Waterfront Festival July 2016

A couple of years ago, I enjoyed the visit of the Tall Ships to Toronto's waterfront, and upon hearing that there would be another exhibit like that for this year's Waterfront Festival, I looked forward to attending.

I posted an article last year on the Waterfront Festival, but this year promised something different, and certainly delivered.

The day was beautiful, with warm temperatures (not hot), clear skies, as you'll see from the pics, and a good stiff breeze off the lake.



Heading first to Harbour Square Park at the foot of Bay Street - not far from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal - the first thing you see are these two Canadian Coast Guard ships:

At left, the HMCS Kingston, and at right, the HMCS Goose Bay. They are technically known as Maritime Coastal Defense Vessels, or MCDVs, and are each 181 feet long.


Here is a view of the starboard side of the Kingston, with, I believe, a series of signal flags draped over the railing:

And, here is a view of the stern of the two vessels; both were built in the 1990s, and are still in service today. They are specially made for versatility - to be capable of different kinds of missions.

They were offering deck tours of these ships, but once I got a look at the lineup, I decided to, well, just keep going. I would have enjoyed a tour, but it looked like a good hour's wait, so on I went.

Heading west along the boardwalk, there were two brigantines, the Playfair and the Pathfinder. Each is 72 feet long, and has a foremast and main mast, as you see in this pic of the Playfair.

Here is a view of the Pathfinder, showing her two masts:

And the stern of the Pathfinder, showing the cabin and the triangular aft sail:

And, around the corner from these ships is the sister ship of the Pathfinder, the St. Lawrence II. I seem to recall seeing this ship in the Tall Ships display in 2013 - I believe it's even moored at the same spot!

Here is a more complete view of the St. Lawrence II, with its huge Canadian flag blowing in the breeze:

Coming back out to Queen's Quay, I was delighted once again by what a good job they did down here in keeping pedestrian, bicycle, transit and traffic lanes separated. This should be a model for the rest of the city.

Continuing west along Queen's Quay, you come to Ontario Square, an open space featuring 500 quaking aspen trees, and wood/concrete benches. Near the entrance, looking south, you can see The Power Plant facility in the background.

Looking southwest, you see the south end of Queen's Quay terminal. The view is like this in every direction.

At the northeast corner of Ontario Square is this installation by James Carpenter, Light Cascade. It is a lightwell, reflecting sunlight to illuminate the parking garage (in the lower part of the pic) during the day. As you can see, it works well - look how bright it is down there!

Well, it wouldn't be a festival without some buskers along the way, would it?

It may be a little hard to see this first fellow (centre, in black), who was encouraging two volunteers (facing camera) to toss unlit torches to him, keeping the banter going the whole time.

At the Amsterdam Brewhouse was a "living statue," moving slowly from one position to another:

And, at the north end of HTO Park, there was this eccentrically-dressed young woman on stilts, playing the violin (rather well, I might add).
I will confess that I have no idea what the masked man holding the suitcase was supposed to represent!

At the foot of HTO Park was one of the reasons I wanted to see the Tall Ships exhibit this year; a 2010 replica of an actual seafaring Viking ship, the Draken Harald Harfagre.

This pic was taken from a fair distance away, but I wanted to be sure to get the entire 115-foot length and 78-foot height of the vessel in the shot. It is magnificent!

Here is a closer look along the starboard side of the ship.
The 30-man crew actually sailed (and/or rowed) this vessel from Haugesund, Norway, in April, to do the  Great Lakes tour that I'll show in the last picture of this entry. Can you imagine?

Here is a closer look at the dragon's-head prow of this vessel.
At first, I thought they used different materials for ears, teeth and eyes, but on closer inspection, it appears to be all painted wood. No less fearsome for it, though!

Next, a look at the stern of the ship.
You could also have a tour of the deck here (there is no "below-decks" - the crew eats and sleeps al fresco!), but again, very long lineups, so not for me.

And, a closer look at the "dragon's-tail" stern of the ship - like the prow, in beautifully carved and painted wood.
It appears the modern crew of the ship takes advantage of today's technology, with what appears to be RADAR, and maybe satellite equipment, at the stern here. This kind of thing would have blown an actual Viking's mind, but imagine what they could have done with it if they'd had it - we'd all be speaking Norse, for sure!

Finally, a view of the starboard side of the ship. The shields probably served multiple purposes; I'm speculating a bit here, but they may have helped fend off high waves while at sea, or served as defense during sea conflicts - but certainly would have been useful during foraging raids into the different countries they passed during their voyages!
Note the openings below the shields, which I assume are for oars. This particular boat has capacity for 50 oars - each one worked by two men.

The other big attraction for me was this full-scale 2006 replica of a large Spanish Galleon, El Galeon, 107 feet long and 121 feet tall, with three masts.

Here is the front of the vessel, with bowsprit and foresail. There appears to be a small crow's-nest here, also.

An overall view of the stern, with the three masts and bowsprit in view:

Along the port side of the ship are the cannon ports. This is not technically a battleship (it's more of an exploration vessel), but these would have probably been useful, just in case.

Also along the port side is this ladder, probably used for boarding the ship off a smaller boat. Obviously, the tourists at left prefer the gangway!

Here's a view of the bowsprit and forward mast, with all the rigging and rope ladders, as well as another crow's nest.

And a close look at the massive anchor, with a huge beam and block-and-tackle rigging at left to weigh it and lower it. It looks seriously heavy!

The middle mast and rear mast, with rigging, ladders, and their own crow's nests:

And finally, a closer look at the stern, with a door and windows (possibly the captain's quarters?), enormous top lamp, several smaller lamps, and an icon of the Virgin Mary - for good luck, one assumes.

The last ship on display was the Baltimore Clipper Pride of Baltimore II, built in 1988. It is a replica of the topsail schooners that served the American Navy during the War of 1812. It is 157 feet long, and 107 feet high.

(I believe this ship was also on display at the Tall Ships exhibit here in 2013.)

I wanted to get a shot of the period-correct American flag flown on this ship. As you can see, there are a lot less than 50 stars on it!

A look at the stern of the Pride of Baltimore II.
The Baltimore Clippers featured backward-raked masts, which apparently gave them better agility and maneuverability against the Royal Navy ships.

And finally, the deck, with a look at the enormous main sail, furled up here. No doubt there's a "below-decks" on this ship!

And last but not least, here's the route these ships will be taking through the Great Lakes this summer, ending up at Duluth on August 18.

It was sure great to be able to see what these amazing vessels looked like.

It would have been nice to be able to get aboard them, but it was just too nice a day to stand in line for that long.

So, I ended up going north to Roundhouse Park for sausage on a bun, and a beer from Steam Whistle Brewery (hit the spot!). The Rail Museum there looked interesting, and may be the subject of a future post.

Then it was up to Front Street for a banana boat from an ice cream truck - something I haven't had in years. And yes, I did stand in line for that!

Going up John Street, I caught the nail-biting last minutes of the quarter-final Euro Cup game between Germany and Italy at an outdoor patio.

Finally, it was into a Second Cup for good a cup of strong coffee and a welcome sit-down.

All in all, another great summer day in Toronto!

Centre Island, June 11, 2016

On another unseasonably hot day (I sure can pick 'em), I thought it would be nice to visit our own Centre Island, with my friend Susan. We had been there a few years ago, and had an enjoyable walk, but I hadn't been back since, and figured it was about time.

We took the ferry to Hanlan's Point, and walked along Lakeshore Avenue to the sight I really wanted to see, the lighthouse at Gibraltar Point:

It's the second-oldest lighthouse in Canada, originally built around 1808, complete with a whale-oil lamp. More height was added later, and an electric light was installed around the turn of the 20th century.
You can see the bottom and top small openings that would have given ventilation to the spiral staircase inside.

In this closer view, you can see how the openings go around the building, following the path of the spiral staircase.
You can also see some of the weathering of the painted wood under the balcony near the top.

I feel pretty sure this may be the original door of the lighthouse, with the simple long iron hinges, keyhole, and ring handle.
I was interested by the elongated keystone in the Roman arch above the door, and how they cut a notch out of the door frame to accommodate it; I wondered why they couldn't have just chipped away the bottom of the keystone, and thus been able to set the door frame in intact!

They found human remains in here in the early 20th century, and some believe the lighthouse is haunted!

Moving east along Lakeshore Ave., we came to one of the larger beaches on the Islands (safe for swimming!), complete with this lovely long pier:

I wanted to get a shot from both ends of the pier, and this is the view looking south, out to the lake.

(Susan is standing in the shadow of the tree at right - she's shy.)

At the south end of the pier are these directional signs, which I thought were pretty cool:

At the end of the west arm of this Y-shaped pier...

...and looking north from the centre, where you can see the CN Tower in the distance - this is one of the few places in the city where you're actually south of it!

Looking out to Lake Ontario, there was this group of small sailboats, along with kayaks and motorboats. I didn't know why there was such a cluster of sailboats in such a small area.
The land in the distance is the Leslie St. Spit, aka Tom Thompson Park. I've been out there, too, and one day, I'll bring a camera along, and perhaps share some pics of that amazing place on this blog.

And here is the view from the west arm of the pier:

Many, many names and dates are carved or written on the rails of the pier, including this one from, it appears, a Japanese tourist. I share Takumi-san's sentiments!

Here is something that took me completely by surprise: The Avenue of the Island, a tree-lined walkway that goes north from the pier. It looked so much like something that you'd see in a European city, with sculptured hedges, flower beds, and a fountain at the far end, that I was quite thrilled by it.

Here's a better view of the west side of the Avenue, showing the geometric shapes of the hedges, lush grass, flower beds and shrubs:

And, the closest I could get to a higher view, standing on one of the tree planters, I got this shot from the southeast corner.
It made me think of the Tuileries in Paris, though, of course, it's not nearly on the same scale. It is lovely, though, I must say.

Continuing east, we came to the long, long boardwalk along the south shore of the Islands. This takes you all the way to Ward's Island, at the opposite end of where we started out, at Hanlan's Point.
The boards are a little uneven, so it behooves you to watch your step!

We stopped for while at the Island Cafe for a welcome sit-down and a cold drink (also welcome).

Finally, along the north shore of Ward's Island, I had to stop and get a shot of Toronto's ever-changing skyline

Back in the city, it was still hot and humid, and it made me appreciate all the more that we have an easily accessible place like this, with pleasant scenery and fresh air, to escape to in the summer.

I don't know what it's like in winter, though, but it is still accessible by ferry, as the lake almost never freezes over in this area. Perhaps one day, if I'm brave enough, that'll be the subject of another entry!