Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Address: 2223 Bloor St W Date: March 2017 Website:heritagetoronto.org
It started out as a place to see vaudeville performances. These days the Runnymede Theatre is a place to collect Optimum points. The theatre first opened in 1927 and today is one of the nicest looking drug stores in Toronto.
In the middle of the store is a decorative gold dome. We can see why the theatre was called "Canada's Theatre Beautiful".
From the second level we could see the stage behind the cosmetic counter. The ceiling was painted like the sky. In the later 1930s the theatre was a movie house only.
A projector from the old movie house days was sitting up on the second floor balcony. Even the emergency exit reminded us of the building's earlier theatre days.
In 1972,
the building became a bingo hall. In 1980 it played movies again for
about two decades and then it became a retail store. Today it is a Shopper's Drug Mart but well worth a visit to get a glimpse into history.
This location is near Runnymede subway. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.
Location: Simcoe, Ontario, Canada Address:50 Bonnie Dr Date: Dec 2017 Website: www.simcoepanorama.ca
About 60 years ago the town of Simcoe had a Santa Claus Parade which was rained out. The organizers left the parade floats in the park. The following year they decided that instead of the parade, they would leave the floats in the park for everyone to come and see them over the holiday season.
Through the years the event has grown. Now each December the whole park is covered in lights and filled with displays.
Wellington Park has a small river that runs through it so the lights surround the river's edge. There is even a small Christmas coloured lighthouse on the bend.
Some of the floats featured rhymes such as "4 and 20 Blackbirds".
Or "Three Little Pigs".
Still other floats featured polar bears, nativity scenes or holiday classics like The Grinch. The Simcoe Firefighters Association sponsored a Minion filled float.
Santa Claus was everywhere around the park. Santa was flying by in his sleigh pulled by his reindeer.
Santa was out on a boat in the river.
There was a glowing red eye Terminator Santa.
There was a Santa-In-The-Box on a float full of toys and a moose dressed in a Santa outfit.
Even the real Santa was there greeting children next to a giant Santa statue. Ho! Ho! Ho!
Around the park were little houses that you could look inside. They were filled with candy, penguins, Christmas trees or even an old man in his pyjamas (aka Ebeneezer Scrooge).
Across the road from the park were a few other creatures like this dragon (above).
We appreciated all the work that went into setting up this display and see why many people make it a holiday tradition to give Simcoe a visit. On a cold night walking around in the park, we also appreciated the booth selling hot beverages. Soon we left the coloured lights behind and went off to enjoy the warmth of our nearby bed and breakfast accomodations.
For twenty years the Holiday Train has travelled across Canada. This year was no exception. The train goes across the country to collect food and money for local food banks. This year we went to catch the train to holiday cheer.
In Toronto the train stopped at Lambston Yard. It blasted its horn as it crossed a bridge and entered the stockyards.
A large crowd had gathered to welcome its arrival. The decorated train cars slowed to a stop.
There are two trains in Canada. One train leaves Montreal and travels down into the US and then makes its way back into Canada to stop in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
The other train leaves Montreal and travels west through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta before arriving in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia .
The train we saw in Toronto would finish its journey in BC about 20 days later. Until then its flashing lights would shine across the country as it travels province to province.
The train cars were all decorated in holiday lights with animated scenes depicting, reindeer, mountains and winter fun.
Ernest "Smoky" Smith was the last living Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross is given for bravery in battle. When Ernest died at the age of 91 a train car was named in his honour. When the Holiday Train came to town his car was flashing green and red light.
One train car had a large tarp with the Canadian flag on it. As the crowd took photos of the colourful train, the tarp suddenly rolled up.
Inside was Canadian country music star Terri Clark ready to entertain the crowd with her songs as well as some Christmas classics. Terri is from Medicine Hat., Alberta and a member of the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. She would be performing at stops all across the country.
Even the police cars that were there for crowd control were lighting up the night. Their very bright red and blue lights flashed from the roof of their vehicles.
The Holiday Train was a nice start to the Holiday Season. As we write this blog, it is still on track collecting food donations and spreading holiday cheer across the nation. Map of Our World CP Holiday Train
Post # 235
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Address: 865 York Mills Rd #9 Date: September 2018 Website: www.robosushi.ca
A new sushi place has arrived in Toronto and offers something a little different. Robots are nothing new, but we are not yet used to them serving us our food. Robo Sushi still has human workers, but we went there to see the robotic staff and of course to eat all that we could eat.
As we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a talking mannequin.
There was another mannequin standing behind us, but despite being plugged in she didn't have anything to say. We headed through the next set of doors and into the restaurant.
Three robots waited for us. Two of them had cute, smiling bellhop heads and one had a head full of trays. They stood at attention waiting to serve us.
The human being at the counter greeted us and typed something into the tablet on the top of the purple robot's head. The little guy rolled away and we followed closely behind. On a screen on top of his head was a video of a person following a robot. We felt we were doing quite well.
Our host turned a corner and then stopped at a booth. He said something but we couldn't hear him over the restaurant noise. We sat down and then our host turned and rolled off again.
We have visited Robo Sushi twice since it opened. The first time the robots seemed less sensitive to something in their way. We witnessed a host and trayhead collision and a few near misses between robot and human staff. One trayhead robot even went straight into a customer's chair.
On our second visit we noticed that the human staff often had to push a host or trayhead robot until it felt nothing was blocking its path. Once the robot was satisfied it would roll away again. Eventually the programming will be just right.
When a trayhead robot arrived with your food it would turn and face the table with its blinking eyes. You could start to offload the food yourself, but usually a human staff member would come to assist.
When you wanted the trayhead robot to leave again you were supposed to tap it on the head. This worked sometimes because we were probably doing it incorrectly. We think you have to just place your hand on top of a little hand symbol on the robot's head.
To order your food you use a tablet placed at your table and submit your request from there. Soon it won't be long until a trayhead arrives loaded with your carefully selected items.
We tend to order quite a lot on our first round so when our robot arrived it was fully loaded. Soon afterwards our table was filled with tiny trays and dishes.
You could also place a small order and a trayhead would come to drop that off as well. When it comes to All You Can Eat you need to pace yourself. At least the robots never gave us a disapproving look based on our food choices or quantities. They just give the same look all the time.
We enjoyed our food at Robo Sushi and the robots made our meal even more fun. As we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant we waved good-bye to our robot hosts. They smiled back at us. Map of Our World Robo Sushi
Post # 233
Runnymede Theatre
