The end of September was another lunar eclipse. There has been an unusual streak of four in the last 18 months. This time the moon rose in the middle of the eclipse and it was very dark and hard to see. I took this picture as the moon was coming out of the eclipse and clouds began to cover it.
On Tuesday I left for a work meeting in Toronto. After a flight delay to Denver and another to Toronto I arrived. You know you are in Canada when the airport looks like this.
It was a rainy afternoon. I took the subway into town. I got off at the St. Andrews Station. This would be a station I would visit every day. The church is next to the station which is where the station gets its name. I got to my hotel and then went out to look around and find a place to eat.
I noticed that there was a place called the 2nd City Comedy club near my hotel and wicked by it. Many comedians got there start here or played here. John Candy, Martin Short, John and Jim Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley, Mike Myers,Tina Fay, Colin Mochrie and others.
I walked a little bit around town and looked at all the different architectural styles and of course the views of the CN Tower.
I then ended up on King Street which is a major restaurant area. I at at an Italian restaurant called Kit Kat which was really good. It is the building with the cows coming out the wall. What that has to do with anything I do not know.
Then I did some more walking at night and came upon the Toronto sign in the middle of a plaza.
I made it back to my hotel for a good nights rest after a long day. The next morning the sun was out and it was a clear day. My room was on the 22nd floor and this was the view looking out my window.
I then had some time in the morning to walk around town before my meetings started. I went down to the tower. On my walk I was amazed at the amount of bicycles on the streets. The area has grown since we visited here 10 years ago. There are fountains, an aquarium and even a plaza about the rail road.
I then walked to Union Station and on to Old Town with its historic buildings and streets.
I had launch at the St Lawrence Market. There were all sorts of foods in the market which was fun to explore.
From there I went back to the hotel to drop off some things that I bought and then went to meet a field trip to walk along a new street and bicycle path that was created called Queens Quay. It was really impressive and was well used that day. Along the walk which is next to the harbor they have these wavy wood ramps which is an art piece. There are also some beautiful gardens.
After that I decided to go to the tower. I was surprised that it cost $35 to go up the tower. Ten years ago it was $20. I decided to do it anyway. The views were amazing from the tower. The observation area is over 1,000 feet above the street.
There is the glass floor area and here is a picture of my foot on the glass floor looking down.
Next to the tower is the Rogers Center where the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball. There are some fun sculptures on the corner of the building and there is a hotel built into the outfield wall of the stadium.
I had a few hours before the next part of my meeting so I decided to do some more walk and I walked up to China Town and then to Kensington Market.
I wonder how long this car has been parked in the street? I don't think it is going anywhere.
I then went to the presentation in the evening which was in a small theater next to the University of Toronto. By the end of the day I had walked 13.5 miles and had a large blister on each foot.
The next day was the conference and it was held at the University of Toronto. There was a field trip first which was walking and very difficult that day given my feet but a shuffled along. The meeting was in a building called the Hart House. I thought we were at Hogwarts with the architecture of the buildings on this portion of the campus.
And specially the Griffendorf like hall that we met in. It had stain glass windows, peoples portraits and coats of arms and the walls and birds were flying in the room as well.
After the conference was over I walked around the campus.
Then off to the subway station and to the hotel.
The next morning I had to get up early because the plane left at 8. I flew on a 767 which was 7 seats wide in my section of the plane. Here is the Toronto skyline as we lifted off.
Traveling across the country you get to see various land patterns. Over Nevada there was a solar farm of mirrors that reflected the sunlight to a tower to heat it up. The mirrors also lite up the clouds between the plan and the mirrors.
I landed in San Francisco to then catch my next flight to Salt Lake. Go figure. Since I was in the back of the plane I was one of the last ones off but I had to take a picture of how the first class flew this five hour flight; with foot rest and single seat cubicle and all the electronic devices you could want.
One experience on the flight is a sat next to a Chinese girl. She was sleeping for the first part of the flight but when she awoke and say me reading scriptures she was amazed because she was also LDS and had just got home from here mission in Vancouver a month ago. We talked about mission life, keeping the spirit and being lead by the Holy Ghost. She really appreciated the talk and I helped her get around the airport since she was going to conference in Salt Lake and was on the same flight to Salt Lake as well. The airport did not really seem busy but it is. Just look at the traffic trying to take off. This is an airplane traffic jam. No wonder we sat so long on the runway.
We took off two jets at a time so I took this picture out the window of the plane next to us.
One more city skyline; this time San Francisco and then on my way home.
