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| Toronto from the CN Tower. |
After leaving my Canadian family, we drove an hour up around Lake Ontario to reach Toronto itself. Despite cool (to us!) temperatures - roughly 11-18'C while we were there - the city glistened in sunshine making it warm when walking around and picturesque for photographing.
Having little time in the city, we picked just two focused activities for our 1.5 - 2 days: the CN Tower, and Casa Loma. The CN Tower, as I'm sure you all know, is a 553m high building that was the world's highest from when it was built in 1976 right up until 2010. Casa Loma may be less well known, and is a rather bemusing castle-house built by the Canadian Sir Henry Pellatt in the early 1900's.
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| View from the CN Tower (including the glass floor, lower left, and daring souls edge walking, lower right). |
We visited the very top of the CN tower, stopping en route to experiment with the glass floor that allows you to challenge your body's sensory mechanisms quite effectively. That is located at 342m or 113 building stories high, and seeing the ground beneath your feet from that height is quite dizzying. The sky pod, the highest point, is 447m or 147 building stories high - quite high enough in my view. We didn't contemplate the 'edge walking' that allows you to lean out from 356m above the ground (see picture above)!
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| Casa Loma. |
Casa Loma is located in Toronto's leafy northern suburbs, and was designed to be castle-like without being an actual castle (it was a private home). As might be expected in a suburban neighbourhood, it was a controversial creation and the city may have had its final revenge when it sent the owner, Sir Pellatt, bankrupt by raising property taxes.
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| Casa Loma Gardens. |
It is now owned by the city and consists of various suites set up roughly as they were in Sir Pellatt's day, towers that can be climbed, several secret passages, an underground tunnel, and 5 acres of gardens that may have been my highlights of the visit.
The rest of our time in Toronto was spent exploring the downtown area (including the large Eaton Centre where I found my vegan muffin, and Mr Bite found a nutella and banana crepe he is still raving about now!), and the attractive streets that intermingle with busy main roads.
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| The Best Ever Crepe. (Or at least, Mr Bite's Best Ever Crepe for this trip.) |
I'm not sure if or when we'll be back, but I'm glad we got Toronto into our itinerary.
Any castle homes in your neighbourhood?! And would you want to live in one? The thought of cleaning a house that large rather makes my head spin...
I'd love to visit toronto - the caste sounds fascinating - but I quiver to hear of glass floors in tall towers and I think it would just freak out E - though I do love a good view
ReplyDeleteIt freaked me out more than Mr Bite - after walking around a bit I adjusted somewhat to the height which is what allowed me to step out at all as initially I was too put off!
DeleteI definitely had no idea that there were castles in toronto! Super cool.
ReplyDeleteI think there's just the one, but it is rather amazing!
DeleteThe CN Tower provided incredible views!
ReplyDeleteIt really did!
DeleteWow, lovely photos. I have never been to Toronto - my only Canada experience is Niagra Falls and a dinner show called "Canada, Eh".
ReplyDeleteWell, mine is only Niagara Falls and up to Toronto, so we both probably have a bit to fit in one day ;) It's such a huge country!
DeleteThat weather is very cool! They seem to have so few hot days in Toronto. Such a short summer. I would love to tour around that castle but it makes me so sad when people lose their homes because of property taxes. There was a time a few years ago when the NSW State Govt introduced a property tax on any home worth more than a million dollars. So many elderly people who were on a pension and had lived in their home nearly all their lives were forced to sell. xx
ReplyDeleteThat happened here too with some older suburbs where elderly people had lived for years before they became ridiculously over-priced. It is so sad!
DeleteBahaha! I've been here a year and haven't done the CN tower or Casa Loma, and I avoid the Eaton Centre like the plague unless I absolutely have to go in. I really wish you could've explored Kensington Market instead! You would've loved its kooky blend of health food stores, speciality food stores, cookbook and interesting odds-n-sods stores, vintage clothes, crafting supplies, amazing cafes and coffee shops... Oh, now I feel all sad because you didn't go there!
ReplyDeleteDon't feel too sad! It was actually on my list, but we walked through Chinatown on our way to the CN Tower without getting across to the markets, and neither of us coped very well with the crowds and smells :P Markets are also somewhere I'm better browsing solo than with Mr B, so rather than take us back through The Smells for a browsing experience that wouldn't be quite right, I decided to skip it so I could impose my whims for later things I wanted more. I pick my battles (well, priorities) ;)
DeleteOh, and we used Eaton for food and restrooms only - for which it delivered well and gave us enough of it I think!
DeleteKensington isn't a market, just a couple of streets of restaurants, cafes, food stores, and vintage shops. I don't like crowds and bustling either :)
DeleteOh, I wish I had known that! I might have sold it to Mr B more readily then :-)
DeleteI went to Casa Loma back in year 7 or 8 or something. I can't remember any of the story, but I do remember it was cool. It sort of reminds me of Paronella Park in North Queensland. In Mena Creek, to be exact - inland between Mission Beach and Innisfail. A spanish fella came over, built a castle, bought a spanish bride and together they lived in their castle and had epic galas. It's so gorgeous, but als overy weird.
ReplyDeleteHow amazing to think there are two such places (or similar anyway). Gorgeous but weird is right!
DeleteI really need to get out of TX and travel to different countries. Your photos are amazing, Kari! I would love to visit Casa Loma. I've always had this fascination with castles. I'd love to walk around that garden as well. I'm with you..I can't handle all that cleaning. Heck, I can't even keep my humble house clean haha. But then again, if I lived in a castle, I'm sure I can afford to hire cleaners ;).
ReplyDeleteTeehee, I really should have thought of the cleaner angle - now I can long for a castle whole heartedly! :-)
Deleteby looking at your wonderful photos , i can imagine i am there with you. thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteHey, we went to Casa Loma too, that's pretty much the only tourist-y thing we've done here, mainly because we're a twenty minute walk from it. It's fun going all the way up the tower. :) Was the muffin from Urban Herbivore? I love that place.
ReplyDeleteIt was! And I love it too :-)
DeleteEpic pictures! I wish I was somewhere else in the world... offices suck!
ReplyDeleteThey do :-(
DeleteI haven't been to Casa Loma yet, it looks so lovely! And I bet your vegan muffin was from Urban Herbivore wasn't it ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was! ;)
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