Birds in the water, ball under the walkway

When seagulls aren't dive bombing you and trying to steal your food they often chill in the water, thinking of ways to steal more food off you. These birds are in the pond at Nathan Phillips Square.

The Square is in a little bit of a mess as construction continues on the makeover. Even the Peace Garden is being stripped down.

The approach of Fall means that soon the pond will be emptied and made ready for ice skating.

I remember when Redball visited Toronto in 2009 and was squeezed under the elevated walkway. The big red ball was here during Luminato and you can see more of it around Toronto on my posts here.

Toronto Roller Derby Semi Finals Coming

Update: See pictures of semi-final game #2 on my post here.

Sadly the end of the Toronto Roller Derby 2010 season is fast approaching - semi final #1 is on October 2nd, #2 is on the 23rd and the championship game is November 13th. You know what's better than watching a regular roller derby match? Watching the hot skaters in the finals!

The games take place in the Downsview Park Hanger which is a perfect place for flat track roller derby. You can get something to drink, soak up the warm ups, rock to the music and watch the girls huddle together in a hot, sweaty mass then explode into action at the sound of a whistle. You can view more of my pictures of the game featured on this post at this link.

Top 20 in 2010

These are the top twenty posts or labels as viewed by visitors to the Toronto Grand Prix Tourist Blog so far in 2010. I would have a lot more traffic if those beautiful Bud Girls did more stuff around Toronto!

1.  World Naked Bike Ride Toronto 2010 (see picture after the jump)
2.  pretty girls
3.  The girls of Honda Indy Toronto
4.  Hamilton Fireworks
5.  Cynthia Mulligan reporting for CityTV
6.  Ms CHIN Bikini 2010
7.  Honda Indy Toronto 2010 coming in July
8.  Bud Pit Girl Pageant
9.  The girls of Honda Indy Toronto - part two
10. Honda Indy Toronto location
11. Anne Mroczkowski - Update: Laid off from CityTV
12. Larysa Harapyn
13. Where oh where is Larysa Harapyn oh where oh where can she be?
14. Friday the 13th - Port Dover Motorcycle Rally
15. Jacked Photo - Anne Mroczkowski
16. Toronto Roller Derby: Real Women, Real Hits
17. Upcoming Cavalcade of Lights
18. Toronto Roller Derby 2010 Season Opener
19. Performance World Custom Car & Truck Show
20. Spring Motorcycle Show

Niagara Falls: Trip to the States

It is always fun to make the trip into the United States (don't forget your passport) and I have made the trip a few times this year. During the last holiday long weekend I had the chance to go into Niagara Falls, New York. The border was jammed as a few other people had the same idea and we waited and and a half hours to cross. We headed for the famous Fashion Outlet centre and found the large complex so busy we had to park next door and make the journey to the mall over hill and dale. It was so busy that we didn't end up buying very much - did you see the lineup for purses at the Coach store?

What I always find funny, in both the U.S. and in Quebec, is the alcohol that is sold almost everywhere. I think if you go into a Toys R Us you would probably find toy beer in the aisles.

Coming back we made like tourists and visited the American side of Niagara Falls. You can get great views of the mist of the falling water, walk on the partial sight seeing bridge and wander the edge of the river. The Maid of the Mist Fleet are always packed with tourists in blue rain suits shuttling back from the docks to the base of Horseshoe Falls.

Roy Thomson Hall

I must admit that I have never gone into Roy Thomson Hall. There has just never been a concert or event that I wanted to go to that was held at the Hall. The location is prime and it is just a stone's throw from the new Bell Lightbox, home of TIFF, and they had a gigantic red carpet set up for the Toronto Film Festival.

Passing by one afternoon I got to see part of the lineup ready for patrons to wait in, and circle, as they attend a movie premier - they would have to wind down long aisles protected by plush, red velvet ropes, until they finally reached the entrance to the Hall and the hallowed popcorn counter.

The building itself looks like a large space ship that took a fancy to our city and landed smack dab in the middle of a bunch of skyscrapers. No alien was at home giving those nasty probes, but security was tight for protection of  movie stars. By the way the 35th annual TIFF party ends today. You can see what the photographers had to go through for the event at the Lines of Sight blog. The Toronto Star has a lot of photos of the many celebrities that came for the Festival. Sarah Silverman and Clint Eastwood are two stars that I wish I had seen wandering around Toronto.

While waiting to take this very picture I was joined by authors of the website Toronto.ca who were hitting up people as they looked to market and discuss their website. I foolishly confused it with Toronto.com and thought that I hadn't visited it - yet I now realize that this official City of Toronto website is where I often go to see the festival and events scheduled in Toronto. I said that I tended to visit BlogTO (which seems to be a website about poutine), Torontoist.com (I love the G20 stuff, even when their readers complain) and Toronto Mike (he sees a lot of dead people).

2010 Dodge Rodeo

Cowboys and cowgirls competed at the 2010 Dodge Rodeo Championships over the weekend at Hershey Centre and sales of A535 were probably through the roof. These guys rode broncos and bulls, roped calves and even wrestled the young cows. The bulls are gigantic and long trails of snot fly from their faces as they try to throw the cowboy off their back. Even when the rider stays on for the required period they still have to get off the animal and there doesn't seem to be any easy way without jumping off and hoping to land on your feet.

Roping the calves included single rider events where you tried to rope the calf's head and team roping where one rider roped the head and the other rider had to rope the back legs. Many of the calves were able to escape without being roped.

Competitions also included barrel racing and obstacle races.



Fly Fishing

There are many people that are passionate about fishing, whether from the shore, on a boat or actually in the water doing some fly fishing. With the changing colours of the fall season it is a beautiful time to get out and enjoy the scenery of Southern Ontario and catch some supper. I don't really have the patience for fishing but it is interesting to watch fly fishermen work their magic with the long fishing lines. This guy has the bright neon, floating line and you can see it from long distances. You can pick up your fly fishing gear at Wilson's.

Toronto has the famous annual summer Great Ontario Salmon Derby and you can win some fantastic prizes if you are lucky enough to catch some big salmon.

CNE and the Fall Fair season

When you think of Toronto's CNE you think end of summer and the kids going back to school - I also think it starts the fair season around Ontario. In small town Acton our Fall Fair started last night and will continue till Sunday. Bright lights, fast rides, pretty girls (these are the Miss Acton winners) and deep fried whatevers make for a fun weekend. Do you want to go faster - I can't hear you! Long exposure pictures blur the thousands of individual light bulbs and produce a spinning blaze of colour.

See more pictures after the jump.

Rainy day in paradise

Huge clouds of steam rise from the bowels of hell and fill the air around Bay Street. There can be no other logical explanation for the billowing, white clouds. People disappeared as they walked close to the source of the steam, like a Bay Street Bermuda Triangle. 

In other news, it was rainy and I saw a lot of umbrellas and some of the people could be movie stars here for the Toronto International Film Festival.

A stroll along Queen Street West

The Queen Street West stroll takes in an area with lots of character and it is always fun walking along and seeing the different stores and their sometimes funny advertising (who can forget the camel toe window), ever present graffiti and the occasional chair to relax your weary bones.

At the John Fluevog shoe store you can finally realize that it isn't them, it is you - you're weird.

While not on Queen Street West you can catch a glimpse of the OCAD art school on stilts. The Ontario College of Art and Design building reminds me of the alien space craft in the Tom Cruise movie War of the Worlds. Big alien tentacles will reach down, pick you up and deposit you in an art class.

TIFF - World's Biggest Movie Screen

The popularity and clout of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) continues to expand every year. Helicopters fly high over the city looking for crowds that have gathered to see the stars of the world descend on Hollywood North. Special sniffer dogs check out theatres for any crawly insects but none were to be found and festivals in other parts of the world were crushed with the all clear verdict. Green eco friendly taxis shuttle movie stars from the airport to the various TIFF venues. Lineups at red carpet events start to fill up early with people hoping to catch a glimpse and take photos of celebrities.

Often criticized for being too eletist and too successful (TIFF responded by saying "Part of Bailey's mandate has been to expand the festival so it appeals to a greater demographic. He rejects the criticism that TIFF has become an “elitist” institution."), the crowds make it difficult to get tickets and into the movies that make up the festival, so organizers have created the World's biggest outdoor movie screen on one of Toronto's iconic landmarks - the Royal York Hotel on Front Street. Their plan was to bring some of the premiers out of the Bell Lightbox (pictured at top) and show the movies to the masses. However recent labour problems and strike walkouts, which include operators of the massive movie projector, have put the brakes to the plan. Martin Sheen even joined the protest for a short period to show his solidarity with the workers at the luxury hotel.

I have created a mock up of the screen showing the premier of Rainn Wilson's new movie "The Crimson Bolt" to show what the movie premier could have been.

NCTS at Barrie Speedway

The Nascar Canadian Tire Series race - the Wild Wings 300, was held at Barrie Speedway and it was a good day for racing. The main event was a night race and the brakes of the stock cars became so hot as they entered the corners that they glowed a deep red (Scott Steckly leads JR Fitzpatrick above). 

The racetrack is up Highway 400 and onto Highway 11 just north of Barrie. Turning off 11 I thought that this race was going to be huge. Parking lots full of cars, traffic guys directing traffic, there were a lot of people in this area. It turns out that a large hunk of the crowd were there for the 40th annual fall auto flea market, but a lot did stay for the race which had a large turnout. Here I am on the track following the driver autograph session.

Barrie Speedway is a small oval race track with not a lot of straight runs available. You hit the corners and when you come out of the corner you have to get setup for the next one. It is tight and with a large field of high speed vehicles you are just waiting for trouble. So there were a number of contacts and turn arounds (there were eight cautions in the race, JR Fitzpatrick takes a little detour, below, while Jeff Lapcevich goes by and Kerry Micks of the 02 car seems to be missing a few parts) during the race and it is always funny to see mangled race cars stripped of broken parts and exposed engines running the race.

The race day starts early in the afternoon with a one hour practice (Jason White of the 21 car, below, is sponsored by A&W and the team always gives out free A&W Root Beers) and later a two lap qualifying run which determines a car's start position. A short time later the cars are lined up on the track and the fans are allowed onto the track to get autographed photos from the Nascar drivers.

DJ Kennington (#17) and Don Thomson Jr (#4) battled it out and finished so close at the last lap as they finished side by side with a 0.015 second difference. The rest of the top five were Pete Shepherd III (#7), Scott Steckly (#22) and JR Fitzpatrick (#84).

See more coverage of the race after the jump.

Pigeons

Yeah, a bunch of pigeons. You can tell they are in the business section because it looks like they are having a meeting - probably a safety meeting. Or maybe they are talking about the increase in interest rates or maybe even talking about all the celebrities coming to town for TIFF.

Walk a mile in her shoes 2010 coming

The annual International walk to end violence against women brings it's big, red high heels into Toronto on Thursday, September 30th, 2010. The WalkAMileToronto.org event will be held at Yonge-Dundas Square at the end of the month from 12pm to 2pm and is presented by the White Ribbon Campaign. Two great guys were greeting people first thing in the morning at Union Station. They were giving out cards with information on the Walk, later I found them out walking, or really just starting to limp, along Queen Street West. It has to be tough in those things if you are not used to high heels. The Bay had a red carpet out on the sidewalk so it made a great setting for pictures.

Men can not only bring attention to the issue of men's violence against women but by taking part in the Walk they can show very visible public support for ending violence against women.

You can see pictures of the 2009 walk preparations on my post here.

Metro Play

The free daily Metro newspaper has launched Metro Play which is a small, free publication full of games, comics and stories. To promote the launch of Play they had a young team of skip rope performers on Bay Street showing some great moves between twin skipping ropes which were flying through the air. They were doing acrobatic throws and flips as they continued skipping.

United we stand

We can always make our community better, give to the United Way.

HMCS Fredericton - warship in Toronto

The ship of the line HMCS Fredericton is touring the Great Lakes and stopping along the way to let people board and explore the Canadian warship. The ship took part in an exercise during the Airshow and was open to the public on the Holiday Monday. Rather than shots of all the missiles I thought I would show the signal light which looks pretty cool. I also liked the bumpers that they put out alongside the ship, they remind me of World War II mines.

The Fredericton is heading to the City of Hamilton and will tie up beside the HMCS Haida (which was moved from Toronto to Hamilton a few years ago) and, have you heard this story - it's pretty amazing, they sent divers ahead of the Hamilton visit to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was at the dock site. Instead of a bomb or other damaging materials hidden underwater they find a pickup truck! With a body inside the truck, from the start of the year!!!!!!!

Toronto International Air Show

The crappy weather continued into the holiday Monday and it certainly put a damper on the 2010 Toronto International Airshow. I watched the show from the Islands again this year and was surprised at the low turnout of boats surrounding the event and people along the beach. I was hiding from the rain (and cold!) and didn't get many good pics of the planes. The smoke of this plane blends in with the haze and low cloud cover that haunted Toronto most of the day.

The Snowbirds fly by (below) while the two jets pictured at the top are hitting the road and looking for the sun.

The crowd and the enthusiasm may have been reduced because everyone was at the wild ass party at Young and Dundas during the Brazilian Day festivities. The hips were rocking as one of the busiest events I have seen filled the square and Young Street in the downtown core. I don't know if they were doing the forbidden dance but it sure was hot and I was very disappointed that I didn't see one tiny, little thong (or dental floss) in the crowd - come on Brazil.

Legends of the Guardians

There were some actors promoting the upcoming Legend of the Guardians movie down at Queens Quay. The movie is about owls and battles and other exciting stuff and I am not sure if they actually have human soldiers in the film. The 3D movie is coming out September 24th. They were in an alcove trying to avoid the rain that never wanted to stop.

Freshly Froshed

Students at some schools, including Toronto’s Ryerson University, started Froshing early and soon the other Universities will join the Froshing festivities. Ryerson’s orientation started on August 30^th and will wrap up this Friday, September 3^rd. I haven’t seen any purple guys running around town yet so I must have missed them. The school did capture a world record doing a mass beatboxing competition (http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/beating-a-record/#clip343391).

My son starts next week at Guelph University so I hope everyone has a fun year and gets good marks.