The new Art Gallery of Ontario, recently re-opened with new architecture by Frank Gehry, is lovely inside. Granted, it looks like a giant shiny slug from the outside (especially on a rainy day), but the same tube-like structure forms a great, warm space on the inside, a sort of walkway that spans the street side of the second floor of the museum. I knew I wasn’t supposed to take pictures, but couldn’t resist (it’s not like I was taking snaps of famous paintings!) until a burly security officer told me to stop.

Generally, going to the AGO was a good experience, well worth seeing. It struck me that right now, the museum is showing mainly itself – its new face and design: the actual subject matter on display seemed relatively minor, a fun hodgepodge of painting, sculpture, some contemporary installations and a collection of model ships (that’s how far we got, at least).

Even so, definitely too much for an afternoon, so a return visit is called for this coming weekend.

The Don Valley Brick Works consists of 16 heritage buildings and an adjacent 16-hectaire public park that includes the Weston Quarry Garden, wetlands, hiking trails, and wildflower meadows. From 1889 to 1984, the site was one of Canada’s pre-eminent brickyards. The Don Valley Pressed Brick Works Company produced a wide variety of bricks and kiln-fired clay products that built much of Toronto’s heritage buildings and many of Canada’s national landmarks including Winnipeg’s T. Eaton Building, Toronto’s Massey Hall and Casa Loma, Montreal’s Acadia Apartments and Moncton’s T. Eaton Building. (From: http://www.evergreen.ca/rethinkspace/)

Pictures from a weekend outing. I had to shoot around all the Japanese tourists and their tripods. Clearly, it’s a hot tip for tourists.