Days prior to my trip down to Toronto I had my route planned and Google maps printed out as well as my mom’s GPS to guide me.
I found out that morning thanks to a facebook post by my mom that NUMEROUS roads were closed due to the Queen being in town as well as the Shriners parade.
These roads of course consisted of many of the roads I had planned to travel on my way to the Eaton Center. So all my planning was out the window. My mom told me the easiest way was for me to park at Yorkdale and take the subway. Easy for her to say. I wasn’t keen at being in large crowds and even less so about being in a small subway car with them. But with no other option that’s what I did.
My trip to Yorkdale mall was uneventful. The most interesting thing about Yorkdale was the parking. They had electronic ticker signs that told you how many parking spots that were available in each section and they constantly updated almost every other second.
My biggest question, is how did it know? Was there someone somewhere pushing buttons when someone parked or moved out? Were there sensors under the parking spots?
I found my way to the overpass to the subway, paid my fare and waited on the platform for the subway to come. All the time trying not to concentrate on the bizarre things flying through my head. Is someone going to try and mug me? What if I fall on the tracks? Will I have enough time to get on before the doors close?
My mom gave me specific instructions on where to exit underground to ensure that I came up to street level on the right corner. Of course after all the excitement of the subway ride I completely forgot which staircase I was suppose to take. I ended up coming up at Dundas Square. After walking up the steps I was suddenly in awe how the buildings were so tall and there were huge billboards everywhere. I might as well had “Tourist” stamped on my forehead, because my jaw was on the ground and I’m sure very obvious I wasn’t from nearby. It’s not like I haven’t seen tall buildings but it had been years since I had been around so many. It was more the extent of the billboards that caught me off guard. I didn’t take a picture for fear of labelling myself as a tourist even more.
As I was trying to figure out which direction I needed to cross the road I noticed a something I had never seen before.
I believe it was called “Pedestrian Priority Crossing”, but I could be wrong since I didn’t catch the sign in the picture. After each traffic direction had its turn the lights all turned red and the crossings all showed walk with an audible signal. This allowed people from any corner to walk across in any direction. Notice the people in the photo walking diagonally through the intersection.
It was 42 degrees Celsius in Toronto that day. Very hot for a “northerner” like me. It wasn’t going to stop me, a huge book lover, from walking the block over to the…
Worlds Biggest Bookstore, a branch of Chapters-Indigo and located at 20 Edward St. It was indeed huge.
This is as far as you can see in one direction.
This is as far as you can see in the other direction. This was also only the first floor. There was another floor and mezzanine area as well.
After I finished looking around the bookstore, I headed back to 
Here’s the close up view.
It was time to head up to the 25th floor where my appointment for my Biometrics was. Apparently booking an “appointment” time merely means an appointment to take a number. I ended up waiting about half an hour or more for my turn.
The fingerprints were taking by pressing my fingers to a machine with similar to a scanner. I pressed the fingers from one hand then the other, then both thumbs together firmly to the glass and the computer captured the image. The attendant wiped the glass plate between each capture. I then had a “facial scan” which seemed identical to taking a picture, but I guess they can call it whatever they want.
The delay at the visa office put me slightly behind schedule to get to Pearson International Airport to pick up my friend and her 2 year old. So I hurried back to navigate the subway system to get back to my car.
I got on the southbound subway to get to Eaton Center so it would make sense to get on the Northbound subway… 
Except as you see from the map. I got on the southbound subway from Yorkdale, went around the bottom loop and got off at Dundas. So going northbound from Dundas is the wrong way. I didn’t figure that out until after I had gotten on the (very crowded) northbound subway though. Once I heard "next station – College”, I knew something was wrong. So I got off and got on the southbound subway. Lucky for me the southbound subway was much much less crowded and therefore more comfortable for me.
I finally made it back to my car in the Yorkdale mall parking and made it to the airport not too far behind schedule. I picked up my friend and her cute little girl and started the 5 hour drive back home. It was uneventful and I made it back by 2130. Only 12.5 hours after leaving that morning.
At Dundas Square, it's called "the scramble". There's one a Yonge & Bloor too.
ReplyDelete@Anon - I'm assuming you are talking about the all-way crosswalk. That's good to know. Ironically after posting about how interesting it was to see and different than what I am used to, it's the normal here in Scotland. Almost every light has it.
ReplyDelete