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| My autumn view from home |
October 1st in Philadelphia was not chilly in the slightest degree, and I was so excited for Canada to be cold. I stood in the Toronto airport customs line bundled up in my coat thinking about Canadian author LM Montgomery’s quote, “I’m so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers.” Then I started to get warm. And then the customs officers started asking me questions about work permits that I didn’t understand, and then I was sweating like it was the middle of August. And then I was sent into another room to answer more questions and oh no my jacket was gonna be stinky for my first work meeting. I was gonna start this new chapter as Stinky Fala. The next customs officer needed some convincing that Disney Cruise Line does in fact rehearse in Toronto. Oh Neptune. Just when I thought I was going to go to prison for no reason I was allowed entry into Canada, and I caught my limo to my new lodging across from the CN Tower. My extended stay hotel room was not ready just yet, so the concierge stored my bags in the lobby closet and I did what I do best—wander around by myself.
I fount a Starbucks behind a pile of giant buttons, and I stepped in to quickly use WiFi to contact my family and let them know I arrived safely across the border. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was the amount of time I would not be spending on my phone while working for Disney. My phone plan charged an additional ten dollars a day to use data, so my newest challenge was to connect to WiFi if I needed my phone in public, or not use my phone for navigation and social media. The social media challenge was easy. I had slowly been weening myself off of it throughout 2019. The biggest challenge was exploring a foreign country without Google Maps’ constant assistance. While I was on the Starbucks WiFi, I opened my maps app and slowly zoomed out to see what was nearby. Graffiti Alley was just steps away.
I explored Toronto when I could. While it was still above freezing I spent the mornings before work running along Lake Ontario. My two months in the city were packed with rehearsals for the five shows I would do in rep once I board the cruise ship. I had every Sunday off, and Sundays always started with brunch. My favorite brunch spots include:
Earls: this is the place to go for brunch cocktails and gourmet skillets of potatoes
Mildred’s: the blueberry pancakes are like clouds and you will be forced to try them
Peter Pan Bistro: is cozy and serves scones and madeleines
The Senator: has an old school vibe and serves up local jazz on Friday and Saturday evenings. My parents loved this place so much they purchased a souvenir mug.
Fox and Fiddle: looks like the den/library I want in the home I might own one day. And it's surprisingly inexpensive!
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The Village is the LGBT neighborhood in Toronto. Just like Philly, this area is home to a bar/club called Woody's. It was jock strap night, and a local rugby team was present on the dance floor accepting donations while dressed for the occasion. Just like Philly, this was not quite my scene.
Grace O’Malley’s is a popular pub with live music. The group Orange Men performed covers of 90s hits on my evening there, and I got to know my new co workers on the dance floor.
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| District on King Street serves this black pizza. |
A really fun tradition was going to the LCBO (liquor store) after rehearsals every Saturday. Employees host tastings in the back corner of the store, and one day I had the following:
G. Marquis Chardonnay with cheddar
Megalomaniac Reisling with brie
I didn't buy any of them but maybe you should.
Most of the time I forgot I wasn't in the US. Something I had to get used to was the lack of pumpkin spice. The United States is obsessed with shoving pumpkin spice into everything between September and November, but in Toronto I could only find pumpkin spice flavored things in Starbucks. I mostly paid for my pumpkin spice with my debit card, but when I used cash for the first time I learned that one and two dollar coins are called "loonies" and "toonies" respectively. I made a joke about Loony Toons and I don't think it was appreciated by the locals. Using debit cards in Canadian restaurants is a different experience than in the US. The sever brings a small machine to the table to facilitate your transaction. This makes splitting checks so much easier and it speeds up the entire payment process and I don't know why this isn't a thing in the United States. My surprise at this trend was one of the things that made me stick out as an American, besides my apparently very thick Philadelphia accent. Another thing that made me stand out was that I don't wait for the pedestrian crossing light to come on. If cars aren't coming, I cross the street. This is dangerous, but this is also what most people do in Philadelphia and New York. It is not what people in Canada do.
The chill had finally set in around mid-October. The nip outside was refreshing; rehearsals in the studios were warm and exhausting. We spent our days memorizing spacing, blocking, scene shifts, and changes that would occur “on the day.” “On the day” was a phrase used by the creative team when discussing things that would be different when then show is in front of an audience, “the day.” Getting a drink and burger next to the heat lamps outside at Jack Astor's was a great break from the long rehearsal days.
Before we knew it, it was Thanksgiving. Part 1. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with a pot luck. This was my opportunity to test out turkey bacon wrapped dates. These are easy to make, which was one of my reasons for choosing the dish. They’re also delicious. We gathered around in Emma’s corner room to watch the Disney episode of Dancing with the Stars.
After the feast I flew down for my costume fitting in Orlando. I spent a day surrounded by the wardrobe team trying on wigs and costumes in a warehouse. And after that whirlwind I was back on a plane to Canada.
I went in search of an ATM with a few friends before attending the cash only haunted house called Martino Manor. En route we saw a bouncer outside a door, and naturally asked what was inside. The bouncer asked if we were over 19, we said yes, and he said we were able to enter the door to learn about exclusive products inside. No more information than that. My friends were eager to go in, but to me this was scarier than a haunted house. What are the products? Who is in there? Is it Denise? We left the bouncer so we could do our business at the ATM, but we returned to the bouncer against my will (not really) and ended up on the other side of his door. This operation he was guarding was a Rest Chocolate pop up shop to advertise cannabis chocolate. We received free samples of cannabis-free chocolate and left.
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| I screamed throughout the three floors of Martino Manor. |
My roommate Stephen and I took the ferry to Toronto Island. We soaked in the golden hour along the sandy shores.
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| Carousel Cafe |
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| This is Stephen and we live together and understudy each other. |
Stephen's family has a giant ghoul in their kitchen, and they decorate it for every holiday. We have a ghoul in our hotel room named Ruthie (after his mother) and she appeared in various corners leading up to Halloween.
Stephen hosted a Hocus Pocus viewing party the weekend before Halloween. This is when I had hot chocolate spiked with Baileys for the first time and it changed my Baileys game forever.
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| Ruthie in my bathroom. Not pictured: the washing machine that plays a little song when the final spin is done. |
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| My closet |
Stephen hosted a Hocus Pocus viewing party the weekend before Halloween. This is when I had hot chocolate spiked with Baileys for the first time and it changed my Baileys game forever.
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The juice ain’t worth a squeeze if the juice don’t look like this.
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As November settled in, Emma and I wandered around the city and found ourselves at Stackt Market. The vibe of this market was very similar to The Boxyard, which I visited in Tulsa last year. Like Boxyard, this market was stacked with bougie/indie stories, sweets, and modern art.
The air in Toronto turned cold quickly. In my mind, winter had settled in and I was ready to bring my daily running to the treadmill. My final outdoor run took me six and a half miles from my hotel to the outskirts of the city. It was the first time I actually saw Toronto’s skyline.
Toronto turns up for Christmas. I always wait until after Thanksgiving to start any sort of Christmas celebration, but American Thanksgiving marked the end of my time in Toronto, so I needed to break my tradition and start early. Besides, I already celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. I made several trips to the Distillery District to get my fill of Christmas village feelings. Some of the staples here are waffles covered in Nutella, warm apple cider, Hungarian chimney cakes, tornado potato skewers, mulled wine, and hot chocolate spiked with hazelnut liquor. Fortunately, visitors can walk about the Distillery District with all of these warm things in hand! I met up with a few of my PAW Patrol cast members who were touring the show through the area.
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| A couple mayors and a couple of pups. |
On another venture through the Distillery District, Emma and I joked about Santa always watching. Every couple of minutes we fount ourselves saying, “You better watch out.” Toward the end of our evening we turned the corner to hear a choir sing, “You better watch out, you better not cry…”
On this same magical evening I learned that there are these things called spurdle sticks, and they’re wooden and you stir food with them.
On a later date, Emma and I attended the Santa Claus Parade, a Toronto tradition. It kind of reminded me of the 6ABC Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade Brought to You By Dunkin Donuts but with a lot more animal pajama onesies. Staples of this parade include a giant goose, Santa, and dozens of marching bands. And upside down monkeys. Every couple of minutes a different float of kids would pass us chanting, "I say 'merry' you say 'Christmas.' 'Merry!'" to which we all shouted, "Christmas!"
Dylan and I visited the Aurora Winter Festival on its opening night. This festival of winter and lights includes and opportunity to skate, win carnival prizes, meet a yeti, and eat a cone of pizza.
Dylan and I visited the Aurora Winter Festival on its opening night. This festival of winter and lights includes and opportunity to skate, win carnival prizes, meet a yeti, and eat a cone of pizza.
My parents came to visit just before American Thanksgiving. They stayed at the Fairmont, which in itself is an experience. The hotel mounts a large gingerbread wall in the lobby, and its scent beacons you to have a bite. The cocktails were warm.
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| This is one of Toronto's main characters. |
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| Canada's tallest Christmas Tree |
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| The windows at Eaton Centre |
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| Peggy and Steve enjoying Nutella waffles at the Distillery District |
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| Now that you've made it this far though my Toronto post I would like you to know that this scent of candle exists in the world. |
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| I thought this was neat. |
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| FYI |
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| He's always watching. |
My cast celebrated the end of our Toronto rehearsal process with another pot luck to celebrate American Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Part 2. I'd like to note right here that the most important parade in the USA turned 100 this year. We watched the Disney castle spectacular and anticipated our Bahamian voyage. I soaked in the last bit of cold air then boarded the plane to Miami, where I would embark on a six month adventure doing the hokey pokey around the Bermuda Triangle.
