We awoke refreshed at the Chalets on Lake Muskoka early this morning - in time to say 'bye' to Dan and Noreen. We dined on fabulous rice pancakes that Jim had made, covered in Arleigh and Larry's wonderful homemade maple syrup. I showed my abstract art portfolio to Terry, Betty, Joleigh and Vivien; Vivien really liked the musical series; she may be interested in one of them for her house.

Teal came to pick up Jeff and Gigi and Terry and me, and take us all to a car rental place in Barrie. Turns out it would be cheaper by almost half to rent a car for the 4 of us for a day rather than all of us taking buses, shuttles, taxis, etc. It's Teal's 27th birthday, so we all sang to her; then the whole gang marched us out to Teal's car, banging metal utensils on pots and pans. What a hoot!

The drive to Barrie was, I believe, longer than our subsequent drive to get Jeff and Gigi to the Toronto airport. At the airport, we said our goodbyes to Jeff and Gigi; then Terry and I headed downtown.

We parked pretty near the CN tower and the sports arena; had a delicious lunch of panninis at Pizza Rustica; then wandered through various downtown areas in search of the art museum. Great way to get the feel and smell of a city -- just wander about, turning where it looks interesting -- avoiding the too-polished looking streets. There were some young kids on the street near what appeared to be a University area with signs for handouts -- one said, "Spare change for pizza and beer;" another, "Why lie? Anything you can spare for pot."

We sampled quite a variety of ethnic areas, before we came to Grange Park and The Art Gallery of Ontario. The park was lovely -- filled with people relaxing and kids playing and dogs frolicking, but the museum was surrounded by construction boards, and we couldn't tell if the museum was open until we spotted a sign on the construction boards saying it was. So off we headed to the left around the construction zone...and around and around and around for blocks! Turns out the one remaining entrance would have been pretty close to us had we headed to the right, but we ended up circumnavigating about 80% of the perimeter before discovering it. And dang if it wasn't closed! On a Tuesday even! We were sorely disappointed, as it looked like a very good museum, and I'm sure we weren't alone in our disappointment, as about 15 other people tried to enter as we stood there scratching our heads wondering what to do with ourselves next.

We decided to head east, and found ourselves at the Peace Plaza of Nathan Phillips Square. What a lovely place! Fabulous architecture on the city hall -- beautiful fountain and gardens. We hung around there for awhile, then wandered through the gardens of the Osgoode Hall law buildings, before we decided to head back towards the car and maybe find a place for a beer along the way. No shortage there! We settled into a small outdoor cafe, drank a good Canadian brew and watched the city energize for going home. It's so great to be in a city that works so well -- we weren't far from the underground -- trolleys passed quietly by every minute or so, as well as buses, taxis, cars, and people on foot or riding bikes. It seems like a very bike friendly downtown. For a city of about 2.5 million people, how cool is that? [Some info on Toronto.]