This is the 5th year Nuit Blanche has been held in Toronto, and the fourth year I've attended. It's always been fun for me. Besides my first year out I've pretty much stayed out from the start to finish (7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.). This year was no exception. In fact it was the latest I've ever arrived home at 7:45 a.m. (which I'll explain later).
Overall the event was good. I always enjoy myself. I love taking pictures, especially at night. In the past I always started in the Distillery District and worked my way west eventually ending up in Liberty Village. This year I decided to skip the Distillery District to save time and start out west and come back along Queen to central downtown. One reason was because of the unreliable transportation the TTC provided in the past (which continued this year).
I have to say Liberty Village was disappointing compared to previous years when they had numerous installations. This year they noticeably pared it down. And all but one installation were relegated to Lamport Stadium and it's parking lot.
After leaving Liberty Village I walked up to Queen and hit the Gladstone Hotel. My friend Marcel was performing in a Burlesque Show there. Unfortunately he was going to be on later and I didn't have time to stay and catch his show.
After the Gladstone I continued east along Queen Street viewing various installations along the way. When I was at Trinity Bellwoods Park my friend John called me to meet up. That was at around midnight. He had a previous engagement to attend earlier.
We hung out for about three hours until he had to call it a night because of the cold. The temperatures went down to about 5C and he just wasn't properly attired. We parted ways at Nathan Philips Square and I continued on solo.
I did the circuit running down Bay and up Yonge between Dundas and Front. That took me from about 1:30 - 6:50 a.m. A long, but still fun night for sure... except for... my trek back home.
At 6:50 in the morning I headed for the subway at Dundas Station. I thought the subway was supposed to run all night long. I was wrong about that. But, according to the ticket lady there there was supposed to be one more train going northbound.
The electronic signboard on the platform read 10 minutes until train arrives in the station when I first looked at it. I impatiently waited as it counted down - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4.... minutes to go... then it stopped. The sign said the train was delayed. The other patrons on the platform and I waited about 10 minutes longer until an ominous voice came on the P.A. and announced the train would no longer be coming. We'd have to go up to Yonge to take the bus. The only problem with that was that Yonge Street was closed to vehicular traffic up to Bloor because of Nuit Blanche. So everyone who had to take the bus had to walk up to Yonge and Church to catch the first available one. Not very impressive.
Besides that my only other disappointment was not being able to make it up to the installations along Bloor such as the ones in Yorkville, the ROM and the Royal Conservatory of Music. I was looking forward to seeing them. I guess I was overly ambitious in planning my itinerary. Next year...
No comments:
Post a Comment