A Fine Day Out

Today was Skip's and my 14th wedding anniversary. We got married exactly 3 years to the day after we started going 'steady' back in 1995. On our last three anniversaries, we've spent the day in the Distillery District in The Big City. The last couple of years we've said, "We really must do one of those Segway tours one of these years". Well today was the day.

Because there is construction going on in the area, the 1 hour tour wasn't available so we settled for the 1/2 hour tour. Pavel, our tour guide, first made us do some paperwork (signing that we'd be responsible for any damage to our respective Segways) and assigned us helmets that fit. Then we went outside and got our 'training'. Once he showed us how to get onto the Segway,

and how to get it to roll forward, backward, stop it and how to steer it, he then escorted us individually as we demonstrated our ability to gather speed and manoeuvre our way around an obstacle.

The Segway has a top speed of 20kph (!) but there is a governor on these limiting the speed to 10kph. I think the top speed I attained was 4.3kph. Because of the big tires, it rolled very comfortably on the uneven paving stones of the Distillery District. I've been told I should now watch the movie "Mall Cops" as I will relate to their mode of transport.

When Pavel learned that we were celebrating our anniversary, he took us to Soma Chocolate and across the street to Mill St. Brewery for some free samples. The Lemon Tea Beer that I tried was so refreshing! I have to try to find some of that at The Beer Store.

After we turned in our helmets and collected our bags, we made our way up to Varsity Cinemas at Bloor and Yonge to go see "The Intouchables" an acclaimed French movie that we've been looking forward to seeing since we saw its trailer when we went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" a few weeks ago. "The Intouchables" is only showing in 2 theatres in the GTA. I'm hoping that with better publicity, this delightful and touching film about a quadriplegic and his relationship with his caregiver, will be enjoyed by many. I cannot recommend it more highly. Gordon Pinsent was even in the theatre watching it, too!

After the movie, Skip and I met Scooter at the Indigo bookstore just downstairs from the cinema and we browsed for a while before leaving to go for dinner at a restaurant we all enjoy, Spring Rolls. Then we three made our way home, happy to be taking the GO train and not having to deal with the traffic congestion caused by the mass exodus from The Big City for the holiday weekend.

It truly was a fine day out.