We wanted to venture outside the US this year. We did not have a lot of time, but wanted an decent extended weekend and something in the same timezone. And with the goal of going someplace new and getting a stamp in our passports, we decided to go to Toronto Canada, our neighbors to the north.
Toronto Canada
We landed in Canada. The flight was great and our seats on the plane had us sitting across from one of the flight attendants who gave us some places, highlights to see.
We deplaned and entered customs. We wanted our passports stamped. I guess we are still living in the “old school”. In the case here, our passports were scanned and we were passed through without a physical “stamp”, but something electronic. We made our way to the airport train station, bought a ticket and boarded to Union Station. We had booked our stay at the “Omni King Edward” hotel, which was within walking distance of the station.
Omni King Edward Hotel
We checked in and went to our room. The room was luxurious and very comfortable. It was downtown, which made it centrally located.
The King Edward Hotel was designed by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb and Toronto architect E.J. Lennox for developer George Gooderham’s Toronto Hotel Company, and was granted its name by namesake King Edward VII. The structure opened in 1903 with 400 rooms and 300 baths, and it claimed to be entirely fireproof. In 1922, an 18-storey tower with 530 additional rooms was added to the east of the original eight-storey structure. On the two top floors of the tower is the Crystal Ballroom, that until the late 1950s was the most fashionable in the city. The room was closed in the late 1950s due to stricter fire codes and was not restored during the 1979-81 renovation. When the Omni Hotel chain invested in the hotel in 2013, restoring the ballroom was one of its announced goals. The ballroom re-opened in April 2017 after a closure of 38 years.
Notable dignitaries and luminaries housed in the hotel have included Mark Twain, Rudolph Valentino, Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Margaret Thatcher, Britney Spears, and Ernest Hemingway who had lived in the hotel for a period. The Beatles stayed at the hotel’s royal suite during their first visit to Toronto, in 1964, and caused the hotel’s biggest commotion to date, when 3,000 fans packed the streets and flooded the lobby. In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in the same royal suite a day before their bed-in for peace began. In February 1964, “moralists picketed” when Liz Taylor and Richard Burton stayed in a suite together; they were not married to one another at the time, causing a scandal. (Source)
We had gotten a City Pass again, which gave us a “hop on/hop off” tour bus ride, access to several museums, the Ripley’s Aquarium and the CN tower. We packed our travel bags and headed out. We made a quick stop at an ATM to get some Canadian money, which had a very different look at feel than US currency. Now, off to the CN Tower.
CN Tower
A view from the top, looking down
We got to the tour about a half hour before it opened. The view from the bottom was stunning. We activated the “pass” and rode the elevator to the top. The views were stunning. The tower also has a glass floor. It is something that can give you the willies if you are afraid of heights.
The CN Tower is a 1,815.3 ft high (553.3 m-high) concrete communications and observation tower located in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name “CN” originally referred to Canadian National, the railway company that built the tower. Following the railway’s decision to divest non-core freight railway assets prior to the company’s privatization in 1995, it transferred the tower to the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation responsible for real estate development.
The CN Tower held the record for the world’s tallest free-standing structure for 32 years until 2007 and was the world’s tallest tower until 2009 being overtaken by Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower, respectively. It is now the ninth tallest tower in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It also belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers. (Source)
As we walked around, there was a sound, a dull roar, that I was hearing as we walked about. I looked down several times trying to find the source. The train station was directly below, but the sound was constant even when trains were not moving. Building construction? Again, no… it was too constant. It was only audible when we were on the south side. Looking out was a small regional airport, but again it was steady and the flights were not. Looking down was a railroad roundhouse (museum) and they were moving a train into it, but there is no way the dull roar was coming from that. Finally, I asked a staffer. She told me that it was a good question and that not everyone could hear it. What I was hearing was the roar was the roar of Niagara Falls, roughly 30 miles away as the crow flies. I was glad I was not imagining it.
We headed down. Directly outside the CN tour was the Ripley’s Aquarium, which was our next stop and also on the City Pass. With just these two attractions, we had nearly recovered the cost of the pass.
Ripley’s Aquarium
The aquarium was fantastic. One of the features we liked was the tube. It was a glass surround immersive experience with a moving walkway through the whole thing.
Immerse yourself in a world of 20,000 aquatic animals and discover your own underwater adventure. The Aquarium features North America’s longest underwater viewing tunnel with more than 5.7 million litres of water and over 100 interactive opportunities. Get up close and personal with several touch exhibits featuring horseshoe crabs, sharks, scarlet cleaner shrimp, and stingrays as well as daily dive shows every 2 hours. This awe-inspiring attraction consists of nine carefully curated galleries showcasing a cross section of saltwater and freshwater environments from around the world – starting with species from Toronto’s backyard, the Great Lakes basin. (Source)
Our next stop was to get on the “Hop-on/Hop off” bus and to take the tour of the city. The tour had 20 or so stops. As we toured, one stop happened to be in front of our hotel (we had not known that at the time, but it was great to know for the future). It is also where were heard that some places, including our hotel, was haunted.
One of the stops was near Casa Loma. Normally we make a complete circuit, but this was half way through the circuit. Logistically, we thought it good to get off at Casa Loma.
Casa Loma
The Casa Loma mansion and landscape is very picturesque and historic. It is so picturesque that both the exterior and interior have been used in many major Hollywood films. The mansion actually has two wings of two designs, one English and on Scotish.
Casa Loma (Spanish for “Hill House”) is a Gothic Revival style mansion and garden in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a historic house museum and landmark. It was constructed from 1911 to 1914 as a residence for financier Sir Henry Pellatt. The architect was E. J. Lennox, who designed several other city landmarks. Casa Loma sits at an elevation of 140 metres (460 ft) above sea level.
Due to its unique architectural character in Toronto, Casa Loma has been a popular filming location for movies and television. It is also a popular venue for wedding ceremonies, and Casa Loma can be rented in the evenings after the museum closes to the public. (Source)
Our final stop was at the Royal Ontario Museum. It had some very good exhibits and we wish had had more time there. It was dinner time and we went to Little Italy.
