So I'm gonna finish the Canadian portion of the way overdue trip recap now. Thank Jebus.
Day Five - Toronto
This was the day I was most looking forward to - when we booked our hotel, we also managed to purchase two tickets to the Hockey Hall of Fame for this day in advance. I was stoked beyond belief. I had been to the HHOF briefly in 1999. Two friends and I did a spur of the moment road trip to Toronto that summer to see two Lilith Fair concerts - the originals, not the lame lineup that was this summer's incarnation. We stayed at a hostel, and we didn't really have anytime for sightseeing as we got there the day before the first concert and left the morning after the second. Still, I was insistent on going to the HHOF. My friends had zero interest, so they ended up dropping me off the morning we left while they got breakfast. So I had an hour or so to see the place, which wasn't nearly enough. The adventure really started though on the trip home - my friend's car completely died an hour out of Toronto. It was a clunker and the transmission blew, so the nice mechanic towed the car for free in turn for the deed - there was no way the car was making it back to the states. So we hastily emptied out the contents of the car in addition to our luggage and made it home to Chicago via 1) a ride from a nice customer to the local train station 2) a train to Windsor 3) a nice couple near us heard our predicament and drove us across the border to Detroit - mind you this was before 9/11. 4) after discovering the last Amtrax train had already left for Chicago for the day, we ended up taking a Greyhound bus home, getting in around midnight. The Detroit Greyhound station is not an enjoyable place to be. This whole situation was made even more fun by the fact that I had not showered that morning in my haste to get to the HHOF (because I was going to be in a car for the day, right?) and I had my dinner out of a vending machine. So needless to say, I was expecting my HHOF experience the second time around to much more rewarding. It did not disappoint.
After what became our regular routine of going to the Tim Hortons by the hotel for breakfast (I miss you chocolate/banana Timbits!), we took the subway to the HHOF. The Great Hall is actually a former Bank of Montreal built in 1885 - a beautiful building. But to actually get in the HHOF, you have to go to the lower level of Brookfield Place next door which is an office building/retail skyscraper. No matter, the entrance of the Hall displays two of my favorite things - a wall of pucks, and a sampling of an assortment of famous hockey masks.
For brevity's sake, I'll just mention the highlights. I took a lot of pictures, mostly focused on any Blackhawks displays (duh). My Flickr set gives a pretty good overview of what I liked. It was the perfect time to go as there was a lot of Hawks stuff seeing as they are the champs. I quite enjoyed wearing my Hawks Stanley Cup Champions shirt there amidst the Leafs and Bruins fans (the Red Sox were in town to play the Blue Jays - more on that later). Yeah, I was smug - so sue me. In the "Hartland Molson Theatre" they had a short film chronicling the history of the Stanley Cup which was kinda cheesy - they reenacted late 1800s pond hockey, complete with players with large mustaches. The bonus came at the end with the highlights of the Hawks/Flyers finals. I cried again at the Cup raising - don't tell anyone. Amy made fun of me, she sucks sometimes. Outside the theatre they had a nice display of memorabilia from the finals as you can see above.
After skipping the replica Canadiens locker room (Amy insisted on taking a picture in it - heathen!), we headed to the room that had a lot of kids activities like shooting the puck against a computer goalie - alas I was too old and too fat to participate. They had a cool display of hockey memorabilia like cards, cereal boxes and a Bobby Orr pinball machine. Orr was decked in his Blackhawks gear, I guess in honor of all 20 or so odd games he played for the Hawks before he retired. Of course the highlight was the Great Hall with its beautiful stained glass dome, and the glass plaques of all of the HHOF members. The Stanley Cup was there available to take pictures with in all of it's replica-ness (I declined). I spent more time looking at the other trophies (Conn Smythe, Norris & Campbell Bowl FTW!), and the original Stanley Cup Bowl and the bands that no longer fit on it.
My only complaint about the HHOF was the inundation with "Canada Won Gold!" everywhere. I guess since we were in Toronto it's to be expected, but they took like a third of the World Hockey exhibit touting the double gold in Vancouver. I saw nary a mention of the 1980 USA win over the Soviets - a monumental event for all of world hockey, not just the US. You could also touch the Gold Medal winning puck scored by Crosby. Like it's the fucking Holy Grail. The only way I would touch it is to give it the finger. Yeah, I'm still bitter! But besides for that, I loved the HHOF, and escaped only having bought two pucks (a Sabres & HHOF) and a cute little Blackhawks goalie key chain. And I also got to see the best piece of NHL merchandising (see above). Pimpin' ain't easy North Stars bitches!
After a bite to eat at the St Lawrence Market (I ate an Eggplant Parmigiana sandwich as big as my head), we headed back to the hotel for a short rest. Amy had read that the Art Gallery of Ontario was free that evening, so we took a walk over. Unfortunately only the first two floors were open on free night, so none of modern art we would have liked to have seen was available to view. A lot of Canadian art was - Canadians like to paint trees like Monet like to paint haystacks (I fucking hate haystacks). The building did have a recent redesign by Frank Gehry, so it was worth it to see the cool architectural features. If I had paid I would have been pissed off though.
We walked further to Chinatown to eat at a dumpling restaurant a friend had highly recommended. It was so tasty - the dumplings and buns were made to order. I'm drooling just thinking about it. On their checks, they had little Murphy's Laws printed on them for amusement. We got the above one - I had to laugh. After a long wait for a streetcar (but it was a *streetcar*) we headed back to the hotel and passed out. This was a pattern at the end of the nights on the trip.
Day Six - Toronto
In my infinite wisdom, I had seen the night before that it was supposed to rain, so I thought a good plan would be to watch the Jays/BoSox game at the
The CN Tower is a tourist trap, no doubt about it - especially considering it cost $50 just to get the two of us up there. But it does offer an astounding view of the Greater Toronto area, and coming from a city known for its skyscrapers, I always appreciate that. It was slightly hazy, or we might have been able to see Niagara Falls from it. We did spend about an hour up there. They have an outdoor deck (which was very windy) and a glass floor which was cool but a tad freaky considering I have a slight fear of heights. I'm glad I went, but probably wouldn't go again, unless it was at night. Of course we left right as the Jays game finished because I have such impeccable timing. Back to the hotel we went for another short afternoon rest.
I'm sure some are wondering what the hell the above is - it's Poutine! For the uninitiated, Poutine is a Canadian dish (from Quebec specifically) made with fries, gravy and cheese curds. I had made a point to taste it for the first time while I was on Canadian soil, so we decided it was a good idea for dinner. I had the traditional, while Amy had one made with veggie gravy, but you could also get all kinds of crazy things to go on it like BBQ pork and nacho toppings. Since they didn't offer Tums to go with it, I stuck with just 3 ingredients. It was very tasty (probably tastes best after midnight when drunk) but heavy. Why we decided to walk over a mile afterward to the Harbourfront I'll never know, but I felt like I had just ate a bowling ball while walking.
I am glad we took the time to walk despite our bloated-ness, as we spent a nice evening on the shore of Lake Ontario. It was a nice, cool night so we watched the sun set, enjoyed the LED lights on the CN Tower and people watched. Gee, that sounds like an eHarmony ad. It was a nice, quiet time to reflect on the trip on our last night in Toronto. On the way back to the subway, we stopped briefly to gawk at the Air Canada Centre, where we held a moment of pity for the poor, woeful Maple Leafs. I honestly would never be this snarky had the Hawks not won the Cup last season.
Well I had intended to finish off the recap tonight, but the football game was distracting and this was long enough as it is. I'll be surprised if anyone made it this far. If you did, have a cookie. Don't worry, there's only a day and a half left to chronicle for the ages!
Wow. The HHOF looks awesome (and kind of like a church). Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the poutine :P
ReplyDeleteI love streetcars! Riding them was the highlight of my trip to New Orleans.