23.01.2008

the frozen harbour

out the window of the hotel early this morning, i saw that the harbour was frozen. it looked so strange, suspended instead of moving. everything was grey and still.

and now, it is snowing! the snow is flying past the window. the ground below is white and getting whiter. the sky is white. the harbour is even white, as the snow falls on the ice.

it's been a long time since i've been in a city when it's snowed, and it's just so beautiful. in london once, when I was at drama school i woke up to find everything white, and walked to school absolutely elated. and i was in venice once when it snowed. that was breathtaking and magical, and so so quiet.

today the play opens here in toronto. we spent the day yesterday at the eaton centre, a new chic shopping centre which is hosting the production. there are two lovely things about this shopping centre; no, three. first, it has a very high ceiling which is domed glass, cathedral style (apparently it was modelled on the galleria in milano...) it does let in a lot of natural light and gives the feeling of space and air. second, as you enter the south end of the centre there is a beautiful suspended sculpture of a flock of birds, i think they're geese, all in different gradated moments of flight. the third is that it's warm, and provides a haven from the icy cold.

it is apparently part of the PATH system here, which is apparently a long series of interconnecting pathways through the city, some underground, some through buildings, some through covered walkways, which is apparently there to help you get from place to place more easily in the winter. i think it's still evolving this PATH, maybe it's just been something the locals did, somehow worked out through necessity, and now the city has tried to formalise it...in any case there are no actual maps of the path and it doesn't appear on any other map.

similarly we only discovered yesterday that there's a tram line which runs really near our hotel up towards the city, thus obviating any need to traverse the wasteland of construction and freeways which lie between the harbour (us) and the city (everything else.)

we didn't know it was there because it runs underground and is not particularly clearly marked or signposted.

my developing theory is that toronto, like melbourne was up until about five years ago, is one of those hidden cities, a city which doesn't advertise or proclaim or possibly even theorise about its riches, but just gets on with things; and if you find a way in, make a connection, find an interesting thread, place or people, then you are fortunate. for the rest, you can shop in malls, eat atrocious food in food courts, drink bad coffee, sit by the harbour, watch the snow, and think.