Sunday, May 21 – Mission to find our tickets to the metal show. Ticketmaster Canada would only allow a pickup option for us American’s ordering tickets, and the venue did not provide a will call window. So we had to go and find a Ticketmaster Ticket Printer or something of the like. Unfortunately I forgot all about that on Saturday, and when I went to look for a location on Sunday morning, all the pickups listed that they were closed on Sunday. Problem. I wasn’t too keen on paying for the tickets twice, so I began a somewhat panicked search for an open pickup window. No one in Canada seems to pick up the phone on Sunday either, so it was looking grim for a while until we finally found a Sunrise Records store that was open. Sigh of relief and all that. So off we went to the mall *shudder* to get the tix. Bacardi made a quick pit stop at the drug store to pickup Red Bull and Pepto-Bismol, then we went on a tasked shopping mission to buy a present for Alg’s kid. We ended up at a pretty cool toy store called Mastermind.

Following that, we stopped in at the LCBO. Let me tell you, Ontario has this booze thing all figured out. I have never been to a nicer liquor store, ever. It was absolutely ginormous, and had several tasting bars. Bacardi and I sampled some randomish $100 bottle of scotch, and then had a taste of several wines. I can only describe the store as elegant–not a term I would normally associate with that type of establishment.

Some more shopping, a quick bite to eat, and then it was time to go our separate ways for a while. Bacardi and Cola chose to stay downtown and watch the Pistons / Cavaliers game at a bar, while the remainder of the crew went back to the hotel for naptime. Much needed naptime. I’ll admit it–I’m old. I need my sleep. If I don’t get it, I become even more angry than normal. Didn’t seem like the best idea for vacation time, hence the nap.

Before I move on to the concert I have to give a little attention to the subplot of the day, the Rockstars show that was going on at the Air Canada Centre the very same night. I don’t think that I will be able to explain the Rockstars show and do it justice, but I’ll try. I’ve gathered that it is a bunch of huge Bollywood stars performing a combination of rock songs as well as routines from their movies. I think. And in Salman Khan’s case, it is done shirtless. In front of about a trillion screaming fans. All morning long, there was a local show pimping it out like crazy, and they were bombarding us with the greatest show promo in history. I would seriously kill for a copy of this promo. It was about five minutes long, had all the Bollywood stars playing air guitar and performing dance routines while wearing black leather, all done overtop of a song that included the lyrics, “Kickin it, like it’s never been done before–here come the ROCKSTARS.” And there was lots of fire everywhere too. Brilliant, I tell you! The best I’ve been able to do is find this promo on YouTube, and the following poster:

The point of this subplot? I don’t know, there really isn’t one. I was just fascinated by this show and a part of me wished that we had know about it beforehand and made it our destination for the night. But we didn’t. Sooo…

Dahlon, Alg and I rendezvoused with Bacardi and Cola at the Toronto Opera house. After a stop into Pizza Pizza that is. Let me tell you something about Pizza Pizza: not good. But there was one on every street corner around there, so we just HAD to try it. Now that we have, we will hopefully never have to eat it ever again. But I digress…So into the club we went. Roses are Red had played already which we had kind of expected, but we got there in plenty of time before Walls of Jericho took the stage. They seemed like nice kids, and I thought it was sweet that the singer was screaming her head off in what appeared to be a shirt purchased at The Limited. Somehow it added to her credibility. They were not exactly my cup of tea, a little too much screaming for my taste, but they were certainly entertaining. Thankfully, Alg had remembered to pick up earplugs at the drug store. My ears are eternally grateful. After their set, the floor thinned out and we were able to pick out a choice spot much closer to the stage. Then, Bullet for my Valentine:

Good stuff. Suitably loud and rambunctious, just what we were after. I should note that it was about this time that we realized it was an “all ages” show, and most of the people around us were under 21. This point was really emphasized when we realized that the girl standing in front of us was about 15 and was wearing a Pokemon backpack. Outstanding. Those kids in Canada start rocking out early in life I guess. Metal show over, Bacardi and Cola grabbed and maneuvered us into the bar they had holed up in that afternoon. I don’t know how long they had been there, but it was long enough to be on a first name basis with the owner and “I’ve been in Canada three days, graduated with a degree in Tourism but want to be a jazz singer” bartender:

We bugged her for several hours, even inventing a drink that we promptly named after her–The Shiley. Soho Lychee mixed with tonic (I think club soda would be better) and a lime. Probably needs a shot of vodka added to give it a kick as the lychee stuff is only 24%, but tasty nonetheless. Finally we left at what time I don’t know, sometime after midnight but before 6am I assume. Back to the hotel for an episode or two of Blind Date and then to bed.

Monday, May 22 – The rest of the vacation was pretty uneventful. Monday we did a little bit more present shopping, had one last decent meal, and then took Bacardi to the airport. After we dropped him off, we continued on and made our way back to the US. Cola took us to a really good Indian restaurant for dinner, then Alg left for home. Dahlon watched some TV off of the laptop while Cola and I watched the Alias series finale, a little basketball, then went to sleep.

Tuesday, May 23 – Dahlon got up in the morning, packed up and left for home. Knee (vacation is over, I guess I can stop referring to him as Cola–for now) had to work, and I had to sleep. I slept until about 11am, spent the rest of the day watching Galactaca 1980 (I had forgotten just how putrid this show was) and eating leftovers from dinner the night before. Knee came home from work, we grabbed a quick bite and then went to see Mission: Impossible III. Even thought the other two films hadn’t been that great, we were both intrigued by the addition of J.J. Abrams and Philip Seymour Hoffman to the mix. I quite enjoyed it, one of the better summer movies I’ve seen in a while. Popcorn flick to be sure, but a pretty darn enjoyable one.

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Cliffs Notes: A bunch of guys got together for vacation and had some fun. So there. Flickr pics are here if you didn’t see them before, I’ve added everyone’s photos into the mix to make up for me not having a battery in my camera on Sunday.