Friday 10th Sept - Toronto - CN Tower, Casa Loma, Harbour cruise, St Lawrence Market & Yorkville

Couldn't sleep last night so we were up early and down the road for sausage, bacon & eggs before hitting the subway for Union Station where you take the Skywalk for the CN Tower.  We handed over our 50 Canadian Dollars for a 58 second lift ride up to the viewing platform.  I'm starting to get annoyed at the Canadian tax which is always added on to the quoted prices, so you get your money ready to pay and they ask you for another 15% (in restaurants, it's another 15% for a tip).  The sights were excellent from the tower but we expected to be a little more exhilerated especially when we walked on the glass floor and looked down at the ground 1400 feet below.  Still got some good photos (although they would have been better in colour as I forgot to reset the settings after a close relative changed it to black & white).

The Toronto Islands looked so inviting, we took a harbour cruise to get a better look.  The boat was run by Captain Christine and Captain Jenny did the commentary.  Great views back looking at the Toronto skyline.

There's a small airport on one of the islands and here's an interesting photo of one of the planes taking off.

 

The islands are also a bird sanctuary and there are a lot of open spaces and attractions.

     

 

Then it was on to St Lawrence Market for a Peameal Bacon sandwich (back bacon as we know it) where I saw the biggest cumberland sausage roll ever.  How about one of these in a bun?

Then it was on to the Yorkville area which we decided would be where we would want to live if we moved to Toronto (which we won't).  Very chic.  On the way we spotted our first black squirrel which apparantly hasn't been wiped out by the greys yet.

A feature of Toronto is that sky scrapers have grown up all around tradition old properties and this is one of the most famous.  Strange eh?

Next it was back on the subway to Dupont and then hundreds of steps (maybe dozens) up to Casa Loma which is a gothic style castle built by Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, an exceedingly rich Canadian in 1911.  The place is incredible with beautiful grounds and views over Downtown Toronto.  Here it is.

Of course no blog would be complete without a picture of me so here it is......

After a couple of hours wandering around the castle, it was time to move on for a drink and then back to the hotel for a rest.

That's it for today.  Niagara Falls tomorrow - weather forecast is 23 degrees and sunny.