shoes!

Shoes at BATA

Of course I picked a day to go when about half the permanent exhibits weren't available. Undaunted, I meandered through and took lots of pictures. In some ways, shoes are unique in their areas through history and in some cases, you see the same basic form repeated, over more than half the world. Saw several pairs of footwear dyed dark chocolate brown be walnuts.....very Nice. Now if I could just remember who I was having That conversation with.
After the Bata, I moseyed over to the ROM. The Royal Ontario Museum , for a poke about. They have an exhibition on right now with a portion of the dead sea scrolls found in their collection. Many school kids there, and very busy, so I wandered other areas.
Notably the European section on arms and armor. There is rhe obligatory nod to the 'vikings' with an interesting sword (about 750-850) that Nessie says was found in Canada. I will try to find the provenance for the item and let you know. I must say that the museum bike racks outside and the pillars in the underground train station for the museum are not to be missed.
Toronto fashion for warm days includes the 'pedal pusher' pants. On men and women, all ages, bicycle or no. Oh, and Toronto business suits are predominantly blues. Just a note for traveling executives. Of course fashion could change next year.
I found most everyone willing to help the crazy American use the trains, buses, or just plain find her way. Canada and her people seem to get a bit maligned or bashed now and then, usually unfairly. They do only have a tenth of the population of the US, as Nessie keeps telling me, but they have to stop using that as an excuse. They live here, they have come here for many reasons. The countryside and the cities are reasonably clean, the air isn't heavy with smog yet, and most of all, the people were actually friendly. Before I say much more, realize I have not been to a couple of the provences just yet, and so I make no claims yet for them!
ok Canada, that last part was a joke...
So- I took the transit system and train back tourlington by myself! And didn't get lost or end up in Ottawa, or Montreal.