Experiencing the Toronto Pan American 2015 Games

I live in Toronto. I watched as successive governments sort of didn’t pay much attention to the upcoming Pan Am Games, even cancelling the Waterfront LRT. Most cities get new public transit and their city spruced up for big Games. Not Toronto. Or so I thought.

Well, I was right about the public transit expansion. They got around our dreadfully inadequate TTC by telling people to not travel, changing one lane on Toronto highways to three-people-or-more HOV lanes, getting buses for the athletes, and getting lots and lots of cars driven by lots and lots of volunteers, and increasing subway frequency. At the last minute, they got a few projects finished. Finally the three sisters are on again!
The Three Sisters
At last, Queens Quay is open for people, bikes, streetcars, and cars and looking very, very pretty. Union Station is finished too, with a yummy, hopping Union Station Market out front. If you haven’t been down to see and taste, you must go. And in between the still-sad, neglected parts of our city, people party, athletes play, and Pan Am cultural exhibits await our visits.

When I heard that the venue for the sailing races was free, I was off like a shot, my big camera in hand. An opportunity to relax, watch a Pan Am sports – my very first international Games ever, part of the Olympics too – and take my camera for a spin – what more could I ask for a summer day? Later I visited a couple of the cultural exhibits, clicking as I went. My Flickr album in progress till end of the Games:

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