MiKE: trip to the islands

I got to know Erica and Federico, an Italian couple, from the ISC Niagara trip. Then on Thursday, I went to the ISC to collect my mail (it had been set as my mailing address) and saw them there again. They showed me their bikes, which they had bought for a small price, I got interested, they showed me around, and next thing i knew, a security guy was asking what I was doing pushing a bike around Eaton Centre. I told him that I just got it, and he let me on his way...

I went to the couple's place, and was taught how to cook pasta sauce as they knew how - the trick was to use olive oil, and lots of it! They claim to be able to go through a litre bottle of oil in about a week! For the three of us, the cooked the tomatoes in about a 5mm deep pool of oil in a shallow fry pan. It was quite simple really - get fresh red tomatoes, not the orange kind one tends to get in Singapore, fry the onions/garlic first, then the tomatoes, at the same time as the water for the pasta is being boiled in another pot. Then add herbs, salt to taste, carrots if wanted, and wait for the tomatoes to liquify, wait for the pan to dry up slightly, then serve.

So, we made arrangements to meet again on Saturday, Sep 1, and this time, we were all on bikes. We met at the ISC, headed south toward the quay, and along the way passed by Ducati Toronto, which was closed, unfortunately.

To cut a boring story really short so as to bring you more of the pictures which are the highlight of this post, we got onto the ferry, sailed across to the islands, cycled about, took a few pictures, Erica had a flat tyre, we went to see the sun set, and then we sailed back. End of evening.

Ok, Pictures:

The view from their apartment balcony. Wonderful sunset - I always think that the temperate countries or places with low humidity get the best sunsets.

Another shot of the view out their balcony. They live on the 12th floor in a 1 bedroom apartment, not like me, on the 3rd floor.

My bike. Probably the cheapest bike I've ever bought. The steel frame flexes so much. Note the huge U-lock. That is a really bad position; I keep riding into it. I eventually settled to locking it at the stem.

Me! This is at the Western end of the quay, near the airport which is on an island. There is a curious looking ferry that crosses the 75m wide channel, and then, without turning itself around, reverses to ferry vehicles and goods the other way. We were thinking - would it not be more economical to set up a bridge and be done with it?

A view of the city skyline from the ferry. That thing in the top left of the picture is some decorative prop on the ferry.

Erica and Federico on the ferry. Milanese, IIRC.

A shot of the southern edge of the islands. The lake is simply amazing - it is so huge that it looks like an ocean.

No kidding - look - no land all the way to the horizon.

Erica went to pick pebbles for her collection...

A shot of the same location, this one of the left hand side.

Really looks like the sea, and the beach even comes with its own lifeguards.

Obligatory shot of the city skyline with the CN Tower as focus.

Obligatory shot of self (and friend) before city skyline with CN Tower. Note the rolled up right pant leg so that the pants don't get messed up with the dirty chain. Quite the fashion in downtown Toronto, I assure you.

This place looked so much like Sentosa I wondered who copied whom - long central walkway, fountain near the entrance, gardens on both sides with pools.

This is shot near the ferry terminal for centre island - there are actually 3 islands: centre (how imaginative), Hanlan's and Ward's.

Like I mentioned, Erica's bike had a flat rear tyre when we were close to centre island (whose ferry does not take bicycles), so we walked to Ward's Island terminal and waited for the sun to set so that we could take pictures. It was well worth the time though. Just take a look at the pictures!

Obligatory picture of me before skyline (again) :)



The sunset, to re-emphasize, was beautiful. Possibly the best sunset I have ever seen in my life, with the sun taking its own time to slowly descend, and the residual light still illuminating the sky as if the sun was fighting a slowly losing battle against the darkness, and never ceding more than a candela of brightness every slow painstaking moment. Even when the sun was below the horizon, the sky still looked bright, the entire process taking up to half an hour depending on how one starts counting. Most other sunsets have the sky dark even before the sun cleared the horizon.

The dusk approach into the city. Magical evening, that.