A bit late, but the last weekend I didn’t spent in the lab, 4 weeks ago, I drove over to Toronto. Here is the trip report.
4 years ago I went to a conference in France. Similar to the conference in Prague, I had booked a dorm room. When I ventured out there on the first day, thinking I’d head over to downtown and find a bite to eat, I met a Canadian PhD student, Sue, and we set off together, had lovely dinner and became conference-buddies. In the meantime both Sue and me successfully conquered the PhD –title and are doing pos-docs. Sue is now in Toronto, and because it looked so close to Ann Arbor on the map I excitedly wrote to her I was coming over.
Well, let me tell you first of all, for European standards AA and Toronto are NOT close. It s a good 5 hour drive.
I rented a car, since all public transport options were ridiculous. Because this is only the largest city in Canada, there is no direct bus or train going there. (to be fair, perhaps because Ann Arbor isn’t that big a deal … but they do have excellent connections to Chicago)
And then with several maps and the google directions written down I was on my way. Well, it must be said, I thought Kiwis were now officially the worst drivers in the universe, and I still think they are, but North Americans are a good second and just by sheer numbers both Americans and Canadians on the road are such a nuisance. After all, both the greater Detroit and Toronto areas alone have more inhabitants than entire New Zealand, so imagine all the craziness.
I know a lot of N-Americans are reading this blog. Can anyone explain to me WTF is the deal with cruisin’ at any speed, too fast or too slow, in the middle lane?? Also trucks? Why is nobody following the rule “the slower, the more to the right”? Why are the speedy cars overtaking left and right as they please? Why do so many people overtake purely by coincidence because they happen to be in the left lane and going about 0.5 m/day (yes, meters per day) faster than the car in the middle lane so that after approximately 3000 kilometers they finally manage to actually pass the car? So that very often you have the situation where 3 cars are driving the same speed, more or less, next to each other on all three lanes?! I know in the EU not keeping right on highways or not going back to a righter lane after overtaking is getting more and more of a problem, but at least you really think twice before you overtake from the wrong side. In N-America (for once I am totally generalizing here and putting Canadians in the same boat as Americans), oh, I don’t know, “I like the left lane, why not stay here for another 50 kilometers/miles, the others will surely keep behind me or pass somewhere else” .... At least in NZ it is unlikely there will be more than one lane anyway, so you don’t have this sort of thing (except when the kiwis use the lane for oncoming traffic. Get ready for the airbags), besides the other crazy stuff. Indicating? Sorry? Looking for other cars? Why? The speedlimit?!
And obviously, no sooner than you pass the border with Canada or the giant potholes disappear and you’re not in constant turbulence anymore. I know, Canada is not perfect and the US has excuses for the bad roads, but still, the difference is phenomenal.
I guess after all the bad things I wrote about Americans and their territory, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I immediately relaxed and felt happy in Canada. Even the border controller was nice. “You have a nice day now miss”.
So it was with shame that I had to order a coffee and pay with –gasp – American dollars. At least I got some shiny loonies and toonies back.
Ok finally well into the afternoon I arrived near Toronto. It was very busy, but I managed to find Sue and Andy’s house in a maze of one-way roads. First I was slobbered up and down by their crazy dog. Yuck. Why do dogs always like to jump on top of me and drool all over me, when I am clearly NOT A DOG PERSON. Iiieeeewwww.
Anyway. We first chatted for a long time. After all, I was there to see Sue, not necessarily Toronto itself. But at night we went out for dinner in Little Italy and they gave me a tour of downtown.
Interestingly when I was in Canada as a teen/tween, I never really noticed the Canadian accent. Now that I’ve been in other places with funny accents, suddenly Sue and Andy seemed to put in extra “aboot” and “eh” especially for me.
Sunday we went to have brunch at a famous brunch place. I forgot its name. Lakeview? It didn’t have a Lakeview. But my stack of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup was extraordinaire. Sue ordered us all champagne-orange juices. Then we walked at the beach (of Lake Ontario).
Later Cindy said “Oh, Lake Ontario? Hmm, of course Lake Michigan is much nicer”. Cindy is great, really, but her comments about (aboot) her warm and fuzzy US make me … think bad thoughts.
Anyhoo, we had a great walk and then found a nice patio and were just in time for the drink special: The Caesar. I have to admit that although I claim to know all sorts of weird Canadian foods and drinks that no one else has ever heard of (poutine, anyone?), I had absolutely no clue aboot the Caesar. Perhaps because until recently I wasn’t really into tomato juice. Perhaps because I had a really really bad (but hilarious) experience with a bloody mary. Perhaps because I always assumed it was the salad misplaced on the menu. Either way, this is a drink of vodka, tomato juice and clam juice, with celery salt on the rim of the glass. We briefly talked aboot clam juice until dismissing its questionable origin as irrelevant. Because this is one fine drink.
And that was basically Toronto. Dog slobber, dinner, brunch, walk, drink. All the while discussing the finer points of academic careers, the unwise decisions of other post-docs we know, conferences, papers, workloads, and a shared dislike of the US. Perhaps if I want to move to Canada, it is even better not to have too much US career-experience…
There was one little issue when I drove back into the US. Because of a still unblogged predicament at US border when flying in from Europe (this will follow someday), I was literally terrified aboot getting back into the US. There was a huge line up of cars, and I got soo nervous I started to be afraid I would faint (parents, pretend you didn’t read that). And that induced the vicious cycle of “I’m terrified, they’ll notice I’m terrified, they’ll question me about being terrified. I’m soo terrified”. Also I had to pee. Through deep breaths I finally managed to calm myself down enough so that they let me through, after I had correctly answered trick questions such as “what is your nationality” and “do you live in Toronto”.
I am glad I went, even though it was pretty exhausting with all the driving. It was good to see Sue, to get a glimpse of Toronto, and to be able to say I spent at least 1 weekend outside of the lab.
Well, let me tell you first of all, for European standards AA and Toronto are NOT close. It s a good 5 hour drive.
I rented a car, since all public transport options were ridiculous. Because this is only the largest city in Canada, there is no direct bus or train going there. (to be fair, perhaps because Ann Arbor isn’t that big a deal … but they do have excellent connections to Chicago)
And then with several maps and the google directions written down I was on my way. Well, it must be said, I thought Kiwis were now officially the worst drivers in the universe, and I still think they are, but North Americans are a good second and just by sheer numbers both Americans and Canadians on the road are such a nuisance. After all, both the greater Detroit and Toronto areas alone have more inhabitants than entire New Zealand, so imagine all the craziness.
I know a lot of N-Americans are reading this blog. Can anyone explain to me WTF is the deal with cruisin’ at any speed, too fast or too slow, in the middle lane?? Also trucks? Why is nobody following the rule “the slower, the more to the right”? Why are the speedy cars overtaking left and right as they please? Why do so many people overtake purely by coincidence because they happen to be in the left lane and going about 0.5 m/day (yes, meters per day) faster than the car in the middle lane so that after approximately 3000 kilometers they finally manage to actually pass the car? So that very often you have the situation where 3 cars are driving the same speed, more or less, next to each other on all three lanes?! I know in the EU not keeping right on highways or not going back to a righter lane after overtaking is getting more and more of a problem, but at least you really think twice before you overtake from the wrong side. In N-America (for once I am totally generalizing here and putting Canadians in the same boat as Americans), oh, I don’t know, “I like the left lane, why not stay here for another 50 kilometers/miles, the others will surely keep behind me or pass somewhere else” .... At least in NZ it is unlikely there will be more than one lane anyway, so you don’t have this sort of thing (except when the kiwis use the lane for oncoming traffic. Get ready for the airbags), besides the other crazy stuff. Indicating? Sorry? Looking for other cars? Why? The speedlimit?!
And obviously, no sooner than you pass the border with Canada or the giant potholes disappear and you’re not in constant turbulence anymore. I know, Canada is not perfect and the US has excuses for the bad roads, but still, the difference is phenomenal.
I guess after all the bad things I wrote about Americans and their territory, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I immediately relaxed and felt happy in Canada. Even the border controller was nice. “You have a nice day now miss”.
So it was with shame that I had to order a coffee and pay with –gasp – American dollars. At least I got some shiny loonies and toonies back.
Ok finally well into the afternoon I arrived near Toronto. It was very busy, but I managed to find Sue and Andy’s house in a maze of one-way roads. First I was slobbered up and down by their crazy dog. Yuck. Why do dogs always like to jump on top of me and drool all over me, when I am clearly NOT A DOG PERSON. Iiieeeewwww.
Anyway. We first chatted for a long time. After all, I was there to see Sue, not necessarily Toronto itself. But at night we went out for dinner in Little Italy and they gave me a tour of downtown.
Interestingly when I was in Canada as a teen/tween, I never really noticed the Canadian accent. Now that I’ve been in other places with funny accents, suddenly Sue and Andy seemed to put in extra “aboot” and “eh” especially for me.
Sunday we went to have brunch at a famous brunch place. I forgot its name. Lakeview? It didn’t have a Lakeview. But my stack of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup was extraordinaire. Sue ordered us all champagne-orange juices. Then we walked at the beach (of Lake Ontario).
Later Cindy said “Oh, Lake Ontario? Hmm, of course Lake Michigan is much nicer”. Cindy is great, really, but her comments about (aboot) her warm and fuzzy US make me … think bad thoughts.Anyhoo, we had a great walk and then found a nice patio and were just in time for the drink special: The Caesar. I have to admit that although I claim to know all sorts of weird Canadian foods and drinks that no one else has ever heard of (poutine, anyone?), I had absolutely no clue aboot the Caesar. Perhaps because until recently I wasn’t really into tomato juice. Perhaps because I had a really really bad (but hilarious) experience with a bloody mary. Perhaps because I always assumed it was the salad misplaced on the menu. Either way, this is a drink of vodka, tomato juice and clam juice, with celery salt on the rim of the glass. We briefly talked aboot clam juice until dismissing its questionable origin as irrelevant. Because this is one fine drink.
And that was basically Toronto. Dog slobber, dinner, brunch, walk, drink. All the while discussing the finer points of academic careers, the unwise decisions of other post-docs we know, conferences, papers, workloads, and a shared dislike of the US. Perhaps if I want to move to Canada, it is even better not to have too much US career-experience…
There was one little issue when I drove back into the US. Because of a still unblogged predicament at US border when flying in from Europe (this will follow someday), I was literally terrified aboot getting back into the US. There was a huge line up of cars, and I got soo nervous I started to be afraid I would faint (parents, pretend you didn’t read that). And that induced the vicious cycle of “I’m terrified, they’ll notice I’m terrified, they’ll question me about being terrified. I’m soo terrified”. Also I had to pee. Through deep breaths I finally managed to calm myself down enough so that they let me through, after I had correctly answered trick questions such as “what is your nationality” and “do you live in Toronto”.
I am glad I went, even though it was pretty exhausting with all the driving. It was good to see Sue, to get a glimpse of Toronto, and to be able to say I spent at least 1 weekend outside of the lab.
