Windows out the window

Green on the shore

Mildly dystopian

I photographed this building last year but then it did not look so dark and moody. The lakefront complex is now mostly completed so I was able to get a closer look. It is actually a quite nice development and I am sure the apartments or condos are expensive, as is everything in Toronto.

Build more

Although this is only a small section of the Toronto waterfront, it does demonstrate a near universal characteristic... almost any Toronto skyline view will contain a crane and tall building under construction. Toronto, it seems, just keeps growing.

Roger Waters

I have been fortunate to see a few of my favorites this year in concert, starting with Santana in Canandaigua, then U2 in Buffalo, and now Roger Waters in Toronto. Waters was key member of Pink Floyd and responsible for much of the iconic music of their prime years. Pink Floyd has continued without him but Waters has created some great music since his departure. His concert playlist spanned his full career with powerful performances, much of which took on a political tone repurposing some of his music to criticize the current USA leadership under Donald Trump (a large floating pig circled the arena and with an image of Trump, eyes replaced with dollar signs, was only one example).

Staging and effects were quite spectacular, with a huge brick building suddenly appearing over the full length of the hockey field, which included puffing smokestacks (an image from one of the albums).

I played around a bit with creating an animated GIF... hope the flashing does not drive you crazy.

Gucci and Popeye's

Unusual mix. You can't always pick your neighbors.

Have a seat

Continuing from the last post... how do you get shoppers to shop longer? Provide a well designed and comfortable seat for the shoppers spouse. These images are from a new Nordstrom's that recently opened in downtown Toronto.

Fashion trio

Shopping for fashion is more than the for-sale product... it is the total emersion in style. The shopping experience is really the product.

BMX Park

BMX (bicycle motocross) are those little bikes that are used for competitive racing or showing-off fancy jumps and stunts. This park was build in Toronto for a major competition and is now open to the public.

Sweet

This is perhaps my favorite picture from our Toronto weekend with its angles, unusual construction and colors. The unaware passerby also adds to the image, but the title comes from the fact that the industrial building pictured is the Redpath Sugar Refinery on the waterfront.

And we were in Toronto to see Sir Paul McCartney, who at age 73 was still able to provide two and half hours of continuous entertainment to 16,000 of his fans. A very good concert in my opinion from one of the music worlds greats. And that is pretty sweet too.

Big brother is watching you

Disconnect

Perhaps the architect was inspired by his child's building blocks? Or maybe there was a math error of some sort?

Impossibly bright building

When a building is totally clad in gold reflecting glass, and the light reflects just right, the effect can be dazzling... almost blinding.

At first the reflection does not seem to make sense because our viewpoint seems to be 45 degrees, not 90 degrees... but take a closer look and you will see that alternating panels are tipped, creating this unexpected result.

Of course when the light is not at a direct angle the effect is quite different. The building below is the same structure taken from a very different angle.

Suddenly the CN Tower doesn't look so tall

If you don't know Toronto, you may not know the CN Tower. For over 30 years it was the tallest man made structure in the world at over 1,800 feet (Canadians prefer 553 meters).

Of course there is a trick of perspective going on here, but the photo illustrates the continuing growth of this futuristic city. Over the years, on every visit, more gleaming office buildings appear in downtown, and needle thin condo towers along the lake. I will expand on this theme over the next few posts.

Unnoticed