The Magic of Downtown.

[miketoronto]

This evening was the opening party for Cavalcade of Lights in downtown Toronto. The event is an annual party to kick off the official lighting of Nathan Phillips Square. This year a new light show was added on Old City Hall, and I have to say it was amazing. I only caught the last little part of event. But it was a great evening downtown.
It was great as always to see kids having a ball downtown with their parents. It was the perfect downtown moment. So click on the following music link, and enjoy the pics of Cavalcade Of Lights and the magic of downtown during the holiday season. I know my pics are not the best, as I was having camera problems, but enjoy.

Click the link for music.
http://wilstar.net/xmas/midi/silverbl.mid

DOWNTOWN YONGE
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav061.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav062.JPG

THE OFFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREE IN NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0610.JPG

NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE AND CITY HALL

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav067.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav068.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav069.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0611.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0612.JPG

SKATING
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0614.JPG



LIGHT SHOW ON OLD CITY HALL
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0613.JPG

HUDSON'S BAY DEPARTMENT STORE CHRISTMAS WINDOWS
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0621.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0615.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav063.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav064.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav066.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0616.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav065.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0617.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0618.JPG

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0619.JPG

DOWNTOWN YONGE
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/miketorontoscar/cav0620.JPG

[Taller Better]

Great pix! Much appreciated!

[skrish]

Nice pics. I really need to head down to TO during Christmas time.

[Taller Better]

When I finished work I dashed out, but at that time all the City Hall illuminations (except for the trees and the skating rink) were finished... so,
I decided to try and get a "different" perspective of the event. Hope you enjoy!

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2931/nov2506cavalcadeoflightmp7.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8121/nov2506cavalcadeoflightpj6.jpg

[WhipperSnapper]

I find the light show at old City Hall pretty sub-par to the time when lights were strung up along its massing and windows

[Taller Better]

^^ When did they stop doing that? That would be gorgeous...

[SpongeG]

wow a city that celebrates Christmas!

nice to see

Vancouver is scrooge when it comes to christmas

[icescraper]

Thanks Mike,
spirt makes a great city not architecture, although great achitecture improves your starting position. - ice

[mind field]

I went to the Calvacade of Lights Saturday night, and I really enjoyed the light display on old City Hall, but after that, my eardrums were bleeding from the bad music, I left before the fireworks unfortunately.

I'll comment on the city in general too, since it was my first time visiting. I could not believe how vibrant and bustling Toronto is. I've been to San Francisco and Chicago, and Toronto tops both of those cities in vibrancy. Yonge St. was a nonstop wall of humanity and Eaton Centre was an insane zoo!! Too crowded for my liking. I also thought Toronto was more dirty than I would have expected, from what I've heard of how clean the city is. But it was within acceptable limits considering how incredibly busy the city is.

[niwell]

Nice Mike! I was in TO for the weekend and took pics from my hotel balcony (near Yonge and Bloor). I could hear the music too!

Here's a picture:

http://www.nickwellington.com/public_html/tofireworks.jpg

[Taller Better]

Niwell, that photo is gorgeous! A keeper!

Here are some pix I took of the lights last night. City Hall was unfortunately not lit up blue, but the Old City Hall display was interesting:

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5449/nov2606cavalcadeoflightie4.jpg

The Projection show on Old City Hall is called "Immersion", and is by an artist from France, Xavier de Richemont. The inspiration for it is Canada's natural abundance of water. The colours were usually like this, in between shows:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7048/nov2606cavalcadeoflightxc6.jpg

http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/1336/nov2606cavalcadeoflightza8.jpg

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4084/nov2606cavalcadeoflightva1.jpg

and the 50 foot tree, lit up by 10,000 blue and white LED lights, and 100 strobes:

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4996/nov2606cavalcadeoflightqu2.jpg

Naturally, it is not possible to capture the projection show without a video camera, but here are a few different shots taken during the show. First the city hall is covered with ice:

http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/3199/nov2606cavalcadeoflightpc8.jpg

The ice starts to show cracks:

http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/4654/nov2606cavalcadeoflightdp3.jpg

as they melt, great chunks of ice start to fall off:

http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/5263/nov2606cavalcadeoflightgx8.jpg

Completely melted, the water swirls over the building:

http://img450.imageshack.us/img450/8316/nov2606cavalcadeoflightnw1.jpg

and voila! The end:

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7507/nov2606cavalcadeoflightwr3.jpg

If anyone is interested in the projection show, Jaye found this youtube link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0DkGJJCPCk8

[shappy]

http://www.nickwellington.com/public_html/tofireworks.jpg
wow, niwell... fantastic shot!

[squeezied]

great pix! its really cool wen cities have their christmas spirit on

[don_toronto]

Does anyone know the name of the piece of music used during the fireworks?