Happy Birthday to Chris!  Today, after breakfast in the Lounge, we caught the public transport out to Casa Loma.  The public transport in Toronto is fantastic, you can get all around the city using the trains, street cars and busses and each one seems to come along within 5-10 minutes!  And all on the one transport card too.

Casa Loma was built by Sir Henry Pellatt and he and his wife Lady Mary lived there for 10 years or so.  Build in the 1920s it is as high class as you can get for the times.  We spent around 2.5 hours there wandering around the castle, looking in all the rooms, visiting the towers and going to the stables and garage.  There were audio guides you could pick up, or you could use your own device and listen to the audio as you wandered around.  Danielle took many photos (particularly of all the chandeliers in each room), and we include a couple of the best ones here.  The history behind how the Pellatt’s lived and what they spent their money on was really interesting.  It was like Canada’s own version of Downton Abbey.

Following lunch at the castle, we returned to the hotel until dinner time.  For Chris’ birthday we decided to have dinner up the CN Tower, Toronto’s version of the Sky Tower (though so much bigger!).  The CN Tower stands 553.3m high (compared to the Sky Tower’s 328m).  Seated at a booth where we could face the windows, the dining area revolves around the tower, meaning you get a full 360-degree view of the city to enjoy while eating.  And on sunset too!  It was amazing to sit there, enjoying our drinks and to watch the sun set slowly over the city.  The sunsets here are very red, and so there have been some spectacular ones in the last few days.

We enjoyed a three-course meal as evening came on.   The food, as you would expect, was spectacular.  Duck and tomato salad for entries, (huge!) steak and risotto for mains, and chocolate cake (complete with birthday candle) and ice cream with macaroons for dessert.  If you do visit Toronto, we recommend a trip up the CN tower and dinner at the top.  It is worth it. 

Our evening was entertained by what we call ‘The Peacocks’.  Three girls in early twenties dressed up to the nines, out for dinner with one gentleman (we still cannot figure out the dynamics).  Every 5 minutes or so they would have to pause to take more photos and even asked about 4 different waiters to take photos of them.  ‘Lemme take a selfie’.  Clearly we must be getting old, because just watching them flip their hair and pose for photo after photo was exhausting!

Tonight is our last night in Toronto, tomorrow we head for Quebec to immerse ourselves in the French culture.  Au Revoir.