A Week Touring Toronto
Last week I decided to take a holiday and be a tourist in my own city. Between life and the Pandemic it had been so long since I had visited any of the cool places in Toronto and I had been itching to get out and see some different things. I think that sometimes people become so invested in traveling that they forget to go and see the interesting places that are in their own city. I totally get that, that is were you live and between working and seeing people and being tired who has time to go out and see your own city. Life gets in the way. However, if you are able to take a break and visit some landmarks you really should. I had the best time last week.
I chose six different places to visit and I have to say that each was super enjoyable and I highly recommend any of these locations if you are looking for places to visit in Toronto.
The first place that I visited was Casa Loma, which is Toronto’s Castle. It is such a different landmark from so many others in the city because there really is only one Castle in Toronto. I have gone to Casa Loma before but never on my own. I made sure to get the audio tour and to take my time. After two and half hours I feel like my appreciation grew even more, but it was the end of my time there that I would really like to tell you about.
At Casa Loma you were not able to leave through the front door, this was a pandemic precaution, you had to leave through the stables. If you have ever been to Casa Loma you will know that to get to the Stables you have to walk through this extremely long and creepy tunnel. On a normal visit this tunnel creeps me out, but this time was not normal.
Every October Casa Loma sets up a Legends of Horror Haunted castle. This year they started to the set up before my visit and they did so in the creepy tunnel. I headed into the tunnel and as I entered I noticed a sign that said something like: “excuse the mess we have started set up”. I then had to walk through the creepy rock tunnel with corpses hanging from the wall. I hated every second of this and walked as fast as I could…but the tunnel is pretty long. Finally, I arrived at the stables. I took a sigh of relief and began to look around. There were a couple of attendants at the door and one asked me if I wanted to go upstairs to see the Hollywood at Casa Loma display. I was told it was a display that showcased all the movies that had been filmed there. I said sure and headed up the stairs. I walked though the entrance and I let out a startled gasp. There, standing in front me was a wax figure of Sarah Jessica Parker. It scared the bejesus out of me. This is when I discovered that this display was all of wax figures. I walked through and over there was Richard Gere and then you turned the corner and there was Mike Myers…but not just any Mike Myers, Mike Myers from the Love Guru. It was very strange and I hated every second. I wish that someone had warned me, if I had known that it was a display featuring 20 or so wax figures I never would have went in. It was creepy and every time I rounded a corner I jumped a little bit, because even though I knew that there were more wax figures waiting for me, I would catch the figure out of the corner of the eye and it would scare me a little bit.
Needless to say I booted it through this display just as fast as I did the creepy tunnel. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat on a bench to take a break and drink some water before heading home.
Day two was a visit to Toronto’s First Post Office. This was a place that I had heard about a while ago and had want to visit since first hearing about. I think that having the First Post Office still standing and operational is such a cool thing. There are so many touches that are original to the Post Office like the hand painted mail boxes and the fire place in the reading room. This is such a small site that it only took me about 15 minutes to go through it but I loved it. It is a really cool part of history to still have in the city.
As I was leaving the Post Office the woman who was working there started to talk to me. I’m not sure why but I had a difficult time holding a conversation. I’m not sure if it is because of the Pandemic and the fact that I have not really spoken to anyone that I don’t know well for almost two years, or that I just had not prepared myself mentally. Either way I stumbled through and completely blanked when she asked me if I had been to the market yet. I forgot that St Lawrence Market was nearby and sounded like an idiot. In the end I don’t think that she really minded as she was super friendly.
As I left, shaking my head, I smiled in spite of myself. It was so sunny and warm how could I possibly feel bad. I decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood and even wandered through the Market.
The next day I decided to visit somewhere that I had never been but was always curious about, The Ripley’s Aquarium. OK, I am just going to come out with it…fish are weird. Sometimes they just swim around and around, then sometimes they just sit at the bottom and float. I couldn’t help but think about all the fish in the lake when we all go swimming. What do they think about these strange creatures jumping around and swimming weird when they are trying to relax at the bottom of the lake? I don’t know, it is a strange thing to think about but something that I have never really considered before. The coolest part of the aquarium is when you stand on a moving floor and are carried through a tunnel of water and you get to stare up at fish and sharks swimming over you. That was my favourite part…well that and the jelly fish.
Thursday was a very special day. I went to the ROM with my Dad. When I shared my plans with my Dad he sounded so interested and like he wanted to come with me for every excursion. He called me on Tuesday and asked if I would like company at the ROM and of course I told him yes! My Dad hadn’t been to the ROM since he was a kid and now that he is retired he can do things like go to a museum on a whim. I am so glad that he did, we had the best time. We started out in the special exhibit Great Whales: Up Close and Personal. I read everything that I could because I think that Whales are fascinating. Dad really enjoyed it as well and even said that he loved that he learned some new information on whales.
For the rest of the museum we just wandered and looked at different items. It would be a little bit too much to read all the information that is contained in the ROM in one day. My favourite part was the European exhibit. It is a lot of furniture but I love to marvel at the craftsmanship, it is so beautiful. I think that my Dad enjoyed the Canada and First People wing the most. He keep saying about cool it was when we were in there.
I feel so lucky that I was able to spend the day with my Dad and that I got share something that I love with him.
Friday was one of my absolute favourite things ever. I had a tour of Fort York and I was the only person on the tour. I don’t think that I will be able to properly express how cool this was and how much I enjoyed it. My tour guide started out the tour like normal but being the only person on the tour I felt like I was able to chime in and ask questions, it ended up being more like a conversation then tour. It was amazing to get the opportunity to talk one on one with someone while they are showing you around a historical landmark. I don’t think that I have ever had an experience quite like it. Once my guide figured out that I was really interested in the topic, and that I was engaging intelligently, she seemed to get more into the tour which in turn made me even more excited and into the tour. We even stood and chatted for a bit once the tour proper was complete. It was so much fun and I can’t help smiling as I think about it. By the way did you know that a canon is only called a canon when it is on a ship? Once it is taken off of the ship it is simply called a gun. Now you know.
Saturday was another special day because I got to visit the Toronto Railway Museum with my brother, sister-in-Law, her sister, my niece and my Train obsessed nephew. If you have never stopped by the Roundhouse I suggest that you do so. It is a park, restaurants and museum right across from the Rogers centre. The Roundhouse was once a hub for all the railways in the city. The trains would be parked and maintained there. While it no longer functions as part of the railway it does have a good number of train cars on displays outside the Roundhouse. It is really cool to walk around and get a closer look at all the train cars. The museum was really interesting because I wasn’t aware of much of the information concerning the railway in Toronto or Canada. I love to learn new aspects of history that I had never really considered before.
I think that my favourite part of the day was getting to take the two kids for a ride on the mini train. Yes, you heard that right, there was a mini train that you can ride on that goes all through the little park in front of the Roundhouse. I felt like the cool Aunt and I could feel the excitement coming from my nephew. After sometime passes they might not even remember that we took a mini train ride but I love that I got to give them this fun little experience. I know that I will remember and that it will become something that I think about to cheer myself up when I am feeling down.
So that was my little tour of Toronto. For so long during this pandemic I had felt anxious about just leaving my apartment but this week, exploring my city, has rekindled my love for Toronto. It has made want to get out there more and I am so excited to get out there. I hope that it has inspired you to visit some different, or familiar, locations in your city. I truly believe that these are some of the best places…the care and love that is spent to make sure that these places are maintained, preserved and filled with interest warms my heart. I will always want to support historical landmarks and museums, they are some of my favourite places.