Toronto Girl Trip Day 3 June 10 2023

Saturday, 10 June 2023 (18,000 steps)

Beautiful day in Toronto; blue sky; 79 degrees. If anything, a bit too humid for me, but not complaining.

Began the day by walking from the hotel to Chinatown where we waited a bit for a table at a dim sum place called Rol San, which was highly recommended. It was good, but not nearly as good as many of our Bay Area dim sum places.. but still fun and good start to the day. From there, we decided to head to the Distillery District (today was neighborhood strolling day) which is a pedestrian-only area that is home to a lot of 19th century buildings and once was the site of a large whiskey distillery. Today it’s lined with cobblestone streets, hip restaurants, bars, art galleries, and boutiques. We strolled a bit and then walked to the St Lawrence Market area… about 20 minutes away. A former industrial area, the St Lawrence Market area is also lined with restaurants and cafes and little shops. It’s the oldest part of Toronto and is home to the St Lawrence Market which is a huge indoor retail vendor market which is the focus of the neighborhood. There is also a lot of city-sponsored public housing in this area.

Once the center of Toronto, the functions had, over time, been relocated to other parts of the city and the neighborhood declined. By the 1960s, the industrial uses were disappearing and there were many empty and dilapidated buildings. In the 1970s a new progressive mayor decided to turn the area into a residential neighborhood, that would not follow the path of mistakes of urban renewal The idea was for this new neighborhood to be thoroughly integrated into the city without any clear boundaries and to contain a mix of commercial and residential uses and include subsidized as well as market rate low-rise housing. Apparently, the mayor was influenced by the American/Canadian planning activist Jane Jacobs, who had moved to Toronto in the late 1960s following a protracted and very public disagreement with Robert Moses and also because she worried about the fate of her two draft-age sons.  It is said that she became tired of fighting New York City government. Jacobs quickly became active in stopping the Spadina Expressway and supporting the regeneration of the St. Lawrence neighborhood.

After walking around the St. Lawrence area, we were in real need of a gelato fix and also some ice cold water.. We finally found a good place and rested up from the walking and the warm weather.

Refreshed, we headed to yet another neighborhood which we believed was an upscale hip area but must have gone astray because we were in a pretty seedy area… but did see a lot of murals. Then we taxied back to the hotel and decided to check out the Toronto Metro system. So, we hopped on a train for a few stops… got off and walked a bit to some random location and then went back by train to the hotel to get ready for a late dinner (finally, back to my eating schedule rather than these “early bird” dinners before the theater.) The train seems efficient but nothing special, sort of like BART.

After a brief stopover at the hotel, we headed to Taverna Bernhardt for our 9:45 reservations. The restaurant is named for the famous French actress and is supposedly an homage to the cooking of the owner/chef’s hometown—Montreal. The special (and one of the few dishes available every day) is rotisserie chicken which sort of melts in your mouth. It’s served with wonderful crisp thick fries, a little cole slaw, and pickle. We started with three small plates: a sea bass crudo, a great baby eggplant dish with tahini, and carrot almondine. Great organic wines… The restaurant is located mid-block on a very residential street in the west side in a little house. We ate outside near the hedges and finished off the meal with 2 desserts: a flourless chocolate cake soaked with cherries and a sunflower and pear sorbet sundae…

Then began the task of finding a taxi back to the hotel. By now it was about 11:30. We tried the apps (I now have two) and it seemed that no taxis were available. So we walked two blocks to a bigger cross street and figured we’d have more luck with the app there. But alas we then found out why it was so difficult to get a taxi. Many streets were blocked off for some kind of street fair. So we reversed course and walked to another large street that was in the opposite direction. We had better luck but had to wait longer than we have at any other time for the taxi… Arrived at the hotel and now I’m finishing this note and packing.

Tomorrow, we head to the Aga Khan Museum and then we are off to the airport for our different homeward destinations. Hope to write the final note tomorrow before my plane takes off.
See you stateside very soon.

Fern