This year I made a promise to myself to spend more time exploring the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)! As Canada celebrates it's 150th birthday this year, Yang and I are hoping to spend more homeland discovery time. We find every opportunity to flee the urban jungles that surround us, but I've decided to make some conscious time to appreciate the awesomeness so close to my suburban home that so many from far and wide come to experience!
Once we crisscrossed the mad downtown weekend traffic, we got rid of our car at the first lot that we could spot and took our walking toes on a leisure journey to Distillery District! The weather was phenomenally warm for a fabulous February day.
I've heard so much about the Distillery District, Toronto's little commercial and residential square showcasing it's European Victorian charm mish-mashed with current day trends. The founders brag about it being a perfect blend of the old and new.
We randomly chose to venture out that way this weekend and found ourselves lucky to be welcomed by the Toronto Light Fest at the Distillery. As Canada comes to term with it's freezing winter and dark evenings, Toronto has given us something fun to do outdoors! The whole Distillery has been transformed into an open gallery with light art displays that woo you to explore a magical world as you walk through the bustling streets.
When we saw the big heart right at the entrance, the love for the place was inevitable!
This was our first experience with 'light art', apparently a relatively new art form that uses light as the main medium of expression of creative art forms. We saw many beautiful patterns that lit up the streets in radiant shades and colors, giving us loads to oggle at!
This particular sculpture was my favorite (see below). Art is such a beautiful expression of life and the philosophy that surrounds our being. This sculpture called 'Infinite Support' has two drop shaped structures that support and balance each other to stand upright. This reminded me of human relationships and how we support and hold each other upright in the face of adversaries! When you go close, the structure lights up in beautiful colors and you can then see tiny mirrors inside. As you peek at the mirrors, it creates an illusion of the infinite space beyond. So dreamy! Love it!
The other one that drew the attention of many was this racing horse mechanical light projection. As you ride the bike, the projection on the wall shows an illusion of you riding the speedy horse!
We stepped in and out of the stores at the Distillery, known for their local unique, but pricey goods!
The cherry on my cake was this lighted LOVE Lock wall! So excited that we stumbled upon it on this glorious day!
Oh the joys of securing your love following cheesy traditions:)
We even got to see a busker show off his fire act! Woot!
Our only regret was not being able to grab a bite at the overcrowded restaurants. Every place we walked in to had a 1.5 hour wait to be seated. Not sure if that's the usual or because it was a weekend night with the Light Fest going on. We recommend you get your name on the list before you start strolling around cause the square has a lot of exciting eat outs that we missed to experience. But hey...the hot chocolate I grabbed on the street side did justice to my sweet tooth! Oh well, that only means we have to save the binge eating for next time and get out there again super soon:)