We had our warm snap this past week; I'm sure it will go back to our regularly scheduled chill-fest soon, but in the meantime it's been glorious. Not too warm, not too cold. Just right for coffeneuring!
The DC and I took advantage of the fine weather to fit in a coffeeneuring trip to West Queen St. West. It is one of many sections of Queen Street with a distinctive character. Look lively, and pay attention: geography lesson ahead. There may be a quiz.
Queen Street starts at Yonge (as all east-west streets in Toronto do, dontcha know) and goes east until it runs into the lake past Victoria Park, and west from Yonge until it runs into the lake again at Roncevalles, at which point it turns into The Queensway and keeps on into Etobicoke and Mississauga. Along the way, the street is the central part of several of Toronto's cooler neighbourhoods and as a result changes character a number of times. From the east, we have The Beach*, Leslieville, Queen & Yonge, Queen West, West Queen West and this is where it gets weird because there's still some west to go, so maybe that should have been called East West Queen West and the next part should be called West West Queen West, but it isn't because it's called Parkdale, and finally Queen & Roncesvalles**. Several of my planned coffeneuring runs will be to a few of these areas, but today we stuck close to home and one of my favourite parts of the city.
We first dipped a baby toe intoWest West Queen West Parkdale, to the Bazaar of the Bizarre, where I bought some delicious-smelling soaps from Brazen Razor that I will try very hard to save to give to others for Christmas, despite the fact that I kind of want to keep them for myself. I did succumb to some Green Fairy lip balm. Absinthe-flavoured -- now I can go insane just like Van Gogh! I also acquired earrings that are completely in the spirit of coffeneuring, if not necessarily in that of "buying presents for other people."
After the bazaar, we stopped briefly at the Knit Cafe so I could pick up some wool to continue my crazy plan to make everyone's Christmas gifts this year.
Then we parked our bikes across from Trinity-Bellwoods, because we knew we wouldn't be able to find a free ring anywhere east of the park. I love the area, but it's a pain to bike there during peak hours because of the constantly full bike rings. Must be what drivers feel like all the time...
We popped in and out of various stores, although it being later afternoon on a Sunday, they were mostly closing. Beside Dlish (cupcake achievement unlocked!) was this nifty art installation:
Finally we made it to the Java House where they actually had cafe au lait (as opposed to lattes, which are not the same thing).
After finishing our milky coffee and deep-fried tofu (tasty, but be warned that deep-frying seals in the tofu water, which then runs out when you bite into it), we wandered back to our bikes and biked home through the autumn dusk.
Such a fabulous day. Some days I really love my city.
To see more fabulous photos of the day, click on the link below and scroll aaaall the way down to this photo:
Mileage: To Queen/Dufferin, then Queen/Trinity-Bellwoods and back home: 6.1 km/3.8 miles
*Or as I like to call it, the The Beaches. They had a vote, and I don't agree with the outcome, and unlike most other elections, I don't have to put up with the results. Seriously. There is more than one beach!
**West West West Queen West? W3QW! I haven't included all the possible neighbourhoods, by the way. Turns out, it's even more complicated than that. The reason it's called West Queen St West is because the very-loosely-defined neighbourhood called Queen St West ends at Dufferin, because the tightly-defined neighbourhood of Parkdale starts at Dufferin. So West Queen West is just the western part of the Queen West neighbourhood.***
***And it turns out I'm still confused about all this, because I've been calling the wrong area West Queen West for years. Okay, so Queen St West between University and Spadina was, for many years, a cool, funky, and edgy place to be. West of Spadina was the Fashion District and you got factories and much more utilitarian stores. If you wanted goth or punk or other exotic-to-my-Tiger Beat/mall-raised/suburban-mind, you went to Queen West. Then the chain stores started moving in to get in on the action, rents went up, and the more eclectic stuff moved east or west. To my mind, the cooler part of Queen West now starts a bit west of Spadina and goes from there, and I have been calling this whole part West Queen West****. But according to the keeper of all things knowable, WQW only goes from Dufferin to Trinity-Bellwoods. East of that is Trinity-Bellwoods on the north side and Niagara on the south. It's a good thing I don't give directions to tourists. Who'd be an urban planner? Give me math and physics every time. That stuff makes sense.
****Just to be even more confusing, the West Queen West BIA runs from Bathurst to Gladstone, encompassing some of "my" WQW and not quite all of the "true" WQW. ARGH!
Oh, just go here and figure it out for yourself. I give up.
The DC and I took advantage of the fine weather to fit in a coffeeneuring trip to West Queen St. West. It is one of many sections of Queen Street with a distinctive character. Look lively, and pay attention: geography lesson ahead. There may be a quiz. Queen Street starts at Yonge (as all east-west streets in Toronto do, dontcha know) and goes east until it runs into the lake past Victoria Park, and west from Yonge until it runs into the lake again at Roncevalles, at which point it turns into The Queensway and keeps on into Etobicoke and Mississauga. Along the way, the street is the central part of several of Toronto's cooler neighbourhoods and as a result changes character a number of times. From the east, we have The Beach*, Leslieville, Queen & Yonge, Queen West, West Queen West and this is where it gets weird because there's still some west to go, so maybe that should have been called East West Queen West and the next part should be called West West Queen West, but it isn't because it's called Parkdale, and finally Queen & Roncesvalles**. Several of my planned coffeneuring runs will be to a few of these areas, but today we stuck close to home and one of my favourite parts of the city.
We first dipped a baby toe into
After the bazaar, we stopped briefly at the Knit Cafe so I could pick up some wool to continue my crazy plan to make everyone's Christmas gifts this year.
Then we parked our bikes across from Trinity-Bellwoods, because we knew we wouldn't be able to find a free ring anywhere east of the park. I love the area, but it's a pain to bike there during peak hours because of the constantly full bike rings. Must be what drivers feel like all the time...
We popped in and out of various stores, although it being later afternoon on a Sunday, they were mostly closing. Beside Dlish (cupcake achievement unlocked!) was this nifty art installation:
Finally we made it to the Java House where they actually had cafe au lait (as opposed to lattes, which are not the same thing).
After finishing our milky coffee and deep-fried tofu (tasty, but be warned that deep-frying seals in the tofu water, which then runs out when you bite into it), we wandered back to our bikes and biked home through the autumn dusk.
Such a fabulous day. Some days I really love my city.
To see more fabulous photos of the day, click on the link below and scroll aaaall the way down to this photo:
 |
| From Rambling Through Toronto |
Mileage: To Queen/Dufferin, then Queen/Trinity-Bellwoods and back home: 6.1 km/3.8 miles
*Or as I like to call it, the The Beaches. They had a vote, and I don't agree with the outcome, and unlike most other elections, I don't have to put up with the results. Seriously. There is more than one beach!
**West West West Queen West? W3QW! I haven't included all the possible neighbourhoods, by the way. Turns out, it's even more complicated than that. The reason it's called West Queen St West is because the very-loosely-defined neighbourhood called Queen St West ends at Dufferin, because the tightly-defined neighbourhood of Parkdale starts at Dufferin. So West Queen West is just the western part of the Queen West neighbourhood.***
***And it turns out I'm still confused about all this, because I've been calling the wrong area West Queen West for years. Okay, so Queen St West between University and Spadina was, for many years, a cool, funky, and edgy place to be. West of Spadina was the Fashion District and you got factories and much more utilitarian stores. If you wanted goth or punk or other exotic-to-my-Tiger Beat/mall-raised/suburban-mind, you went to Queen West. Then the chain stores started moving in to get in on the action, rents went up, and the more eclectic stuff moved east or west. To my mind, the cooler part of Queen West now starts a bit west of Spadina and goes from there, and I have been calling this whole part West Queen West****. But according to the keeper of all things knowable, WQW only goes from Dufferin to Trinity-Bellwoods. East of that is Trinity-Bellwoods on the north side and Niagara on the south. It's a good thing I don't give directions to tourists. Who'd be an urban planner? Give me math and physics every time. That stuff makes sense.
****Just to be even more confusing, the West Queen West BIA runs from Bathurst to Gladstone, encompassing some of "my" WQW and not quite all of the "true" WQW. ARGH!
Oh, just go here and figure it out for yourself. I give up.
LOVE YOUR PANDA SHOT!!!
ReplyDeleteJava House was the first cafe I went to in Toronto :)
.. and man, I have to go coffeeneuring every weekend day until the deadline to be able to meet the challenge!