Toronto » Final Transit : Travel Blog

Ha Carmel Market
Shuk HaCarmel is the largest market in Tel Aviv, Israel, and this particular street gets really busy on Fridays just prior to Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. You can get fresh produce, baked goodies, housewares and simply pop in to the adjacent Nahalat Binyamin Street which is converted to an Artisit\' street exhibition.
Israel: Photo gallery | Israel travel stories

Aug '07

Toronto Islands – I

[tag]Toronto[/tag] city is situated on the bank of Lake Ontario. To the south of the city is a chain of small islands, called [tag]Toronto Islands[/tag]. The islands are a popular tourist destination. Barely two kilometers away from noisy and crowded downtown, this place is ideal for a quick escape and some solitude.

Cruise
Tourist cruise ship on the on-shore dock.

Regular [tag]ferry[/tag] services run from the mainland to the islands. For a mere $6 ticket, the visitor can spend whole day cris-crossing the islands on ferries. Many people carry their bikes, while others bring their barbecue sets and have a little party.

Toronto from the lake
Toronto downtown as seen from the lake.

Toronto from the lake
The giant and the dwarf. CN Tower against a tiny yacht.

On the ferry from mainland to the islands.

[tag]Ward’s island[/tag] is the eastern end of the central island and it is also connected to the southen island. There are a number of residential areas, restaurants, parks and a nice little beach. The calmness of this place felt almost unbelievable, especially because just 15 minutes back we were in the city.

Wards islands
Arriving on Ward’s island.

As seen in the picture above, many people own a yacht and spend their weekends idling in the lake.

African Safari

I went with some friends to the [tag]African Lion Safari[/tag], some 100 km south-west of [tag]Toronto[/tag]. It was a nice place to go, especially if you have kids and they haven’t seen animals. All the wildlife is out in the open, while the visitors are en-caged in their cars or the Safari buses.

Since we were inside the car, I couldn’t take good pictures. Few of them are here:

It was quite warm that day (perhaps around 25-28 deg C). Main attraction of the place, the [tag]Lions[/tag], were resting calmly. It was thrilling to see them from so close.

Lions sleeping

Monkeys were all over our cars. They loved to sit on the car roofs and enjoy the drive. We had [tag]Monkeys[/tag] on our side-view mirrors and were wondering how to get rid of them. As the car started moving, and crossed a yellow painted line, surprisingly all of them jumped off. It was really strange!
Monkeys

Monkeys

Then there were…
Wild Buffaloes

Wild [tag]Buffaloes[/tag]

Maybe this was the first time I saw…
Giraffe

[tag]Giraffe[/tag]

The [tag]Ostrich [/tag]were pecking at windows of cars as we stopped to observe them. It was funny, the animal was pecking the sides of cars. No clue why…. pea brain indeed!
Ostrict

Ostrich

Rhinos are endangered species
Rhino

[tag]Rhinoceros[/tag]

I don’t remember the name of this animal. Looks like an antelope or a goat or something of that kind. Does anyone know?
Antelope?

[tag]Antelope[/tag]?

The safari claims to have about 1000 species of birds and animals. I must have seen about 100 or so, but it was impossible to take pictures all the time. There are demonstrations showing how the birds hunt, elephant rides for kids, toy train and boat cruises for all.

Nice place to go. At least once.
Lake in African Lion Safari

Another blue-sky-blue-water photo was posted last week.

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Toronto, Wildlife

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Jun '07

Toronto Biking

April 28, 2007 Route Map
3 of us went on a long [tag]biking[/tag] trip spanning about 46km. We started from York University, went west from Steeles Av. until we hit the [tag]Humber[/tag] river tributary after Islington Av. From there was a fun ride south along the river, thru the forests and parks, right upto [tag]Lake Ontario[/tag]. We then went east along the coast into the city and finished at Union Station. So we covered the north-south extremes of [tag]Toronto[/tag]

It was a pleasant weather. Somehow I like mildly cloudy sky:

Ducks and Geese swimming in a small pond in Summerlea Park:
Lake in Summerlea Park

Spring was just arriving. The trees looked more brown than green:

Some neighborhood:

Bell in Cruickshank Park:

Scarlett Mills Park:

People fishing near the Old Mill Bridge. Later, the trail passes under the subway station, it looks fantastic.
Fishing near Old Mill bridge

Finally we crisscrossed under a maze of freeways and Go Train lines to reach the Humber River Bridge. This is the point where the river merges into Lake Ontario: