A Slide-Show Report: Even without a con, Toronto can still be SFnal
By Daniel P. Dern: I don’t think I’ve been to Toronto since the 2003 WorldCon (not counting catching the VIA Rail Trans-Canada to Vancouver, a decade ago) — a lot more tall buildings there or going up! — but even without a con happening, Toronto still has its SF moments (and things of interest to SF fans)…as this photo essay from late April shows.
1: Toronto, One Floor Up!
From Billy Bishop Airport, Toronto is only a short ferry ride or tunnel walk away. From the latter, is this an elevator — or a portal? What would be on the next level up — or down?
2: Oh Cone-ada! A geo-local Ben & Jerry’s flavor.
3: Yesterday Was Monday — Thanks to the many historic facades fronting newer Toronto buildings, it often felt like we were walking through scenes from Theodore Sturgeon’s 1941 story “Yesterday Was Monday.”
4: This bar is clearly ready for Star Wars Day.
5, 6: No nearby open coffee shop? Streetside coffee ATM to the rescue! My kind of (machine) server!
7: And how about (on weekends) a cannoli to go with your coffee.
8: And something to read, while coffee-and-cannoli-ing.
9: Rob Sawyer was out of town getting an award, so we didn’t get to say hi, but I found this collection at ABC Books, so I bought it, along with The Art of Eating, a lovely five-book compendium (including “How To Cook A Wolf” which I already own) of MFK Fisher’s food/cooking writings.
10: One way IRL browsing/shopping occasionally beats online — I hadn’t known this Lev Grossman book, Warp, which he wrote years before his The Magicians, existed, until I saw it on my way out of ABC Books, a well-stocked, well-organized used book store on Yonge Street; snagged it, and went back to the register. This is a re-issue, and includes a new forward; here’s Grossman talking about it, in a 2016 Time.com article “Lev Grossman on Reissuing His First Novel, Warp”. I now see that my library has it, ditto other bookstores, etc. but my phone wasn’t getting data service (tsk!), and the price was reasonable, so I bought rather than having declined-opportunity regrets.
11: Yesterday Is Still Monday.
12: Maybe I’m just not getting out enough these days, but “Cheese Tea” is something I don’t think I’ve seen before. (I’m not a fromage-ivore, so I didn’t try it.)
13: OTOH, it’s been too long since I’d had Ethiopian food. (This was the vegetarian sampler; I’d ordered something else.)
14: Over at the St. Lawrence Market, food stalls included a non-online, non-board Game purveyor, with stuff you don’t see in your average supermarket or butcher.
15: Caution: May contain alarm clock parts.
16: Sliders, But Not The Movie
17: Technology you don’t see around much these days.
18: Proper masking for credentials.
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Bakka Phoenix Books is a must-visit for fen visiting Toronto.
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(13) Ethiopian is good, if very different. Warning to those interested in trying it: the bread is good, don’t be put off by the fact it resembles and has the consistency of an Ace bandage, as some friends once put it.
mark: I like Ethiopian food, too. Had it for the first time years ago at a Hollywood restaurant opened by a former Air Ethiopia pilot who couldn’t return home after Haile Selassie had been overthrown. They used tablecloth-sized pieces of that bread you’re talking about as substitute for plates. Tear off a bit, scoop up what was served on it, and there you go.
Olav, thanks for the bookstore tip, I’m adding it to the “Perhaps next time” list.
Bakka, definitely. Toronto doesn’t seem to have any cons any more. Sad.