We recently spent a lovely afternoon with Andrea on Centre Island, a place that is so close to home and yet so far from the usual city sights.
For readers unfamiliar with Toronto, that is one of the islands in the chain of small islands located just south of the mainland, which formed in 1852 after a storm flooded a sand peninsula that had originally been connected. There are eleven islands in total, ranging in size, with two so small that they remain unnamed. Centre Island is the largest and most popular for visitors, who can get there easily via a quick ride on a ferryboat.
We took the King Street West streetcar over to Bay Street, and although we could have hopped on the bus going southward to the ferry terminal, we decided to walk down.
↑ See the tall smokestack? That is The Hearn Power Plant, the same one discussed a few weeks ago in this post about Toronto’s Luminato Art Festival. ↑
Once on the island, we walked about 10 minutes to get to the beach.
↑ Andrea has this handy insulated cooler bag on wheels which made transporting our stuff a breeze, especially when Nick volunteered to pull it. ↑
↑ We passed the pathway going to Centreville, the children’s amusement park, but I thought I’d include it here because, as a kid, I thought this was one of the most wonderful places in all the world!↑
We found a large tree for shade, laid out a blanket, unpacked our picnic of finger foods (these hors d’eouvres pictured, veggies and chips with dips, Andrea’s delicious banana bread and cherries) and drinks (this iced-tea rum cocktail, wine and water), and settled in for a relaxed afternoon of talking and people watching.
Note: I’m not sure if alcohol is allowed (probably not) but we were discreet, serving the cocktails from a thermos and keeping the box of wine covered.
↑ Don’t know what I was looking at, but this is the only shot of me to choose from! ↑
↑ Nick’s summer hat is from Goorin and Brothers ↑
Heading back to the ferry dock …
↑ We missed this ferry by a hair but didn’t really mind waiting for the next one. Well, ok … we did mind a little because the next one was very crowded and slow going.↑
↑ The next one coming in. By this time is was about 8pm, so we were surprised to see so many people still arriving at the island. Not sure what there was to do there at night, but clearly something was going on. ↑
Nick just looked over my shoulder at these pictures and said, “that was really nice over there”. He’s right, it certainly was. Thanks to Andrea for suggesting it.
And thank you for checking out my post. I hope you have a great weekend.
xo loulou
