Allan Gardens

We have less than a week to go before relocating to Montreal for the summer.  We won't be back this way until October!  I thought I should get one more post in to showcase Allan Gardens, a dominant feature of our neighbourhood.  The current conservatory/greenhouse dates to 1910.  It replaced an earlier one that was built in 1879 and burned to the ground just after the turn of the century.

I can't believe that in all my trips here and living here over two years I just now got around to visiting the gardens.  There is no excuse as it is free and open seven days a week year 'round.  It is a "must see" if you are ever in Toronto.

There are many more photos HERE.  We didn't even go into the succulent wing as it was too hot!  We'll save that for the cool months.


And the slide show:

Second Apartment

Two weeks ago we started our third year here and simultaneously moved into our second apartment.  We are now pretty settled in and have managed to get through the learning curve.  It is a bit larger and gives us a full second washroom and second bedroom.  We enjoy an outstanding view of the CN Tower and a bit of Lake Ontario in the distance.  We are right next to Allan Gardens which has sprawling greenhouse that is over 100 years old.

The neighborhood is completely different even though it is only about eight blocks straight north of the former condo.  For Kansas City people I would compare it to moving from The Crossroads to Westport.  There is a lot more activity day and night.  We are across the street from the former Maple Leaf Gardens building.  The street level has been converted to a huge grocery store.  It is all state of the art as it just opened last year.  The upper floors are occupied by Ryerson University and they still maintain an ice rink for their team.  Ticket prices are about one tenth the price to see the Maple Leafs so that will do nicely when the season starts back up.

The condo owners still live in this unit four months out of the year so we have arranged with them to leave our belongings in their spare closets and locker area while we are away.  This first year they need it from June through September so we will be spending the summer in Montreal and in September we will split between Brussels and The Hague before returning to Toronto in October.

Believe it or not by not having to pay Toronto rent for those four months we will end up with nearly the same expenses including the round trip airfare.

Here are a few photos from the new place.

You can see more photos HERE or the slideshow below: