Then there was Toronto. A ghastly place! Over built and over crowded. It's about 50 times worse than downtown Chicago! Yuck. They have narrow streets, cable cars,
tons of bicyclist (bot no bike lanes) and pedestrian that go wherever they want whenever they want! You wouldn't believe how much building is going on there! In this picture alone, you can see 3 cranes!
We started out looking for the Distillery Historic District. And then maybe catch a subway and go to the subterranean mall. Parking is difficult at best and we bailed after a 1/2 an hour or so. Instead, we went to Casa Loma - which we had thought about doing anyway.
Here's a brief history of the place;
Built for Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, high atop a hill, with 98 rooms, 30 bathrooms, 25 fireplaces, 3 bowling alleys, a 50-metre (160-foot) shooting gallery, a temperature-controlled wine cellar capable of holding 1,700 bottles of bubbly, an incomplete 18-metre (60-foot) long indoor swimming pool, and a 243-metre (800-foot) tunnel constructed 6 metres (20 feet) underground which connects Casa Loma to the stables across the street.
No expense was spared. The stables, constructed from locally-quarried Credit Valley stone with Spanish tile, herringbone-pattern floors, cost him $250,000 to build. The stalls were made of the finest-quality mahogany and each horse's name was spelled out in 18-karat gold letters.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pellatt took residence in 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I. Unfortunately, they were to enjoy their 'fairy-tale' paradise for only 10 years. The war had serious and permanent effects on Henry's businesses and they began to fail. Nevertheless, the time spent in Casa Loma was a joy to both himself and his wife, Mary, thanks to 40 servants who changed 5,000 electric light bulbs, cleaned the castle with a central vacuum system, tended the first electric elevator in a private residence in the city of Toronto, and polished the 52 telephones.
The public rooms were designed and decorated to suit royalty. When entering Casa Loma, visitors were greeted with a massive Great Hall. There was an Oak Room, with hand-carved, solid oak panels and beams which had taken three years to create. The huge library contained 10,000 books and the dining room could seat 100 people with elbow room to spare. The Palm Room was paved with imported marble, and the Long Hallway was modeled after Peacock Alley in Windsor Castle. Above, on the second floor, was Henry's private, all-marble, gold-fixtured bathroom. A custom-designed shower allowed him to direct water to any part of his body. Henry could wash his face, rinse his hair, and scrub behind his ears without even turning his head.
Sir Henry died in 1939, broken, destitute, and living with a former chauffeur in a small house in Toronto's suburbia. His cash assets amounted to $185.08 and his debts totalled $6,000. Nonetheless, Sir Henry Mill Pellatt was given the biggest funeral Toronto had ever seen.
This is just a side picture;
See the tower on the right? Bill and I went allllll the way up!
We had to climb, starting on the 3rd floor, 2 and a 1/2 of these;
and 2 and a 1/2 of these;
But the view from the tower was spectacular!
Here is a picture of the above mentioned shower;
and the tunnel to the stables, garage and potting room;
In the hallway on the 2nd floor, in all the archways there are different little characters on each side. This little guy was my favorite :-)
See all of these designs;
They were all hand painted!
pretty cool.
We didn't get to go further than the garages...
...in the tunnels though. They film a TV series called Nakita there and they were filming that day so we missed the stables. Turns out, they film A LOT of things in Casa Loma;
The Conservatory was beautiful;
And we didn't even do the gardens!
It was a fun day - excluding downtown Toronto.
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