and taking photos, another lady with a fancy camera was doing the same, and we got talking. She is a freelance photographer who specializes in photographing labor issues, rallies, and demonstrations. She is originally from China, but has lived in toronto for many years. She has photographs in galleries and museums. She was also interested in politics, and we discussed the U.S. presidential canddates. That's not generally what I like to discuss, but she is not the first Canadian to ask me about it. 😐

-- Canadian Air Show--

After the parade, I took public transportation to Coronation Park, on the shore of Lake Ontario, to watch the Canadian Air Show, along with other people in the park.

-- Toronto Buskerfest for Epilepsy --

Ater the Canadian air show, I took a street car to Woodbine Park to attend the buskerfest, with admission proceeds going towards supporting Epilepsy. I liked the stickers reminding us that people with epilepsy are regular people, and to see them as people and not as a disease.

According to wikipedia, a buskerfest is "a traveling festival of buskers -- street performers".  On the streetcar ride to the buskerfest, I sat next to a couple and their son who were all wearing "Stage Hand Union" shirts. I asked them if they were in the parade, and they said yes. I told you there are all kinds of unions!

The stage hands work at different theaters, helping with the performances. They were headed home from the parade. They told me they use public transportation to commute to work, wherever the venue happens to be. It was fun talking with them. They also told about the beach at the far end of the park, and the sand volleyball courts. I hadn't looked on the map, and didn't realize how close the park was to Lake Ontario.

They told me Lake Ontario never completely freezes in the middle, but the sides freeze, and if a storm breaks up the ice, it can get pushed up onto the banks. If chunks pile on top of each other then they can get pretty high and it can be dangerous. It is hard to think about frozen lakes and ice when the temperature has been so nice while I have been here. Today the highs were in the upper 60s, and it was warmer a few days ago.

Some of the acts at the buskerfest involved throwing flaming torches or using rings of fire as hula hoops. I wasn't really hungry, but I had a Philippino chicken kabob had some fresh pineapple juice while I listened to a guitar player.

Children were rolling around in plastic balls, and there were lots of booths.

-- Woodbine Beach --

Since the stage hands on the bus told me about the nearby beach, of course I had to check it out. There were lots of sand volleyball courts and people hanging out by the water. It was a yellow flag day. The family I met on the streetcar told me the city checks the water quality twice a day, and puts up an appropriate flag. A blue flag indicates the best quality.

I wasn't really dressed for the beach, but I had to at least get my feet wet!

-- Toronto Jazzfest --

My last stop for the day was the Toronto Jazzfest at Mel Lastman Square. Had I known the jazzfest was going all weekend, I would have attended some of the performances on Friday and Saturday. I had a great time! Tonight's performers were the Matthew O'Halloran Quintet, and they were really good!

Today was a full day, and I had a lot of fun. I could get used to living in Toronto. It is a nice city. It does have a lot of people, though. The good mass transit system helps, but it seemed like wherever I wanted to go was at least 50 minutes away by subway, streetcar, or bus.

 

Church, Toronto Waterfront, Kensington Market, Toronto Botanical Gardens

-- Church --

I enjoyed church this morning. I went to the Etobicoke Ward meetings. Etobicoke is the name of the town where I have been staying.

I liked the diversity at church. There were people from India, China, Sudan, and Philippines, among others.  Toronto is much more ethnically and culturally diverse than Rocklin, California.

The first Sunday of every month we have a Fast and Tesimony meeting at church. Members fast for a day, donating the money not spent on food to help the poor, and then there is  an open microphone at church, and people can bear their testimonies about Christ and experiences that have strengthened their faith.

Several people who have recently joined the church spoke and participated in the meeting. It was refreshing to hear their views and hear them pray. One speaker compared explaining faith to a toothache. You can't really prove to others that you have a toothache, yet you feel it. The same with faith, you can have experiences that build your faith, but you can't really prove it to others.

A man with a scientific background said people ask him how he can be a highly educated  scientist and believe in God. He talked about how his son picked up a seed and asked him how it can grow leaves. Although he can explain the biology, there really is a miracle involved in how it all happens.

Another person talked about going up in a balloon, and how much more you can see when you are higher up and not blocked by the things around us. He compared that to things spiritual... when we take time to be still and reach toward God and positive things, and not get caught up the daily matters, we get a higher perspective and a clearer vision of what  is really important in life.

Anyway, that's enough about church.  It was good.

-- Toronto Waterfront --

After church, I was looking on Google maps and was surprised how close I was to the waterfront, so I decided to drive to a park on the shore of Lake Ontario. The map was deceptive, though! The city blocks are long, and they don't all show up on the map, so I was farther from the park than I thought!

When I turned off the main road onto a narrow road through the park, traffic was backed up. Someone towing  a boat was backing up and causing a bottleneck. I had already passed a full parking lot, so I was ready to just turn around and do something else with the day.

There wasn't really room to turn around on the road, but someone in front of me turned into a gated yacht club. I tailgated behind them, thinking I would turn around in their parking lot and leave. I drove a little ways looking for another exit.

The man turned around and followed me, and rolled down his window and  asked if I was lost and looking for a parking space. He noticed my California plates and said  his  son lives in San Francisco. I explained that I had been looking for a place to park, but since it was so crowded I was just going to leave.

He told me to follow him and he would let me park in the yacht club parking lot! He gave me his business card, told me where to exit to the park, and when I was ready to come back for my car, told me to just ring the buzzer and tell them his name. He said it would be like  magic words...  like open sesame...  and they'd let me in!

That was very generous and nice of him! I've met a lot of nice people on this trip.

The views of Toronto and Laket Ontario were nice from the park. I climbed on some of the rocks along the shore and sat, watching the boats and swans, and looking at the Toronto skyline. 

As I looked at the glistening reflections on the water, it reminded me of former President George H W Bush who used to talke about a million points of light. He spoke in regards to acts of charity, but these truly were points of light on the water!

A lot of people were picnicing and playing nearby.

It was relaxing to hang out in the park. As I walked back to my car, I saw more of the fan-shapred flowers and balls of seeds I had noticed on the trail iat Hopeton Earthworks, near Chillicothe, Ohio... I guess the plants are  actually weeds, because there were a lot of them growing wild on the side of the path!

There were a couple more places I wanted to visit today, and the subway would be the best way to get around. So I went back to my familiar subway parking lot, bought another 2-trip transit pass, and got on the subway. 

-- Kensington Market--

I downloaded the "My TTC" app onto my cell phone to help me maneuver the Toronto public transit system. The app told me what combination of subway stops, buses, and streetcars I needed to take to get me to a desired desination. It is quite a handy app, and even tells how many minutes you need to wait to catch your next ride! I needed to take subway line 2 and then bus 510B to get to Kensington Market.

The subway took me downtown, and then I transferred to the bus. When you enter the subway/bus/streetcar infrastructure, you have unlimited transfers if you stay within the system. I transferred to the bus at a subway station, so I was still in the system. Once you leave the system, and want to get back on a bus or subway, if  you bought a per-ride ticket then you have a 2 hour window of free transfers from the time you first used your per-ride ticket. If you have a daily or monthly ticket, you have unlimited transfers for that time period.

I got to Kensington Market, which is a neighborhood in old Toronto that has restaurants and shops. There were a lot of other people enjoying the area.

I found a vegan Egyptian restaurant that had falafel pitas with hummus and  beet tahini. The owner is Egyptian and was very friendly. He waited on me at the counter, and recommended the falafel. That sounded good, and it was! The pita bread was toasted and good, but it drowned out some of the other flavors. If there is a next time, I'll get the falafel bowl instead of the pita.

The tile tables and tiles on the walls were very colorful. The restaurant had a good vibe.

By the time I ate and wandered around the area, my 2 hour transfer window had  expired, as expected, so I used my second trip ticket for the next leg of my journey. I wanted to visit the Toronto Botanical Gardens, and figured two hours would give me enough time to get to the gardens, walk around an enjoy them, then catch a bus within the two hour window.

-- Toronto Botanical Gardens --

I got to the gardens and enjoyed walking around.

 A lady mentioned the garden had her favorite type of cherry. I didn't catch the name, but they are pictured below. Some of them were ripe and we tried them. They were slightly tart, but delicate tasting.

I still had time on my 2 hour transfer window to catch the bus and subway back to my car, but I had to transfer between two buses before getting to the subway. The "My TTC" app tells you  where to transfer, and what direction, but if you get mixed up on north/south/east/west, you might stand at the bus stop on the wrong corner. There are signs with bus numbers, but you also need to go the right direction.

I got off the first bus, but at first was standing on the wrong corner for the second bus, so I missed it! Unfortunately, by the time the next bus arrived my 2 hour transfer period had expired! I explained it to the driver, and she let me get on anyway. When the bus arrived at the subway station, I was able to transfer back to the subway and get back to my car.

That was at least the second act of generosity I received today. The first was by the yacht owner who let me park in the yacht club parking lot, and this second was the bus rider who let me get on even though my transfer had expired. Others helped me get to the right corner and catch the right bus for my transfer.

I guess they were all fulfilling President Bush's million points of light! Like I have said, I have met a lot of nice people on this trip!