Toronto *gasp* Part 5

(I don't think I got a pic of the subway, so here's someone else's.)

It *is* taking longer to write about it than it did to live it.

I know I keep going on and on and on about the cleanliness and efficiency of Toronto's transit system, and specifically the subway. Really, it blows me away. The train stations downtown in my city have crack addicts and drug deals going on at every one, the trains smell like urine and you always have someone harassing you for money or drugs or whatever. Toronto is 5 times the size of here, and they have none of that. The trains ran about every 2 minutes on Sundays, and no less than every 30 seconds on the weekday rush hour. Seriously, move there.

The subways and many of the major attractions are connected to the PATH, an acronym for I-don't-know-what. The PATH is an underground pathway covering 27 km of area; in the PATH there are grocery stores, clothing stores, offices, services, pharmacies, you name it. We didn't see much of it on our trip, as the stores it contained are mainly franchise shops which I can see here, but I thought it was neat.



Of course, no trip to Toronto is complete without visiting the CN Tower.

Now, I am not a heights person. I don't like being more than 2 stories in the air. High buildings scare me. The men of my family reeeeeally wanted me to come up to the CN Tower with them, so *sigh* I did.

Let me tell you, this is not a place for people with height phobias.

After you've paid to get in, you go through a door and immediately notice the large amount of security guards wandering around. These aren't your nine-buck-an-hour rent-a-cops either. (Oh shush, my son used to be one. I can call them that.) These were serious professionals who looked very fit and alert. Frankly I saw less security at the airports.

The next step before getting near an elevator, was passing through a new, super high-tech security device. It looks like one of those scanners you walk through at the airport, but instead of x-raying you, it puffs air all over you in short puffs from head to toe. My son later told me that it's new technology that can sniff nanotraces of gunpowder and other explosives on you.

Now that my nerves are totally shot, let's head to the elevators!



See the part along the side that looks like a ladder? It's really a series of windows, stacked one on top of the other, so you can look out while the GLASS ELEVATOR takes you up! Ohhhhh goody!

Here is a short video where you can see the elevators and the GLASS FLOORS to boot!

Don't ask me what it was like on the elevator. I stood with my face pressed to the back of the elevator, my eyes squeezed shut and reciting the Lord's Prayer all the way.



Over 1100 feet in the air, here is the first stop the elevator makes. You can go higher, to the SkyPod, which is over 1400 feet in the air, but it cost extra and I had absolutely no interest. The rest of the family went up while I looked around myself.

There were two floors to the observation area, as well as an OUTDOOR observatory. That's right, you could go OUTSIDE over 1100 feet in the air. Yeeeeesh. I actually did it! I didn't *like* it, but I did it. Good for me!

There is also a glass-bottomed floor, over 1100 feet in the air, that you could stand on and look aaaaaaall the way down. I stepped on it, turned my camera downward without looking down myself, took a picture of my feet on the glass floor and stepped off. Boy, was my family surprised when they got off the elevator and I showed them my pics!

There is also a nice restaurant up there and I had considered buying dinner for everyone, but the entrees started at $ 30.00 each and went up from there. Ummmm, no.

Down the elevator again (THANK GOD) and into the most enormous gift shop I've ever seen.

Tomorrow: The Hockey Hall of Fame!

Toronto Part 4!

It is taking longer to keep up on these posts than it did to actually have the vacation!

Of course, one cannot go to Ontario without checking out Niagara Falls.



(I need to add again that the pics on these Toronto posts are sourced from various websites. My own pictures are still sitting in my camera.)

We had intended to take the Greyhound bus, since we were not keen on driving in a strange province on busy highways, so we woke up at 4:00 AM so we could be ready and waiting at the bus depot by 6:00. As we were slogging through the morning mist, my husband slowed down and said, "So, I'm wondering if we should rent a car after all." "Sounds good," I said, "Let's go."

In hindsight, I'm glad we did. Not long after this trip there was a terrible murder on a Greyhound bus; click the link if you're curious and make sure you don't have a full stomach.

So, in keeping with our usual experience of Torontonians being helpful, we managed to rent a car, on a Friday, with no notice whatsoever. AND we got a carseat with it! Way to go, Hertz.

The drive was simpler than we had expected. It would be difficult to get lost, in fact.

Once we got into town and found an amazing parking spot, we got out to look at:

THE FALLS.

Wow!

There is nothing that I could say that would adequately describe the Falls themselves. The noise, the mist, the sheer immensity of it all is just mind-blowing.

We took a tour where we could walk in tunnels that are behind the Falls, and we got completely soaked.

After awhile we decided to see the rest of the town. The town itself is hilarious! It's like a big carnival with all sorts of cheesy attractions. On Clifton Hill, the main drag, you can find the Guinness World's Records Museum, a mini-Legoland, a number of fright features like "haunted" houses, the Motorbike Museum, The Criminals Hall of Fame -- where I bought some replica pistols for my son and daughter-in-law-elect, then wondered how the hell I was going to get them on the plane -- and finally, my must-see feature:

The Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum!



I read Ripley's books obsessively when I was young, so I HAD to see this feature. It was better than I thought it would be! Very fun, very interesting, full of cool stuff and funny interactive features.

My youngest son, who is 7, insists that he loves haunted houses and doesn't scare easily. We went into one, paid the fifteen bucks or so of admission, and lasted about 90 seconds in there before we had to take the chicken's exit. We were wandering the hallways, which were dim and full of creepy pictures and sculptures, when we came to a tunnel that was utterly pitch black. I leaned forward, put my hand through the mouth of the tunnel, and *SNAP*, something made a sharp noise. I jerked back, leaned forward again, and "Mmmuuuhhhwwwaaahahahahaha". Eee! I stepped back again, and all was silent, so I crept forward again, and a voice said, "Don't be afraid little one. Come to me." Uhhhhh... someone saw my young son. These are real people. Is this part of the feature????

We hightailed it out of there -- it turns out that yes, it was part of the feature. Thank God.

An uneventful drive back and we were back at our wonderful hotel for the evening.



Only a few days to go! I'll write more tomorrow.

Toodle!

Toronto Part 3

We celebrated my husband's birthday while we were on vacation, so we decided to make it a sort of "knights and castles" day.



We spent the day taking the excellent and efficient transit (I know, I keep saying that, but I can't help it) to Casa Loma, a "castle" built by a millionaire in the early 1900's. We had a great time looking at the decor and planning to do the same to our house. HAHHAHAHAHAHA! I almost believed we would. Not likely. Our house would have fit inside their stables.

Like every good castle, this one also came with its own ghost stories. There were none published, but while we were having a bite to eat in the cafeteria we struck up a conversation with some of the staff who were also dining, and they gave us their ghost stories. One saw a man walking downstairs toward her at 5:00 AM; when she turned to look at him, he was gone. Another person was alone in the place at 2:00 AM, closing it down, when he heard fast footsteps and felt something whoosh by him -- he was also alone. Another staff member couldn't print out the monthly schedule without the 6th printing as 666, even though the file on the computer only showed one 6. Another rearranged a display within a glass case, to which only SHE had the key, only to find it set back as it was before. She did this for 3 weeks before she finally gave up and told the ghost she would just leave it.

There was a very cool and creepy part; in the basement, there was a long tunnel going from the basement to the stables and the garage, underground the whole way. THAT was eerie. My son was especially creeped out, as one of the staff members told him the ghost hangs out in the tunnels during the day. :)

As with everywhere else in Toronto, the people in this place were utterly friendly, helpful and glad to talk to us. The customer service in this whole city was just outstanding, and the Casa Loma was no exception.



We returned to our awesome hotel, pictured above, to rest up for the evening.



We had booked reservations at a place called the Medieval Times, a live dinner theatre experience where there is a whole storyline of knights and a king and a princess and the whole bit; the knights actually joust on real, honest-to-God horses that are kept in stables in the building itself. There are also live falcons that fly around for a few minutes. Falcons!

Do click on the link to watch some video from their shows.

The pic above is the outside of the building. They have that whole building!

I had arranged for some of the birthday extras for my husband: a free photo with Princess Esperanza, a knighting by the king and a photo of same, a photo of the three of us in our seats, plus we got free programs and a free DVD of their show.

So, while these knights are jousting and competing and the whole sordid storyline of betrayal and murder plays out, "wenches" come around and plonk your dinner in front of you. Soup, bun, 1/2 a chicken!, ribs, chunks of potatoes, Pepsi, and a pastry. In keeping with the times, you are given no cutlery. That's right. Hands-on eating, baby.



(thanks to the traveller on Tripadvisor.com for the above photo -- mine didn't turn out so well)

I also had to laugh -- whenever I asked a question of the staff, they would answer, "Yes, my lady" or "No, my lady". They also put every guest in a paper crown according to their assigned seat. So here is a building of pasty tourists, reeking of sunscreen and bug spray, dressed in paper crowns, and you have to call them "My Lord" or "My Lady". You. Couldn't. PAY. Me. Enough.

The experience was a blast and I recommend it to anybody who might be in a city where it is featured.

I had previously covered two days in my blog posts, but I will have to break that tradition and just do one day this time. It's getting late.

'Night!

More Toronto

Sighhhhhh....

I'm still waxing poetic to myself about the Bata Shoe Museum in my last post. Writing about it brought it all back; I'm wishing I could return.

I remember how astounded I was to read on their site that their gift shop carried books about shoes. My two loves, all rolled into one. Think about that: Books. About shoes. As my daughter-in-law elect put it, "BOOKS! ABOUT!! SHOES!!!!!!!!! *squeal*" I remember wondering if any of these books about shoes would feature shoes with books on them... but the very thought made me faint, so I stopped thinking.

ANYWAY!

There is much more to see in Toronto than the Shoe Museum.



On the third day we utilized the excellent, efficient, clean transit system to get ourselves to the Ontario Science Centre. This was a trip entirely for the entertainment of our young son -- we have our own Science Centre in town and couldn't see how much better this one could be than our own.

The reviews I had read had cautioned the reader that the centre cannot be seen all in one day. As we walked up to it I thought, "Eh, it's no bigger than ours. We should be out of here in four hours or less."

Ahhhahahahaha! Famous last words!

Over six hours later we had only seen about 2/3 of the Centre. Most of the area was either underground or in back. Good God, this place was huge.



There was a floor with the planetarium and a whole ton of wickedly cool space exhibits, and two enormous play areas that had things like a water table, ball roller coasters, a play house with blocks, a big grocery store, and on and on and on. Another floor had a display about the technology and considerations in going to Mars, complete with weight simulators. There was a gigantic area where children could build things out of circuit boards and wires and stuff, or they could make shoes out of various materials, or they could make stop-go animation movies and publish them to the 'net. There was a floor entirely about communications and technology, a rainforest where you could even go on guided nature tours outside, and another floor dedicated to the human body, which we unfortunately missed entirely. My husband and I sat there, nearly dead, wondering how the hell we would summon up the energy to go anywhere else on this trip.

I found one thing that made me laugh, and it wasn't one of the displays. At the water table I saw the camp leaders of a variety of summer camps standing around as the children played in the water. One day camp was called the Lubavich Day Camp, comprised of orthodox Jewish people. The little boys wore yarmulkes, the women all wore skirts and the married pregnant ones had their heads covered. Another camp present was comprised of strict Muslim people; the little girls even had the head scarves (which normally they don't do until they get older, but with this one they started young). The adults of both camps were scrupulously avoiding each other. The children? They were all playing together and cooperating with their projects at the water table; I even took a picture of a little Muslim girl with a head scarf, building a dam in cooperation with a little boy with a yarmulke. (No, I won't post it; these are other people's kids.) This just cracked me up. Apparently they have forgotten how important it is to cling to religious and personal differences; instead they chose to play and cooperate.

I think we all need a de-aging machine. A lot of us could stand to be like that again.



Back to the awesome hotel to soak in the pool and get ready for the next day.

The next day, we were starting to plan for our trip to Niagara Falls and my husband had decided that going via Greyhound bus would be the best idea. So, our day consisted mainly of wandering around the city of Toronto for awhile, taking in the various neighbourhoods, and checking out the Greyhound station.

Toronto is a fabulous place in which to walk around. What a blast! Everything is so big, so clean, so cool.



This pic doesn't really do this area justice.

NOTE: None of the pics on here were taken by me. I haven't uploaded mine to my computer yet. Why? 'Cause I suck.

Anyway, this area is Yonge Street and Dundas Street intersection. Along Yonge street are all sorts of huge billboards, shops galore, and people, people, people. The area in this pic had a large stage set up when we were there, for the upcoming Just For Laughs festival. This is a comedy festival that goes on every year and it attracts very big names in comedy. We didn't see any, unfortunately.

We also sat in front of the City Hall area with the pool and fountain:



The buildings here are a real mix of old and new; instead of tearing down the heritage buildings like *some* cities I know, Toronto seems to have kept a great many of their old ones. The one in this pic is the old city hall -- very cool.

We also found the recording studio for MuchMusic, the Canadian version of MTV. This was a real surprise; the outside of the building didn't advertise its occupants at all. We stepped in and saw some filming going on, and a security guard suggested we leave, so we did. Somehow I thought the Canadian centre of rock TV would be somehow more grandiose.

We also wandered briefly into a Chapters store nearby -- Chapters is a huge Canadian bookstore chain -- where the building looked as though an enormous Rubik's Cube had smashed into it from space. I had been searching for the Rubik's Cube building that i had seen on the maps; my family thought it was a ruse to get them to accompany me into a bookstore. :)

I could write on and on about the streets of Toronto but I really can't capture the essence of it; you'll just have to see it yourself.

I will post more tomorrow about the trip.

Adios.

Toronto!

Earlier in the year my husband and I were thinking about summer vacation possibilities.

"Toronto," he said.

"Toronto?" I said.

"Toronto, Ontario. That's where we should go this summer," he said.

"Why Toronto?" I said.

"Why not Toronto?" he said.

While I never got a straight answer, we went ahead and planned a trip to Toronto, Ontario, the center of many things Canadian.

Of all the people I spoke to who had been there, very few had anything good to say. The few months between the deposits and the actual trip were filled with people saying, "Toronto. Why go there? It's dirty/polluted/too hot/full of rude people/crowded/full of weirdos." By the time we were ready to leave, I was truly dreading the trip.

The vacation could be summed in one large word:

FABULOUS!!!!

Toronto was absolutely wonderful. Awesome, clean, friendly, vibrant, interesting, fun... there are not enough words!

I cannot remember a day-by-day account of what we all did, so I'll type it as I remember it:

We arrived at our outstanding hotel, the Residence Inn Mariott Downtown. Due to our son's food allergies we really want a kitchen available to us in our hotel room, and each of these suites has just that. The hotel was clean, super quiet, very friendly, in a good part of town, and CHEAP! $ 199.00 a night for a one-bedroom suite!



Our first day we decided to take the subway to the Royal Ontario Museum. First of all, I was astounded to see the subway system clean, safe, well-lit, and so efficient that I'm *still* shaking my head. Holy cow. The transit system in my city is nothing even close to the model of efficiency that the Toronto system is.

Anyway, we got our first taste of how Toronto does things with this museum -- big, bigger and biggest. In the 7 hours that we were there, we still didn't see it all. There were several floors of exhibits covering anthropological matters, natural history, and the most amazing art exhibit I've ever seen. I originally wanted to go here to see the Darwin exhibit, but I was utterly enchanted with the Shanghai Kaleidoscope art exhibit -- it was a number of installations of visual arts, including video, textile, and photographic, that were all metaphorical of the massive changes taking place in Shanghai right now. My advice: Go to the gift shop FIRST, buy the book about this exhibit, read it fast, then go up and absorb it.

We dragged our aching feet back to the hotel, where we planned the events for the next day. They were to include the one feature I had been lusting to see:



THE BATA SHOE MUSEUM! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!

What can I say? With 4 floors of SHOES -- the origins of shoes, old shoes, new shoes, work shoes, theatrical shoes, celebrity shoes, art shoes, beaded shoes, metal shoes, wooden shoes, embroidered shoes, big shoes, teeny shoes (even Barbie shoes) -- quite frankly, I have found my spiritual home. Every shoe fanatic is required to attend this sumptuous display at least once in their lives. To top it all off, there was a tiny gift shop with gifts ALL ABOUT SHOES! Scarves with shoes, paper notepads with shoes, shoe-shaped luggage tags, purses with shoes, books about shoes, jewelry with shoes. I spent almost as much time in the gift shop as I did in the museum. Seriously. This is such an enriching place to those of us addicted to shoes.

The rest of my family spent their time at an enormous music store down the street called Sonic Boom, which was THEIR spiritual mecca. What, you think I'd bring a bunch of straight males into a shoe museum. Not.

Our trip didn't end in two days but this posting will have to end for tonight. I'll carry on about the trip tomorrow.

'Night!