Day 10: Toronto Castles & Museums

We headed out early today to be the first ones in the Casa Loma castle. It was built in 1911 and had some super cool features like an underground tunnel system that took you to the stables a few blocks away. There was an old car museum, a crazy huge wine cellar, a beautiful garden where a wedding was taking place, and even a wax museum at the top of one of the castle spires. Yes, a wax museum with current celebrities. Kinda weird but a cool addition to the tour! 

The place was huge and built by rich guy Sir Henry Pellatt. This place had seven floors, secret hidden rooms behind panels in the walls, and staircases galore.  We had a lot of fun exploring the grounds and learning about all of the different movies that have been filmed here. We thought Uncle Joe would love all of the old cars we saw.

After we felt like we had walked everywhere in this massive mansion, we sat the map to the nearest Cheesecake Factory to see how an international one compares to our locally loved location. It was mostly the same. Decor, menu, service. Pretty much a replica! Enjoy the feast that was our lunch. 

Next up was the Royal Ontario Museum! Another map of directions (thank goodness for smart phones, right?), and we set off to find some parking. Along the bumpy roads we found tons of old churches and buildings. We have noted that the roads are not smooth. The passengers in the car have noticed and are not appreciative of the constant bumps and uneven pavement. Maybe it’s because of the snow here or maybe it’s just time for repaving, but these roads are rough! The town sure is old but there are huge sky rise apartment buildings mixed in. We got to see the imitation space needle!

The museum was a beast! This place is gigantic and clearly you could spend days here exploring. We spent probably three hours and we moved swiftly through many of the exhibits. Enjoy these photos from Emily. 

There were rooms with gems, diamonds, Egyptian artifacts, bugs and insects, dinosaurs, literally the whole world was under this roof. We saw furniture from ages ago, busts and pedestals, even clothing. It really was a museum of all the different mediums. Here are shots that Katie took. 

It was almost like a Jack of all trades kind of a museum. They just had everything. We wrapped up the night with a lazy evening home. Snacks for dinner since we were still stuffed from lunch. Ice cream courtesy of Ben and Jerry’s. Some laundry was washed. And a hot bath was taken by some tired tired legs. Did you know that Toronto is known as the most overrated tourist city? It’s home to nearly 3 million people and lots of celebrities and singers have come from here. There is some touristy stuff to do but it reminds me a lot of SF. A city where people live and work but there are also a few cool things to do when you visit.

Tomorrow is everyone’s first time in Niagara!