Unorganized thoughts about Toronto from a girl raised in McMurray

Looking out my hotel window, I spot Penelope Cruz putting on mascara, a buff, shirtless guy sitting beside a snowy mountain range and a very large silhouette of a hip hop dancer wearing an iPod. Standing at the airport baggage carousel, a very large live image is projected on the two-storey sized wall near me. On the airport shuttle bus on the way downtown, there are never-ending billboards flying past at 120 km/hr. Even the strip of grass along the freeway is cut and shaped into logos for banks, stores… the United Way??

A presenter in the conference I attended said that North Americans are bombarded by 5,000 images and brands daily. That is true. If you live in Toronto.

There are over 200 restaurants within a three block radius of my hotel. That is just cool. Last night I only walked one block and couldn’t make up my mind so I chose the very last restaurant on the block and scored the best butter chicken takeout I’ve ever had. And only for $18! I can’t help but wonder if this could compete with the other Indian food place I passed a half a block ago.

When the sun sets through the smog, an eerie orange-pink light settles over the city. The orange palm tree lights illuminate at the Hooters on the corner, and – hey! Another silhouetted dancer with an iPod!

I was embarrassed to admit there was a bad odour following me around the whole time I was in Toronto. Then I realized the garbage-like smell was actually the smog. Yuck.

The Muchmusic building looks much smaller in real life. And Queen Street is way skinnier than even Franklin Avenue. The city builders must have decided one thoroughfare through downtown was no longer meeting the traffic needs, so they built a freeway right over top of it. Literally, on top of it, like held up by pillars. It seems so futuristic to me.

Maybe I’m some small-town hick from the west; Toronto was a cool place to gape at for a couple days and eat some good food, but I would probably not live there. When I got back to Fort McMurray, I sucked the fresh summery smell into my lungs like I never have before and appreciated it more than I can put into words.