falling behind

We're falling behind in our posts already! So its Saturday, but we'll talk about what we did on Thursday. First, lets say that the weather in Toronto has been wonderful. Highs in the upper 60s maybe 70, and sunny! It's supposed to shower tomorrow, but it will be Sunday and Frankie's birthday so we will probably have a fun and low key day. But back to Thursday. We started off the day with more good running - there are lots of off road trails and hills (near the castle) so you get a good workout! (Here's our route.) With morning temperatures around 10C, its nice and brisk running in shorts.

We started off around 10.30 am and walked from our place to the Casa Loma. Bee and Frankie walked the whole way there, which included a mile walk there plus a 250 ft incline to get to the castle. The castle is supposed to be canada's most famous. I thought it must have belonged to royalty, so I was surprised to learn that it was built by the man (Sir Henry Pellatt) who started the Toronto Electric Company, became a millionaire and in 1911 wanted to have a "dream castle" for his home. Poor Sir Henry lost his castle after only 10 years when his fortune when down with the war bonds. One side note is that Sir Henry was a great runner! I should say he had good running routes near his house.




Bee and Frankie loved sitting on the "princess' bench".

My favorite room was the conservatory. Scott loved the library!

Frankie and Bee's other favorite part of the castle was the twisty turny stair case to the very top of the tower of the castle. It was a clear day so we had a cool view of the city below. They also loved the secret tunnel beneath the castle that led to what we call the "horses' castle", which was a horses stable in the style of a castle. After the castle we treked on down to midtown for some pizza at Terroni's. Then we walked on down to the Canadian National (CN) Tower. The tower is 1,815.4 ft high and the second tallest free standing structure in the world (a tower in Dubai is taller as of 2007). We took the elevator to the main viewing area, and because it was so clear we could see the Kodak building in Rochester NY with the naked eye. We were supposed to also be able to see the mist from the Niagra Falls, but that was harder for us to detect. For you engineers out there, the society of civil engineers call the tower one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. It was kind of cool, but for now I am calling Terroni's pizza one of the 7 wonders. 

There is a glass floor in the viewing area that you can stand on and jump on, and where you can look down to street level, 1,122.0 ft below. Frankie couldn't get enough of this view.

Also, you could go outside on the observatory, and so we "ran a loop" around the tower, which was Bee's favorite part. It was quite windy and chilly!

We called it a day after that and headed back uptown for some Indian food and bedtime.