Tarana...or bust!

Driving out of Burlington into Toronto was like a legoland puzzle of cars and trucks on tracks and I had to choose the right track or be stuck behind a semi for the duration of the drive. Luckily the lane gods were with us and we made the 45 minute trip with no stoppages...just a little slowdown when the Police had to zoom by for some reason... but we made it... Driving across Canada was less stressful than driving on these 5-6 lane highways. You see...there are posted speed limits...the ones the law requires you to do and then there are the inferred speed limits...the ones the drivers in ALL the other cars require you to do. Driving is constant mental battle of following the law and breaking the law due to car, peer pressure. When you find yourself pushing 115 in the slow lane, something's wrong. So I dropped it to 105 and let the crazy world of commuters pass us by. After all...I have the Fale Five in the car and they're more important than the pride one may feel being in the fast lane and getting there(wherever there is...) first. Driving into Toronto was like being swallowed by a concrete sea of high rises. Buildings of 60-70 floors surrounded us as we drove along The Gardiner and Lakeshore. Patches of green along the road that acted like nature provided little respite from our new home of concrete and people. However, as we got closer to where Christopher lives, the buildings shrunk and the old Toronto emerged. Tiny, brick houses dotted the streets. Trees and curious gardens replaced the corporate planted gardens and it felt ore homely. Christopher's street is lovely and full of houses that make us a little homesick for Grey Lynn. The diversity of the gardens, house colours and inhabitants differ from the suburbia of Burlington. Here, I have no idea who owns the Infinity as there are no driveways to park your trophies...all trophies/cars, are neatly parked on the streets...swapping sides once a month just to keep the locals on their toes and the parking officers in employment. Christopher is being a great host and seeing him getting to be a full time uncle is the reason we are doing this trip. My kids need to really know their Canadian family and so far it has been a very successful trip. We are going to be total tourists in Toronto. We have already been to the Zoo followed by dinner at my Aunt's house and today we tackled the CN Tower and downtown Toronto and the St Lawrence Market. I loved people watching and people listening. I think I heard over 10 different languages today. Toronto is diverse. You wear what you want and people sure do and I love it! Stay tuned for more Toronto (ta-raa-nah) posts! The music is, Lost by Blue Rodeo - a Toronto band and a favourite of mine. Lost is how we Fales feel while driving in Toronto...even with TomTom! xx The Fales xx The Fales are in Toronto! on PhotoPeach