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| Photo: Marriott.com.cn |
We didn't have to check out of the hotel until noon, but were were ready to roll at about 9am, in anticipation of the young 'uns coming up early. It was a good plan, except that they didn't show, and were both still in bed at 9am. We dawdled about and they eventually turned up at about 1030hrs. It was pouring with rain, too, so they were instructed not to go to Tim's for breakfast.
It was busy in the hotel's lobby, lots of people were checking out, but there were also a lot of people in for the Blue Jays' afternoon game at 3pm. We ordered the car, and waited.
We'd decided to drop Emma and Charlie off at Exhibition GO Transit station so that Charlie could get a last ride on the train before we went home. They were to catch the train to Aldershot, which is right beside Highway 403 and our route home, and I knew that there was a pickup area there where we could meet them. That was all fine in theory, but for a couple of slight issues.
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| The Gardiner, closed. Photo: ctvnews.ca |
Firstly, the Gardiner Expressway, the highway on stilts through the downtown core, was closed for the weekend. That much I knew, but what I didn't know was that the Exhibition Centre was hosting a massive volleyball tournament for school-age children and everywhere around the Centre was gridlocked. The road to the station was closed off, and it took us an age to creep around the exhibition halls to get close enough to drop them off for the station. Every one of the Centre's parking lots was full, and with the Gardiner closed, Lakeshore Boulevard was at a standstill.
We did drop them off, although not as close to the station as we'd have liked. They missed the train they were going for, but that worked for us because it took us for ever to break free of the traffic jams caused by the Gardiner and the volleyball. Indeed, our Satnav routed us on to Queens Street West, where we'd been the day before, and we crawled slowly westwards with the trams until we got to the part where the Gardiner wasn't closed, and then onto the QEW. The QEW was slow, but we made use of the HOV lane again, and arrived at Aldershot about twenty minutes before the kids. I have to say that I'm never a comfortable user of the HOV lanes in Toronto. People drive far too fast at the best of times, and given a "go faster" lane, the speed merchants want to go even faster, this despite the 100kph limit. I'm OK driving at speed, just not all that happy about being bullied into collecting a speeding ticket. We were OK this wet Saturday because the speed was generally around 110-120kph, not fast enough to catch the attention of the cops, but on other days, 130kph seems to be the minimum in the HOV lane, and I'm not collecting a fine and demerit points because the knob ends in Toronto think the roads are race tracks.
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| Photo: Google Maps and urbantoronto.ca |
When they did arrive at Aldershot, we hit the 403 again and made for the rest area just outside Brantford, to fill up on our last junk food of the trip. I had a Tim Hortons Turkey Bacon Club Sandwich, which I think was missing the bacon (I'd finished it before I noticed). It didn't matter because it was nice as it was, and just right for brunch.
The rest of the trip home was uneventful, thankfully, and free of the rain that plagued Toronto. Travelling west on the 401 on a Saturday was pretty easy, the truck traffic was light and there were not too many people hoping to collect Stunt Driving charges, as there often is during the week. Charlie was pretty good until we insisted on a pee stop at Dutton, and he didn't want to go, but other than that he'd been in excellent fettle for the entire trip.
Back home it was unpacking time, a horrible chore, but it has to be done. I put off firing up the washing machine, because laundry can always wait for another day.
The trip, then, was quite successful. Emma saw Dave. Charlie travelled the TTC and GO, and we grown-ups were able to see Toronto's harbourfront for the first time. I was a bit shocked as to how much everything costs in the big city, and while it wasn't that we didn't have the money, I did resent shelling out such vast sums of cash for stuff that was never going to be value for money.
I was reminded on the trip that Toronto is just a massive collection of cars and roads, with traffic lights at every corner of every block, and a long wait before it's safe for pedestrians to cross the road. With the Presto Card, fares of the TTC and Go Transit were quite reasonable, but those transit systems are quite limited, as we found out trying to get to Old Toronto. Walking's OK but the street crossings, the noise, and the pollution make it less than attractive. I suppose we could have used taxis, there were plenty about, but that would have been yet another layer of cost.
The hotel was OK, it's location was excellent, but the cost not so good. I know I sound like a grumpy old man, but when the cost of a weekend in Toronto far outstrips what you'd pay in New York (and yes, we could drive there), it kind of takes the gloss off things.
Anyway, that's us done with travelling for a while, at least until this oil crisis thing is sorted. Until then, it's back to gardening, assuming that the rain lets up.
