Glen was on call on Friday. The weather was looking good. It was a public holiday (which doesn’t really mean much to me but still has that ‘public holiday’ feeling to it) so I decided I need to go see something in Toronto. We’re down to our last 11 weeks and there is a bunch of things we still haven’t seen yet. Plus I spend too much time sitting in front of a computer, staring at a white wall.
So, for my Good Friday exploration, I decided to check out the Al Green Sculpture Park. It’s located at 77 Davisville Ave, which isn’t far (though far enough to have to take the subway). I caught the train, walked down Balliol St (which is where I thought it was but it connects with Davisville Ave anyway), and found the sculpture park. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Yes, there were sculptures but as for “park”? It’s really just in the grounds between two very old apartment blocks. Nice idea though, to add a bit of public art to these spaces.
I saw all ten or so of the sculptures, took some photos and then decided that, as it was within walking distance, I’d check out the Mt Pleasant Cemetery. There were a couple of other sculptures along Balliol St that I took photos of. More sculptures than around here anyway.
I found the cemetery, which had quite a few joggers and dog-walkers in it. I didn’t feel so sacrilegious walking around with my camera. There were a lot of old graves, and I was surprised at the variance in surnames on the graves. I don’t think I saw a Smith or a Jones, but I did see a Valiant, Turner, and Blackwell. Cool names.
There were also quite a few mausoleums and family crypts, including those of “famous” Toronto families. The Massey crypt is different and attractive, while the Eaton crypt is the biggest there. It even has lion sculptures out the front, and lots of columns. As there aren’t so many mausoleums in Australian cemeteries, seeing them here finally helped me make sense of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how there could be so many crypts for the vampires to hide in. I stopped into the crematorium too, which thankfully had a free loo.
I saw about half of the cemetery, and would like to go back again with Glen, though it would be nice to see if when everything’s green and in bloom. The squirrels and the birds were out though.
From there, I walked along a riverbank, along a muddier than expected track, and then under bridge, scaled a bank, and finally got to the train station. I’d like to walk that track again, but when it’s warmer and less muddy. It goes all the way down to near us, too.
In the afternoon, I went for a massage at the guy over the road. I’d hurt my back on Wednesday afternoon and though it had mostly righted itself, it was good to get it worked on a bit.
Then in the evening, I went to Bec and Al’s for dinner. They took pity on me because Glen was at work, so we watched a bit of Some Like It Hot, ate dinner, had some home-cooked and delicious hot cross buns, then talked about our remaining time in Canada and what we’re going to do with it. They’ve got another year but even they’re getting anxious about fitting everything in.
Later on, I hung out with Julian a bit, as he’d asked to borrow my phone charger, and then Glen finally got home sometime around 11. Even though I was ready for bed, Glen was still too wired from work, so we watched an episode of Suits. I was glad to fall into bed once that finished.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?