So my partner and I went with some friends to Toronto for the Pride festivities; it was one h#ll of a great time. There were parts of Toronto that I wanted to bring back, others not so much - but I brought back plenty of photos, so here's Round 1.

 

*JUST A HEADS UP* - many of these photos were taken during the Pride events, thus there are some scantily-clad (though covered) folks. Whether that constitutes "work safe" depends on your workplace. Just so ya know.

 

The border, par lay voooo:

 

If I WAS, I would have done a LOT more shopping!!!

 

One of DOZENS of Ontario f#cktards who see nothing wrong with going slow in the left lane  :shoot:

 

But we got there eventually, in spite of aforementioned f#cktards:

 

The first of many, many, many, many glassy condo towers:

 

That thar formerly tallest structure-something-or-other:

 

Sorry about the reflection - I should have asked my friend to black out the windows (safety schmafety, I wanted good pics!):

 

How's the weather up.... oh forget it :roll:

 

We finally get to our destination, the Delta-Chelsea (pass on the upgraded rooms if you go - so NOT worth it). Here's the view from the 19th floor elevator lobby:

 

The view from our room:

 

And the view from the fitness center/pool/terrace on 27:

 

Never mind that, off we go to the Church-Wellesley neighborhood, epicenter of Pride Toronto. These cute ads were all over town:

 

And the entertainment was off and running (and shaking and gyrating):

 

They had quite an eclectic group of admirers:

 

She may not look it in this picture, but she was very sweet - she even genuflected to me! :-D

 

Some lovely older buildings, albeit in need of some TLC:

 

We grabbed a meal at the Hair of the Dog:

 

And then it was over to Woodys - made famous in the series "Queer as Folk":

 

But of course, where else but Baskin-Robbins for ice cream, where we saw this surprisingly convincing "lady":

 

The po-po, eh?

 

This was Shawna, who invited us to a keg party - not knowing what kind of beer it was, we graciously declined. That and she had the nerve to say I'd look great in drag (sorry, I don't take that as a compliment):

 

The owner of these funky shoes taught me a lesson I'll never forget - never make a polite comment in passing like "oh those are cute!". Sounds innocent enough, but the "lady" then asked for my opinion about her uhh, errr, uhhh, and proceeded to SHOW me her ummmm, errrr... :-o Sorry, you get the idea (and I got an eyeful, and mental scarring, etc.):

 

The next morning the weather was a bit gruesome (though not as gruesome as the trannymess with the rainbow flipflops):

 

But the weather improved a little so we walked down Yonge Street, passing the tastefully decorated Club Zanzibar. What, you don't think reflective gold tile and neon is tasteful!?! ;-)

 

And a preachy bigot bible-thumper. So it's not just the stateside ones who are ugly?

 

On to much more attractive things, the Old City Hall:

 

Yep, she's a beauty:

 

And the new City Hall, not as ornate but not terribly unattractive if you ask me:

 

Winston Churchill seemed to be having a sh!tty day  :yap:

 

This fence was one of the most ornate I've ever seen, and was about a mile long (okay, a block or so):

 

Unexpected:

 

Old, new.

 

Obviously with Pride in town, I expected to see some questionable fashion choices. This made me blurt out "WHAT in GAY H3LL?!?!?" - maroon bedazzled shirt + neon yellow pleather pants + muffintop + that HAIR?!? Oh, a world of NO!!!

 

After my corneas recovered, I snapped a pic of these - the Residences at College Park - they're about 500 feet tall but they "felt" taller in person. Not the greatest design-wise but handsome enough and the two together were impressive:

 

Up to the Bloor-Yorkville area for some shopping before the parade:

 

As someone said, Toronto is an impressive city and they have a lot of towers - but some of them are clunkers:

 

A quick shot of the Daniel Libeskind addition to the Royal Ontario Museum:

 

And we found a spot for lunch - which turned out to be the perfect place to take in the parade. Instead of standing outside, not being allowed to drink, getting sprayed with water, pelted with beads and whatever else was being thrown - we got front row seats and ready access to good beer. But those photos will have to wait:

MayDay, you mean to tell me you didn't kick that queen with the banana boat yellow pants and bald spot in the A$$ for leaving the house like that?!

 

She should have been shot on site!

ouch, that bananaman really did hurt.

 

Nice work!

ahh yeah gay pride stuff. nice job. i heard the whistles & noise saturday, but stayed inside. well i did go out for something, took a look at the she-men characters walking around and went back inside. yikes.

Great stuff!

 

I still think you would have had more fun in Warren/Youngstown, though. ;)

Nice shots!  Toronto has a well deserved reputation for a really good time and especially during Gay Pride.  And we need people wearing yellow and maroon together to assure ourselves just how wonderful we in coordinating clothes/hair/accessories. Personally I loved the shot of the toenails painted like the rainbow flag. Those Canadian, eh. 

I went to the SF Pride but of course, being the knucklehead I am didn't charge up my camera.  I skipped the parade, too long, too political. This year our festival at Civic Center had 1.1 million, the biggest ever.  Very festive.  Next year = charged batteries/better camera.

Toronto has lots of spectacular buildings, but seems to have lots of blah as well.  Maybe it's the harsh climate. Everything looks good in the snow!

Your comments on banana man forced an audible laugh from me. Good stuff, I miss Canada. Toronto even has streetscars! Me so jealous.

So THAT'S the hotel I snuck up in to get this...

 

 

Oh, and your commentary is priceless, as always.

^ I agree...I lol'd at some of the commentary.

 

Great shots, as always.

Looks like a fun time so far...on to Part 2.