Location: Royal Bank of Canada, King Street West & Crawford, Toronto
Sychronised Travel Partner: Hamish
1) The first stage is your starting point.
We initially had to pick a similar location. Apparently there's a RBC near Farringdon. My starting point was the closest location of Royal Bank of Canada.
2) Walk in any direction for 50 to 100 paces, and then turn 180 degrees.
I walked north on Crawford. There was miles of nothingness and it was mostly residential, so I walked further than 100 paces just passed Adelaide then thought I went too far. When I turned around I found these two chairs tied to some yellow plastic. Later to realised further down there was a man who has just placed another set of chairs with a sign "DO NOT PARK HERE".
3) Continue walking in that direction until you see something blue.
Upon seeing the chairs, I turned slight right at an intersection. Something blue immediately caught my eye. (Okay, so if I have to stretch it, every car that was parked on the street has a blue Discover Ontario license plate. But I thought to dig deeper, or larger object...)
4) Make a left turn and walk 50 to 70 paces.
I made a left turn upon seeing the blue Beetle, continuing on the little street. I came upon this cleaning advertisement on a lamp post.
5) Walk in any direction until you see something that either is or looks like the number 7 or 11.
I continued walking on Walnut, then I hit, what do you know! A 7-11!
6) Take the first left, and continue walking until you find somewhere to sit.
I turned left onto Queen St W, I stopped in front of Clafouti's. Okay, so I also wanted a fig croissant and a coffee from here as well. One of my favourite bakeries in Toronto, as I've previously mentioned on here.
7) Choose any direction and walk for 25 to 50 paces.
8) Continue walking until you see an unusual colour, shape or texture. Turn 180 degrees.
I chose to walk from the same direction I've came from, 180 degree turn. Here, I cheated, I've combined 7) and 8). At exactly 70 pace, I stopped, there wasn't anything in front of me that were interesting but I noticed an alley way on my right. I always love alley ways and secret tunnels and such. The gated wire caught my eye, also along with the texture of the brick, the skeleton of the staircase and the glimspe of sunshine. Photographically, it was perfect. So I've decided to combine the two here.
9) Keep walking in any direction until you see an archway or an unusual architectural feature.
I turned 90 degree to my right, back onto Claufouti's, then to my left is the gate to Trinity Bellwoods park – the home of the Abino White Squirrel. Also, where I had numerous picnics and midnight brown paperbags with friends amongst my summers in Toronto. The gate is too beautiful not to notice and it's perfect for 9).
10) Head for home, but continue looking for something that catches your eye.
I was planning to go to my sister's place but instruction said to go home, so I did. I passed by one of the galleries on Ossington and this was its window display. As I was viewing these photos later, I finally noticed my lens was smudged but actually has created an interesting slight blurry effect to my photos, a bit of instant DIY lomography!
Epilogue
I enjoyed this little adventure very much. It was a gorgeous warm morning and the air was crisp. It was lovely to walk around the city, it was early enough to have a bit of morning travel, not too many people, very serene. I'm still shocked at how clean it was. And the idea of someone across the Atlantic Ocean is also experiencing the same adventure at the same time is appealing. I remember one similar experience where a friend and I decided to watch the same movie at different country then would ring up each other and talk about it. It's like you're living parallel lives at that same moment.
When I figure out how to map out my route via google, I'll re-post the link.
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