exploring
On Friday, Marnie and I had a lovely walk through Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
You may recall that I did a cemetery walk shortly before I left New York, touring a historic cemetery that I had once lived near, but never visited. I also enjoyed Marnie's post about her Mt. Pleasant visit, so this seemed like a good fit.
Mt. Pleasant is an absolutely beautiful park. Like many old manicured cemeteries, it also serves as an arboretum and sculpture garden. There were incredible old trees in blazing fall colors, and an immense weeping willow that had us gaping. Many famous people are buried in Mt. Pleasant, among them Mackenzie King (whose grave we noticed early on), Frederick Banting and Charles Best, the discovers of insulin, Jennie Smillie-Robinson, Canada's first female surgeon, and pianist Glenn Gould.
We paid our respects to victims of a 1970 plane crash, and got choked up in the children's garden. Is there anything sadder than seeing a grave with a cradle and little toys pictured on it? On the other side of the spectrum, we scoffed at the miniature Greek temples that the scions of Canadian business and industry had built to house their remains, complete with stained glass and Persian rugs. There are some nice photos of the cemetery here.
After we had lunch on Yonge Street, I had my first GO train screw-up. It was bound to happen, but it left us with at least an hour to kill. Note to self: don't just "remember" the train schedule. Write. It. Down.
Fortunately, Marnie had a great idea for a nearby time-killer: we visited CBC headquarters. There's a little museum, where you can hear snippets of famous CBC broadcasts, plus a screening room where there's always something on. And what was on as we wandered in? James, take note: The Frantics! My first exposure to the legend. As this Canadian comedy troupe has been mentioned dozens of times on wmtc, we were all kinds of pleased at the serendipity. (James, I still haven't seen those cows yet, but we didn't have time!)
We had to hightail it back to Union Station in order to get the second half of my GO train screw-up and wait yet another half-hour. I wouldn't care at all, I was having a great day, but I'm overly concerned with Buster's needs, as he's still taking a small dose of prednisone.
Other than the infrequency of service, I really like the GO trains. They are clean, comfortable, reliable (so far) and the trip from Port Credit is wonderfully short. So far the Toronto subway has been good, too - clean, fairly frequent and self-explanatory. At the risk of exposing my inner New York snob, it's a tiny system compared to the MTA, so very easy to manage.
You may recall that I did a cemetery walk shortly before I left New York, touring a historic cemetery that I had once lived near, but never visited. I also enjoyed Marnie's post about her Mt. Pleasant visit, so this seemed like a good fit.
Mt. Pleasant is an absolutely beautiful park. Like many old manicured cemeteries, it also serves as an arboretum and sculpture garden. There were incredible old trees in blazing fall colors, and an immense weeping willow that had us gaping. Many famous people are buried in Mt. Pleasant, among them Mackenzie King (whose grave we noticed early on), Frederick Banting and Charles Best, the discovers of insulin, Jennie Smillie-Robinson, Canada's first female surgeon, and pianist Glenn Gould.
We paid our respects to victims of a 1970 plane crash, and got choked up in the children's garden. Is there anything sadder than seeing a grave with a cradle and little toys pictured on it? On the other side of the spectrum, we scoffed at the miniature Greek temples that the scions of Canadian business and industry had built to house their remains, complete with stained glass and Persian rugs. There are some nice photos of the cemetery here.
After we had lunch on Yonge Street, I had my first GO train screw-up. It was bound to happen, but it left us with at least an hour to kill. Note to self: don't just "remember" the train schedule. Write. It. Down.
Fortunately, Marnie had a great idea for a nearby time-killer: we visited CBC headquarters. There's a little museum, where you can hear snippets of famous CBC broadcasts, plus a screening room where there's always something on. And what was on as we wandered in? James, take note: The Frantics! My first exposure to the legend. As this Canadian comedy troupe has been mentioned dozens of times on wmtc, we were all kinds of pleased at the serendipity. (James, I still haven't seen those cows yet, but we didn't have time!)
We had to hightail it back to Union Station in order to get the second half of my GO train screw-up and wait yet another half-hour. I wouldn't care at all, I was having a great day, but I'm overly concerned with Buster's needs, as he's still taking a small dose of prednisone.
Other than the infrequency of service, I really like the GO trains. They are clean, comfortable, reliable (so far) and the trip from Port Credit is wonderfully short. So far the Toronto subway has been good, too - clean, fairly frequent and self-explanatory. At the risk of exposing my inner New York snob, it's a tiny system compared to the MTA, so very easy to manage.
On Friday, Marnie and I had a lovely walk through Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
ReplyDeleteYou may have seen my uncle in there. He died five years ago of a heart attack, at 56.
On the other side of the spectrum, we scoffed at the miniature Greek temples that the scions of Canadian business and industry had built to house their remains
I gather you saw the Eaton mausoleum, then. :)
James, take note: The Frantics! My first exposure to the legend.
I hope you enjoyed it!
James, I still haven't seen those cows yet, but we didn't have time!
Lori & I want to take you on some tours of our own sometime; we'll work the cows in. You weren't far from them -- about 10 mins walk from the CBC building.
At the risk of exposing my inner New York snob, it's a tiny system compared to the MTA
No snobism there, it is tiny. Toronto is one of the most under-serviced cities of its size in the world where subways are concerned. Even ignoring NYC, compare Boston or Washington -- Toronto ought to have many more lines, including one to the airport!
If you changed GO so that it ran as frequently as subways and hooked directly into the subway lines, you'd be getting close. But much of Scarborough or North York are not properly accessible by subway.
Ah, good times, although we must have missed James' uncle for some reason.
ReplyDeleteThat Boldts site is always a good source for photos. I remember stopping to look at that little-girl statue, and of course the prime ministerial grave.
It's too bad we didn't have time to watch more of the Frantics. "A Man Encouraging a Shrub" was funny, but the other bits ... well ...
Ah, good times, although we must have missed James' uncle for some reason.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a very prominent marker compared to some there.
Mt. Pleasant is a favourite spot of mine for cycling. When I want to take the long way home from work, I head up through the parks to Eglinton at the Allan, then down the Belt Line, through Mt. Pleasant, and down Moore Park Ravine.
Other than the infrequency of service, I really like the GO trains. They are clean, comfortable, reliable (so far)
ReplyDeleteWhat about taking a bus to Islington subway station? A lot of Missasauga buses connect to the TTC there, although it's probably less convenient then the GO Train.
I haven't tried any of the Mississauga buses yet, although there seem to be tons of them. I figure if I'm gonna take a bus, I might as well drive.
ReplyDelete