Sunday evening I arrived in Toronto after my short visit of Niagara Falls. One of the first things I noticed about Toronto is the difference between it and Chicago. In Chicago the downtown was extremely dense with large skyscrapers built side by side with narrow alleys in between. In Toronto the buildings seemed more spread out with several parking lots, plazas, and parks. In my opinion, this is a trait that Toronto seems to share with other Canadian cities; only Toronto is larger that the other cities.
Arriving on the 12th I came to Toronto when the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was in full swing. This was a pleasant surprise that I wasn’t planning for when I first started thinking about travelling. TIFF gave me the opportunity to see some new movies before they are released to theatres and also see some famous actors and directors and such. On the first night I arrived I saw a film called ‘The Vanishing on 7th Street’. It stars Hayden Christiansen (Anakin From Star Wars 2 and 3)and is about an event that causes people to vanish, leaving only their clothing and items behind. I was glad to see this rapture idea put into a film because it reminded me of a video I made for a contest a couple years back about the rapture filmed at The King’s University College in Edmonton. My film also featured clothing and such lying about as if the bodies had just vanished. The Vanishing on 7th Street was 4 years in the making so it was neat to see someone else was thinking the same thing I was at that time. Aside from the concept I think thet film was not that great. The acting wasn’t very good (Hayden Christiansen, duh) and how or why people are vanishing is not explained; the special effects aren’t very special either.
Hayden Christiansen, along with a few other actors from The Vanishing on 7th Street were also in attendance at the screening. I also saw a few other celebrities including James Franco (127 Hours. I think), Vincent Cassel, Wyona Ryder, Mila Kunis, and Natalie Portman (all from Black Swan). I was even luck enough to snap a picture of Natalie Portman as she was signing autographs a few meters away.
On Tuesday night I went with some other Hostellers to a Jazz Club ‘The Rex’ which was a very different atmosphere then ‘The Green Mill’ in Chicago. The Jazz at the Rex was very fast, loud and crazy. Parton were allowed to talk while the music was playing and the musicians seemed to improvise allot while they played. It was actually more of an open mic Jazz night because patrons from the club were allowed to play a few songs as well. Nevertheless I had a fun time getting to know some of the other hostellers. Some I may even meet up with as I continue to travel around North America; which I look forward to.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to see many of the attractions in Toronto because I was getting a bit sick of spending large amounts of money on attractions. I have budgeted a certain amount per city and then that is it. Good thing I am happy most of the time to just explore on my own. I did however visit the CBC Museum breifly, which brought back some childhood memories.
Next stop: Ottawa! Our nation’s capital!
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