I went to Casa Loma yesterday, and seriously, the outside was one of the most visually stunning things I have ever seen. A mansion that’s practically a castle, covered in snow… Just gorgeous (scroll down for photos).

The house itself has a lot of history to it. It was owned by the richest guy in Toronto at the time, Sir Henry Pellat. I won’t go through all his accomplishments, but one of his major ones is that he was the first person to bring electric lighting to the streets of Toronto. The house itself didn’t get completed while he was living in there… He ran out of money and was forced to move out then sell most of his possesions by auction. So not all the furniture in there was what had originally been in the house… It would have been cool to see the original pieces, but I guess it was not to be.

There was also this underground tunnel you took to get to the stables… It was a little bit of a hike, took a few minutes to get to the end! In the stables there were people dressing up in medieval knight costumes and bashing each other up with swords! Was pretty funny to watch. The horses also lived a pretty luxurious life by the looks of the stables! Off the tunnel was also the old garage. Apparently Sir Pellat was the first person to own a gas powered car in Toronto. There was a bit about the history of cars in Toronto in the garage.

Also climbed up to the top of the tallest tower. The view of the city from up there was amazing… Although I’m sure it won’t compare to the view from the CN Tower when I go there! The windows were really tiny though and because it was cold and snowing, you had to keep rubbing the panes because ice was forming on them. There was also an open topped tower where you could go for another view, but unfortunately it was closed due to maintenance.

I walked around a bit after I went to Casa Loma. There were some really beautiful homes around the area, especially since they were covered in snow… I’m sure in summer these places don’t look half as good, but I guess snow makes everything pretty That night I met some guys from Melbourne at the hostel and ended up chatting to them for a while, then got an earlyish night… Was asleep by 1-2am compared to the usual 3-4am it’s been!

Then today I just went window shopping and wandering around downtown Toronto with a mate I’d made at the hostel… Then went and got dinner from Fresh again. Had a Dragon bowl this time, which had awesome tofu steaks, and I swear the vegan carrot cake you can get there is one of the best cakes I have EVER tried!

Tomorrow should be a good one! FINALLY get to meet Valgear! His exams are over, so we’re meeting at Maggie’s tomorrow for lunch and then I guess we’ll go PP sight seeing! Should be fun, yay

Photos:

The Great Hall in Casa Loma:

Fountain in the Casa Loma conservatory (yes I threw a penny in and made a wish!):

View of Toronto from the tallest tower in Casa Loma:

Knights bashing each other up:

Casa Loma stables:

Outside view of Casa Loma:

The Casa Loma gates:

Pretty looking houses covered in snow ^_^:

Until next time!
MQ <3

So I managed to score myself 2 free drinks tonight… I figured that was worth a post on its own! How did I manage it? Made Vegemite sandwiches for 4 of the guys that work at the hostel! Yay for me!

Ok I’m a little late updating the blog, but hey, I woke up late today and was still pretty exhausted from staying up late to celebrate Australia day. I haven’t uploaded the photos from the past couple of days yet, but when I do, I’ll edit the post and add them to it.

So yesterday I went to the Bata Shoe Museum. Not as dull as some people may think! The shoe collection is almost as big as my mothers. You start off looking at the history of shoes, shoes in religions, social staus shoes, occupational shoes… basically anything you can think of. They even had a pair of shoes made by Aboriginal Australians thousands of years ago. They had emu feathers in them ^_^ There was also a display of famous people’s shoes, which included shoes belonging to people such as Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe and this wicked pair of platform boots that had belonged to Elton John.

There were 2 special exhibitions on. One was about the Rococo style of shoes, and the other was an exhibition to coincide with the Chinese New Year which focused on shoes and clothing that brough luck and protection to children. On the top floor, the shoes were categorized by continent (there weren’t any from Australia) and they were basically the best preserved shoes from the museum vaults.

After visiting the museum, I got back to the hostel and was convinced to go out partying. Walking in the snow for a long time was not my idea of fun, but it tok a while for us to reach Nathan Phillips Square which was hosting the opening of the Toronto WinterCity Festival. We actually didn’t end up staying there very long because one of the guys that was with us was extremely drunk and was being a bit of an arse… So got some hot food from a street vendor and walked back to the hostel. Very cold by the time we got back. My feet were frozen! Hung out in the hostel bar wearing a cork hat and an Aussie flag around my neck to celebrate Australian day. Made a couple of people eat Vegemite sandwiches. Funniest reaction ever! There were heaps of Canadians in the bar last night because it was open to the public. A few bands played, including Shaun, who works in the bar. He wore one of my cork hats (he’s an Aussie ). Didn’t end up going to sleep until past 4:30am… Woke up pretty late today and was still feeling dead. Was going to go to see Casa Loma today, but by the time I would have gotten there I wouldn’t have had much time, so I’l check it out during the week.

Expecting a mate to show up at some point tonight… Don’t know when because he’s driving up from the US, but at least I won’t be alone anymore Well not that I’m totally alone, there’s some cool people in the hostel I’ve been hanging with in the evenings.

Anyway, until tomorrow! <3

No, not The Hoff, the HHOF! Today I went to the Hockey Hall Of Fame. I know nothing about ice hockey except from what I learnt watching the Mighty Ducks films. But it was pretty interesting… I found some Australian stuff in there, and I saw some names I recognised… Guess none more famous than Wayne Gretzky. I also played a simulation game where I stood there with goalies gloves and a hockey stick and pucks came flying out the wall at me (don’t worry, they weren’t real pucks, they were made from foam.) Then in the hockey store I bought a Toronto Maple Leafs puck, even though I hold no allegiance to the team… It was basically me thinking, Hey I’m in Toronto, I should buy the Toronto team’s puck! I also bought a HHOF shot glass to add to my shot glass collection that I started when I went to Malaysia.

After the HHOF, I wandered around BCE Place and bought some food and postcards, the came back to the hostel. Turns out the girl in my room wants to get drunk tonight so might do a bit of drinking tonight. Heard from one of my mates, he should be here on Saturday. Yay!

Ok photo time!

Street shot while going to get pizza last night:

An Australian jersey in the HHOF:

Wayne Gretzky’s jersey:

The Stanley Cup:

Awesome dome at the top of the Great Hall in the HHOF:

Melonqueen gives the goalie sim game a go:

They have Coles in Canada! Ok so it’s a bookshop… But it’s still Coles!:

I just went outside onto the hostel patio, and it was snowing! First time I’ve been outside while it’s been snowing. It’s only a light fall, but it’s still very exciting ^_^ Well… That’s all I wanted to say… Sucked in it’s snowing! Mwuahahaha! <3

So I’m writing this on Wednesday in bed with a bit of a hangover. Not doing much today, just going to go for a bit of a wander around. Saving stuff to do until I get to meet Valgear Friday afternoon (Yay!). Plus hey I’m on holiday, I figure I’m allowed to have a couple of days lazing around not doing anything! I do have 23 days to see the city
So yesterday was pretty cool. Woke up, had my free pancakes for breakfast with real Canadian maple syrup! Then I made my way to the Eaton Centre, which is a massive shopping mall. And I’m talking huge. For the Melbournians reading this, it shits on Knox and Chadstone in regards to size. Well at least it seemed that way to me. I spent about 2-3 hours there just wandering around, checking out the shops, window shopping… Bought a couple of power adaptors. Then I came back here for an afternoon nap, the jetlag was catching up with me.

Went for a walk to see where to eat for dinner and ended up coming across one of the places in my Lonely Planet guide called Fresh. All vegetarian/vegan food. I had this awesome dish called Ninja (figures I’d choose that hey ) Had crumbed tofu cubes, sundried tomato on lettuce with a wasabi kind of sauce on brown basmati rice. Beautiful food, large serving, only $12, I was happy with that! Then I got back to the hostel and ended up in the bar here… And well you make friends easily, especially if you tell Aussies you have some Tim Tams lol. So I ended up going to bed around 3-4am. Hence the hangover! But hey what a great first proper day in Toronto in my opinion!

Some photos:

A Shot of the patio area of the hostel:

Fountain in the Eaton Centre:

View from the window in my room:

They have Coopers at the hostel bar!:

I made a mini-snowman:

Yes folks, the melonqueen has arrived in Toronto! After 26 hours of travel (and very almost missing my flight from Melbourne to Syndey), I have finally reached my destination.

Hostel is pretty nice. It’s big and theres only 3 other people in my form, so yay for room! I went for a walk on my own in downtown Toronto for a while, bought some shampoo, conditioner, a lighter and then went to McDonalds and got some fries. Yummy! Although fries here are more expensive :S Just going to have a shower then get some rest. It’s been a loooong day, considering I left Melbourne at 6am Monday, and for some reason it’s only nearly 7pm on Monday Sort that out

<3 Melonqueen

I’m moving to Melbourne today, flight’s in a couple of hours. Farewell drinks night went pretty well Won’t be online much until I get to Toronto probably, so anyone from Adelaide that may be reading this… I love you, thanks for the awesome times we may have had together. My door is always open to you if you need somewhere to stay in Melbourne. Keep in touch <3

Ok so Sean has set me up with a blog so I can use it on my upcoming trip to Canada. To view the normal melonqueen.com, go to www.melonqueen.com/oldsite

I leave in 9 days for my trip, so check back for any new updates