Friday 8 May 2015
Another bright sunny day and no planned itinerary. We decide to take advantage of the clear blue skys and take ourselves up to floor 27 and to use the sun deck to at least attempt to go home a real brown and not rusty as we had anticipated.
Mid-afternoon changed and refreshed we head out and take the subway down to Union and walk through and along to the foot of the stupendous CN Tower where the local railway museum is situated in the Roundhouse. Most of the major exhibits are located externally and the contents inside are quite limited. Disappointingly the L&SWR loco is not on display.
Adjacent to the Roundhouse is the Steam Whistle brewery and the plan had been for Jackie to sit in the brewery bar and consume come cider whilst I visit the museum. This does not work as the brewery only sells its own beer products and does not really have a bar area to allow railway widows to rest. So she has to join me wandering around the museum which does not take a huge amount of time and the photographs are to be found here
The main delight of the evening is ahead. We ascend the CN Tower to the dining room which revolves, taken 72 minutes to complete a circuit. My wife sits effectively going “backwards” and is consequently warned about the potential effects of motion sickness. By the time we take our seats we are almost looking down on the main railway line in a westerly direction and our progress enables us then to take in the city we visited yesterday so we can re-identify some of the buildings we had seen; then we pass again over the railway looking to the east and the we can look down on the waterfront (which looks much better from here) and out over to Toronto Island (which we may have visited if the weather had not been so nice) before completing the circuit to where we came in looking at the small local airfield (not the main one used when we arrived).
Photos from the Tower can be found at:
Whilst all this viewing is happening we are also eating a most excellent meal – indeed it is hard to say which is better – the view or the food. For me asparagus with hen’s egg is a real flavour of the season and this is followed by rabbit in a mustard sauce and both are excellent, nay generous portions. Again excellent ingredients, well timed cooking and presented beautifully on the plates.
We are well looked after again by the waiter and serving staff and he is able to answer questions on the identity of the buildings where we are unsure. Again he is also interested in our future travel plans and adds to the welcoming and interesting feeling of the residents of Toronto.
It cannot be denied that dinner in the CN Tower is expensive, BUT it also provides entry to the two floors immediately below the restaurant level – one enables a walk around to see the sights we had already seen, but completely enclosed, whilst the floor below allows a walk around exposed (safely) to the elements – and boy is that wind blowing – and also to stand on a glass floor showing the ground many stories below. I have to admit that whilst I did stand on the glass, emboldended by others lying down and taking selfies, and that clearly it was “safe” I felt highly nervous – Jackie would not stand on it at all.
Access to these levels without a meal was (I think) about $40, so take that out of the meal costs and the whole thing, perhaps not a bargain but the meal actually becomes cheap – as with Portmeirion the package deal is highly worthwhile!