Dispatches From The Field-Part 1

Hellloooooooo!
I am currently ensconsed in the business center at the hotel. I am sitting up all scrubbed and proper so that the suits looking in at me think that I am doing something akin to THE BIGGEST DEAL IN MY LIFE, not, assuredly, updating my blog.

Yesterday was our first full day here and as my husband wanted a day to chill in the hotel and not do anything, I took the kids out for a day on the town before their convention started today. I stayed in Toronto 22 years ago and relied on transit at that time so I felt pretty confident that I could do it this time. The only problem is that we are 17 miles from downtown so EVERY trip contains a 45 minute bus ride just to get to the subway. Oh well, I am constantly charmed by their clean buses and passengers who don't eat their own boogers or wipe them on the windows.

Since I went online and mapped out each route via bus/subway before we even got here our trip to the science center and The Beguiling, a comic book store, went off without a hitch. Only once did we miss getting off the subway at the right stop and I figured it out just as the subway doors were closing so we got off at the next stop and just turned around. Since trains run every two or three minutes, it's not that big of a deal. The entire system is so integrated that I don't think we waited for more than five minutes on any connection. We haven't done the streetcars yet but that's in a couple days when we go to Chinatown.

My husband forgot his adapter for his C-Pap machine so while we were out rockin' the transit system, he also went into downtown Toronto via bus and subway. The only difference? Being a man, he didn't ask questions. The only way we knew how to get to the subway initially was to ask the front desk staff. I was given a total run down of what to do and where to go. Once I got to the subway system, I asked a transit employee who gave me advice and maps.

After wandering around the city all day, my husband came in past supper time bitching about EVERYTHING. Since he is a premium bitcher to begin with, this didn't surprise me but when he asked me the question "Are there even any MAPS of the transit system????" I almost fell off my bed.

Yeah, there are maps. At every transit location. And there are people. all you have to do is ask.

Of course, he managed to find everyone that was fed up with Toronto and hated it here.

It's funny how, if you go out into the world expecting the negative, you have a very good chance of finding it.

I am going to the textile museum today. I am also going to take my husband with me and abandon him on the streets while I ogle the textile-y stuff. If he's able to meet up with me a couple hours later, we'll hop on the subway and go to a pub for lunch.

Tomorrow? I'm leaving bright and early, ALONE, and going to the farmer's market. As my daughter reminded me, I will not be able to bring any fruit into the states and I'm fine with that. I just want to go to a REAL farmer's market. One with nearly a two hundred year history. I will not buy more edibles than I can consume before leaving.

I just want to get oot and aboot on my own for awhile.