Walking Toronto and Placebo

It's been a very long day and I didn't sleep well last night. I struggled to get to sleep then kept waking up. I probably got enough sleep but it was so fractured that I still felt tired when I decided to get up. There was a huge selection of cererals and bagels for breakfast so I filled up then took things at a steady pace before heading out.

 I was aiming to start my day by finding a tourist information centre. At least one of those on the map didn't exist and I couldn't find the other. Both were a fair distance from the hostel in the Downtown area and I did get a little warm as although it was a very grey day it was quite humid and drizzling occasionally. I walked down to the CN Tower and the Toronto Railway Museum. I'd been up the tower before and didn't want to go around the museum but did take a look at the trains they had on show outside. I wandered down to the harbour through loads of construction. It seems they're building lots and lots in preparation for Toronto's hosting of the Pan Am games in 2015 (I'm sure there was lots of construction too when I was here before). I made my way along the waterside through the Music Garden and watched a couple of planes land at Toronto City Airport which is located out on an island.

 From there I walked up to Queen Street, check out the Rock and Roll exhibit at the small Analogue Gallery then did some window shopping on my way to visit the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. After browsing their exhibitions I walked and then walked a whole lot more all the way along Queen Street through the Parkside neighbourhood. It started to look less desirable as I walked further west so at the end of Queen Street I looped around on King Street and started walking back east. I cut back up onto Queen Street as I wanted to browse some of the shops on the other side on the road from that I'd walked to get to the museum earlier. I took a street north to walk through Little Italy then back to the hostel via a grocery store and one of the greengrocers in Kensington Market. I got back to the hostel about 5pm and immediately cooked and I neeeded to fill up again after so much walking.

I didn't have long before I had to be out again as it was going to take about an hour to get from the hostel to the Sound Academy in the south east of the city for the Placebo concert. I got a tram east then a bus south and managed to find the venue easily which is very out of the way. The gig was great with a good support act then Placebo working through a mix of new and old tunes. The place was properly alive towards the end of their set when they played 'Special K' then 'The Bitter End'. During the latter I got sucked into the small mosh pit and bumped around a bit being spat out closer to the front. I had the same bus driver coming back (he recognised me) and the journey was easy. I'm hot and sweaty but very pleased I went and expect I'll sleep a lot more soundly tonight.

Toronto skyline from the hostel rooftop garden

 

Toronto Railway Museum

Placebo, Sound Academy