I <3 Toronto

(03/08/08)

A friend I made in Argentina told me that he was looking for his own piece of paradise. Then a couple of weeks later he came out with the line "Utopias have to be created, not discovered" - which I found to be quite profound. Naturally these things are all subjective, but I now wonder if he couldn't find that little piece of heaven because he was already living there - Toronto.

I've only spent a week here so far, but it just keeps getting better & better! After visiting some of the greatest cities in the world I'm finding it the most livable thus far. Of course nowhere is going to beat the movie-set feel of New York City, or the Ancient architecture of Rome, or the buzzing latino culture of Buenos Aires, but Toronto is so vibrantly multi-cultural, it seems to encompass all of the amazing places I've been! Everyone seems to just get on. I took a ferry over to the Islands today for a Caribbean festival, and there were people of every background everywhere (much more evident even than in places like London or Birmingham) all pretty much in harmony, it felt like the place of the future. Plus recycling EVERYTHING & drinking tap water is actively advertised & encouraged. I even met someone yesterday whose company pay him a bonus if he promises not to use his car for 90 days. Now THAT is forward thinking. Oh and it's a bilingual city. Sigh :)

Kensington market in the city feels like my personal utopia. It's VERY vegan-friendly; full of arty, spiritual & open-minded people; it is close to areas of the city with pockets of immigrants from every culture from Portugal to Japan, and everywhere in between; it has an awesome university; great & cheap fruit & veg markets; a politically active scene; alternative therapies; parks; a Zen temple, churches AND a synagogue; some great street-art (seems rare in Toronto) Latin-American shops (who can live without mate once they've tried it?!); thrift/secondhand stores aplenty that are actually priced cheaply, not priced for Patricia Field, a la NYC & it has a real community feel. And it's cheap.

I'm currently thinking when I stop my nomadic ways, this is somewhere I'd like to, visa allowing, settle for a few years. The only thing I can see becoming an issue are the winters. The temperature drops to a 'chilly' -30 at times. Yowser, pass the thermals. Mind you, I do like a place with amazing seasons :)