Toronto's Amenities

I previously wrote that Toronto, being a large city, has the amenities one associates with big cities.

Well, one of Toronto's amenities the second largest film festival in the world, the Toronto International Film Festival, which was happening last weekend. Huge coverage in this country and even some recognition in the U.S. A Really Big Deal.

Except not in most of the city. Which goes to show how big Toronto is. (Yes, I know: duh.) Our hotel was less expensive than similar places elsewhere in southern Ontario, so the rates weren't jacked for TIFF. The streets weren't particularly clogged with stars and stargazers, at least that I could tell. TIFF was just one thing happening, and to most people who live there, it happened in someone else's neighbourhood.

Which brings me to the inevitable Life Lesson. Toronto, and I'll extrapolate this to include other big cities, are just lots of neighbourhoods strung together. People live in these little
neighbo(u)rhoods. They go to diners for breakfast, shop for doggy treats, take kids to the park, gossip with the people next door.

And okay, sometimes they do stupid and criminal stuff, like get drunk and beat up a loved one. And sometimes they do weird stuff that authorities have a hard time figuring out, like this guy.

In any case, I enjoyed my brief stay. I will go back and do the tourist things, and there will be parts of the city I will like less than the parts I saw this time. But seen from the perspective of a sorta-adult instead of an easily intimidated, snarling teenager, the Big City was interesting and stimulating. I anticipate spending more time there throughout the coming years, and enjoying that, too.

Though I will say that navigating most of the length of the 401 (ranging from 10 to 16 lanes wide) for a driver with left/right issues at about 4 on a Friday afternoon wasn't something I would relish doing regularly.

Speaking of food (always), one thing I noticed was the ubiquity of fast-food-esque sushi places. Apparently some are icky, while others are yummy. (Seriously: we saw Ikki Sushi and Yumei Sushi.)

But still. Where I live now is my capital-H home. So although I may resist being Erica, I identify completely with Dorothy. No place like it.