Toronto+2005

For the impatient: Pictures

This is the account of a little adventure taken around Toronto in July of 2005.

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It started with my family; we wanted to see our old neighborhood. On the way, Dad pointed out the street where he pounded the snow-covered pavement for kilometers on end in search of gainful employment. Mom pointed out where the magnitude of the distances between bus stops and our home that she would regularly walk carrying groceries while fighting blizzards. The crazy thing is that they weren't exaggerating.

In any case, we reached our family's first home in Markham, Ontario. 34 Manston Crescent. In the front yard, the same trees that Dad had planted almost a quarter century ago, had grown to be twenty-five feet tall (7.62m). When lived their, the street ended at hour house and open fields lay beyond. Today, the neighborhood has grown well beyond its borders. The school I attended for a few brief weeks of second grade still stood and having just celebrated its own 20th birthday.

A short drive later we arrvied at the Catholic daycare center I attended for two grand years. Since it was already 630pm (1830h), we didn't expect it to be open, but we knocked just in case. We were greeted by a slightly confused Sister and began to explain what we were doing there. I say began because thirty seconds later another Sister turned the corner and we all froze. It was Sister Suzana! I recognized her immediately, she hadn't changed a bit and when my parents told her our names she almost went into shock! She was able to remember everything. She kept saying that I had the same face. Then came Sister Wilma and Sister Anna who had also taken care of me way, way back in the day. Sister Suzana had to go to Mass, but Sisters Wilma and Anna gave us a tour of a place that I knew all to well. It was astonishingly weird to see this place with new and larger eyes. All the benches, hexagonal tabels, and the little cubby holes where I used to hang my insulted transformers lunchbox all made me feel ... big. It turns out that I was part of the first couple of classes that Sister Wilma had ever taught and so that is one of the reasons that she remembers me so well. I was really grateful to see them all and to thank them for taking care of me :-)

Across the street stood Milikin Mills Public School, where I attended a bit of Kindergarten before being promoted to the ranks of first grade. At the time, the building looked to be a giant monstrosity; today it seems not-so monstrous. Again, I was reminded of how much I had grown.

We then went over to Monkey Uncle and Hansa Autine's house. I met Arju for the first time, as an adult. I had met his older brother when we visited Phoenix last year, so now the circle is complete :-P From there, our fearless leader, Jigar came to lead Shivani and me on the next part of the adventure: Downtown Toronto.

First stop, a veggie dog stand at the base of the CN Tower. An interesting meal, but I was hungry so I wasn't picky. Jigar said that this was the equivalent of a Pizzookie and that they would hunt down these vendors for late night meals. Next we ran to Eaton Centre (notice the spelling) where we bolted through a handful of stores buying stuff faster than I had ever bought before.

We gunned it over to the CN Tower for, what would become everybody's first trip to the top at night. Although the tower is no longer the tallest structure in the world, its secondary observation platform is the highest inhabitable portion of any terrestrial man-made structure. It should be noted that Deb, of Napoleon Dynamite, operated the elevator unto this pinnacle of tourist spots.

Back on the regular platform we (read: I) took an inordinate number of pictures. The panoramic views of the nigh-scene were quite tasty and the glass floor of the primary observation deck was delightfully vertigo-inducing. We watched films of the unbelievable feats accomplished such as racing up the 180 stories in 8 earth-minutes (about 3 stairs a second) and the stuntman who let himself fall all the way down the stairs. We also harassed the bartender for some water and finally went to the revolving restaurant. There, the three of us held a small contest. Who could remain standing longest with one foot on the stable part of the floor and the other on the rotating floor? My experience with the "Warrior One" yoga posture ensured that I won. From the restaurant we hurtled back down the tower at 15mph and hopped in the car.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself :-) I owe you Jigar