Twenty-four hours of freedom.

Twenty-four hours of escaping the daily routine.

Twenty-four hours without Mark.

I’ll take it.

Don’t blame me. I love Mark but after almost eight months of repeating the same routine over and over again (and another nine months of pregnancy), I’m slowly working on regaining a little bit of freedom. The longest stretch of time I have been alone in the past eight months was about two hours. Now you can imagine how much I was looking forward to spending some time with Feng without having to think about feeding, diaper changing, burping, napping, etc.

Early in the afternoon, Feng and I made our way to YOW, the Ottawa Airport, to catch The Rolling Stones concert in Toronto, later in the day. Killing time before the flight, we realized we had never properly “visited” YOW—most of the flights we took from there were very early in the morning, and we were too sleepy to check out the place.

Ottawa Airport is small but pretty new, and the various flight-related processes, such as check-in and security, were fast and efficient. We had packed everything we would need for the day-long trip in a carry-on to speed up the process when landing in Toronto. It was a bit of a headache, though, because so many common things (shampoo, nail clippers, etc.) are on the prohibited items list. I had managed to find enough samples of cream, soap, etc., to last for a day and had packed the best I could. Security didn’t seem to mind about me carrying matches and lighters, so I guess the rules are a bit more lax now.

We landed in Toronto an hour later, under the rain. It felt like April weather: grey, windy, damp and chilly. Good thing the concert was indoors at the Air Canada Centre!

Flying to Toronto always reminds me of my first time ever in North America and in Canada, in February 2002. We were coming from Rio de Janeiro and the difference of weather had been brutal. The smell, the cold, the people… everything was new and interesting to me. Little did I know at the time I would eventually become a Canadian citizen, seven years later!

From YOW, we took the bus to Kipling, and then the subway. We checked in at a hotel downtown and took the subway again to our favourite restaurant in Toronto, The Olde Spaghetti Factory, on the Esplanade. Eating a nice meal without having to keep Mark busy was wonderful—I miss eating calmly, without drama, and without fuss.

From there, we decided to explore Toronto’s underground world, aka PATH, the city’s underground walkway linking 28 kilometres of retail space. From one shopping complex to another, from one food court to another, we walked past the never-ending crowd of commuters going back to their office tower or heading home.

We eventually arrived at the Eaton Centre where we rested at my favourite bookstore, Chapters/Indigo.

The concert was a blast but left us hungry. After the show, we walked on Yonge Street looking for something to eat but options were thin on the ground. We ended up getting a pizza and eating it in the hotel room, still sweaty and dirty from spending three hours in the mosh pit.

I admit it—I didn’t feel like going home the following day. Travelling had felt good, had made me feel alive again. Just for a day… a day of freedom.

Waiting at Ottawa Airport
Waiting at Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
YOW Ottawa Airport
Rainy Takeoff
Rainy Takeoff
Above Ottawa
Above Ottawa
Landing in YYZ
Landing in YYZ
Subway to Downtown Toronto
Subway to Downtown Toronto
Grey Weather in Toronto
Grey Weather in Toronto
Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
TD Centre
TD Centre
Foot Traffic in Front of LCBO
Foot Traffic in Front of LCBO
Underground Bay Street
Underground Bay Street
But They Don't Even Sell White Shirts!
But They Don’t Even Sell White Shirts!
Raining on Nice Ceiling
Raining on Nice Ceiling
Walking on a Cloud... After the "Massage"?
Walking on a Cloud… After the “Massage”?
Rainy Yonge Street
Rainy Yonge Street
Chapters Bookstore
Chapters Bookstore
Subway to the Airport
Subway to the Airport
YYZ, Toronto Airport
YYZ, Toronto Airport
Need Coffee...
Need Coffee…

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18 Comments

  1. La Madame June 19, 2013 at 9:14 am

    Ahhh, un bon “TH”! 😉 Heille, yé propre en maudit le métro là-bas! 🙂

    La Madame ‘est allée une fois à Toronto mais a l’avait rien vu de spécial à l’époque, on était juste allé à la Tour du Cn :/

    Tu as vraiment l’oeil Zhu, j’aime toujours regarder tes photos 🙂

    Bisous 🙂

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 19, 2013 at 10:09 am

      La Tour CN est incontournable! J’adore Toronto, c’est une ville super 🙂

      Reply
  2. Klaus June 19, 2013 at 11:04 am

    Just out of curiosity: how did it feel to be without Mark for an entire day? I’ve seen mothers feel bad about “abandoning” (that’s their wording, not mine) their child even for a few hours. Personally I think it’s ok, I mean you need to breathe sometimes and that doesn’t mean you don’t love your child.
    Oh and I’m glad you went to Tim Horton’s! I was about to report you. You can’t be Canadian and neglect Tim Horton’s, right? 😛

    Greetings from rainy Paris!

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 19, 2013 at 12:42 pm

      I cried the entire day.

      Nah, just kidding. Honestly, I’m not very anxious when I “leave” Mark, I know my limits and I know I need a break. He was and still is a “velcro baby” and I do spend a lot of time with him, so I don’t feel guilty for taking some time off once in a while. Plus he was with his grand-parents, people I (ahem, mostly) trust.

      I think taking a break is the right thing to do, for the baby too. He has to learn to trust other people as well. Because Feng and I both work from home, he got used to have us around all the time and I think he should start being taken care of by other people a bit as well.

      Reply
  3. Jeruen June 19, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    I dunno what it is, but I miss Toronto. Your pictures reminded me how I loved that city. I remember that whenever I would take the bus back to Buffalo, I would listen to Panic! at the Disco’s “Northern Downpour” and the refrain goes something like “Hey moon, please forget to fall down” since I wish the day wouldn’t end and so I wouldn’t have to return to Buffalo. I didn’t have a kid in Buffalo, I had a dissertation I had to write, which is nothing compared to having a kid, but I think I know what you mean when you said you didn’t want to go back home.

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 19, 2013 at 6:06 pm

      You are making me homesick with your pics of Europe, so I guess we are even 😉

      Reply
  4. Cecille June 19, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    It’s nice to get some “me time” once in a while. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 19, 2013 at 6:06 pm

      I’m sure you understand as a mom yourself!

      Reply
  5. Dennation June 20, 2013 at 5:16 am

    I need “Me Time” every day. Even if we have visitors and we spend all day with them, at the end of the day I need some down time. I don’t know how any parent does it, I can’t imagine my life without my “Me Time”. So don’t feel bad about wanting to be alone! It doesn’t make you a bad mother at all. Some people need and crave some alone time.

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 20, 2013 at 10:31 am

      Same as you, as social as I may be, I need my time alone…!

      Reply
  6. Max Coutinho June 20, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    Hey Zhu Zhu,

    You look happy in the pictures :D. And you lost a lot of weight too (I haven’t been here in a while, obviously)…

    Keep having fun, girl ;).

    Cheers

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 20, 2013 at 6:18 pm

      Pretty happy, yes 🙂

      Reply
  7. Lois Pike June 21, 2013 at 5:08 am

    It seems you had a great tour around Toronto. I like your photos as well as the places you’ve been to. Thanks for sharing your experience.

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 21, 2013 at 9:47 am

      I love that city, and I didn’t want to leave!

      Reply
  8. Nigel June 21, 2013 at 11:20 am

    This sounds like fun! I should take a trip like this to a city nearby!

    The last time I flew back from UK, I was told I lighter was ok for personal use.

    Btw, you have a typo – “North Amar­ica”.

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 21, 2013 at 12:05 pm

      I’m sure there are tons of cool cities to explore in India!

      (gotta correct that typo, thank you!)

      Reply
  9. Michelle June 22, 2013 at 1:24 am

    Wow…I’ve never seen the subway in Toronto so empty before! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Zhu June 22, 2013 at 9:56 am

      Just the first part of the trip, from Kipling. It got pretty full after that!

      Reply

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