Little birdie!

A fellow Toronto blogger, RedPat, introduced me to these cute, yellow birds and ever since I've been on the lookout for them! I found this one off McCaul Street, just south of the AGO. 

Although I'm still missing Toronto, things are looking up for me in Berlin. Although our hunt for a home is still ongoing, my husband and I joined a golf club this weekend (I guess you can see where our priorities lie! ) . You can keep up with all of my new adventures at Berlin 365. And don't forget to take a look at other murals from around the world at Monday Murals.

Surfer

Here's another shot I took during my last days in Toronto. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly where it was taken, but somewhere downtowny. I don't really know what it all means, but I find it rather whimsical and the bright colors are nice on the side of that dingy building. 

I've got a few more shots to showcase here, but I will mainly be posting on my Berlin Blog from now on. Please come and take a look! And you can see more murals at Monday Murals.

Last days in Toronto

Springtime in Australia was wonderful! I especially loved the warm weather in Queensland. It's back to real life now though. I came back to Toronto for a few days before making the big move to Germany, so I got a few last shots in. I'm not sure what there is to embrace in this space, but the sentiment in nice. For more signs, visit Signs, Signs.

You can also see my brand new Berlin blog here!

Blown to the wind

I found this mural somewhere on Church street. I'm not sure what it's all about, but I do love the image of the woman and the boy blowing their wishes to the wind! A link to the artist's website is here. This will be my last mural posting for awhile, but not forever! Berlin also has plenty of wall art to share. Until then, enjoy the many murals at Monday Mural.

Blue skies over Casa Loma

I've shown you flowers from the gardens at Casa Loma and luckily I got to visit the actual Casa recently with out of town visitors. It's a huge house and there's lots to see inside. It's almost too much, but it was fun and interesting, especially since we did an "Upstairs, Downstairs" tour.

Friday is finally here. The movers are packing up our things and they will be back on Monday to load the container. The big day is quickly approaching! For more skies, take a look at Skywatch.

Many faiths

I found this colorful beauty at the intersection of Church and Shuter. I looked for some more information online and found that it is part of the Paint Your Faith project that encourages young people to express their spiritual beliefs through an artistic medium. For more murals from all over the world, visit Monday Mural.

The rooster

I recently made it downtown to see the Ai Weiwei exposition that's up in Nathan Phillip's Square. There is a representation of each of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. They are quite detailed and I'm really glad I had the time to see these works before they're gone.

View from the west

I got this nice skyline shot from the west side of the city when I was exploring there recently. This was actually taken from the pedestrian bridge I showed you earlier this week. For more skies, take a look at Skywatch.

I'm glad the weekend is finally here - and it's a long one for us! We've got visitors in town, so that should give me plenty of photo ops and a chance to use my new camera - the Nikon D7000. It's a long and sad story, but my old D3000 stopped working at a most inopportune time (right when I arrived in PEI for the second leg of my Farewell Canada Tour!). After returning from that trip, I looked at all my options and decided to upgrade to the D7000 - I'm hoping it will be worth it.

Making of the CN Tower

I recently took my second (and probably last) trip up the CN Tower.  I didn't notice this mural depicting the builders of the Tower the first time I went up, so I did get something out of the second trip! The guys who built the tower must have been very brave. It makes me nervous just looking down through that glass floor. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm gearing up for more visitors next weekend. And that means more photo ops. For more murals, take a look at Mural Monday.

Over the tracks

This brightly colored pedestrian bridge will take you over the tracks in the western part of the city. Lots of new condos and residential units have recently gone up in this area of town. So new paths and walkways had to be built to accommodate them. I rather like this one! 

Hope your weekend has been good so far. For more bridges, take a look at Sunday Bridges.

Parkette bench

Here's a last look at the Portuguese Parkette. I love the way the designers have incorporated this stone bench into the landscaping. 

The parkette also included a nice little fountain to honor the pioneers. This little parkette really squeezes a lot in! I hope you have enjoyed the tour.

Walk of fame

I guess I'm sort of on a Portuguese roll, so why not continue? Here's the Wall of Fame that I was telling you about last week. 

As you can see, it only includes three people and of those three I only know one, Nelly Furtado. But there's lots of open space left so hopefully more Canadians of Portuguese descent will be added to this wall in the years to come.

Portuguese mural

As promised, here's a closer look at the Portuguese Parkette that I showed briefly last week. There was a wonderful blue and white tile mural showing some of the historical moments of the Portuguese arrival in Canada. I upped the contrast on the top shot so the picture is more clear.

And here's a look at the mural in perspective. It's just near a bust of Portugues poet, Louis de Camoes. I'm not sure what he has to do with Portuguese-Canadians, but I guess all the greats of literature deserve a bust here and there! For more murals, take a look at Monday Mural.

Blue skies over the temple

A look at the outside of the Kiever Shul, luckily it was a bright sunny day! This synagogue was opened in 1914 by Ukranian Jews. It has gone through some ups and downs in the days since, but the congregation seems to be growing these days even though they don't have a permanent Rabbi. 

Hope everyone has some great plans for the weekend. I am just hoping to keep cool! If you'd like to see more skies, take a look at Skywatch.

Holy reading

The last place I visited during Doors Open Toronto was the Kiever Shul. It was a lovely little temple tucked away in the Kensington Market area of Toronto. If only I could read Hebew!

Theatre crest

There were so many details at the Elgin - too many to catch them all! But I did like these two fairies holding a crest. I hope you've enjoyed this look inside the theatre, tomorrow it's on to another location that I visited during Doors Open. Until then, you can find more signs at Signs, Signs.

Vaudeville look

The flats were not the only vaudeville relics found during theatre renovations - there were also lots of lovely costumes. These two are recreations of some of the models that were found, but you can see some of the originals during the backstage tour.

July theme day: Theatrical facade

And we're back to the Elgin Wintergarden Theater! When the theatre was being renovated, they discovered lots of remnants from the vaudeville days, like this old flat. This garden backdrop would have been used for light, musical numbers. I can just imagine the ladies twirling a parasol and singing a light ditty in this scene. For more murals, take a look at Monday Murals and you'll see more interpretations of facades from around the world here.

PS: Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers!

The Winter Garden

 

Now the really special thing about the Elgin is that it's two theaters in one! Back then (and even today), real estate was expensive on Yonge Street so the original owner built upwards - there is actually a second theatre right above the Elgin and it's called the Winter Garden. We were told during the presentation that there are only a few of these "double-decker" Edwardian type theatres left in the world and Toronto is lucky to have one of them! In the vaudeville days, the lower theatre would be an open-seating type show with tickets costing around 10 cents while the upper theatre was slightly more refined with assigned seating and tickets costing  25 cents or more.

I only wish my photos did this space justice because the atmosphere was really something. Those wonderful leaves hanging from the ceiling are real (although they have been treated with some kind of preservative) and you get a wonderful feeling as soon as you walk into the space. I hope to come back here one day to see a show.

Details of the Elgin Theatre

Here's another look at the inside of the Elgin theatre. Wouldn't you love to sit in one of those opera boxes? I think they're amazing!

 

They even look good in black and white. I'm so glad this place has been saved and preserved. It started as a vaudeville house, became a movie theater and now broadway-style shows are housed here. Check back tomorrow when I'll show you something really special about the Elgin.