A diverse day: Toronto Day 5 (25 April 2014)

As we’d had some busy days and were going out in the evening, we decided to keep this day a little quieter ..

Travel planning

First up was to organise a hire car for our Niagara day trip next weekend. When our online booking attempts were not going well, we decided we’d walk to the airport – the little local Billy Bishop airport – and try over the counter. As we were going to be using the airport for our trip the next day to Montreal, we liked the idea of doing a test run, anyhow. Getting to this airport involves a 15-minute walk from our apartment, then hopping onto the airport ferry which takes about 5 mins to get to the terminal. It’s all pretty straightforward, and we were rewarded with a painless hire car reservation. Phew. Sorted!

Campbell House and lunch

The previous day we’d noticed an old house in the city surrounded by tall buildings, and signposted “Historic Campbell House“. We do love a house museum; we like the fact that they tend to be focused on a particular person or era which makes history relevant (and manageable).

So, given this and our Toronto travel guide’s recommendation, we turned up, braved the closed-looking doors, and were greeted by the young curator who manages the house. The only way to see the house is on a tour, and the tour costs a donation. Donation paid, our private tour started, commencing with its overall history. The house is the oldest still-existing brick house in Toronto, having been built by Chief Justice William Campbell in 1822, when the town was still called York and had a population of about 500 people. She quickly qualified her statement by saying “well, it’s old for us” but we assured her that it was old for we Australians too so she needn’t worry about proving its relevance to us. Campbell died in 1834, and his wife Hannah in 1844. From then the house had many owners – families and businesses including an elevator company. The last business to own it decided it was of no use to them, but wanted the land. At that point a lawyers’ group called the Advocates Society raised the money to pay for its removal. With the support of the city, it was moved 1.5 kilometres to its new spot in 1972. The removal was a big deal involving moving streetcar cables, reinforcing manholes etc. How great that its history was so valued eh?

The current situation is complicated: the land is owned by a Life Assurance Co which charges a token rent; the building is owned by the government which also maintains the grounds; the interior is “owned” by Advocates Society; and it is managed by the Sir William Campbell Foundation.

The house is Georgian Palladian style but little is known about the actual construction. They have no plans/blueprints, and do not even know the name of the architect. Several changes had been made to the building over the years but in 1972 it was returned, as much as possible, to what they believed it would originally have been.

We greatly enjoyed the tour – learning about the house, the life of the times, the original family, and curatorial decisions (which of course interest Sue). The house has a huge kitchen, a large ballroom, but interestingly only one bedroom as the Campbells’ children had all grown up and left home when they built this house. The curator also told us that Judge Campbell was involved in what they like to see as the first court case defending the freedom of the press in Canada. The trial concerned the destruction of William Lyon Mackenzie‘s printing presses.

At the end of the tour it was back out into the cold, so it didn’t take us long to duck into what looked like a cosy little cafe just down the street, the Queen Mother Cafe. It was just what we needed, fresh, not-too-heavy but warming food. They describe themselves as serving Lao-Thai and pan-global food. Hmm, what do you reckon non-pan global food is?

Anyhow, nicely sated, we were back on the streetcar. Sue was entertained by the conversation occurring between the person sitting next to her and the person behind. They were clearly not well-off, both proud that they’d found streetcar tickets enabling them to travel in comfort rather than being out in the wind. Sue gathered finding such tickets was not completely unusual but was nonetheless worth talking about when it happened. They also talked about their tax – as Canada’s tax deadline looms – and discussed the pros and cons of paying H&R Block. Their cost, $40, was high. But then one said, “Got weed. Had a joint with X. And I bought a bottle of merlot. Me, buy a wine? But I’d had a taste and it was so nice”. Ah well, it’s all about priorities in the end. Walk in the wind or have a joint?

Famous People Players

The evening was a real treat. We used public transport to get to the Famous People Players Dinner Theatre – an hour’s journey involving streetcar, metro and bus, and costing a whole $3 each, the normal rate as we are too young here to be Seniors – woo hoo! We were there at the invitation of the lovely Emmy whom Sue has “known” for many years via the internet bookgrouplist she joined back in 1997. The Famous People Players company is 40 years old this year. It was founded by and for people who are developmentally challenged. Essentially all the staff – including reception, cooks and the servers/performers – have some level of developmental disability or delay. The founder herself, Diane Dupuy, introduced the show with her own story of being different. She said that if she were at school now she’d be diagnosed as ADHD but that just means, she continued, Awesome Dreams High Drama! What a perspective, but it clearly didn’t come easily.

I won’t say much more about the event, except that the meal was a very nicely cooked fixed menu (including perfectly cooked chicken breast and lovely sautéed vegetables) and was served by those who then performed in the black light puppetry theatre show, currently “Going Bananas”. It was hugely entertaining and great fun. The company has been supported by such people as Pierre Trudeau (in its establishment years), Paul Newman (who donated much from his Newman’s Own Brand) and Phil Collins. Liberace so loved their rendition of him he asked them to perform with him in Las Vegas!

Besides the show, it was truly wonderful meeting Emmy, and her husband Adel, after years of communicating via our bookgroup listserv and Facebook. We had a good laugh when they told us that their daughter, just a few months younger than Hannah, had recently moved to Melbourne. The lives of modern parents! Emmy is as warm, friendly and generous in person as she is in cyberspace. We look forward to seeing her and Adel again before we leave.

And so, another lovely day in Toronto came to an end – albeit one spent without Hannah, but we knew our Montreal weekend was coming up.

And today’s slideshow …

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