A beautiful day in this neighbourhood

We spent the last few days catching up with our Toronto friends, beginning Thursday evening with a tour of the AGO with Patrick & Raymond, who kindly invited us to a members-only viewing of the "Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde" exhibit.

I know little about Chagall or Russian painters in general so it was an illuminating exhibit. We also took in a good portion of the permanent Canadian Collection as well as an exhibit of Canadian artist Jack Chambers.

I spent Friday night with my former Queen's housemate Dana. We had a long overdue one-on-one catch-up--one of those conversations that last for hours--over dinner at Everest Cafe.

On Saturday morning we met up with our friend Toni for brunch at Cafe Bernate and then hit the galleries on Ossington Avenue, ending up in Little Portugal. None of us had been to this neighborhood before and we found some gems, including meat market Salsicharia Pavao,  and rare bookstore and curiousity shop The Monkey's Paw.

We ended our walkabout with hot drinks and a yummy scone sharing plate at so-hip-it-hurts Drake Hotel. This it was off home to relax and make dinner.