Tour-onto!!

It has been a very full week! I now have proper bandwidth (both in the literal and metaphorical sense) to share some updates! While I was only in Toronto for effectively a long layover, there was still plenty to see, from pedestrian infrastructure to historic architecture, there was something on near every corner!

Maple leaf fence detailing - adds a degree of charm and identity to an otherwise purely functional detail.

Coming from Maryland and more recently Georgia where “good bicycle infrastructure” looked like, at best, a painted gutter. One that could disappear into a row of parked cars at any time to spit you onto the street proper with the rest of traffic. It was refreshing to see an additional degree of intentionality with which Toronto handled its bicycle traffic— at least downtown and the surrounding blocks where we were staying.

Three Traffic Signals at three varying heights, painted “bike gutter” with bollard demarcation.

Most streets had three sets of traffic signals, one for automotive vehicles, one for bicycles, and one for pedestrians. Bike lanes were often more than just a painted suggestion to cars to “be polite and share the road” and often were their own dedicated lane with their share of physical impediments to dissuade any wayward drivers. Across larger intersections the bike path would dip down to street level, but the markings would continue across before returning to the elevated path, which emulating a speed bump, may give drivers a moment of pause before continuing with any misguided misadventures.

Sheltered Bike Path adjacent main road and pedestrian side walk.

This design effectively created three arteries for traffic depending on the type and often provided additional shelter to pedestrians from hazard of the road. By limiting interactions between the three modes of transport to clearly marked and signaled intersections one would expect to see greatly reduced odds of stray collisions, or at the very least see accident prone areas condensed to specific local nodes, rather than stretch across any other extreme length of roadway. As someone who has been struck while cycling on multiple occasions while minding my space on a roadway, I greatly appreciated seeing such intentionally designed traffic control strategies.

St. Andrew’s Church (Romanesque Revival)

Infrastructure aside, the city itself was gorgeous! With a patchwork of older styles; Gothic, Romanesque Revival, Art Deco, and Futurism that bled seamlessly into the surrounding Art Nouveau and the more contemporary Brutalist and International Styles, each corner had something uniquely beautiful to look at. Though, I will pocket the lecture, instead, look upon some wonderful buildings!

Toronto Union Station (Beaux-Arts: Think French Neoclassical, but with modern materials and Baroque leanings), CN Tower (International - The Big Spire)

I don’t know which building this is, I saw it while on the train coming across the Canadian border, but I liked the windows. It reminded me a lot of the Bauhaus school of design, prioritizing light and the blending of form and function through design.

More beautiful International Style buildings. I particularly love the partially mirrored windows and how they are cast at a 45 degree angle. They catch and warp the opposing skyline in a manner reminiscent of a slightly perturbed lake during sunset and creates a stunning ombre towards the top as the blue-grey of the sky washes out the dull orange tint of the glass.

Toronto Old City Hall (Romanesque) - Look closely at the tracery above the arches on the bottom of the image, do you see where the words “City Hall” are carved amongst it? Very cool detail if you ask me!

More Old City Hall, I loved the stonework on this tower, and the Gargoyle (Possibly Grotesque if it doesn’t spit water anymore) that looks ready to jump to the tree at the top left of the photo

Informational/Educational Placard Outside of the Old Town Hall in Toronto

Beautiful Art Deco Corner, take a look at all those Egyptian motifs and sharp, blocky stone details. The dual Lamassu (Winged Sumerian Guardian Lions) on the corner, that is a dead giveaway you are looking at Art Deco. The floral lashings around each arch may imply that this building was at least designed on the cusp or Art Nouveau, but with the lack of exposed structural elements and generally rigid form those are likely just part of the the overlap between the two styles.

I stumbled into a community World Cup event in one of the squares, there was a Jumbotron playing the match between Spain and… another team I do not recall. Both were anticipated as front runners, but were not scoring well despite each teams strong individual performance, at least according to the commentators. There were several smaller pitches where children and young adults took turns playing against their own age group off to the side of the main stage, this is one of the children’s fields.

Fun little photo op at a local art installation!

Thank you for joining me on my stop through Toronto, I look forward to updating everyone soon with lots of wonderful images of my time in Rome! For now, that is all from me! Hello from Italy!