Recently I walked along Bloor Street east of Symington and took in the paintings adorning this railway bridge underpass. The walls were painted by local artist Richard Mongiat as part of a project sponsored by the City of Toronto. The north wall portrays summer nature scenes and the south side shows winter scenes. I find this project really beautiful and the context particularly interesting. The industrial qualities of the concrete and rusty bridge provide a lovely contrast to these serene images.

If you haven’t checked out the West Toronto Rail Path, you should – it’s fantastic.  It’s a beautiful tree lined urban path that runs from Dundas and Lansdowne all the way up to Dupont Avenue. It’s great for a walk or an outing on the bike.  It also makes a wonderful north-south commute route for some lucky cyclists who ride to work.

Originally the path was going to connect with the waterfront, which would have made it even more useful for commuting.  Now that the polluting diesel trains are a ‘go’ there is apparently a shortage of land to finish this plan.  It would be a pity if it didn’t get to expand to its full potential; these types of paths tie the city together in a wonderful way and allow those of us on bikes to have a safe and relaxing trip from one neighbourhood to the next.

This is one of my favourite graffiti walls in Toronto. It is done by none other than Elicser.  I could spend days looking at all the intricate details and forming a storyline around these images.  You can see them live in the alley south of Queen Street West, West of Bathurst Street.

Check it out when you’re in the area.