An evening on Centre Island, Toronto, Canada

 Spent a wonderful evening last Friday with Elizabeth(Gina) & Thomas(Kunju) who were kind enough to travel all the way from Missisauga to downtown Toronto to pick me up. Our plan was to park the car and take the ferry to Centre Island. From Church street to the Ferry terminal was about 3-4kms but road work taken up during summer made us go up and down a few streets confusing me. I believed after my evening walks that I knew downtown Toronto like the back of my hand but it proved otherwise!!! We soon reached the place and drove into the parking lot, making our way up in the lift. The lift opened up into a beautiful area in what Gina later explained to me was a part of the PATH. The PATH is a mostly underground pedestrian walkway network in downtown Toronto that spans more than 30 kilometres of restaurants, shopping, services and entertainment.

The walkway facilitates pedestrian linkages to public transit, accommodating more than 200,000 business-day commuters as well as tourists and residents. The PATH provides an important contribution to the economic viability of the city’s downtown core. During winters this greatly helps movement of people when the city is inundated with snow I guess.

 Due to the pandemic circumstances I had not been able to invite Gina & Thomas inside the apartment fearing exposure of the newborn in the house. So we used the facilities available to refresh ourselves and armed with waterbottle and light jackets we made our way to the ferry and even as we bought the tickets we were asked to board the ferry. Within no time the ferry filled up as it was a weekend crowd out to enjoy the enjoyable weather. 

People seemed to be from all over the world, of every colour and race, out to have a nice time, armed with picnic gadgets  and other miscellaneous items loaded onto carts and kids on strollers of every kind. As the ferry pulled out of the city shoreline the eagerness to view the buildings soaring into the sky made the crowd make a beeline to one side of the ferry. All were eager to take pictures and selfies against the outline of the city, posing at different angles. Soon the ferry arrived at the jetty designed to accommodate it and we deboarded, strollers, handcarts et al.

We were welcomed by greenery all round and clear signages indicating the layout of the Island. There were fast food joints aplenty to choose from but we walked on after a cursory look at the directions, Gina confident in her own ability to lead us to the Carousel restaurant, the time fast approaching for Thomas & Gina’s dinner. It appeared that like everybody in the West they too had an early dinner. Our search led us through lakes where yachts were moored and ponds filled with white waterlilies. We soon came upon a black peahen and a white peacock in a coop liberally strewn with eggs which caught us wondering if the eggs were placed by the authorities or the couple have been busy only laying them as they dint seem enthusiastic about hatching them!! 

A cackle of geese next door caught our attention and we peeped into the next coop to see the four caged domestic geese creating a racket cackling their hearts out at a line of Canadian wild geese proudly striding by flaunting their freedom. Gina was soon petting the ponies in the next pen who appeared dirty but friendly trying to wheedle us into giving them something to eat. Excited cries from some kids drew our attention to two strange four legged animals - one pitch black with a single small white dot on its side and the other brown, but both with their fur hanging from their knee to their shoes.

Gina searched in Google lens and came out with the information that they were alpacas, a relative of  Ilamas, as I had erroneously identified them. Above our heads the cable cars zoomed by and we toyed with the idea of taking a ride, the other roller-coasters, though apparently mild ones for kids, still looked daunting. Our search for the ticket booth soon led us to the Carousel restaurant but unfortunately it was closed. 

We walked to the pier and watched as the skippers and yachts sailed by, enjoying the fact that we were standing at the crossroads to the Northpole or the Niagra Falls. Here buoys were stationed on shore, mute spectators to all that went around them, not being tossed and turned by the waves warning ships to stay clear of the rocks.

Soon we started frantically searching for some edible stuff, only ice creams and other children’s stuff appeared everywhere and so finally we settled for Subway sandwiches and soft drinks followed by ice-creams. Gina named a few popular items of Canada which as expected were all heavy with sugar and so we decided against. Still we took the opportunity to see how Funnel cake was made.

 Funnel cake is a regional sweet food popular in North America, found mainly at carnivals and amusement parks.It is made by deep-frying batter.The name “funnel” came from the technique used to make the cakes, in which the pancake-like batter is poured into hot oil through a funnel. In India we have a similar dessert with a crystallized sugary exterior coating called jalebi. 

Another popular dessert, the Beaver tails, resemble the Bhatura of North India though once again dripping with sugar. 

The beaver is Canada’s largest rodent and symbolic mascot — it’s no wonder it’s the namesake of this sugary staple. The beginning of its history can be traced back to the 19th century, when aboriginals would cook the tails of beavers over an open fire until the skin cracked and loosened, giving way to the meat inside. Taking inspiration from the traditional methods of cooking meat over an open fire, early settlers began to cook their bread in the same way. Using a dough that requires little to no rising, it was quick and easy to cook over an open fire, stretched over one or two sticks in the shape of a beaver’s tail. This bread is referred to as bannock, similar to the dough used for BeaverTails today, and is seen by many as the beginning of the quintessential sweet treat of Canada. It wasn’t until 1978 that Beaver Tails Canada Inc., trademarked the dessert, laying claim to its official creation.

Post dinner we walked to the shore of the lake to see the city scape in the twilight, peacefully watching as several flights landed on the runway of the Billy Bishop terminal, an airport on the island which is approached either by ferry or an 800 feet pedestrian tunnel under the lake from downtown Toronto. 

It took me back to the day when we watched the aeroplanes banging into the World Trade Centre, wondering at the psychological impact it had on the pilots, the passengers, the office goers in the building and outside, not to speak of millions of others in New York and all over the world! The twinkling lights of the buildings, the CN tower looming above all, shimmering in the reflections on the lake soon wiped the dreary thoughts off my mind and as a cool breeze started to blow. Gina said it looks like the last but one ferry will soon be arriving at the terminal. So we made our way to the dock only to find it chock a bloc with visitors like us with the sole intention of taking the last but one ferry! As the ferry wound its way back to the terminal I overheard a conversation by one of the passengers who apparently had the same thoughts as me - is there any manner of knowing if the ferry was overloaded? The security guard’s nonchalant action that the alarm would go off if the ferry starts getting overloaded set my mind at ease and we watched as the island slipped away ending a glorious day spent in each other’s company.