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| Toronto skyline featuring the domed Roger's Center & the CN Tower... |
I love taking the Hop On/Hop Off Bus tour - it gives a great overview of a city...Toronto (much like most of America) is relatively young compared to European cities & it was interesting to see a mix of older buildings & newer constructions...like the Royal Ontario Museum.
Our tour guide suggested that the Scotiabank Theatre (pictured below) was a good luck charm for the Academy Award winning pictures...the last 3 winners premiered in this theatre. Good to know.
This rather unique construction is wider towards the top than it is at the bottom - interesting piece of engineering...
We were lucky & came across a street fair...I LOVE a good street fair!
Some entertainers soliciting tips...
Some organizations soliciting new members...MMA or Brazilian Zouk (super sexy salsa-like dancing) anyone?
How about Chess Club?
Tons of venders selling their art, clothing, or trinkets...
Want to learn to toss a pizza?
Incase the pizza toss made you hungry...the food venders reflect the multicultural city of Toronto...
The next day we walked to the waterfront. I particularly loved this wavy sidewalk...
St Lawrence Market is a reflection of the past, offering different foods & goods that were brought to port from all over...I love the sights & smells of a good open-air market!
This is where we found their traditional Peameal Bacon Sandwich - the original Canadian bacon got its name from the practice of rolling the cured & trimmed boneless loin in dried & ground yellow peas (to keep it from spoiling). It is now rolled in cornmeal...it was pretty delicious & I'm sure calorie & sodium free!
Our hotel was literally over the entrance to "The Path" - Toronto's underground pedestrian walkway that links 30 kilometers of shopping, services, businesses, & entertainment! It is the largest underground shopping complex in the world - it was impressive!
Along the PATH, we found The Hockey Hall of Fame, dedicated to the history of ice hockey - it's both a museum & the hall of fame, housing exhibits about players, teams, etc, including NHL records, trophies & several Stanley Cups!
The Stanley Cup I am standing next to had a guard next to it & the one Paul is standing next to is the original one awarded back 1893 & is displayed in a vault along with several of its predecessors...a VAULT - like a bank! Hockey fans are crazy about their sport!
Way back in the back of one of the hallways I found our beloved Sharks display. I said out loud to Paul, "Wow, the stuck us way in the back, didn't they?" A nearby employee heard my comment & calmly replied, "The teams are displayed alphabetically." (I felt like a rude American.)
My favorite display was that of our "Miracle on Ice" from the 1980 Olympics...complete with footage of those final moments! (I felt like a proud American.)
Paul made reservations for lunch at the revolving restaurant on the CN Tower. The CN Tower is 1815.4 ft tall built in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure & world's tallest tower at the time. It held that distinction for 34 years until the Burj Khalifa was built in Dubai in 2010. It attracts more than 2 million international visitors annually. The line for the tour is always so long & it's expensive! But by reserving lunch, we got a delicious fancy meal, a 360 degree view of the City, unlimited time on the observation deck along with the glass floor, a ride down on their glass elevator, AND we avoided the long lines!
Now this glass floor...I wanted to get Paul's picture of him sitting above the view below but this is as close as I could get to it! All you can see is the concrete wall before the bottom drops out because my stomach would NOT let me get any closer to the edge! I couldn't even sit on the glass panel, let alone STAND on it! It was beyond creepy!
So Paul made me close my eyes & sit on the floor next to the nearest glass panel & had me lay down with out looking. Then he leaned over me & took this photo showing the ground below...
Next we took a harbor cruise & enjoyed a little boat ride around some of the little nearby islands. This view was much easier for me to stomach!
After our little boat ride, we took a stroll through Chinatown (which looks just like every other Chinatown in every other big city) & over to Kensington Market - an interesting little Bohemian community...it was an explosion of colorful sights! An eclectic mixture of homes, shops, restaurants, etc...
Wait...look at the car above...it has become a planter...it just sits there, looking pretty, with plants growing out of it! And the trailer below is in fact, a working brewery...
I was fascinated by this telephone pole...I'll bet it could tell some interesting stories by the number of staples it has collected over time!
When we got back to the hotel, I found this note waiting for us. Evidently, I had left a $20 bill on my night stand next to our bed & housekeeping thought it was for them. Oops! At least we made her day - you're welcome, Abigail!
That evening, we enjoyed a baseball game at the Roger's Center between the Blue Jays & the Minnesota Twins...
Thanks for a great time Toronto! You are a beautiful city! Next stop, Scotland!
2 comments:
You mean we went to Toronto before you guys did? Amazing. It is a beautiful city with some of the best food we've had. You saw a lot more than we did as we were working but we have fond memories of Toronto.
Now Scotland? How fun. When is that?
I loved that planter car! My sister is on a mission in Toronto so I loved seeing all the pictures of where she is. you take great pictures!
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