The Five Part Journey

I spent the past weekend in Toronto. It was lovely, up until precisely 5:39pm on Sunday evening. But I'll get to that in a bit.
Marissa and I wanted to see the Mystical Landscapes Exhibition at the AGO, so we took a trip to Toronto. I also took the opportunity to visit Emily and Alison. We arrived very late on Friday evening, so much so that we just chatted for a bit before heading to bed. On Saturday, Marissa and I went for brunch with her aunt at FRANK, the restaurant at the AGO. (Emily had brunch with her roommates and friends celebrating a belated birthday). The brunch at the AGO was lovely. I started with a pastry platter, which had two mini croissants with butter and jam and two mini chocolate croissants. For the main course we all had eggs benedict: a croissant with smoked trout, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce with roast potatoes on the side. Marissa's aunt insisted on having dessert, so I had tiramisu gelato with a delicious caramel sauce and 'churro dust'. To top it all off, a lovely cup of tea.
We then met up with the others to see the exhibition. The exhibition had timed entry, so we looked around the rest of the AGO for a little bit before heading to the exhibition. The exhibition was advertised as "Mystical Landscapes: Monet, Van Gogh, and more". I was under the impression that it would be primarily Van Gogh and Monet, with some other artists. To my disappointment, it was the other way around: primarily other artists with a handful of Monets and two Van Goghs. Overall it was still a great exhibition; there were some paintings by Emily Carr and Paul Gauguin, who stayed with Van Gogh at one point. One of my favourite paintings was Crystal Castle in the Sea by Wenzel Hablik.

One of the Van Gogh paintings was Starry Night over the Rhone, which was on load from Musee D'Orsay. Which is where I had seen that painting for the first time. So now I've seen it twice (still just as good the second time around). The Monet paintings were some of his famous Rouen Cathedral paintings, some of which I had also seen before. I enjoyed the exhibition, but had been hoping to see more Van Gogh and Monet. And the audio guide was on the artistic interpretation side of things, whereas I prefer to hear about the facts of the painting.
After we finished the exhibition, we continued to look around the rest of the AGO. It's much bigger than I thought. And as with every gallery, very easy to lose track of where you are. I'm not sure if we actually saw everything or not. We did see most of it though. The last section we walked through was in the basement where they have the miniature boat models. Miniature is a relative term, some of the models were the size of kayaks. But all very impressive; the amount of detail on the models is astounding.
We then went out for dinner where I had chicken wonton nachos (very good) and stopped at Michaels to grab some supplies for a t-shirt making party we are having later this week. Then we headed back to Emily's apartment for a pit stop before Alison, Marissa and I went to see the Toronto Light Festival. It's a collection of light installations in the Distillery District. It was pretty neat and I got some cool pictures of some of them.

On Sunday we slept in and spent the afternoon at a board game cafe. We discovered a game called Codenames, which we all really enjoyed. I'd like to play it again in the future. At 4:30 we decided to head back to Emily's apartment so that Marissa and I could get ready to catch our train.
And this is where the weekend derails (no pun intended).
Our train back to Stratford leaves at 5:40pm. We leave Emily's apartment at 5:20. It's cutting it close, but Google says it's a 15min walk so I'm not too worried. But despite walking quickly the whole way there we arrive at the station at 5:38. Our train isn't listed on any of the screens around the station. Panicking, we ask the info desk where train 87 is leaving from.
Info Desk Attendant: Train 87? I don't know about a train 87! Where does that go??
She was less than helpful and was wasting valuable time. I go to a different desk and ask if they know where train 87 is boarding.
Info Desk Attendant #2: Oh, that's probably left already. *checks with someone on the walkie talkie* Yeah that train just left.
I know you're all thinking we should have given ourselves more time to get to the train station. That's probably true. But I would also like to state that the train left 2mins early. And Union station is a nightmare.
That was the last train to Stratford for the day, so we were not going back to Stratford by train Sunday evening. There were a few options:
1. Stay at Emily's another night and take the Monday morning train to Stratford and be late for class.
2. Somehow get to Waterloo and sleep at Marissa's parent's house and get a ride with a carpool to Stratford Monday morning.
3. Somehow get to Waterloo or London and get our parents to drive us to Stratford.
We decided to try #3 via Waterloo. Marissa called her mom to make sure this was a plan that could happen and we quickly got on the 6:00 GO bus to Mississauga, where we would switch GO buses at Square One and go to Waterloo from there. Neither of us are sure whether our presto cards have enough money on them to pay for the ticket. Mine had just enough; Marissa's did not. We think that we'll have to get off but turns out you can pay with cash (who knew?). I lend Marissa some cash and we're through. We get on the bus, and while still shaken, I'm glad we've figured out a way to get back to Stratford fairly quickly. Although, I had the issue of not having enough money on my presto card to pay for the second bus ticket.
Around 6:45, Marissa is not sure we're on the right bus because she doesn't recognize the route we're on. I check the map on my phone and sure enough, we are nowhere near Square One. We are on the edge of Mississauga and about to go to Milton. I suggest we get off, because Milton definitely is not where we want to be. At this point, we're both tired, cold, and desperately want to get home in one piece.
So I decide to call up Sheila, whom with which I stayed with over the summer. I asked if she would be willing to come pick us up and drive us to Square One, so that we could get on the next bus. Thankfully she wasn't doing anything and was willing to come rescue us. The drive from the edge of Mississauga to Square One was explaining to Sheila the night Marissa and I had had. When we arrive at Square One, we see the bus that we are supposed to be getting on to. Marissa and I decide that instead of rushing and potentially missing it, we'll wait for the next bus which comes in just under an hour. We grab dinner at the nearby Starbucks and buy tickets for the bus at a kiosk there.
Finally the bus arrives and we get on, this time sure that it is the right bus. It take just over an hour to us to get to Waterloo. The bus stops at the university; it was strange being back there. I haven't been there since second year. Entire buildings have gone up in the time I've been gone.
Marissa's mom met us there and drove us to Stratford. I have never before been so glad to see this apartment. I had intended on doing some school work Sunday evening because the train would've arrived in Stratford around 8pm. When we finally pulled up in front of our apartment, it was 10:30. I was going to bed.
That, my friends, was our five part journey. It will surely become something to laugh at in the future, but for now we're simply calling it a comedy of errors.

Another Weekend Gone

This weekend was incredibly lazy, interspersed with moments of activity. I baked some cupcakes, which I had intended to send some home with my family when they came up on Saturday, but found out that they had made cupcakes themselves as well. So I have all the cupcakes now. I'll probably take them into school tomorrow. I've been doing a lot of baking and giving it away recently. Not necessarily because I set out to be generous, but because I'm bored, so I bake. And then I have tons of baked goods that I can't consume on my own, so I give them away. Rice Krispies have been made multiple times already this year.
As I mentioned before, my family (minus my dad) came up to Stratford on Saturday to see a showing of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was well done; I especially liked how they did Aslan. The legs had a very realistic movement, which I appreciated.

While at the theatre, I ran into the Dyck family, which is the family I lived with over the summer. Boy was I surprised to see them. I ended up hanging out with them after the show and getting dinner with them. We went to about 6 restaurants before giving up and getting Wendy's. A rookie mistake: if you want to eat a meal immediately before or after a show in Stratford, you need to have a reservation. Even Swiss Chalet didn't have room for us. 

This morning a group of us when to an arts and crafts show at the Rotary Complex. It took us about 40mins to walk there because it's way out on the edge of Stratford. It was fun to go though. There was over 100 vendors. There was a raffle to win this massive gingerbread house. It was like the ones you see on TV in the competitions. My favourite part was that they had left the back corner open so you could see inside the house, where they had done the entire interior as well, complete with mini gingerbread people. I was freaking out over it, and somebody from the Stratford Gazette asked if they could use my picture. I said yes, obviously, so now I'll have to keep an eye out for my picture in the paper. I managed to get some things, including a butter alternative that is primarily composed of garlic. It's basically garlic butter but healthier. I'm going to start making myself garlic bread all the time. And might even put it on my sandwiches. We decided to get a cab back, since we didn't fancy walking all the way back. 

I had trouble falling asleep last night, so spent the afternoon in bed lounging around. I watched an episode of The Crown on Netflix. It's about Queen Elizabeth II, starting with her marriage to Prince Philip. I'm loving this series. And it's also surprisingly accurate in terms of what actually happened. I've been doing lots of research into the Royal Family because of it. I'm also starting to manage wrapping my head around the Royal Family tree. I've tried to do that before, and struggled. It's basically a history lesson that's also entertaining. 

This evening I went out skating again, and set a new record with my Misfit (and officially this time, since there was no time change nonsense). 2030 points :D The skate costs $5, which is a bit much to go skating for an hour and a half, but I'm calling it an investment in my health, since the Wii Fit, while motivating, I'm not exactly sure can be called a 'workout'. 

In other news, I'm counting down the days till the term is done. Not even particularly because I'm desperate for school to be over, but because I have so many ideas planned for what I can do during my break. I'm especially excited to be able to sew again. I'm going to try and pump out two quilts in one month, which I've never done before. Heck, I haven't done one quilt in a month before. And of course, Christmas baking. Big plans :)

QOTD

371. Have you ever looked down on someone because you thought your religious views were superior?

Not knowingly, although I'm sure I've done it subconsciously. I know that when people mention that they don't believe in God that I make note of it and generally try and steer conversation away from religion, but I don't look down on them. 

Hello Hello

Long time no see, my friends. Although I'm sure a lot of you followed my travel blog. As of right now, I'm in Mississauga for an internship with D+H. I've completed two weeks already, out of a 12 week contract. I have a feeling it will go by very quickly. I'm staying with the family of one of my friends from high school for the time that I'll be in Mississauga. I'm really grateful for that. I was thinking the other day that coming home to a family that is glad to have me staying with them is so much better than living in a basement apartment by myself. So that's a real blessing. And it's working out well. I'm getting the feel of how their family works and runs, and slotting myself in. I'm now vying for the spot of favourite child ;) I've helped garden, gone grocery shopping with them, and I hung out with Grandma which apparently wins me big points. It's a bit of a running joke now.
I don't know what I'm allowed to say about the work that I'm doing for D+H, but I'm sure it would be boring to write about regardless. But in general, I'm doing User Experience Design for them. What I will do, however, is tell you about some funny moments with my manager. He's a good guy, and seems interested in helping me learn and grow in my abilities. Let's call him G. G's going to be on 'vacation' next week (he's actually moving and renovating his house, so it's not really a vacation).

G: You know you can dress casual, right? Wear jeans or something.
Me: Yea, but I figured I'd keep appearances up for the first couple weeks. *pause* But next week when you're gone, it will all fall apart.

He laughed at that, so now I know I can make jokes like that. I've kind of been testing and observing to see what's acceptable. The people that I'm working with seem pretty laid back and friendly. Then later as he was leaving for the day, he popped his head into my cubicle and said "Dress casual tomorrow would ya? It's a Friday." Not one to disobey the boss, I wore jeans the next day. As G walks by my cubicle he says "Good morn- JEANS!" and continues to walk by. Never a dull moment with G.

Now that I've written it out, that's not actually that funny. I suppose the office just isn't a super exciting place to begin with that the little things seem funnier than they actually are. Oh well. I would talk more about what I'm up to, but I need to go to bed. More on another day.