PART FOUR: Old houses, new music

Friday dawned in Toronto and I greeted it with a yawn, whereas Emma was still sound asleep. When she eventually arose and we could take to the streets we headed to Tim Horton's once again for breakfast and then took a stroll through the cutting cold of morning through downtown, arriving at Campbell House. We decided to take a look inside and were given a guided tour by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable young man in period dress.

The house itself was pretty unremarkable, having been moved from it's original location and as such redecorated, but representing as it does a notable point of history in such a young city it serves an admirable purpose.

Lunch was less memorable, we finally submitted to the inevitable and had a McDonald's. Typically it tasted far nicer than the cardboard burgers we get at home. The afternoon was spent shopping (no surprises there) and relaxing in preparation for the evenings festivities.

Matt and Trevor came and picked us up at our hotel and we sped off down College Street to meet up with Chris, Leah and Dave for a delicious dinner (I had some exquisite swordfish) and a great beer (they had Pilsner Urquell, I was so happy I could've cried). Part way through our dining experience we were joined by the delightful Mr Stephen Stroud, another Hip fan, and his brother, whose name I am ashamed to say I've forgotten.

The food and beer digested we headed off up the road to the Mod Club (http://www.themodclub.com/) where we met up with Mark, another Euro-hipper and taper extraordinaire.

The gig was, to put it mildly, superb. The company excellent, the support, from the Wooden Stars (http://www.myspace.com/thewoodenstars) was tight, if unspectacular and Wintersleep (http://www.wintersleep.com), well they were everything I'd hoped for and more.

The fact that the bands played early and most of the desperately trendy types turned up just in time for what they thought would be the headliners and managed to hear only the encore... well that just made the night all the more hilarious!