Pizza & Bears On Kingston Road

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address: 1054 Kingston Road
Date: August 2018
Website:  www.uber5000.com

  Uber 5000 is a graffiti artist who calls Toronto home.  One building which is covered in his characters is a Pizza Pizza on Kingston Road.  We took a walk one day and visited this pizza place and some other art in the area.

  One character that seems to appear on almost everything Uber 5000 has done is the little yellow chick.  The Pizza Pizza is no exception as we counted at least a couple of dozen.

  Cats are also a favourite.  This cat above looks to be riding a red magic carpet along the wall.

  Another cat is holding a ghetto blaster and wearing a chain that is part of the building's gas piping.

  The back of the building is filled with a giant green octopus.

  In a doorway on the side of the building are more yellow chicks and a city of Toronto logo.  This makes us think the artwork was commissioned by the city.

  We enjoyed the playful and colourful display but we needed to get on our way.  We headed further west on Kingston Road.

  We hadn't gone too far when we noticed a swan painted up on a rooftop.  From the tag we determined this was from an artist called Half Decent.  Not half bad we thought.

  We walked another block or so and came to Scarborough Road.  Here there was a nice mural of a brown bear beside a waterfall.  It was on the wall of Dashwood & Dashwood law firm.

  The wall faces the patio area of a small restaurant called The Loop.

  Around the side of The Loop was more artwork.  This time it was a toucan balancing a beer on his beak and suggesting it would be a lovely day for a Guinness.  We looked behind us and were surprised by what we saw.

  Uber 5000 had struck again.  The utility box on the corner was covered with the same cats and chicks from the Pizza Pizza building.  Thanks again Uber 5000.

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Map of Our World
The Loop
Pizza Pizza (Uber 5000) , Half Decent Swan , Dashwood Bear Mural

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Post # 242

TAO Downtown

Location: New York, New York, USA
Address:  92 9th Avenue
Date: November 2014
Website:  taodowntown.com

  We arrived at TAO Downtown on a busy weekend evening.  TAO offers Asian cuisine like dim sum, sushi and more all in a mysterious setting.  We encountered a long corridor which was lit by candles.  We slowly moved down the dark corridor towards our dining destination.

  Tucked in behind the candles were different sculptures and artwork.  Sitting men and elephants watched us as we made our way deeper into the restaurant.

  We turned a corner and there was a reclining Buddha.  According to TAO's website, the Buddha’s position signifies tranquility and serenity that comes with enlightenment and represents the final passage into Nirvana.

We turned around again and found ourselves at the top of a grand staircase looking out across the restaurant.  It felt like we were entering a large temple.  We were led down the staircase to the main dining area below.

  At the far end of the dining room stands Quan Yin.  Quan Yin is the goddess of compassion and has 24 hands.

 

 

  3D projection makes Quin Yin appear in different colours and outfits.  At some points it looked as if birds were flying past her or if a waterfall was flowing over her.  All of this and we haven't even ordered our food yet.

  Our group ordered various items from the menu and everyone was pleased.  We also loved the cute little chopstick holder man even if he was a bit cheeky.  After our meal we climbed back out of TAO's temple and into the busy Manhattan streets having had a memorable dinner adventure.

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Map of Our World
TAO Downtown

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Post # 240

Robo Sushi

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.

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Map of Our World
Robo Sushi

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Post # 233

Old Town San Diego

Location: San Diego, California, USA
Address:  Old Town
Date: February 2014
Website:  www.parks.ca.gov

  Old Town San Diego is said to be the birthplace of California.  Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo discovered the area in 1542.  In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino named it San Deigo de Alcala.  The area became a bustling hub, military post and religious mission.

  In 1846 the first American flag was raised in Old Town's plaza.  In 1968 Old Town became a State Historic Park.  In 2014 we made a visit to take in the history, sights and food that Old Town had to offer.  We entered the Old Town area through the market.  We would come back here later for some souvenirs.

  The first order of business was to get something to eat.  We had some churros from one of the food vendors.  After enjoying our deep fried treat we headed further into the town for some history.

  San Diego's first courthouse was built in 1847.  It is also the first brick building built by the Mormons after the war with Mexico.  At one point it served as the mayor's office.

  La Casa de Estudillo is an adobe mansion and was built in 1829.  Adobe means it was made from earth and other organic materials.   This building is located in the center of town and was the social and religious center during the Mexican Era.  The Mexican Era ended in 1846 when the United States declared war on Mexico.

  In the center of La Casa de Estudillo is a garden with many interesting plants and flowers growing.

  Around Old Town there are also many plants, especially cactus.  There are also some resident cats.

  La Casa de Machado y Silvas was built in 1843 and used to be a restaurant.  This building is also said to be where the Silvas family hid the Mexican flag during the war in 1846.

  A covered wagon sits in the middle of the street.  This was the primary means of transportation for anyone who came to Old Town.

  Across from the covered wagon was the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  Back in 1827 it used to be the home of Juan Bandini and later in 1869 a second floor was added and it opened as a hotel.  The hotel has undergone some renovations but still maintains some original features such as the floorboards.  We sat at a table over these floorboards as we enjoyed a meal in the hotel dining room.  A highlight was the deep fried brussel sprouts.

  After lunch we enjoyed a walk and some shade down by Fiesta de Reyes which housed some other vendors.  It had a nice pineapple topped fountain out front.

  In the garden was a metal mariachi band.  Old Town plaza was a popular place for music, bullfights and other forms of entertainment.

  The Colorado Hotel is much smaller than the Cosmopolitan.  This is a reconstruction as we belive the original from 1851 was destroyed in a fire.

  As we headed out of Old Town we passed a theatre.  It wanted to be like The Swan theatre in England so it was named after a young swan.  The Cygnet Theatre runs performances throughout the year.

  We headed back to our car and passed the Immaculate Conception Church.  This church was built in 1865 and was the first church in California built outside of the mission system.  Just outside of Old Town we purchased some souvenirs from one of the many shops.  There was so much on offer but we took a small vase as a memento.  The mixture of food, fun and history had made for a great day.

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Map of Our World 
The Cosmopolitan Hotel (Old Town)
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

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Post # 226