5 things to do on New Year's Day on Queens Quay

We've all seen how the Queens Quay area becomes a barren land during fall and winter holidays. So, here are a few things you can do on a holiday.

1. Skate: Go skating at the rink: The Natrel Rink is a nice little piece of the neighbourhood that's open late. Yes, it gets big crowds during the day but it's pretty quiet in the morning and it's absolutely beautiful to be in the hood when it's dark and the lights of the city skyline makes things nice.
Rink hours:

• Monday – Thursday | 10am – 10pm
• Friday – Sunday | 10am – 11pm

And it costs up to $7 to rent skates. You can take classes and also hit the pond, er, ice on DJ nights. See more at the Harbourfront centre page.

2. Eat: Queens Quay Terminal's open every day as a tourist destination. So, why not hit Pearl's Chinese restaurant for some above par dim sum at reasonable prices given the location, view and service. They open at 10:30 a.m. on weekends and 11 a.m. on weekdays. 207 Queens Quay (see website here)

3. Explore: Brew a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate and stroll through the neighbourhood. Experience the Music Garden in winter (worth seeing), the 'beach' and yellow umbrellas when no one else is around. The Martin Goodman trail is plowed through the winter, so you can venture past Bathurst to Ontario place but fair warning, it's pretty bitterly cold and hospitable to the winter runner and cyclists.

4. Go forage for breakfast, lunch, dinner: Shopper's Drug Mart near Spadina is open, and the reliably always-open Rabba are open. We'll leave it to a future post of what you can do with what you find at both stores, but Shopper's does sell books, magazines and DVDs.

5. Hibernate: Of course, it's the holidays and since it's New Year's, you probably were up late. So what you do is grab the DVDs the night before, stock up on food and drink and let the day go by by sleeping in, enjoying your lakefront view and watching lots of good (or bad) television.

Happy New Year.

And we set sail

The freakish wind storm we got on Sunday in Toronto hit Queens Quay pretty hard. We were on the streetcar in the late morning and about a dozen of us turned in our streets as it felt the wind would actually push over the car. Waves were seen crashing.

Today, some evidence that it wasn't just a few small objects or trees that were blown over.

This boat was seen at the western edge of the Music Garden on Queens Quay near the city school.

Followed by a closeup.