Disney Day!

So an exciting part of living in Toronto these last six months, on top of all the stuff I knew coming in (new environment, big city life, getting to live with the love of my life, all that junk) has been that I have the opportunity to hang out with my friend from the mc chris message boards, Cat. We've both left the boards since then, but through Facebook (okay, not anymore), Twitter, and a new board, we've kept in touch. It was so exciting to hear that she had landed a job as a performer for the Disney cruise ship, the Magic. She's playing a number of characters in various shows on the cruise, from supporting roles like one of the Muses from Hercules to one big time princess. (I could have linked her Wikipedia or something, but cake is so much more delicious.)

Yesterday I got to see a rehearsal of one of the shows in which she performs, Twice Charmed. The weather was miserable (Chris calls it "mixed precipitation," but I have other words for it) and I was running late, but I made it on time! Let's not focus on the fact that the rehearsal was running an hour late, I made it, okay? The whole Disney Magic training happens in the basement of the Canadian Broadcasting Company's building, where Chris and I saw George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight! I ended up waiting in the green room, which was every color but, with another person there to watch the rehearsal. Apparently he's dating the fairy godmother from Cinderella. I have to tell you, I seriously regretted not having my ebook reader with me. But when I thought I could wait no more, it was time to go in and watch the show, at last!

Cat lead me in, and I took my seat next to the fairy godfather-in-law, and watched the show start up. In this show, Cat plays Anastasia Tremaine, the redheaded stepsister who plots to take the prince from Cinderella, even when it looks like they've gotten their happily ever after. A wicked fairy godfather is summoned, hijinks ensue, all seems lost, and the stepsisters might get their way and then, at the last moment, the couple is reunited! It was great and funny and more feminist/woman-friendly than the movie, because in the show, Cinderella connects with Prince Charming not because of her snappy outfit or choice of footwear, but because of her personality. It's still ridiculous to pick your mate based on dancing together for a couple hours, but this sort of sequel paints it more as, "love at first sight" and less as, "You're finally acceptable now that you're wearing gorgeous clothes!" There was dancing and singing and, though no one was in their costumes, it was awesome to watch. The choreography was great and the songs were cute and well-sung, and the dancey bits were impressive to this totally unknowledgeable observer. It was awesome! Awesome!

After the show, Cat and a bunch of the cast members (Cinderella, the footman, the mice, the wicked fairy godfather, random townspeople) went to get lunch. Cat and I split some yummy bourbon chicken with broccoli and noodles. It was time for me to head out and her to get back to lunch, so we split up and I went to the CBC shop and bought this shirt and got a free tiny hockey stick because of some crazy promotion the store was running.

What am I going to do with this thing? Oh well, it's a souvenir, I guess, and it fits nicely with my burgeoning interest in hockey. And it was free! After that I headed home in the gross snowy rain/rainy snow. It was a reasonably long walk, about 45 minutes, and I tried to use the time to take a few pictures of pretty buildings and a couple of random sights of Toronto to share and probably look back on later. Here's a bunch!

Every epic picture I try to take, some goofball has strung up a telephone wire to obscure it. Seriously, Toronto, why isn't that junk underground?!

The buildings are fading away!

I really love the architectural juxtaposition in Toronto, from styles to eras.

A Toronto streetcar. With an ad for Taco Bell on it. Did you know Taco Bells here serve fries?

The Canon Theatre, where Chris took me to see Wicked for my birthday present shortly after we arrived here. It was amazing!

I ended up grabbing some groceries on the way home and bought three Kinder Surprise Eggs, which you've probably never had. See, they're this hollow chocolate egg, that's milk chocolate on the outside and white chocolate on the inside, which is already pretty amazing. And inside there's a capsule with a toy inside of it. It's delicious like a treat and exciting like a gumball machine and you come away with a toy like you'd just gone shopping from the Oriental Trading Company. They're chocolate eggs themselves are so thin that the whole thing is only 110 calories, a decent little sweet snack that doesn't kill your fitness goals! In a word, it's terrific. I can't be convinced that Kinder Surprise Eggs aren't awesome, no matter what you say or do.

Not one of my eggs, but I really liked this picture from lacocottefilante on  Flickr. Click the link for more of her awesome photography!

Or how totally illegal they are in the US. Sure you can carry handguns and procure either the service of a lady of the night (Nevada) or marijuana (California), but Kinder Surprise Eggs are totally banned. Seriously, you could get a $300 fine for having them! It's crazy, but it comes down to a rather bogus old law about not having non-functional non-food (the stick in a lollipop serves a function, to help you hold the candy) and some silliness about the toys posing a risk for children under three. Though the toys are inside capsules that are really difficult for ADULTS to open, especially while walking down the icy sidewalk while being pelted by "mixed precipitation." Ah, well.

So that was a giant description of my day, some random buildings, and chocolate! I hope all (three!) of my readers are having great days.