13 July Toronto

The Universal Inns where we stayed last night didn’t do breakfast so we had to walk down to the street to a buffet place. Once thing I can’t get used to in America is that tax is not included on any of the prices advertised on billboards, menus etc. It makes it difficult when trying to stay on a budget. For example, let’s say that you gave yourself 10 dollars to spend on a meal; you look at a menu and see that the price Is 9.50, think that it is within your budget but then when you get the bill it’s 10.50/11 dollars. Is it so difficult just to put a full price on something??? I suppose that you get used to living that way after a while, but for us part-timers it is a little confusing.

After a 2 hour drive, we ended up in a city that I’ve been quite excited to see – Toronto. I’ve heard such nice things about this city and I can say that I wasn’t disappointed. For the largest populated city in Canada, it has a friendly atmosphere and quite an open-air feeling. That is perhaps due to the harbour leading out on to Lake Ontario.

First stop in Toronto was Casa Loma (“house on a hill”) – a mansion built by Sir Henry Pellatt as his dream home. Henry commissioned the house to be built in 1911 and it took 3 years to complete. At the time it cost 3.5 million dollars to construct, which would be approx. 83 million nowadays. He was a big deal in the business industry, whether it be insurance, mining etc. – his finger was in every pie to speak. He was even involved in turning Niagara Falls into the largest hydroelectric plant in the world at that time. Unfortunately, he and his wife got to live there for less than 10 years as financial trouble meant that he couldn’t pay the real estate costs and ended up having to give the house back to the state. It is the ‘house of a 100 rooms’ and has been used as a location in lots of movies including X-men and Extreme Measures. It’s really nice that you get free audio guides that give you lots of information as you wander around the castle.

We then went to see the Ontario Legislative Building (7^th structure to serve as parliament building and constructed in a Romanesque style - 1893) and Toronto University. We parked in a place called King’s College Circle where the buildings have been inspired by buildings in London and Cambridge. The main music hall/theatre looks exactly like the Royal Albert Hall and some of the campus buildings resemble buildings from Cambridge Uni. The university has been around since 1827 and is often ranked in the top 30 institutions worldwide.

Drove past Toronto City Hall, which if looked at from above, looks like an eyeball. The old city hall is next to it.

Time for lunch next, so I popped into an Irish bar called the Watermark on the Toronto harbourfront for a nice chicken club sandwich. Seeing as I am with a Chinese tour group, I have, of course, been eating quite a bit of Chinese food so I was craving something else by that time. I didn’t mind sitting on my own as I could catch the first few minutes of the World Cup Final.

We then had the chance to get out on Lake Ontario for a little cruise on the Oriole. It took us around some of the Toronto Islands and even past the airport which is situated on one of the islands. The landing planes passed by us, just skimming over the water to catch the edge of the runway. Any passengers disembarking have to take a 45 second ferry to the mainland. Got a great view of the city scape from the boat and saw some of the bird sanctuaries dotted in amongst the islands.

After the cruise we went up to the top of the CN tower. I was such a brave girl and actually went out onto the glass floor. I know it may not be a lot for some, but for a girl petrified of heights, I was quite proud of myself. That of course doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel sick/dizzy or that my legs weren’t shaking when I did it. Lol. The tower itself was nominated as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world and is probably one of Canada’s most famous landmark. For about 30 years, it was the world’s tallest freestanding structures….until the new one in Abu Dhabi came and stole its title. It is 553m tall and you can be a thrill seeker by doing the ‘edge walk’ – where you hang face down over the edge and walk the circumference of the tower. Needless to say, that wasn’t on the agenda for me, especially when it costs 175 dollars!!

We had 2 hours free time to go shopping, but seeing as I am a tomboy that doesn’t really like shopping I stayed in the tourbus relaxing and talking with the tour guide, Paul. I helped him out learning a few things in English and teaching him a bit about where I come from – teachers are never off duty, are they! He told me that there is no direct translation for my name in Chinese, but the closest we can get is “Yay-ma” which apparently mean ‘Wild horse’. I suppose you can look at that in two ways: I am uncontrollable and cannot be tamed or that I am free and independent….I think that I prefer to think of myself as the latter.

Last stop was of course Chinatown for dinner. Ate at the House of Gourmet on the recommendation of the tour guide…..great place! Authentic Chinese restaurant with the live fish in tanks for you to choose from, ducks and chickens hung in the front windows on display. It was really busy, which to me means that it must be selling good food – which was right. Good prices and great quality food – yum!

Well there you have it, another saga of a day on Whitby travels.