Playing tourist downtown

   On Friday I went downtown with my family to play tourist for the day. We started out at the St. Lawrence Market, considered to be among the best farmer's markets world wide. We spent a couple of hours browsing the market, stopping at stalls like Rube's Rice, where we bought some aged basmati rice, and some wild Canadian rice; and Lively Life Fine Foods, where we bought some whole wheat pastas, and some pesto pastas. We also bought our weekly supply of fruits and veggies, and meat. Prices and quality are excellent. On two steaks, I saved ten dollars over what I would have paid at one of the major grocery chains. Of course, it's an hour drive for us to get there from home, so we can't make a habit of it, but if I lived in the downtown Toronto area, it's where I'd be doing all of my shopping.

   After we finished at the market, we headed over to the distillery district. The site of the 170 year old Gooderham and Worts distillery has recently been completely renovated and turned into a vibrant arts community featuring galleries, working artist studios, pubs and restaurants, and shops. While we were there, I visited The Mill Street Brewery, a small craft brewery where unique beer styles are brewed in small batches for local consumption. I picked up a mixed sixpack of three of their beers. After I have tried them, you will be able to read what I thought of them at The Man Room.

   Later, we took a drive down to Cherry Beach, at the foot of Cherry St. They've done an impressive clean up job of that area, and apparently, the water is even safe for swimming now. Although the sign said the water temperature was 13C. We chose to stay on the beach.

   On the way home from downtown I was reminded how great Toronto is from the point of view of greenery. This picture is a view from the passenger seat of the car driving north on the Don Valley Parkway in the heart of downtown Toronto.

   Cool hey?