G'day All,
Today was another sunny 28 C day in Toronto and we head off to the HOHO bus to get to Casa Loma a Gothic Revival style house and gardens in mid-town Toronto. No problems with the HOHO bus tickets today and we also purchased tickets to Casa Loma from bus operator as I couldn't get them online due to Australian credit cards not getting through their approval system. No worries as pricing was the same. The bus took about 25 mins to get there so we didn't arrive until about 10:30 due to the bus stops. The place was packed and the pre-purchase of tickets was a wise move as the line to buy tickets at the venue was about 50 deep, we just walked straight in. Casa Loma is now a museum and Toronto landmark and was built as a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt's wife from 1911 to 1914.
Even with its 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet (6,011 m
2) it was stuffy inside with hoards of people and the lack of cooling due to closed windows (safety reasons) but the gardens were cool and here was a nice breeze outside, the gelato helped as well :-).
 |
| Casa Loma - One of the main bedrooms |
 |
| Casa Loma - Looking from the back |
 |
| Casa Loma - Looking from atop one of the towers |
We headed back to the bus stop to catch the next HOHO but it appears we are always out of luck as it was pulling out when we we about 25 m away, so it was another 20 mins wait for the next one. we headed back to the room for a freshen up and booked dinner in the revolving restaurant at the CN Tower. We were lucky to get the 5 pm booking as it was fully booked out until late the following night. Booking at the restaurant also gets you free access to the viewing platform and the glass bottom floor at the height of 324 metres. Took us a bit longer than normal to get to the tower as the Toronto Blue Jays had just finished their baseball game at the Rogers Centre next to the tower which meant we were against the flow of pedestrians all the way to the tower. Once there we went through security, yes security with metal detectors and guards with wands just like customs but obviously looking for nasty stuff to prevent it getting into the tower. Something we weren't expecting but simple enough process. Again the booking helped us jump the massive line ups and we pretty much went straight in to the elevator to get to the top. It took just under 1 min to go from ground floor to restaurant and there is a glass panel in the floor of the elevator too. It literally makes your ears pop going to that height at that speed. The restaurant rotates 360 degrees in about 72 mins which pretty well means it has done a complete revolution throughout the course of a meal. Considering Pen is afraid of heights she did well to look out from the rotating restaurant and afterwards at the viewing platform but I couldn't get her to stand on the glass viewing floor :-).
 |
| View over Toronto with Fairmont Hotel in middle |
 |
| View out over Lake Ontario from CN Tower |
 |
| Gary standing on the glass floor 342 meters up in the CN Tower |
Last night in Toronto and we are off to Niagara Falls around midday, so time for a sleep in and lazy checkout before we leave.
Until tomorrow...
Cheers
Gary and Penny
No comments:
Post a Comment