One of the crucial advantages of living in downtown Toronto is the fact that you are always around streetcars (trams) and bicycles. As you may know, I don’t have a car and therefore I am solely dependent either on public transit or on my bicycle. And I love them both dearly.

While our current mayor hates both, bicycles and streetcars, it is safe to assume that no transportation policy of Toronto is complete without the inclusion of mass transit and pollution-free transit options such as these. Plus, having old-style trams kinda gives a sexier look to the city, admit it!

In the picture, you can see a classic (rusted) ring and post bike stand next to its artistic incarnation. You can checkout some more of Toronto’s bike stand designs in my older Toronto Tuesday post.

PS: Lately I have been extremely irregular in updating my blog. Most of it has to do with my inability to juggle various priorities. I am not confident that I’ll get better but I do promise to try. If you have a blog, you know what I am talking about.

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I was in Montréal, Quebec a fortnight back and I found the city’s cycling infrastructure quite interesting. While four days are grossly insufficient to gauge the cycling culture of a city, it was quite evident that biking was a popular mode of transport.
Bikes parked outside the Mont Royal station.

Bike locked (illegally?) to a parking station which are quite interesting itself.

On several streets of Toronto, there are bike lanes, i.e. a reserved lane on the either side of the street. In Montreal, bike lanes are almost like little independent streets. Some intersections even had traffic signals dedicated to cyclists.

A bike stand on Rue St. Denis. “Bike with your head” – I like that message.

Bike Path, a street leading to Old Montreal

Bike path along Avenue du Parc

Bike rack

Bike path along Avenue Rachel E

Probably the next time I go to Montréal, I’d like to bike there.

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‘Toronto Tuesday‘ is a weekly photo feature about random stuff (landmarks, people, culture, seasons, etc.) in the city.

My battery charger is dead so unfortunately I don’t have any current pictures. I’m posting these pictures from my bike trip earlier this spring.

Bike Trail
We took a GO train from downtown Toronto to Ajax, a suburb 40 minutes east. Then we headed north through the city, hit the trail for the day and returned south to the waterfront. The urban sprawl looks ugly after you’ve been in the countryside all day. We biked along the waterfront as the sun set, ultimately heading to the Pickering GO station. You might remember my previous post on the Largest Windmill in North America, which was from the same trip.

↑ GO Train at Ajax Station.

↑ Large silos for storage.

↑ The largest and most successful water operated flour mill in this area was opened in 1875. The stone bench is one of the only remnants of the canal.

↑ You know your trip has ended when you see cement and bricks instead of trees and bushes.

↑ Pickering GO Train station next to Highway 401 ‘Highway of Heroes’.

The entire trip was some 60-70 km of cycling, quite relaxed and nice. The trail itself is very boring, I’d give it a C+ grade.

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‘Toronto Tuesday‘ is a weekly photo feature about random stuff (landmarks, people, culture, seasons, etc.) in the city.

Bike Stands

City of Toronto has a good infrastructure for cyclists. Off-street bicycle racks like these are present every few meters on most (if not all) sidewalks in downtown Toronto.

Bike Racks. It says ‘Lock Bicycle’ and ‘City of Toronto’

This is the standard post-and-ring bike stand. But then it starts getting creative! …

Bike Lock. Looks like ugly lamp posts, no?

What’s that, a lightbulb?

Bike theft is very common in Toronto. People spend a fortune ($50, or $100, or…) on a good lock.

From spectacles to bicycles

A scary monster face?

Just like any other parking facility, it becomes impossible to find a bike parking spot during summer!

My personal favorite!

There are several ‘bike rack sculptures’ in my neighborhood (Parkdale / Queen west). All these pictures are taken from places less than two minutes from my apartment. I hope you liked them.

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‘Toronto Tuesday’ is a weekly photo feature about random stuff (landmarks, people, culture, seasons, etc.) in my city.

Where’s my bike?

Student bikes at University residence. I always keep mine in my room!

There was lot of snow earlier but last few days it has been bright and sunny between -20 deg and -30 deg without snow.

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A 72km bike ride along the Sea of Galilee coast checking out prominent Biblical sites.
Caution: This particular blog-post is going to be excessively long.

7:30, I start with the sunrise.

Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee (गॅलिले), slso known as Lake Kinneret (किनारेट), is the largest fresh water lake in Israel. This lake is 209 m below sea level, the second lowest lake in the world after Dead Sea (also in Israel and I’ll post abt it). The lake has several sites of Christian significance around it in addition to being historically important for the Jewish.

Biking
I rented a mountain bike from Hostel Aviv for 50 NIS and started on this route equipped with a map. The route going along the lake is 65 km long but since I took a detour, I had to travel about 7 km more. The terrain is uphill for the initial part (upto Capernaum) and then more or less a flat ride. Since I took liberal breaks at different sites, I finished the journey in 8 hours, but my average speed on road was abt 14 kmph, not bad! If you are visiting this area then I will definitely recommend a tour on bike, it is very refreshing

Measurements

Ginosar: The Jesus boat

Jesus boat and me

In 1986, two fisherman brothers discovered the remains of an ancient boat that dates back to 1 CE, believed to be Jesus era. 27ft long and 7.5ft wide, this boat is delicately preserved at the Yigal Alon (यिगाल अलोन) Museum in Ginosar (गिनोसार). There is an excellent documentary that shows how the boat was excavated, removed, cleaned and reassembled – a process that took 7 years. This was my first stop and I met some people from a neighboring Kibbutz here. I had only read about Kibbutzs before and it was good to talk to real people working there.

Mt. of Beatitudes

Church of Beatitudes

It is believed that Jesus delivered the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ at a place around this location around 30 CE. This sermon is said to contain the central tenants of humanity, something that is shared by many religions. For example – ‘turn the other cheek’ or ‘resist not evil’, ‘judge not, lest ye be judged’ or the Golden rule. Mount of Beatitudes (बेटिट्युड) is located on a hill. The church is very beautiful, and the surrounding garden gives me amazing peace of mind. Also, the climb to the mountain top was an overkill and I was sweating like crazy when I reached here. I shed my clothes, but then it was cold, so had to wear them again (hehehe). The restaurant sells stuff that is bound to burn your pocket, and I got mine burnt.

Tabgha: Miracle of the Multiplication

In this fruitful garden, Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Nice Church at (टॅब्घा/ताब्घा).
There was a little water fountain outside and I had a quick shower there while tourists/pilgrims who were arriving from big tour buses looked at me with disgust admiration and astonishment. Ah, it felt so good.

Primacy of Peter
This was a mystery as I did not have information about this chapel in my guidebook, nor did any tour bus stop here, so it was deserted except me, my bike and statues of Jesus. All I know is Peter was the favorite Apostles of Jesus of Nazereth and probably this Chapel is dedicated to him. The sepia picture shows a shepherd begging Jesus saying ‘Feed my sheep’.

Capernaum:

Ruins of an ancient Synagogue (ज्यू मंदिर) where Jesus prayed

Jesus lived in (कपर्नॉम) town along with his disciples after he moved from Nazereth (नाझरेथ). There are several architectural excavations that reveal old Synagogues, Monasteries, houses and courtyards.

Rest of the journey:


I only paused briefly at the Greek Orthodox Church (the distinct red building in the pictures below) admiring the numerous peacocks and the ambiance it had. The Church was closed, but at a table outside, the priest dressed in black robes was having lunch with some visitors. Needless to say I was invited to join them but it was all meat and since ani simkhoni, I had to politely decline.

So, after 5 hours of up terrain cycling, I was pretty exhausted. I ran out of my power bars and oatmeal cookies and water. I did not eat breakfast because everything was closed when I left Tiberias, and unfortunately there were no little stores on this way. God I was starving. I secretly asked Jesus to come back and multiply bread and fish for me, but he didn’t come (maybe it was his Christmas break.)

Finally I found one restaurant on the side of the road – yes very much like our Dhaba! – on the Yehudiya junction (north-east corner of the lake). I was so hungry that I told myself that falafel and humus were the best foods on earth. I stacked the pita bread full of olives, pickles, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, beet, peppers and other veggies. The lady gave me freshly fried spicy eggplant and some other thing (I never found it anywhere again). I had both – freshly squeezed orange juice and mint tea. After a contentful burp, I hit the road again. Wish there was a place to nap (wow a whole paragraph dedicated to my lunch!)

The remaining journey was tiring, probably because there was nothing much to see. But the real cause of pain (pun intended) was the uncomfortable seating of the bicycle. I tried various innovative methods to make my (sensitive, precious, private) body parts at ease but then the whole area became insensitive.

Roads in Israel including this part are in quite good shape. The drivers are also considerate (compared to India, not Canada) but sometimes they like to ‘play’ with cyclists…hehehe. Only on a few occasions I was forced off the road, but it was fun nevertheless.

Kinneret beach was beautiful, but I had painful reasons to reach back to the hostel asap.

Tiberias!

I was back to Tiberias before sunset. What a wonderful day it was Cycling and walking gives me a strange feeling of connection with the area, something that I will always prefer over booking a tour bus. (Maybe its a good thing to do after 40 years when I am old.)

Update: While I was riding from Kinneret to Tiberias, another cyclist went speeding past me. I don’t like when someone overtakes me for no reason and I sped after him. But I couldn’t match. Later I spotted him relaxing on the promenade just before Tiberias and since he seemed friendly we started chatting. I made a very good friend Yair who comments here regularly. Others – if you are reading this but not commenting then I hate you (nah, ofcourse not )

Next day I left to visit the ancient city of Beit She’an (बेट श्यान).

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From the desert to the green belt.
Continued from previous post.

Moonrise over the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias

Don’t get terrified by the edited picture above. Spending an evening in Tiberias on the bank of the Sea of Galilee watching the moon rise is very pleasant.

Tiberias (तिबेरीया / टायबेरीया) is a town about 180km north of Jerusalem. Located in the Lower Galilee region, Tiberias is a quiet, mid-size centre on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. This region is full of green trees, mountains, valleys and rivers, making it very beautiful compared to the desert city of Jerusalem.

Boarding a bus on Sunday morning, Mumbai ishtyle

Yours truly, sitting in a crowded bus

In Israel, once a Jewish youngster turns 18, s/he has to serve for 3 years atleast in the compulsory Israeli military service. In Israel, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday, the days when hundreds of these young soldiers return home. On Sunday morning, they go back from the cities to their military camps. And this is exactly what I didn’t know…

I went to the Jerusalem central bus station, and got a student (discount) ticket for a bus to Tiberias. The whole bus station looked like a military camp – there were simply no civilians there. Anywhere you look, you could see only soldiers and guns and huge bags. I was confused. There was a young guy who was at the bus station with his parents. They clicked a picture together before he was leaving and everyone was quite emotional. Maybe it was the beginning of his military service?

Minutes before the bus was scheduled to arrive, the platform was brimming with soldiers. When the bus arrived, the soldiers rushed onto it from all possible sides – like a swarm of locusts devouring a farm. I was simply standing there (in what I thought was a queue, but there wasn’t one), just blinking and staring foolishly at the mess

Then I smiled and suddenly became nostalgic. It reminded me of my 7:21 Kalyan fast, the train that I took every morning to go to work in Mumbai (read this and this – Commuting every morning). I plunged into the crowd, hoping that my boarding-the-crowded-vehicle skills were not rusted during the one year stay in Canada. Soldiers – guys and girls – were fighting to get inside the bus. Elbows, palms, head, everything was being used to push your way in thru the narrow door. The bus driver was sweating. I was struggling to keep up with this juvenile burst of energy. Just after I grabbed hold of the bar near the door, the bus started moving. The driver was shouting vigorously and I guess he was saying चला चला मागे सरका (comeon, move back) or जागा नाही! (no space in bus). Having plenty of experience in all this, I was happy to have gotten some space to rest one foot and grab the bar with one hand. As the bus pulled out of the station, everyone was sucked in, while soldiers left stranded were protesting angrily. There were few other tourists from US at the bus station, but they couldn’t take the cultural shock I guess, which is very natural. So, finally it was a bus full of soldiers and me. phew!

After a while, people started talking to me. Where are you from? Where are you going? Wow India! I am going there in summer. I am going too. Me too. Himalayas very beautiful. Goa, Varanasi, Khajuraho, Rishikesh, Manali…. wow, these guys knew a lot about India. Apparently there is a trend to go to India after the military service (to cool off and smoke ganja), something that I learnt on my 2006 trip to Himalayas. I got snacks to eat, water to drink and lots and lots of entertaining things to do The bus started dropping off soldiers at various locations – probably where they were supposed to report at.

Within 2 hours, I was in Tiberias.

Road to Tiberias

The city reminded me of Pune. Don’t know why, but it smelt like Pune. Haifa smelt like Indore. Tel Aviv was like Mumbai or Ratnagiri. It was very soothing to see lush green mountains and a gigantic water body – Sea of Galilee.

Tiberias

A little town, very touristy, primarily concentrated around the Ha-Galil and Ha-Banim streets. I thought the whole city was inhabited only by youngsters – delightfully dressed and extremely fashion conscious (all of this in comparison to Jerusalem). Girls go with girls, boys go with boys, holding hands, arms over each others shoulders and even an occasional kiss. Interesting sights.

Ani Simkhoni
आनी सिम्खो़नी (The ‘ख़’ (kh) sound is made as if you are clearing your throat) is one of the most powerful and essential phrases if a vegetarian guy has to survive in off-center eating places where they don’t know English. I went to one of the lovely looking eating joints which, the guy at my hostel told, had vegeterian menus too. I spent about 10 minutes explaining the waiter that I don’t eat meat, but he wouldn’t understand. Finally I scribbled a horrible wonderful sketch of an animal that didn’t looked exactly (stop lying Priyank!) like a cow and told him I don’t want that. All this was so much fun and the guys at the restaurant were delighted – I got a free cup of mint tea. Yay! The first thing I did then was to learn how to say ‘I am vegetarian‘ in Hebrew.

Later, I made inquiries and gathered data about cycling around the Sea of Galilee and booked a bike for the next day. Thats where I’ll go next – a bike ride along Sea of Galilee coast.

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It was a pleasant weather. Somehow I like mildly cloudy sky:

Ducks and Geese swimming in a small pond in Summerlea Park:

Spring was just arriving. The trees looked more brown than green:

Some neighborhood:

Bell in Cruickshank Park:

Scarlett Mills Park:

People fishing near the Old Mill Bridge. Later, the trail passes under the subway station, it looks fantastic.

Finally we crisscrossed under a maze of freeways and Go Train lines to reach the Humber River Bridge. This is the point where the river merges into Lake Ontario:

Lunch spot:

Structure in Downtown (I don’t remember the name)

Sailbots at Yacht Clubs:

And finally, our [tag]bicycle[/tag]s

Links: Photos clicked by Vaarun and Evgeny

Any guesses how we went back to the university? Subway and Bus…! Thats right, we are allowed to carry bikes

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