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!