Labour Day
Toronto Zoo
3 September 2007
I was aware from reading the guide books that there is a Labour Day in Canada. It is an important day for tourists because after it, many places change their opening hours. I had not realised however that it was the first Monday in September - today.
We only fell in having walked the few hundred metres to our College Subway Station and tried to buy two tickets. Are you a family ? I was asked. Yes - well in that case you only need the one ticket for two adults as it is a holiday.
Before we went any further I checked the book for the Zoo, it was a long way so we didn't want to make an unnecessary journey. Yes it was open all year round, but would now close an hour earlier.
The subway was clean and swift and we found our correspondance easy enough to negotiate as we changed lines and headed out into the suburbs. At the terminus we had to take a bus to the zoo and we were lucky with that as although we were waiting for the right bus we were at the wrong bay. You need the one going in the other direction - over there. The driver told us.
And so we were off to the zoo with two very large ladies for company at the back of the bus. We presumed mother and daughter and it had obviously been a while since they had been to the zoo because they were remarking on the changes along the route.
Jean-Jacques was fit to pop, himself, when the mother in all seriousness told the daughter that she hoped that they did pop-corn at the zoo. She just so did not need pop-corn.
Almost everywhere in Canada there are advertisements for gym clubs, fitness equipment and healthy people enjoying sport. These people do not need gym clubs: they need diets, they need to get out of their cars and walk a bit. They need patches so that they can get just enough essence of burger to keep them going through the day until they can kick the habit.
Whilst wandering about the zoo we saw one cutty who could have been no older than eight years old and she had to be taller lying down than she was standing up. Then we saw the father and you could understand why she would not have been allowed on the glass floor at the CN Tower.
Anyway, the zoo
Toronto zoo is huge with a large selection of animals and some excellent indoor exhibits. It was also undergoing some renovations so part of it was closed off whilst they create a Tundra Region.
I had already printed out a map of the zoo so we were able to set off in search of fluffy cuddly things with big teeth.
It had turned out to be very hot indeed with the temperature touching 33 degrees so we had not been walking for very long before we were getting roasted.
White headed eagle
The animals for their part were resting in the shade or in their dens which has to be a trick of all zoos.
How many times have you stood in front of what appears to be an empty cage searching for the Never Spotted Wee Tiny Thing ? I think that they appear empty - because they are.
The paddocks for the most part are very big so the animals have a lot of space to roam about in. Our first pause was in front of the Siberian Tigers who have recently had cubs. Dad was prowling about but mother and childer were snoozing in the den.
The animals have been placed in regions on well marked walkways, so you can easily follow your way around each of the continents. If you get lost you can either follow the signs or just look on the footpath for the painted footprints.
By the time that we had wandered around the animals of Europe and Asia the pair of us were suffering from the heat and my camera batteries had died. The wee shop was air conditioned and we could have stayed longer. I even overheard one parent suggesting that the place was air conditioned to induce parents to bring their children in to spend daddy's money.
So, what could we eat and drink - why its burger time. For all my complaints I would have to say that Harvey's at the zoo was good value. JJ found a table and I went to order our meals. The burgers arrive in the bap and you then get to choose what you want on it so it was all pretty fresh. For just a dollar extra in these places you can have a third burger added. Mine was already that large thank you, that the mustard was starting to run everywhere as the bap slowly fell apart. JJ laughed - peasant.
Tanked up and ready to continue JJ asked me how much more we had to do and was aghast when I said that we had only covered about a quarter of the zoo. We still had Africa, Canada and Latin America to do.
See also