Observing without hiding or peeping
Due to the recent creation of sex-related blogs that have similar names as my clean blog, therefore I have taken some defensive actions to protect my name from being associated with the "dark" side.
I will post pics from my short return trip to Vancouver in December 2006 and the field trip to the Junction area in Toronto between Dundas West, Bloor, and Dupont a little later during my semester break, for I am having a hard time catching up with my work.
Stay Tuned!
It has been a month before I updated my blog on the 3rd of January, for I was too sleepy after stuffing too much turkey and having too much drinks during the holidays. But I still have some pics to upload when I was strolling in Downtown Toronto and snapping pics along the way. With the exception of a detour to the Distillery District and Moss Park, the route was pretty much north along Yonge St. between Front St. and Bloor St. and west along Bloor from Yonge to somewhere between Dundas St. West and Keele St. I guess I covered more than 10km on foot in a pair of leather shoes.
When you get the angles right, any building can instantly become the "Tower of Power!"
I believe most people have taken a pic at the famous arc inside BCE Place during their visits to Toronto. But this is my first time seeing it decked in Christmas lighting.
It's pretty obvious for planners to place a medium-sized grocery store within a community, as I have mentioned for quite a few times that people do not always have the time to go to the park but they always reserve time for grocery shopping. Having a grocery store livens the streetlife (just take a look at the Dominion store at Bloor near Spadina).
Yes it is proper for the City of Toronto to provide a safe environment for the little children, but not everyone who enjoys David Crombie Park are pedophiles! No wonder the park is deserted during these times.
A form of resistance to the media status quo can be seen in this picture, as some independent outlets just couldn't face the onslaught from global media giants or they are purchased outright by the same group of people with money in their hands.
If I came to the Distillery District a little earlier, I would have taken the same picture under better lighting.
This is my best shot of the entrance to the Distillery District. I shook on the rest of them as soon as I turned off flash.
I didn't know this is a high school for the artistically gifted until my friend Lauralyn told me about the place and its strict rules during an ENVS 5121 field trip.
We have some pretty unique architecture right here on a quiet street in Corktown, a former haven for Irish immigrants in the early days. Now gentrification is almost complete.
A pretty cool graffiti along King St. East, though I do not know what it says on the wall.
Pic taken in front of an architectural firm along King St. East within the boundaries of Corktown.
This pic could be featured on a Toronto tourist postcard. Before these billboards were placed a few years ago, Toronto is referred to as the "Small Apple," which is obviously symbolizing the relationship with New York. Following the footsteps of Times Square, Piccadilly Circus in London, Tokyo, and along Nathan and Hennessey Roads in Hong Kong, cities around the world are constructing billboard plazas to reflect the glamour and vibrancy a city offers (the ones in Tokyo are in Japanese rather than in English).
The facade of this building on the northeastern corner of Yonge and Dundas St. should be covered with billboard advertisements as authorities in Nathan Phillips Square wanted the best of Times Square (the ads) and Piccadilly Circus (like the space with the Eros fountain, a large public square that is... ahem ... not highly public).
A night scene along Bloor between Spadina and Bathurst, also known as the Annex, with lots of restaurants and pubs catering to the hungry students at University of Toronto nearby.
A Christmastime symbol of entry to Koreatown on Bloor between Christie and Bathurst.
"I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus... in a bridal outfit!" - Pic taken in front of bridal shop near Bloor and Ossington (? - I couldn't remember)
After a lengthy walk along Bloor St. from Yonge St. to somewhere between Dundas St. West and Keele St. (a little west of Bloor GO Station), my legs forced me to take the subway back to St. George Station, where a gathering between planning students of Toronto, York, and Ryerson took place nearby.
During my Christmas break back in Vancouver (Port Coquitlam to be exact), I have noticed the presence of new buses decked in the colours of grey, black, blue, and yellow, in contrast to the existing ones which are mostly white in colour. Also citizens in Downtown Vancouver got a sneak peek at the next-gen trolley buses servicing mostly on routes 5 (Robson) and 6 (Davie), which are highly popular with tourists.
There were a few things I have noticed when I was in these new buses:
1. Most of them run on compressed natural gas, though some of them still run on diesel (which drew TransLink -- the transportation authority responsible for all municipalities in the Greater Vancouver Regional District-- a lot of criticism).
2. Since only the Port Coquitlam bus depot has natural gas pumps and related maintenance facilities present (someone please correct me if this is not the case), most of the new buses therefore ran along major routes in the Northeast Sector, New Westminster, and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows (though the small fleet of new diesel buses are serving other areas such as Burnaby and Richmond).
3. The seats are not as comfortable as the ones on previous generation buses, though they offer better back support. The steel based seats however do provide cleaners a faster solution in removing the large amounts of graffiti, which I admit is a huge problem (at least compared to buses operated by the Toronto Transit Commission).
4. The new trolley buses (pictured above) seemed to offer more standing space compared to older-generation trolleys. Good to see TransLink in finally addressing the needs of the disabled by introducing low-floor replacements to the current ones that are over 20 years old. Also the trolley poles on the new buses are apparently less likely to fall off. Scenes like the pic to the left are not funny to bus operators, passengers, pedestrians, and motorists (as both buses blocked the intersection of Howe and Robson during one afternoon rush hour).
Someone might have said what I said earlier, but oh well...
On architecture: "People should not love a building because of its aesthestics. People should love a building because of the wonderful experiences and the limitless possibilities of being inside it."
