Earlier this week, my friend Kie visited me from California. Kie and I haven’t seen each other in six years, and it was amazing to reconnect and spend time together after such a long time. Our lives have changed dramatically in the past few years: I’ve had three kids, and Kie is now a tenured professor of Linguistics at UCLA. But, as it happens with great friends, it felt like no time at all had passed.
On one day of our visit, we went to the newly renovated Art Gallery of Ontario. I took the Girl, and together we wandered around the Contemporary and Surreal galleries, pondering some fantastic pieces of art. I highly recommend checking out the AGO if you haven’t already done so. The Frank Gehry architecture took my breath away, and the quality and presentation of the exhibits we saw was excellent. In fact, it reminded me alot of the Art Institute in Chicago, which I visited a couple of years ago with my husband.
Prior to the gallery visit, we sipped coffee at the Art Square cafe. Sitting there, on that scenic patio with my bronzy, sweet California friend, I felt like a tourist in my own city. I made a resolution, at that moment, not to take Toronto for granted. There’s so much here to see and do and I want to savour everything, enjoy it all – just like I would if I were to visit any other great city.
Here’s one of my favourite sights from our gallery visit: totum poles made out of backpacks!
I’ve got a couple of AGO passes I won at a silent auction. Looking forward to using them in September.. hoping the garbage strike is over by then!
I’ve been to the AGO twice in the last couple of months (including with my son’s grade four field trip yesterday) and I LOVE it! It’s a surprisingly fantastic place to wander with kids, and you can discover something new each visit. The gift shop is out of this world (as are the cafeteria’s hazelnut brownies), but not as kid-friendly as the rest of the place.