Under the Gardiner

I wouldn't ever tell you if I ever got lost. I'm sometimes too proud of my geography skills to admit when I don't know where I'm going. 99% of the time I have the right sense of direction and find myself at the other end, sometimes even ahead of schedule. But this time, you could probably say that I was a little bit lost, but not "lost" lost.

My archaeology class was meeting up at Fort York that afternoon. Getting to the location via public transit was a breeze and I knew the route even though I had never actually taken it before. As soon as I stepped off the streetcar, though, that was when the head scratching began. The place clearly changed a lot since the last time I had been there, and on those times I had come in a car or a bus with my parents or my (elementary) school. On top of that, a howling gale was whipping at me so hard that I was being blown to the side and could barely keep my head up to see where I was going.

There was a long, brown building that seemed to be the Fort York Visitor Centre my professor had told me not to go in if I didn't have time (and I didn't have time). I was puzzled at its presence. I didn't recall ever seeing it before. Was it new? I wondered to myself. And if so... where the heck was the actual fort itself? I remembered walking alongside the Gardiner trying to find the entrance to the fort when I stopped myself and realized that I was probably going off-course. I don't recall the entrance to the fort being on Bathurst! But then... where the heck was it?! I should've passed it by now!

The happy ending is that I eventually found the entrance to the fort, hidden behind an obscure set of stairs to the right of the Visitor Centre, and didn't miss class. I also found this spot, and even though the winds threatened to blow my head off and toss me like a rag doll, I managed to capture a shot.