Vancouver! Part One: The strange futuristic robot train!

I just got back from Vancouver! I was so excited to discover another big city (besides Toronto). It’s been years since I visited Philadelphia, which was my last not-Toronto big city exploration, so I was due.

My first impression of Vancouver came on the SkyTrain, which I took straight out of the airport to my destination.

I was a bit surprised to see that not only were there no fare collectors (you buy a single ticket from a machine and can pay with debit or credit, or reload a card), but there are NO DRIVERS. Their entire fleet of SkyTrains – three lines with a total of 51 stations – is automated and completely computerized ! ! ! At first I was a little unsure of this strange futuristic robot train, but after a couple rides, I started not to miss those oft-surly station collectors.

It is also worth mentioning that the SkyTrain really does operate in the SKY. The tracks are above the city. It is pretty cool to see that sort of a view on your way around, instead of staring at the floor or trying to avoid eye contact with your fellow passengers on the TTC, who may be grumpy because they have just been treated rudely by an oft-surly station collector.

The third very cool thing about the SkyTrain is that it goes BETWEEN CITIES. You can get from Vancouver to Surrey or Burnaby or Richmond on the train. You pay per zone, so the further you go, the more you pay. The cost is reasonable. The price for one zone is $2.75. To go from Vancouver to Surrey  (roughly equivalent to going from Toronto to Mississauga) would be about $5.00.

Being partial to streetcars, I would have to say that the bad thing about the transit system in Vancouver is that there are NONE. They had streetcars from the 1890s until the late 1950s, when all the streetcar lines were replaced by buses that run on electric lines (like modern-day streetcars do). However, the old section of Vancouver (called Gastown) still runs trolley buses, but they are mostly for tourists.

I did take some photos out of the SkyTrain windows, but Vancouver is so grey and cloudy at this time of year that they didn’t turn out very well.

Next time I will post about my visit to Lynn Canyon (which, incidentally, you can get to by using the city buses in Vancouver!)

Stay tuned!

Photo credits:

SkyTrain entering station: By Wakasui – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50759356

TTC fare collector: http://humbernews.ca/ttc-introduces-customer-service-system-amidst-presto-changeover/

SkyTrain track view: https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/city_hall/2014/02/11/current_transit_mishmash_is_worse_than_any_of_the_options_james/skytrain.jpg

SkyTrain system map: http://tripplanning.translink.ca/hiwire?.a=iScheduleLookupSearch&LineName=999&LineAbbr=999

Trolley bus: http://hummingbird604.com/2011/10/23/haunted-vancouver-trolley-tours/

The “Enemy” of Toronto

Last week, I went to see the movie “Enemy” at the Rainbow Market Square Cinemas (across from St. Lawrence Market).

When I was in the Market about a week prior, a clerk at one of the booths asked me if I was in Yorkville the previous day. When I said no, he said “well, you have a doppelganger in the city then.”

I didn’t read a plot synopsis or any reviews of the movie before we went, so I had no idea what I was in for.

What I was in for was an extremely strange riddle of a movie featuring a doppelganger of the main character that may or may not exist only in his mind.

The movie was filmed in Toronto. Lots of movies are filmed in Toronto, but not very many of those are also SET in Toronto. This one is, and goes much further than just featuring the CN Tower and the Toronto skyline. The 504 King streetcar and its spider-web like electric lines are featured in one scene,

 

…and the main character rents movies from Queen West Video in another.

The protagonist’s girlfriend is seen behind the glass sitting at a desk at 138 Adelaide Street West, and the protagonist’s “double” – whom you could call the antagonist (or is it really him –  living a double life…?) is shown in an apartment building at Rathburn Road…

…which is across from the “Absolute Towers” in Mississauga, a strange feat of engineering in themselves.

The movie sees Toronto as a hazy, smog-ridden maze of skyscrapers, concrete, and glass that causes individuals to lose their sense of self.

Monotony and endless repetition, combined with a life lived in concrete thirty floors above the ground, can make one imagine things that aren’t there, it seemed to say.

Or was it all real…??

The movie itself is a creepy thing (not in small part due to the oversized tarantulas which are seen in several scenes), and its slow pace only heightens the sense of stifling confusion.  There was a lot of nervous laughter in the theatre, and applause at the end followed by lively discussion. This is the type of movie that you think and talk about for hours afterwards, trying to fit clues and pieces together.

If anyone reading has seen the movie, please post a comment to let me know what you thought of it. Perhaps we can get to the bottom of it!

“Enemy” is showing at Rainbow Market Square (across from St. Lawrence Market), the Yonge & Dundas 24, and others.

On a lighter note…this is one bonus for visiting the Rainbow Market Square Cinemas.

Photo credits:

Streetcar interior: http://movies.insing.com/movie/enemy-2014/id-a3e60000/gallery/id-003c3101/photos/

Queen West video: http://www.blogto.com/services/queen-video-bloor-toronto

Jake Gyllenhaal: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/enemy-2014-movie-review/

Absolute Towers Mississauga: http://www.asce.org/CEmagazine/Article.aspx?id=23622322821#.U0QAq_ldWSo

Smoggy Toronto skyline:  https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/scientists-discover-ozone-gas-kill-140511754.html

Concrete building: http://www.thestar.com/life/2014/01/24/concrete_waiting_for_a_renaissance_in_toronto.html

 

Stay tuned!