A solo adventure part 1

In Toronto during the PanAm Games 

It was hard to believe as I stepped off the train with my boss on Friday July 17, that I would spend the weekend in Toronto. Even more unbelievable was the fact that this was my first trip without a family member. Far from feeling nervous or small as I sometime feel when I'm in a new place, I was excited. Yes I was there to "work,"  but my job is my passion so it doesn't feel like work. And besides, in just few moments, as soon as we got inside and through these crowds, I would be reunited with a friend whom I hadn't seen in over a year.

 After the three of us found our way to the main door leading out onto the street, my boss, who had been my travel support and companion on the train, left us. My friend,  knowing in the way good friends do, that I'd need something to eat upon arrival had texted me an hour or so earlier and had gone out and bought me a steak panini After we split the panini, I had had something to drink, and was feeling ready, we set out for the theater, only an eight minute walk away...or so we thought.

By the time we left the station the rain that had threatened to fall since Oshawa was falling. So we paused outside still under the cover of the roof, and dug in my bag for the cover for my controls. We couldn't find it so we settled for one of the blue plastic bags that my mother had used to hold one of my water bottles;  not a perfect solution by any means, but under the circumstances, we both agreed it would have to do. We debated a coat, but my coat was in my suitcase,  it was hot, and besides, I'm waterproof...it's just my chair that's not!!! So we set off in what we thought was the direction of the theater.

After walking for what seemed to be the eight minutes, and stopping periodically to check the map, I could tell my friend was starting to get a little concerned as we went block after block with no sign of the harbour or Habourfront Theater which we logically concluded had to be close to one another. A quick glance at my watch told me I was likely not going to make my three o'clock rehearsal call. Oh well the other piece was rehearsing first anyway I could warm up during their run if I had to.

 We walked one more block then decided to go into a nearby accessible shoe store to ask for directions. The two men in the store looked at each other, clearly puzzled when we asked where Harbourfront Theater was. My friend took another look at the map, then took out the emailed directions my boss had sent earlier in the week. Smiling she realized she'd forgotten an important part of the address. In Toronto, there is a Queen Street and a Queen's Quay Street. We were looking for Queen's Quay and were on Queen...no wonder we were lost and it didn't make much sense!!

Laughing at ourselves and the whole situation, my friend and I thanked the two baffled guys in the store and left. We walked the eight minutes back the way we'd come, then proceeded to walk the eight minutes in the correct direction! As we approached the theater my colleague's husband came running across the street. Apparently, they had sent a search party out to find us!! Once across the street we were met by another colleague's sister and father who escorted us the rest of the way to the theater. And joy of joys, I wasn't as late as we thought I would be!!

Welcome to Toronto!!!!

CN Tower was quite close to both the hotel and theater.