Category: urban

Family Travel: A Day In Toronto

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art gallery of ontario riopelle

Interactive fun at the Art Gallery of Ontario

The children and I recently made a trip across the country from Ottawa, Ontario to the island of Victoria, in British Columbia, which is off of the Canadian west coast. We made a similar trip last year to visit my parents who winter out there. Isn’t it fun and funny to use ‘winter’ as a verb?!

On our trip out west last year, my youngest child, Sen, found the travel pretty long. The fact that he won’t watch shows or distract himself with screens doesn’t help the situation…but, overall that’s not something a parent should complain about.

Sen Art Gallery of Ontario Riopelle Mitchell

I would definitely rather my child stares at this sort of thing! Art work by Joan Mitchell at the Art Gallery of Ontario

When planning our trip this year, I decided to try dividing up the travel to make the journey more fun for Sen and to add a little extra arts and adventure to our trip. We decided to ride the train from Ottawa to Toronto, spend a day and a half in Toronto, exploring the downtown, and then catch a direct flight from Toronto to Victoria. And I can say, it worked out really well!

Toronto is Canada’s biggest city. And, to many people’s surprise it is not the capital of Canada. As far as big cities go, Toronto has all the great things that big cities offer: art galleries, performing arts shows, museums, zoos and an aquarium, parks, waterfront, old architecture and astonishing modern buildings, theme parks as well as lots of unique shops and delicious local food.

Art Gallery of Ontario Children

More creative fun at the Art Gallery of Ontario

Those readers who are more familiar with our family’s beat know that I have a strong preference for travel by foot (either walking or pedalling), and I love a good city adventure. So, that was our plan for Toronto: explore the downtown area around our hotel by foot and see what discoveries we could make. My children love this sort of itinerary where all we know for sure is that we are walking out the front door and we will see where our curiosity leads us. They feel like they have more input in our day and look at the city with an inquisitive lens, seeing if they might spot something, a street, an alley, a shop, a park, that we should venture to. They feel more part of the decision making and enjoy the surprises that come with an unplanned day, and they absorb a lot more about the city because they are actively looking for fun things to do. It’s a fun, healthy competition to see who can find the next city clue to pursue.

That being said, I did have one destination in mind: the Art Gallery of Ontario. Not only is the AGO a fantastic gallery, especially for families, but a new show had just opened for an artist I have been fascinated with for a few years: Yayoi Kusama. So, when our exploration brought us pretty close to the AGO (we ended up in Kensington Market a few blocks away), I steered the adventure toward the AGO, where we spent about 4 hours viewing the exhibits and participating in pop-up art activities.

Art Gallery of Ontario Yayoi Kusama Garden

Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden at the Art Gallery of Ontario

This is not a sponsored post, but I do want to share the places we stayed, visited and ate, because, well, I found them to be great! People often ask me for travel recommendations, so now, when it comes to Toronto I can point them toward this post.

Here are the highlights and some details of our day in Toronto:

Accommodations

  • Our hotel was the Strathcona: We picked it because it was inexpensive and across the street from the train station and subway lines. The staff were very polite and helpful. The room was clean, but tiny. The beds were tiny. But the size didn’t matter, we slept well and spent most of our time outdoors.

Food

  • Breakfast was smoothies from Freshly Squeezed. These are pure fruit smoothies, no additive like sugar, whey, etc. Not organic, but no one’s perfect. Don’t forget to bring a travel cup (like this!) and straw (like this!), so you don’t have to take single-use plastic!
  • Lunch was at Fresh. Fresh is a delicious local restaurant mini-chain — I think there are 3 locations. This mainly vegan restaurant has delicious, nutritious foods, like Buddha bowls, salads, burgers, tacos, smoothies, soups and lots more. The menu is massive. And true to its name the food is fresh! It’s definitely child-friendly and my children loved the food, my littlest said “Take a picture of this place, so we can tell people all about it”. Just in case the word ‘vegan’ scares you off, the restaurant is known to be popular with people who aren’t vegan, so try it out!
  • Afternoon treat: We discovered a delicious vegan bakery in the basement of the Hudson’s Bay at the Eaton Centre called Sorelle & Co. The bakery was so fancy and had such beautiful presentation I didn’t even think there was a chance they had anything without butter in it. The kids and I gazed at the beautiful pastries simply for the artistry of their construction…then I noticed a sign that said all their goods were vegan…so we got a few things!

Attractions

  • Walking city streets, stopping at pop up markets, enjoying buskers performing, exploring alleys was a main attraction. We like to do this to get the pulse of a city. And thanks to our wandering nature, while we were near Kensington Market, we got to see a peaceful protest against Chinese oppression of Tibet.
  • The AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) is amazing, it has a great permanent collection. The temporary shows that we’ve seen have been excellent and really gave us a good gallery experience. For example, the Mitchell Riopelle show was spacious, the rooms didn’t feel cramped, there were sofas to sit on to enjoy the artworks for longer. The AGO has done a good job of leaving breathing room in its galleries. A big draw for families that enjoy visiting art galleries is that the AGO has done a standout job of developing activities for children to enjoy throughout the gallery, rather than off in one room or a corner space. At the AGO there are activities and art projects to engage in throughout the building and fitting all ages. This allowed me, as a slower observer, to enjoy the art work longer, because my busier child, Sen, was easily able to occupy his excess energy and creativity with the activities on offer.
  • Kensington Market is a district in downtown Toronto, it is eclectic and lots of fun to wander through, it almost feels like you’ve stepped into another city! There is a mix of independent shops for clothing and food, international food and cuisines, boutiques, street art, decorated alleys and always something completely unexpected.

Transportation

  • We mainly got around town on foot. If you are downtown in Toronto in the area of the train station or the Eaton Centre, there is an extensive network of underground tunnels that connect the buildings. These can be useful for getting around in bad weather. The tunnels are filled with shops and are full of people, so don’t be nervous about using them.
  • To get to the airport for our flight we took the new express train, called the UP (Union-Pearson), that takes people from Union Station to Pearson Airport. The tickets are about $12 and children are free. The trip is supposed to take about 25 minutes, but ours was faster than that. I don’t know why anyone would fight traffic in a car or taxi for 45 minutes or longer and at a much higher cost. The UP train is the way to go!
  • To travel to Toronto we took VIA Rail, which is Canada’s national train line, and to fly to Victoria we flew direct via Air Canada on points. Overall the travel was pretty easy and inexpensive.

Toronto is a great city with much more to offer than I can cover in this one post and just one day spent there, so explore and see what you find, and let me know what cool stuff you discover!

toronto parrot street art

Street art and a silly child imitating the parrot’s expression

City Adventure: Art, Nature, Seasonal Rhythms and Impermanence

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Urban Adventure Grain de Chic Mabo Clothier Mikoleon

A variation on this post was originally published on the Enfants Terribles Magazine blog in 2015

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while or following me on Instagram you might remember that the children and I love to go on adventures in the city. For me, it’s a love for walking, wandering, people watching, art spotting and nature gazing. I’ve always been this way. For them, anything called an ‘adventure’ sounds like fun. And so, a few years ago I started taking Ro and Sen on what I call “urban adventures” or “city adventures.”

Hippie in Disguise Ottawa Canada Sibling Love mabo clothier

Ready for an adventure!

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Ottawa Canada Family Travel Old City

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Aside from feeding my own interest in wandering, I wanted to find an activity that we all enjoyed but that was also active. Going to the parks with the children is great for them, they are doing more physical activity than a football player, however, I usually find myself sitting on a bench or picnic blanket for hours chatting with other parents. Definitely fun and social, but maybe not the best form of daily exercise. And since I have a desk job, I definitely need exercise when I’m not at work.

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As well, preferring human-powered modes of transit, I wanted to prove to myself, my children, and (yes) maybe friends and family, that you can have adventures and connect with nature simply by walking out your front door, keeping an open mind, and looking for the paths less traveled. Nature isn’t some far off pristine sanctuary, it’s all around us: the air, the sky, the grass growing in sidewalk cracks. And, you definitely don’t need to drive a car to get to adventurous places; with some creativity and an open mind you can make your own adventure anywhere.

Ottawa Canada Rideau Canal

Ottawa Canada Rideau Canal

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Sand on this side of the canal, snow on the other

Playing Rideau Canal Ottawa Canada

This might be a good place to explain what an ‘adventure’ is to me. For me, ‘adventures’ don’t happen according to plans. They happen on the margins, or perhaps, as ‘offshoots’ of plans. You set a course, either defined or general, and you see what happens as things unfold. Flexibility is a necessary aspect, and so is openness to the risk of ‘wasting time’ for an opportunity that holds promise.

I want my children to understand that there is an abundance of nature to be found in the city. But if we only ever walked down Main Street or drove to get to the places we visit they might think that we live in a concrete jungle. We don’t need to drive 20 miles to an apple orchard or a petting farm or to a “Nature Path” to spend time in nature, with plants, animals and waterways, these are all within walking distance, if you find the right path.

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Motherhood Hippie in disguise

I also want my children to develop a broad and flexible understanding of what art is, that art isn’t only hung in galleries. There is an abundance of free art to be found and experienced in the city. There are commemorative statues of people and events that tell the city’s story, and there is illegal art in the form of graffiti that tells the city’s story in another way. And then there is the abundance of performance art, street dancers and performers, buskers, chalk artists, that can usually only be enjoyed by sheer luck of timing. Being out in the city without a schedule of planned activities allows us to pause along the way for as long as we want to enjoy something we’ve found serendipitously.

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Ottawa Canada Rideau Canal

Ottawa Canada Rideau Canal

Ottawa Canada Rideau Canal Mabo Clothier

Ottawa Canada Rideau Canal

Finally, I want Ro and Sen to appreciate unstructured, unplanned activities. These are days where all you have planned is to walk out the front door with a water bottle and snacks, with little idea of where you’ll end up and when you’ll come back home. The day is not curated by a schedule, organized activities and events (or businesses), but thrives on open-endedness.

We live in Ottawa, Canada which experiences a very cold winter (minus 20 Celsius / minus 4 Fahrenheit is totally normal), with lots of snow, so we don’t do a lot of adventuring in the winter. So, when spring time arrives sometime in April, like it did yesterday, we are excited to get out and revisit the paths and favourite spots we haven’t been to since last fall. At this time of year, what the children notice most is the contrast of seasons; their memory of a spot in its fall incarnation and how it looks after a long cold winter. Plants have died or gone dormant, birds and squirrels are not actively working and playing about, and so on. I hope this brings to life a rhythm and broader understanding of the seasons beyond their own perspective of: winter means snow suit and summer means sandals.

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Ottawa Canada Mural Urban Art

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As the spring progresses and flowers start to bloom, we will continue to explore and find new spots, that we can add to our repertoire of wanders. But also, understanding that each path and favourite spot is never the same twice we try to make the most of each experience, savouring the temporary nature of a field of wildflowers or a graffiti wall that will likely change within a week. I am hoping to awaken that sense of living in the moment and appreciating its fleeting nature. Whether it is conscious or not, I hope my children are developing a sense of appreciation for the impermanence of things and that this will prove useful in living a full life.

Ottawa Canada Dance Hippie in Disguise

Thank you to our kind sponsors for outfitting Ro, Sen and me:

Ro’s dresses by Grain de Chic, removable grey collar by Halo Luxe, laced shoes by Soft Star, slip on shoes by Mikoleon

Sen’s shirts and jacket by Grain de Chic, laced shoes by Mikoleon, sandals by Salt Water Sandals

My dress by Nico Nico Clothing, my mala by Mama Malas

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Want to find me in other places?

Summer Trip Part 2: A Day in NYC

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We arrived in New York City around 6:30 pm on Sunday, after a 9 hour train ride that started in St. Albans, Vermont (photos of Part 1 are here). Tuckered out from our long day, we did a little walking around Times Square and then retired to the room we had rented on the border of Chinatown and Soho.

The next morning, with 10 hours until our bus ride to Philadelphia the kids woke up early, excited to explore the city.  We kept true to our modus operandi in Ottawa, walk out the door and see what the city has to offer. But first a peek out the window…image

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…finding greenery wherever we go, Soho had a number of beautiful ivy covered walls.

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…on our way to market for breakfast we stopped to play at Union Square Park, a nostalgic place for us, as the children played there three years ago when we visited.

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…outside Union Square park there is a fantastic farmers market where we grabbed fresh fruit for breakfast, and, of course, enjoyed the flowers and colours inspiration.

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…walking past the Flat Iron Building on our way to the flower district (is that’s what it’s called?)

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…plants in the alleys of the flower district, Ro found a fallen hibiscus and put it in her hair.

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…colour and texture inspiration sitting on the sidewalk.

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…headed back to our room to pick up our bags for our bus trip, walking back slowly via the High Line.

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…it was a hot day, popsicles for a late afternoon lunch. Ro had hibiscus and Sen had lemonade.

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…getting wet in this fun water feature on the High Line, the kids also played here three years ago when we visited. Ahhh, memories.

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…Sen trying to keep up with his summer list “Swim Every Day” commitment, laying down in a half inch of water. I’ll allow it!

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…off the High Line, walking through Soho and inspired by the texture and pattern of this grate.

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…quick stop in at Purl Soho, enjoying the colours, patterns, textures, and Ro in search of the perfect teal colour for her mood board for the dress she is designing with Mimolab.

Purl Soho NYC

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…Sen fascinated by the winder.

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…she found the perfect teal colour.

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…and now to grab our bags, rush over to the bus terminal, on our way to Philadephia. Stay tuned for Part 3.

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Clothing details: Sen’s honey bee organic underwear from Underables; Sen’s swim bottom from Gardner and the Gang; Sen’s striped romper from Little Heirloom; Ro’s top from American Apparel and skirt from Little Heirloom; we all wear Salt Water Sandals from Mini Mioche.