Sayonara Toronto

Tuesday May 26, 2009

After the CN Tower we wandered around the streets. Toronto on the sunny day we had heading east was better than Toronto on a cold damp day now. And compared to Quebec City, it just seemed like a big boring city and I was looking forward to leaving it.

The Ontario Legislative Building. What is this sad little patch of garden? Did they try growing corn in there? Perhaps they ran out of money for the gardeners.

Heading out of the grounds.

Before long it began to rain. We found a restaurant called Eggspectations in the Eaton Centre (I love that they still call it Eaton's) and had supper there.

Then we went back to the train station and boarded the train for the 10:00 pm departure home. I was happy to leave Toronto but would have preferred taking a train east back to Quebec City!

Toronto - CN Tower

Tuesday May 26, 2009

Riding up an escalator in the Skywalk we get a glimpse of the CN Tower. That's where we're going next.

Too bad it wasn't a brighter day. We entered the 1,815 ft. CN tower to find the ground floor room filled with people snaking along in a huge line up to the ticket counter. We paid $44 for the two of us and went up in the elevator. I thought the view from the elevator would be scarier than it was. There are six of them and it doesn't take long to zip up or down all those floors.

I didn't expect though to be intimidated by the glass floor that you can stand on, on the 113th floor. I thought it would be made of those thick glass blocks you sometimes see in houses. These just looked like glass window panes.

Looking down 1122 feet, which is about circuit height if you're flying around the Victoria Airport. This isn't my foot but it's about as far as I got on the glass section. I started with the toe of one foot, then I stood on it with both feet, but only right by the edge and only for a second.

It doesn't faze some people. They walk, stand, lie and even jump on it.

Views from the Look Out Level at 114 storeys.

This shows the Toronto Island Airport. We're trying to figure out how people get to the airport from the mainland.

The Sky Pod at 147 storeys and 1,465 ft. up wasn't open due to wind. We didn't go to the revolving restaurant. According to their website, the elevators go at a rate of 20 feet a second, and staff numbers from 400 to 550.

I missed going up the CN Tower during my brief trip through Toronto in the 1970's. Now I've done it and I think once was enough.

Good-bye London, hello Toronto again

Tuesday May 26, 2009

We could have taken a later train to Toronto but M & M had to work that day and we felt safer getting there early anyway. The train trip from London to Toronto is about 2 hours long. M1 had to come home from work to drive us to the train station. I'm sure we got Tim Horton's coffee on the way, because more often than not, if you're driving around in Ontario, you're sipping on a Tim Horton's coffee. He dropped us off and went back to work. Thank you M & M for having us, feeding us and driving us all over the place!

Inside the train station I was standing in line at the ticket counter while Glenn was relaxing up in the lounge. The only person ahead of me was an Iroquois man. I know that because it said so on his bag. I felt like saying, "Wow, I've never met an Iroquois person before!" but figured he would think I was an idiot so I just chatted a bit. He offered to let me go ahead, twice, which I thought was mighty nice because who ever does that except at the grocery checkout when you've got one item and they've got 50? But I declined.

The train left at noon so we got lunch. I love sitting there getting fed, like in the old days on airplanes.
Top left: they always bring you hot towels first.
Top right: main courses come after. Glenn had pasta and I had fish.
Bottom left: cute station at Woodstock.
Bottom right: train station in Toronto.

It was a cool, grey day in Toronto. You barely need to go outside though because covered walkways go for blocks and blocks. They pass through malls, split off in different directions and aren't terribly well marked. Here, a big Kleenex ad hangs over a doorway.

Toronto - A morning walk

Monday, May 18, 2009

We could have eaten at the hotel but it is expensive so we set out in search of place to have breakfast.

Above: Not a distant view out one of our windows, but we can tell it's sunny outside.

Part of the lobby.

Now out onto the street we can see the train station.

We're in the land of tall buildings...

... and a tall tower.

The streets look vacant because it's a holiday Monday.

Here is the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Glenn found a place open for us to have breakfast. The name Over Easy makes it sound like a good bet.

In our aimless stumbling around the city we wandered into this place, which I am guessing is Brookfield Place, an office complex.

The Allen Lambert Galleria. A Spanish architect designed this striking structure.

Good-bye for now Toronto. We've got a train to catch at 11:00 am. It takes only an hour and 10 minutes to get to Guelph.

Toronto - the Fairmont Royal York hotel

Sunday, May 17, 2009

$160.65 per night

I chose the Royal York hotel for its easy access to the train station. A covered walkway connects the two. What they don't tell you is that there are stairs at both ends. Since Glenn is not supposed to do any lifting, we decided instead to run across the street.

Stairs but no staff

The Royal York is a Fairmont hotel just like the Chateau Frontenac, so I expected much the same sort of hotel - older with small rooms, grand lobby, inferior service. So when we got to the hotel's door and found no doorman, I wasn't too surprised. But here were stairs and no sign to indicate an elevator or a wheelchair ramp. (The photo above was taken the next morning.) Not a great welcome, especially when it's near midnight and you're tired. Luckily a younger couple came along and the fellow whisked our suitcases up the stairs. It's kind of sad when hotel patrons have to help others with their luggage. Then, there was only one hotel employee in the lobby and he had to get someone out from a back room to check us in.

The room though was a pleasant surprise. It was very clean and spacious - bigger than it looks in the photos. There was a good sized hallway, a large cabinet and, being on a corner, two walls with windows. It was also quiet. Once our heads hit the pillows, we had a solid sleep until it was time to get up.

To Toronto via Montreal

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Our original plan was to go next to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. I've never been there and I looked forward to seeing it at tulip time. But something else came up, namely involving airplanes, so we did some quick schedule changing. Now we would be taking the train to Toronto, staying overnight and catching another train the next day to Guelph, Ontario.

Although the train leaves Quebec City at quarter to 1:00, they feed you lunch anyway. We would also get supper on the train.

There is not much to report about this day. Basically we sat on the train, looked at the scenery and ate. At 4:00 pm we arrived at Montreal where we had to catch another train at 6:00. Unfortunately, we didn't get one of the superior Renaissance trains on this day and I think we had to lug our suitcases on and off each train.

It was a long day of travelling and the ride all the way was bumpy. We arrived in Toronto at 11:30 pm. The first thing we notice upon entering the train station in Toronto is that we're not in Quebec any more. People here dress like west coasters, which surprised me a little. By the way, I'd only been to this city once, for three days back in the 70's on my way home from the Caribbean. It was October and flakes of snow were falling.

But now, I have to remind myself to stop saying "bonjour" to people.