Art Gallery of Ontario and some yuppie bars

29.05.2009

We went for brunch at the Butler's Pantry in Kensington Market. Apparently we had sat down at the same time as everyone else in the restaurant, so the waitresses were flustered. Maria and Lisa were starving and it was taking them forever to bring us menus even. When we finally got our cutlery, it was handed to me upsidedown. Lisa thought this might have been a sign of disrespect. I disagreed. There was much more analysis of the waitress' actions, but we decided the real problem was the poor management of the fine establishment. I will spare you the details.

Maria's friend, Joan came over from her art gallery across the street, Spence Gallery. After brunch, we went over there to check stuff out. I thought some of it was really nice. There were some abstract paintings glossed over with resin, as well as some Cuban style ones. The Cuban paintings were beautiful. They had a watery, dream-like quality that you have to see for yourself to understand I guess.

John then took me to a movie memorabilia store and then the Art Gallery of Ontario to look at the model boats. I stayed there while he went and did whatever it is that he does.

I was thoroughly entertained by the exhibit on surrealism. Did you know that Salvador Dali designed jewelry? I bet you didn't. Well now you know.

After the gallery, I moseyed on down through Chinatown, with a mission to find bubble tea. That of course, is not a difficult task. I quickly found some, but the bubbles were all clumped up at the bottom. Never thought I would say this in my life but... Worst. Bubbletea. Ever.

On my way back to John's house, I heard yelling and screaming, like a whole bunch of people REALLY angry at each other. "What could this be?" I think, and I have to find out of course.

Across the street is an open garage door, with a sign overtop of it saying "Rapier Wit". Apparently it is a school for actors. They ONLY teach onstage combat and fighting techniques. How nichey and cool is that? I asked if I could watch their class for a bit and it was cool. They were practicing the scene from Fight Club, where the narrator has his first fight ever with Tyler Durden. Check out the video, it's interesting.

I came home to find a note on John's door, saying he is taking a nap, so I took a nap for an hour too. When I wake up, it starts raining a big, crazy thunderstorm and suddenly, I see a huge rainbow in the sky! I run out and take a picture of it, it's nice.

We have to go and meet some people at an art exhibit called Off World. It's at Camera gallery and it's interesting because you can only see it for a few hours at a time. All the videos are stored on cellphones and mounted in the front window of the gallery. They depict scenes of children in the Phillippines rooting through garbage dumps for useful items that they can sell. It's sad, but there are also happy scenes too.

Just next door, there is another gallery full of photos from the Montreal bed-in with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I guess it's the 40th anniversary this year, so there is a special exhibit lasting as long as their bed-in.

Someone recommends that we go to the Golden Turtle for Vietnamese food, so that's what we do. We order wayyyy too much food and I get a jackfruit milkshake! How awesome is that?

Later on, we meet a bunch of people at Reposado, a "tequila bar", never heard of that before, but I go with it. *gasp* $9.50 for a margarita??? Whatever. Those crazy yuppies.

It's still a nice night, despite the rain earlier, so I go outside and chillout. I am needing some chillout time and some people start freaking out, like I'm bored or something, but really, I just like it outside.

Some people decide to go, so I go outside, thinking they are right behind me. However, they are not, so I figure they will come soon. I have probably a 20 minute conversation with the bouncer and then they walk down the street 20 m to another bar, that's pretty much exactly the same as the bar that they came from, except there's no chill patio in the back. So now, I really am bored. I just go outside and talk to people smoking.

Later on, I go with John to a place he calls his "local". A St. Louis sports bar. We talk for a while with the waitresses and then when it's closing time, we talk with the kitchen staff. It's pretty entertaining. Their lives are full of drama.

Maria @ Butler's Pantry