Neat B and I had a very good friend's 40th birthday dinner in the Junction this evening.

So naturally, we walked over to the UP Express station from our offices in the Financial District and took the train one stop to Bloor Street. When we got off -- along with everyone else who uses our airport link as a regional express train -- we then walked the West Toronto Railpath up to the restaurant on Dupont Street. All in all, it took us about 35 minutes. We hopped on the 5:30PM train and we arrived at Lucia around 5:50PM.

I know that a lot of people use this particular train to get to and from work, but I'm always so happy whenever I do it. I will take this over being stuck in traffic every day of the week. And for me, it is a powerful reminder of just how critical "two-way, all-day regional rail service" is to this urban region. We can talk all we want about better traffic signals, ramping up enforcement, or whatever, but the real solution to solving traffic congestion is getting people moving in other ways.

Anyway, I digress. Here's a photo of the delicious pasta we had:

Happy birthday Philip!

I'm late to the party here, but I was reading this morning about how New York City recently completed the rollout of its One Metro New York (OMNY) fare payment system. What this does is allow you to use contactless payment systems, like Apple Pay, to get on the subway. ONMY is now available across the five boroughs on every bus and at all 472 subway stations (feel free to impress your friends at virtual parties with this stat).

Metrolinx here in Toronto is similarly piloting contactless payments on the Union Pearson Express. You now have the option of tapping a credit card, a phone, or a watch. Maybe this doesn't seem like such a big deal, but I still remember when the PRESTO payment card was first rolled out -- it felt late to me. Apple added near-field communication (NFC) to iPhone in 2014, and at that point I think it was fairly obvious that standalone payment cards wouldn't be around much longer.

That time has arrived for New York City and will be hopefully arriving shortly for Toronto. And I think it will be particularly useful for tourists who may not have a Metrocard (NYC) or PRESTO card (Toronto) and just want to jump on a train. I've only taken the subway a handful of times during this pandemic, but I'll be back at it once the world fully resumes. And I definitely can't wait to take the UP Express to the airport again (and to the Junction).

There's a stretch of restaurants and bars on the south side of King Street, west of John Street, here in Toronto, that I generally try and avoid. I won't name names, but if you're from Toronto, you know what I'm talking about. With all due respect to the business owners, I think of this stretch as tourist row. All cities have them. Usually the identifying marker is a human on the street with a menu trying to entice you to come inside and eat. And there's nothing wrong with that. I can appreciate good street hustle.

But whenever I'm traveling and trying to find a place to eat, I'll often think to myself, "Oh man, is this the (insert city name here) equivalent of tourist row? I see people on the street with menus in their hands. Could be." This is one of the reasons why I like Time Out's recent "definitive list of the planet's cultural and culinary hotspots." They surveyed over 27,000 city dwellers in order to figure out where locals actually want to hang out. The result is the 50 coolest neighborhoods in the world.

I am somewhat embarrassed to say that, I think, I've only been to 6 of them. I have work to do. But Toronto does make the list -- once -- and it is none other than the Junction. Their recommendations, here. However, one thing they did miss was the Union Pearson Express. That is the way to get to the Junction from Union Station and it is, clearly, still under the radar for most. The number one spot on their list goes to Arroios in Lisbon, which is actually beside where I stayed when I was there this summer. Damn that city is cool.

For the full list of neighborhoods, click here.

Full disclosure: I am not a neutral observer. We are developing in the Junction. And I am moving to the Junction (and trying to pretend to be cool).