Tower of Light

Having arrived only a few days before classes began at U of T (University of Toronto for those of you living outside of Canada), I could barely tell which way was up - even with a map. I would exit the subway and have no idea if I was walking North, East, South or West. I mean it’s fine if you have a nifty iPhone with GPS on it but for those of us still living with a useless Crackberry, which protests it doesn’t have GPS capabilities…it becomes a lot more challenging. That was until I was given the magical piece of advice. “The CN tower is always South.” (e.g The CN tower stands very close to the edge of the Lake at the bottom of the map). What did that even mean? Well, if you’re walking up the map then the CN tower HAS to be behind you. So after a good few days of walking back and forth (Toronto has complicated the matter by not having a numbered grid system like New York and instead every street is labelled on a sign which is never in the same place) I suddenly knew where I was headed. Having now sussed the city out I just have to try to remember where all the good coffee shops and bakeries were since I had no idea where I was when I discovered them. My year in Toronto was unexpected for many reasons but the one thing I could always count on when I was walking home late at night was the tower, just a few blocks from my apartment. Green on St Patrick's Day and multicoloured for LBGT Pride, it's still more than just a tourist hub to me. When I no longer needed to rely on it to find my bearings - I'd finally figured out which way up the city was - it was like a pin in that word map on my bedroom wall, which was the focus of all my day-dreaming. It stood out in the skyline and became my own best friend in this foreign city. Maybe I shouldn't have told you about it and let you discover it for yourself but if you were to look through a tourist guide I doubt it would tell you all this. During my year spent in Toronto I never actually ventured up it, not wanting to share it with the hundreds of tourists who ride it's magical elevator to the top every day of the year. It was only last year when I finally went up that I realised a problem. As I stood looking out at the incredible view of the city I noticed something missing, the thing I'd always been able to see wasn't there. As if the Eiffel Tower had been stolen from Paris I felt a sense of loss. For the first time I wasn't able to see the grandeur of the tower because I was standing right in the heart of it.