I met up with Yuen after I finished my workout at the YMCA. We headed down to The Bay because she had to exchange a shirt for her dad. I remarked to her that the NYC Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street was pretty much like The Bay. There are a few more historical architectural elements in Macy’s, such as the wooden escalators and row of elevators, but all in all, they are both slightly renovated but still a bit shabby.

For dinner we went to Ravi Soups. It’s on Adelaide St. which to me is a barren, condo and industrial wasteland. It’s a place where if Toronto had a high crime rate, I would expect to get mugged. The eatery is not very visible on the outside, and it has a very simple interior. The restaurant is highly regarded though.

The Porcini Mushroom Wild Rice soup is a popular offering (and was very good according to Yuen). What’s interesting about the place is that there isn’t that much seating and they have a long communal table made out of a single log. It was a beautiful table from what must have been a magnificent tree. I didn’t take a picture of it, but sit down meals are served on a wooden lazy susan. Not very practical because it was a bit wobbly, but a quirky feature nonetheless.

Ravi Soups’ Communal Table

The table reminded me of this Portlandia sketch about Communal Dining.

We went to the Nijinsky dress rehearsal. I enjoyed the music and the sets. Made me wonder what a Neumeier Nutcracker would be like, because Nijinsky had some crazy sets. Circular light objects rising and lowering, a 1900s theatre or ballroom set that disassembles before the audience, an ocean liner scene…

I saw Sonia Rodrigues and Piotr Stanczyk sitting in the orchestra level, but they disappeared at intermission, so couldn’t nab Sonia’s autograph. I saw a bunch of apprentices also, but I got most of them at the Giselle dress rehearsal. The choreographer, John Neumeier, was there. Sitting near Karen Kain and Rex Harrington… Before the intermission ended and as he was sitting down at his desk, I got the courage to go up to him and ask for his autograph. He was very intense but signed my programme on the Nijinsky page without any qualms. I asked if he had a favourite ballet. “No.”