High Park

An hour in the High Park neighbourhood of Toronto is a test in tolerance. The yuppie young professional families that populate the area with their SUV strollers can only talk about three self-important topics: Their home renovations, their jobs and their inferior friends who do not value the same vacuous lifestyle like they do. “They still shop at Ikea!” The shame.

But here I am being all judgmental! If you concentrate on the park and the zoo within the park you’ll hardly notice their inane conversations about their tennis games, golf retreats and, oh yeah, what geniuses their 2-year-olds are. The sad realization that their offspring are as average as the next kid they’ll never fully learn to accept, because then they would have nothing to brag about.

Here I go again. High Park is a lovely municipal park nestled in Toronto’s urban landscape. It’s one of those places you can escape to on a weekend for peace and quiet. I look forward to the off-leash dog parks and muddy hiking paths hidden throughout 400 acres of lush foliage.

The autumn colours are glorious and it’s worth taking your camera, a picnic basket and some wine glasses to bask in the crisp afternoon sun. Here are my photographs from a recent visit.