Winter Stations Exhibition

As there were snow flurries over the weekend (FREAKIN' WHAT?! IT'S MAY!) I thought it was appropriate time to revisit my trip to The Beaches in Toronto in early spring to explore the Winter Stations.

I arrived on a weird weather day as I switched from my sunglasses, to hood up, to umbrella, to sunglasses in the span of an hour as I walked the 3km shoreline. But this was the final days of the short run art installation and I was determined to see it, having missed out last year. (Laziness. Pure laziness)

'What are Winter Stations?' I hear you ask. Winter Stations is an outdoor exhibition to celebrate Toronto's winter waterfront landscape. Located from Balmy, Kew, and Ashbridges Bay beaches along Lake Ontario in a Toronto neighbourhood known simply as The Beaches, the artists have used the life guard stations as the armature for many of the installations.
It ran for roughly a month; Feb 15-Mar 20, 2016.

The theme for the 2nd annual exhibition was Freeze/Thaw, inspired by last year's wicked temperatures at the same time and how the weather didn't stop Torontonians from getting out there.

This is an open competition and the winners are invited to build their proposals for the exhibition period.

No damage is allowed to come to the life guard stations themselves and artists must be aware of the limited security to the pieces and the possibility of vandalism or general ''wear and tear from the curious'' (favourite line from the website!)

#steamcanoe by OCAD University Found here 

#inthebellyofabearby Caitlind Brown, Wayne Garrett, and Lane Shordee found here

 #flow by Calvin Fung and Victor Huynh found here

 #floatingropes by MUDO (Elodie Doukhan and Nicolas Mussche) found here

 #lithoform by Ryerson University found here

#auroraborealis by Laurentian University found here

Winter Stations is certainly a way to celebrate this Canadian landscape that usually only gets noticed in the warm months (unless you are a dog walker).

I was glad to have been there on such a moody day too, just look at those angry clouds. I couldn't stop photographing them, but I did have to finally give up when the off and on rain showers turned into hail.

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Wednesday Wanderings

Beach at Southbank, London

Fun travels!

The Beach Comes to YOU!

Can't get to the beach this summer? Doing a little internet search may reveal a beach that has come all they way to you! Camden Beach is this beach. It's a temporary beach, obviously, set up at The Roundhouse, on their sunny 900 square meter terrace they've brought in 150 tonnes of the finest sand and offer amusements, deckchairs, music, bbq food and best yet, 2 for 1 cocktails at happy hour (5-7 Monday to Friday). 

Just like a 1950s seaside town it was a bit of a weird mix of people, from children playing in the sand to the after work crowd showing up in full suits to drink.

men in suits

ping pong

beach rules

anchors away 

Once happy hour finished, it was too pricey to keep drinking here and it was well past my dinnertime. I get cranky when I'm not fed regularly. Luckily, we quickly came across a Belgo, a Belgium restaurant with one of the widest selection of beer in London.  I'm not a huge traditional beer drinker but I will not turn down a fruit beer and there were several for me to choose from.

The food was fantastic and a great end to a chill evening out at the beach. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, just like summer and the Camden Beach closed August 24th for another season. 




Fun travels!

This is not a sponsored post, I was not compensated for anything and all opinions are my own.

Italian Holiday: Venice

Rather than drag things out over several days I'm just going to do a mini photo dump of each city I visited while in Italy (don't worry, there are only 3).  I wouldn't want to bore anyone (or more actually turn anyone green with envy) with my mediocre photography skills that couldn't possibly do this beautiful country justice.  Now without much further ado, on to Venice!

After leaving for the airport at 2:30 am and walking from one end of the city over many small bridges and through the throngs to get to the hostel, we were in no mood to begin sightseeing. Instead we caught the first Vaporetto (#51 from Piazza San Marco) and headed to the Lido, more specifically, to the beach! Yes, Venice does have a beach!

This was the highlight of Venice for me (dare I say the whole trip?), when I first read about the possibility of a beach day on this trip, my bathing suit was the first thing to be packed. It was a scorching day, but the sun was glorious and the water...my god the water. --You know when people describe bodies of water like "bath water"? Well imagine the temperature you'd ACTUALLY want your bath and you'd be close.

On the way back to the hostel we were treated to this beautiful sunset, a theme that followed us through Italy.

That evening we went to the Pescheria (the fish market) for dinner and strolled the bank of the Grand Canal. It was a lively area, people having late dinners, others drinking Prosecco and dipping their feet in the the water, with live entertainment. I would definitely love to return to this area again someday.

Ponte Rialto

The next day we did all the touristy things like visiting the Basilica San Marco, the Doge's Palace, and going up the Campanile at sunset (told you there was a theme).

Behind me is the Torre dell'Orologio, the Moors at the top ring the bell on the hour.

The Campanile

Piazza San Marco seen from the terrace on the Basilica 

Lowering the flags at the end of the day (military was there saluting and all!)

Up the Campanile

Stunning sunset

Just as we were heading down the bells began to ring. Bring ear plugs!

One night for fun we stayed at Piazza San Marco for a drink, 3 of the restaurants have live classical instrumentalists playing. But be warned there is an additional fee to sit where they are playing and listen. We instead went to the restaurant across the square where we could still hear the music but didn't have to play for the pleasure.

TLDR: Venice was nice, I ate some food, went up high buildings, was very hot, spent some time on the beach. 

On to Florence!

Fun travels!