Oh Canada!

It wasn't as though I'd planned to be in Toronto on 1st July, or Canada Day, it just happened that way.  I'd seen on the internet that the Tragically Hip were playing at the Molsen Amphitheatre on the lake shore and had bought tickets for my son, Ali and I and it was only later that the penny dropped.

The Canadians really take it seriously.  Almost everyone wears something red, emblazoned with either the maple leaf, the name of the country or bizarrely a beaver.  Ali bought us red maple leaf hats at the nearby Dollar Store so we would fit in.

First up was dim sum at a place in Chinatown called Rol San on Spadina.  We had to wait as the place was totally jammed but finally made it and ordered pretty much everything on the menu.  The turnip cake was the favorite closely followed by the sticky rice.

The Chinatown parade on Canada Day

The big event of the day was in the evening, a nice and sunny yet a bit chilly one too.  Ali is an expert on public transport now so navigated us to Exhibition Place very easily on the streetcars (aka trams) and we joined the throng into the stadium area.

We found a beer tent before heading into the stadium.  The ticket said 8.30 pm start but the Hip came on bang on 9 pm and played for the next couple of hours, all their old hits too for it became quite a singalong for much of the tunes.  The Canadian audiences I think are terrific too.  Really upbeat and noisy all the time.  Made for a great atmosphere.

Fitting in with Canada cap and lumberjack shirt

For those who don't know the Hip, the link is from their early 2015 show in Toronto with them playing Poets.

Another nice thing about Toronto is that places stay open really late so after the show, Ali suggested we head to a piece of the City called Liberty Village where we found a nice roof top bar called Williams Landing, seats looking out and ate pizza and drank beers until very late.  I'd forgotten it was a Wednesday as by the look of it did many others for we didn't leave until 2 am-ish and the place was still busy.

Happy Canada Day!