Day 1 - Saturday: Rain, not really fun to be outside to take notes and photos. In the morning we first met with our old friend Bruce, the "city historian" and a very knowledgeable Torontonian, in the St. Lawrence Market, situated in Old Town. This is the core of Toronto, here the city was founded in 1793 as "York". The market in its historic building (see pic) is gorgeous and mouth-watering and offers a huge variety of produce from fish, meat and sausages to fruits and veggies, baking goods and dried goods. It's not one of these popular fancy markets with cafés and champagne bars and such, but an authentic, permanent produce market. Saturdays, in addition, the local farmers come in to sell their produce in a separate building, home-baked produce, juices, veggies and fruit, maple syrup and apple cider.
After a bite in the market ("peameal bacon on a bun" - a local speciality) on to Queen West and West Queen West, esp. the latter one of the fanciest neighborhoods in town, with shops, cafés, restaurants and galeries lining up.
Kensington Market, next stop, appears sort of "hippie", colorful and a little weird. Retro and vintage shops, vegan/vegetarian shops/restaurants, murals and some strange people are characteristic. But, we noticed that more and more chic cafés and restaurants are gobbling up the old mexican grocery stores and authenticshops in the neighborhood.
In contrast, adjacent Chinatown has stayed the same, a bit shabby, not touristic at all, hectic and lots of hustling and bustling.
By streetcaar - warming up a little - on to Union Station, the historic railroad station built in the Beaux-Arts style 1915-20 (renovation still in progress, pic shows Grand Hall). Adjacent is the Financial District with the Hockey Hall of Fame in Brookfield Place, a building designed by famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava (see pic). Toronto is one of the fastest growing cities in North America and allegedly 500 new citizens a day move to Toronto permanently. Highrises and condos are springing up like mushrooms, it's crazy to watch over the course of time. Architecture not necessarily is highly attractive, rather monotonous, and we were wondering what the future will bring.
At 4 pm we had an arranged tour at the Steam Whistle Brewery in the old Roundhouse, used for steam locomotives in the past. Founded in 2004 it's one of the older microbreweries in town. They have a czech brewmaster and only brew one kind of beer: Pilsener, but that's a really good one! The brewery grew considerably since we've been there first time and is very popular, though they don't have a real pub or so. Tours are great, given by actors or want-to-be-actors, and tastings are generous.
Back to the hotel at around 7 pm with some bread and cheeses from the market for dinner. Almost 10 hours on our feet and tired.
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