Car XxX Blog

The sheer scale of many civil projects, like bridges and buildings, tend to make many objects art installations and not merely functional creations. Toronto's own space needle, otherwise known as the CN Tower, really makes the Toronto skyline. I look for the CN Tower as I come down from the Niagara Escarpment and feel comfortable knowing where Toronto is. The Gardiner Expressway is like that. One of my favourite views is down near the Air Canada Centre (above).
It brings thousands of people into and out of the City, day in and day out - except for maintenance or accidents, and it's raised presence has annoyed many people, but as I have said before, the highway is a lot smaller than the wall of condos that Toronto has built along the shores of Lake Ontario.
Part of the Gardiner along the far eastern reaches of Lakeshore Boulevard have a series of vertical supports left in place as an X marks the spot tribute and art installation of the Gardiner. One day it will be too expensive to maintain and too expensive to replace (or put underground) and it will come down, and that time won't be that far in the future. On that day we will miss it when it worked and how it looked when it worked.
In the downtown core the east and westbound lanes are separated by a small wall of vertical green fins. When you come in from the west you approach a wall of cranes as they construct new buildings which of course include many more condos. It's time to get your down payment ready and get a condo of your own, I think interest rates on mortgages are still low, low, low!

The inner harbour of Toronto is a busy place in summer and really sleepy in winter. Lake Ontario's ice cover is almost done and precious few chunks remain so the late spring weather will see the return of pleasure boats and harbour tour ships. A large freighter remains tied at the dock off Cherry Street as the sun sets to the west of Toronto.

There is no big party in Toronto this year. The WWF-Canada event held in Younge-Dundas Square and Nathan Phillips Square has gone the way of the dodo bird. Instead you are supposed to reduce electrical demand for Earth Hour which runs from 8:30pm to 9:30pm on Saturday, March 26, 2011. Panda's are a big part of the WWF and the Earth Hour celebrations.

The WWF says "It will continue to be a call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. A call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the global journey to a sustainable future." I think you are supposed to not wear underwear and then turn off your lights. Whatever feels good and saves the environment - the Panda doesn't judge.

Continuing my night time photographic excursion I end up along the Gardiner Expressway and later walked around the Exhibition grounds. The bridge reconstruction work has created large piles of excavated materials that overlook the highway. I climbed one of the little mountains - alone with no Sherpas, and set up my tripod looking towards the downtown core. The long exposure creates rivers of light flowing through the city on the divided highway which brings traffic into Toronto along the edge of Lake Ontario.

In the CNE grounds the wind turbine spins and turns the world with it's power. I hate it when it stops spinning and the world lurches to a stop. I wanted to take a shot of this structure ever since I saw a shot my brother had taken.

I was out at night checking the sights around Sunnyside Park and the Bathing Pavilion. The edges of the beach still had hunks of ice gathered along the beach. Surprisingly there were no one in bathing suits taking a dip (you can check out some previous Polar Bear Dips on these posts - 2010, 2011). The large pool looks like it has finally been rebuilt and should be ready for this years swim season.

A far away view of the City of Toronto from Hamilton Harbour looking over Lake Ontario to the most recognizable Canadian landmark. The hazy skyline seems unreal and ghost like.

When you build a fancy new hotel and condominium sometimes you forget how to put it together so sometimes you have to leave big pink post-its to remind yourself of the next step. The 65-storey Shangri-La luxury hotel and condos goes up on University Avenue. The hotel is on the bottom 17 floors and the condos take over the upper floors.

The City's skyline stands tall above the waters of Lake Ontario, but there is not much colour in the view. Most of the dominant colours are the blue, green and concrete grey.

 I think the skyline should be more like a Rubiks Cube mixture of colours. Here is a little more grey from the airshow (CIAS) down at the lake front.

Well, people make a city and Torontonians make the best city in the world, but it takes a lot of glass and concrete to house all the people. I am glad we have a mix of old and new buildings and that many buildings have character, colour and interesting designs. Wikipedia has a great list of the tallest buildings in Toronto and I think my favourite of the skyscrapers is the Royal Bank Plaza, it's bold and gold baby.

Another great building is the CN Tower, it becomes a focal point of so many Toronto skyline pictures and I think it is a simple yet functional space needle, it pretty much almost pokes the moon.

Bright gold sunsets. Tranquil sun as it sinks below the horizon. Sunsets and cute dogs. Just what we need to remind us that life can be so good.
I learned today of something cool in Burlington - they do a 5k charity Santa Jingle Run in December. Similar to the Toronto Santa Speedo Run, without the Speedos, with everyone dressed like Santa Claus. They had almost 3,000 Santas for the Burlington run - wow. Both are great ideas but the Santa Jingle Run idea is a lot less scary for the participants - you can even add a pillow for greater realism. And in a Speedo you freeze your ass off - which reminds me of something else - the annual Toronto Polar Bear Dip. When you just can't be cold enough, go for a New Years Day dunk in the Harbour.

There are many places to take in the beauty of Toronto's skyline but one of the best is the view from Broadview Avenue overlooking Riverdale Park and the Don Valley.

The skyline is more concentrated than the east to west view from the waterfront so you get to see that great big area of high rise buildings and Toronto's own CN Tower poking out of the group.

Now that the Toronto Islands are no longer big chunks of ice it's almost time to visit the chain of former Scarborough Bluffs erosion debris and which is now a great destination for sports and entertainment. Here are the Bluffs just waiting for their turn to swim west and join the fun of the islands.



Although you have to take a ferry boat to get to the islands (routes to Hanlan's, Centre and Ward's Islands) you can also bring your bikes or roller blades to get around on the extensive bike paths.



Enjoy the many beaches (swim buck naked at Hanlan's Point clothing optional beach), picnic areas or spend some time in the island world Centreville Amusement Park on Centre Island or the small and free Far Enough Farm petting zoo.

Don't forget to turn around and look back at the City and it's fabulous skyline.