Toronto day one

Flew Porter Air from Boston to Toronto. Roomy and friendly and they land at the airport close to downtown on an island. Ferry and shuttle got us to the train station. After a few moments of confusion figured out the subway and found our hotel.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is open late on Wednesday so we headed that way. As is Doug's style, he suggested we walk. It's only about a kilometer, he says. Thirty five minutes later we finally arrived-a bit longer than estimated.

The exhibit that we wanted to see was Early Renaissance in Florentine Art. We had been in Florence a year and a half ago so we were excited to return in spirit, if not in fact. The exhibit brought together many paintings, alters and illuminated manuscripts from the early 1300's. Some hadn't been together for centuries. The Laudario of Sant'agnes is one example. It is a book of songs of praise or laudes compiled by a singing confraternity and it is lavishly illuminated. The book had been taken apart in the early 1800's and sold to separate collectors. Twenty eight pages survive and all but two are in 16 collections across Europe and the US. This exhibit is the first time these 26 pages have been together since the book was dismantled. Impressive. I didn't take photos, but the you can visit the museum website. www.ago.net

While waiting for our timed entry, we saw an exhibit of photos by Patti Smith. The title of the show is Camera Solo. Smith sees taking a photo as a solitary experience. The meaning in Italian is a room of one's own. The small black an white photos were taken with a Polaroid camera then printed in limited editions as gelatin silver prints. Images of intimate objects like 'my father's cup' and images of graves and tombstones are part of the exhibit. There is one of a 'bear with calling card at Tolstoy's house.' The poet Rimbaud was one of Smith's muses and there is an homage to him with her installation of photos, drawings, poems and ephemera of him, including a replica of a litter used to carry Rimbaud to his burial site.