Day 1 - a tower, a subterranean world and some lights

We poured into our beds last night after arriving at the Holiday Inn, downtown Toronto, at 8:15pm. We found a place near the hotel selling subs, so we ate there in tired silence and went to bed. The hotel room has two double beds and we have a view looking into a block of condos, which is absolutely fascinating. Watching the Sunday evening lives of the residents of Toronto.

Somehow (I should imagine sheer exhaustion) we beat the jetlag and all woke up with alarm to the start of a snow flurry.

We ate a huge buffet breakfast in the hotel and then set of to our first destination - the CN Tower.

The subway system was so easy to navigate. Tap your credit card (other European cities take note - not having to buy a reloadable piece of plastic) and you are off. We took line 1 (yellow) five stops (we are at ‘College’, then ‘TMU’, ‘Queen’, ‘King’) to Union Station. This is likened to Central Station in NY and you can see why.

A beautiful central hall with an ornate ceiling and busy concourses beneath connecting mainline rail to the subway. The subway was spotless, no graffiti and so beggars. The trains are silver tins of loveliness.

To find the CN tower we simply followed the signs through some tunnels. We stepped outside and was blasted with the icy air of -11 degrees! It’s cold, but with the right clothes it’s all ok. Just difficult to take photos without a glove.

We were the only people entering the CN tower. They are clearly geared up for thousands of visitors, as they had barriers and waiting areas, but we just walked to the ticket lady, then the lift lady and before we knew it we were shot up the 114 floors in the great glass elevator and looking out over Toronto.

Despite the weather we actually had clear views and were able to look out across the endless skyscrapers, but also Lake Ontario. It’s so big it looks like the sea, there’s no way you can see the other side.

We then went up a few more levels the “the Top”. It didn’t feel that much higher, and wasn’t really worth the ticket price, but again, as it was just us there, it felt special.

We made our way back down, through the massive gift shop and back to the food court of Union. Again, this place is spotless. Oliver pointed out that if it was Lakeside it would be filled with rubbish. But no, not a spot. Oliver had Tim Hortons and Andrew chose noodles, and I am still full up from breakfast, so had some wedges. Bellies refilled we took ourselves back the the great hall and met Dave, a kind looking 70 something Canadian who was going to help us and 4 other people (two from Chicago, two from Germany) to navigate the PATH.

The PATH is a maze of underground tunnels linking various buildings around Toronto. It was started in 1900 and completed in 1990. The PATH spans more than 30 kilometres of restaurants, shopping, services and entertainment to ensure that the fine people of this city never need to brave the vicious winters outside. This was such an interesting tour. Dave gave us lots of tips of how to not get lost and lots of interesting facts about how they are planning to extend it.

After two interesting hours we were spat out at the City Hall and a cute ice rink that had just been groomed by the Zamboni. We watched various skill levels for half an hour and then went to warm up with a coffee as a lovely restaurant called Sud Forno. Earmarked for a nice dinner one night.

Our last stop was the Big Red Bus tour of “Holiday Lights”. By now we were absolutely exhausted. The travel and walking catching up with us, so this was the perfect end to the day.

The bus drove us for 75 minutes around the main streets of Downtown Toronto with some history and facts thrown in, and the chance to see some of the beautiful Christmas lights in offices and shops.

It’s been a fabulous start to the holiday.