The return flight

Looking along the Toronto islands' shore

Coming home from Toronto was interesting, through a changeable cloudscape. Not such an interesting experience as the following day would have been, mind, since on that day there were waterspouts over Lake Ontario. Although the air temperatures had fallen rapidly, as we'd noticed, the lake water was taking longer to cool. A weak "trough" through which we passed on Sunday afternoon caused further instability: gusty winds and a tendency for the air to rotate. We did well to avoid those waterspouts.

Leaving Toronto towards a mix of cloud

On the Sunday morning of our departure, which we spent exploring some of the Toronto islands park, the weather looked fair, with fluffy cumulus and a strong breeze. In the afternoon the breeze was still strong, favouring us with a tailwind of 30 knots at altitude. Chris took us to 5000ft and in the larger clouds north of the lake the air temperature was hovering around 0º which meant that we had to keep a look out for ice on the wing strut, which would imply ice on the leading edge of the wings as well, before long. I thought I detected some; Chris claimed the drops were still liquid, but there was definitely a white frosting on both tyres.

Even so, I wasn't as nervous about the clouds as I had been on our flight from Marathon to North Bay in the summer. We're now in October. Among the clouds en route isolated TCUs were predicted, but only towering to 12,000ft at most, which is a lot less than 40,000ft. Chris teased me about the prospect of being tossed out in the high altitudes. The surrounding air wasn't bumpy at all, despite the wind, and on the ground ahead (we were flying along through or under the cloud bases) we could see sunny patches, which boded well. Over the lake shore to the east were sunlit, lower clouds, another promising sign.

Entering cloud-bases, with brighter weather ahead

Layers of cloud on the northern shore of Lake Ontario

Chris had predicted that we'd emerge into clearer conditions somewhere around Peterborough. We were somewhat east of there, over the "Land o' Lakes" when the skies began to clear, and the ground at our destination seemed to be sunlit, too. Where the clouds were denser and at their greyest, rain showers were visible and so were rainbows. The VFR visibility was superb. The winds at CYRO were light and variable.

Light and shade around Ottawa

Sunday night in Toronto

Sunday, October 13th

Gatineau paper mill, on our departure

It was a misty, then sunny morning in Ottawa with a light breeze from the east, though when we climbed there was a west wind ... but no turbulence. On our flight to Toronto, anticipating rain clouds ahead, we were routed via APLOV waypoint, then LORKA and ILIXU (on the Prince Edward County peninsula near Mountain View). This was the start of the long IFR "ILIXU4 approach" to Toronto City Island aka the Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ), taking us across the middle of Lake Ontario a good 10 nautical miles from shore, which is beyond "gliding range," so we hoped the engine wouldn't quit. The GPS programmed our next sequence of waypoints for us––ILIXU-DUSUB-UKPAG-MURUM-ROTRU––just as well, since most of them don't appear on the maps. For half of our journey we were in the clear, but once over the lake we were soon above a thin layer of wavy cloud, with thicker layers ahead.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" I asked.

"Oh yes, very much!"

Destination more or less in sight

Before long, the Toronto controller asked us to descend from 8000' to 4000' which took us into solid cloud, still way out over the water, but as we continued the approach, descending further, we broke out of cloud at around 3000' and there were the Toronto Islands starting to be visible through my window! That was encouraging. Because we now had visual contact with the ground, Chris was granted permission for a Contact Approach to YTZ, so we never needed to fly as far as ROTRU; he was excited by the novelty. We landed from east to west, one of Porter's "twin turbo props" waiting for us to land before it rolled onto the runway itself, as we taxied to the Porter FBO.

FBO service at YTZ is compulsory and expensive ($35 for the tie-down), but Porter gave us a welcome that we'd recommend. The airport has changed beyond recognition since we used to fly here at the turn of the century, now with a gleamingly modern passenger terminal and escalators to and from the ferry; the ferry itself (shortest cruise in the world, 2 minutes) is soon to be replaced by a pedestrians' tunnel to the shore. Unlike the rest of the numerous foot passengers who were being shepherded to a car park, we set off to walk along the lakefront past the Music Garden and marinas to our hotel. A big "revitilization" of the Toronto waterfront is taking place, with the road up and partly closed, the sidewalks repositioned and "wave decks" and bridges being installed. It's a proper mess at present but will look good when it's done.

The Radisson "Admiral" Harbourfront Hotel would normally be beyond our means, but for $149 on Thanksgiving Sunday we got a room that would otherwise have cost $285 (plus taxes). It was an upgrade from the room I'd chosen online, at the quiet end of the corridor, with a huge bed, a view of the Police Basin (housing 10 police boats) the lake and islands beyond, an early check-in too, and free wi-fi access. Great!

In the afternoon we walked up John Street in the rain through the arty district to the AGO, to see the phenomenal Ai Weiwei exhibition, According to what?, that's been widely publicised. I've mentioned it in a previous blogpost. The crowds and line-ups at the entrance were also phenomenal; I'm glad I'd booked our tickets on line because that meant we could walk straight in. The crowds were visibly moved and awed by the exhibits, mostly photographs or videos (one of Mr Ai jumping around stark naked with other naked men; he has a lively sense of humour, it seems, in spite of his angry thoughts) and sculptural installations. The wall of 5000 children's names was particularly poignant, a recording of their Chinese names and ages being broadcast through loud speakers.

We saw the snake made of school bags and the wooden maps of China, the cluster of Qing dynasty stools held together like a chemical molecule without nails or glue and the many pieces of rebar he's had straightened after being twisted in the Sichuan earthquake, the pile of these rods, entitled Straight, now representing a fracture zone and the earth moving in waves. No 2-D photo can do it justice.

Another irresistibly interesting piece is Forever Bicycles, a tower of intertwined bikes, the front wheel of one becoming the back wheel of the next. Apparently its title is a reference to Yong Jiu, or Forever-Bicycles, a popular make of bicycle in China owned by millions (although the irony is that these are now being superseded by cars). There's a relatively small version of this structure in the museum, but out of doors in Nathan Phillips Square by the City Hall they have a really big one, made of 3144 bikes, "creating a massive, labyrinth-like, visually moving space..." The girl at the hotel desk advised me to go and see this as well as the exhibition. It took 2 weeks to construct and caused a sensation when lit up at night. Someone was arrested for climbing on it yesterday.

After a necessary sit down in the organic coffee place diametrically opposite the AGO, we ended the day with a walk back through the business district in the rain and found a bronze elephant with two babies in Commerce Court just off Bay Street and a tasty and nourishing supper at the Spice Thai restaurant on the waterfront, the same place we'd patronised on our last visit to Toronto two years ago. Amazing effects were caused by the low cloud swirling around the skyscrapers, the warning lights on top of the towers shining like stars through the murk. We watched the Porter and Air Canada aircraft departing from YTZ and immediately disappearing into the low cloud ceiling; we could see them from our hotel room too.

Monday, October 14th

View from our hotel room at daybreak

I woke just before sunrise to see a beautiful change in the Toronto weather. This meant we didn't have to rush to get back home and could linger over a posh breakfast on the 5th floor of the hotel, where the outdoor pool is, before setting off on a leisurely walk to the ROM, 4 km north of the lakefront at the corner of Queen's Park and Bloor Street. Via the university campus it took us about 45 minutes to get there. This was for Chris' choice of exhibition; having read many books on the subject he really wanted to see the show about Mesopotamia. For this one we didn't have tickets in advance but it didn't matter; it was a quiet morning, most people being at home with their families for Thanksgiving.

It was a tremendous collection of exhibits, mostly on loan from the British Museum, such as the stone statue of Ashurnasirpal II, Assyria's self-proclaimed "great king, mighty king, king of the universe... mighty male ..." I kept thinking of Ozymandias, King of Kings and of Kipling's poem too:

... Lo, all our pomp of yesterday / Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! / Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, / Lest we forget––lest we forget! ...

We haven't altogether lost track of the ancient civilisations so long as stone carvings and artefacts like the ones on display can be preserved and not blown to smithereens by fanatics. We even saw a stone tablet inscribed with a chapter from the Gilgamesh epic. I was surprised by the smallness of the cuneiform script, proof that the scribes must have had excellent eyesight. The realism of the carved figures of animals and men, of their faces, beards and muscular arms, was astonishing too, considering that this was done thousands of years ago. The ancient world comes alive in an exhibition such as this, partly thanks to the coloured animations which spark the imagination and keep the visiting children interested. You begin to wish you could have seen the hanging gardens of Babylon (with its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants), perhaps created for the King's wife, missing her mountainous homeland.

Thin cloud over S. E. Ontario, higher cloud on the shoreline

My legs were tired by the time we left Toronto; I reckon we walked 18km from one place to another, as well as standing for long periods in the museums. It was nice to sit still in the cockpit after that and float along with the benign clouds. On the return journey, we flew VFR, following Lake Ontario's shoreline to Oshawa, then skimming over a thin white layer all the way from Peterborough to Almonte. Chris did a "simulated engine failure" landing for practice on arrival at Rockcliffe which curtailed the circuit. I ought to mention that the colours of the treetops all the way home were lovely.

All the way down the Lake

Owing to the prospect of severe thunderstorms and too much rain on the Bruce Peninsula, where we'd thought of flying, on leaving Hamilton on Tuesday we decided to fly east to Kingston instead. A good decision; the weather stayed fine there for another two days. This wasn't a new destination for us at all, but we had never before flown the whole length of Lake Ontario, as we did that afternoon for about 300 kilometres, sometimes over the lake and sometimes just to the north of it. The most exciting part was when we were told to keep north of the CN Tower at 2000 ft.

Causeway at the western end of L. Ontario

At 2000ft between Hamilton and Toronto, north of the direct route to Kingston

Approaching the CN Tower

Skyscrapers and Billy Bishop (City) airport off our right wing

Flying past Toronto on a good day for views!

Transparent water off the shore of the lake, near Coburg

Landing at Kingston we left our bags at the Central Airways FBO and went for a pleasant walk round Point Pinole as we'd done on our last visit. The FBO receptionist was able to find us a room at the Waterfront Holiday Inn at their business rate, where we spent the night, with a steak supper on the patio at The Keg near Kingston's City Hall.

Shoreline at Point Pinole. I dipped my feet in the water there.

Away to Hamilton

On the way to Hamilton, south of the Toronto islands

Hamilton was a new destination for us, although we have landed at the airport before. We may not do so again, since there is no fuel available there for small aircraft, only jet fuel. The man at the Glanford FBO who came out to meet us on the ramp when we arrived lifted his eyebrows a lot when he saw what kind of aircraft had pulled in, and laughed in surprise when we told him we wanted to tie down here for the night. (The ramp fee was $25 and we don't yet know the landing fee. We should have gone to Burlington, apparently, for general aviation services.) Nonetheless he and the lady in the office were courteous and helpful, allowing PTN to stay there and advising us where to rent a car and would have helped us find accommodation if we hadn't already booked an hotel room.

We came to Hamilton in order to take Ben home to McMaster University. Ben had been visiting his parents in Ottawa (Chris works with his dad). We sat Ben in the co-pilot's seat to give him good views on his ride, preferable to the long bus ride he usually endures; we stopped for lunch at Peterborough airport and enjoyed superb views and flying conditions all the way, especially along the stretch off shore over Lake Ontario, passing Toronto.

Signs of industry at Hamilton

Approaching Hamilton we could see the remains of its industry. It used to be a home of the steel industry, but its prosperity has since declined and more than a few of the grand old buildings have fallen into a dilapidated state. Some of the Hamiltonians must be troubled because even in the airport FBO I saw notices saying that bad language and abusive behaviour wouldn't be tolerated. We got the impression that the city is struggling to survive, but the downtown core is being "revitalized" now and it seems that vast sums of money are being spent to improve the look of the place.

I don't think the university population visits downtown Hamilton very often. Ben's house was in the leafy suburbs 10 minutes' drive away and the MacMaster campus is in that area.

There's an attractive fountain at the centre where James Street crosses Kings Street, and the new flower beds on the sidewalks are lavishly planted and nicely maintained. We were aware of the down-and-outs at the street corners with nowhere else to go that holiday Monday afternoon and we found a plethora of pawn shops, dollar stores, cheap food outlets and money lending establishments, as well as a large Bingo Hall and abandoned businesses with their windows boarded up. The non-abandoned businesses, closed that day, were fronted with metal screens. In 1982 this part of town was designated a Business Improvement Area. However, many brand new buildings are now interspersed, including our hotel, the Crowne Plaza.

Walking through this district after checking into that nice hotel we decided to keep going towards the waterfront. The lower part of James Street near the redbrick military buildings seemed more gentrified. Further down the street was the former Canadian National Railways Station on Immigration Square, as imposing as a palace, now serving as a banquet hall.

Many immigrants once ended their journey to Canada here, but there's no longer any access from the back of the buildings to the railway track. No passenger trains stop here now.

After crossing the railway bridge we discovered the splendid Bayfront Park by the water, where we wandered over the grassy hills and sat under the willow trees watching the geese and boats till it was time for supper. Returning up James Street, we found the Gate of India restaurant, named after the famous arch in Mumbai (I added that link for Chris, who had misidentified it as Marble Arch). According to the taste of my saag chicken with rice, the glowing reviews posted in its front windows are justified.

In the morning I had a swim in the hotel pool, then we had breakfast (an excellent mushroom omelette for me) and studied the weather forecasts carefully before checking out. It no longer looked like a good plan to fly north to Tobermory that afternoon unless we wanted to spend the following day in a motel room staring out at the rain, so we chose instead to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens on the edge of Burlington, before flying east again, to Kingston.

The gardens were glorious, informative too. The Mediterranean garden featured plants that grow in the Mediterranean climate (many Australian species here––the scent of eucalyptus takes me straight back to Sydney). In the Hendrie Park gardens on the other side of the road I learned about medicinal plants, etc. while Chris patiently waited for me in the rose garden watching the goldfinches and the butterflies and thinking about the garden scene in Shakespeare's Richard II.

In the (indoor) Mediterranean garden

Entrance to the main gardens, looking towards the Tea Room

Information in the Medicinal Garden

A lovely crop of Echinacea