Making Memories

Posted on 11th February 2008

The CN Tower

The CN Tower

In June 2005 I was in Toronto for the 2005 YAPC::NA Perl Conference. Aside from being my first YAPC::NA conference, it was also a chance to discover first hand some of the places that are referenced on albums and in songs for Rush, one of my favourite bands. I first discovered the band in the late 70s, and finally got to see them on the Signals tour in the UK. I've seen them a few times since, including being in the audience for A Show Of Hands, but I've always wanted to visit the city were they made their home.

I also got to go up the CN tower, the tallest tower in the world at the current time.

Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures

I first uploaded these photos onto a BlueYonder photo album site, which has long since been shutdown, although VirginMedia seen to have resurrected it, but none of the photos or accounts are there from the previous incarnation. It's been on my TODO list for some time to reload the photos to my personal site, and finally last week I found them. Now I have to find all those links I made previously and update them.

The trip itself marked my first speaking engagement in North America. I have been fortunate enough to continue this since. Toronto itself is a great city, and although it's a bit of a trek, Niagara Falls aren't too far away. However, it was the city's association with Rush that fascinated me the most. Although I got to see a lot of sights, I didn't quite see as much as I would have liked. There were several bars and restaurants, and official offices that I would have liked to have seen, but most of all I would have loved to have seen a concert at Massey Hall and The Orbit Room. Seeing as MessageLabs now have a base there, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that I could be visiting the city again at some point. I'll also have to time it to have a few beers with the Toronto Perl Mongers too, who did such a wonderful job of organising the Perl Conference.

Photos uploaded to the following galleries:

File Under: canada / music / rush / toronto / yapc
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