Our penultimate day

6th October


Another delicious breakfast at Cafe Crepes preceded a subway ride up to Casa Loma (house on the hill). This amazing castle was built by Sir Henry Pellatt, a prominent Toronto financier, industrialist and military man. He made an enormous amount of money by investing in a variety of modern industries, including electric lights. Unfortunately, he only got to enjoy his new home for a few years before the cost of maintaining it, some ill-advised investments and the collapse of the Home Bank of Canada (in the credit crunch of his day) forced him and his wife to leave their luxurious home. It as a beautiful castle with fabulous grounds, and Stu and I spent a good long while there, including climbing to the top of one of the towers and looking out across all of Toronto.

Next up was the Bata Shoe Museum, a really interesting place devoted to the practical and aesthetic history of footwear. Stuart had been a little doubtful about this one, but was soon enthusing about how interesting it all was. As well seeing all types of footwear through the ages, we also saw shoes worn (and often signed) by various famous people, including Elvis and Marilyn, Winston Churchill, Roger Federer, Elton John and Geri Halliwell's (Ginger Spice's) famous 'Union Jack' platforms.

We'd been so absorbed by Casa Loma and the shoe museum we had forgotten to have lunch, and ran out of time to visit anywhere else, so we headed back to the apartment. We walked back through the rather lovely university campus and stopped for a quick bite to eat en route.

Then it was time to head out with Jenn, Elliott and Marissa for what was to be our final night in Toronto - boo! We had some great sushi at a place just around the corner from Jenn's (good job too as it was raining, yet again) and then went across the street to The Rex, the jazz club on the corner of Queen and St Patrick, right opposite Jenn's place. We had some great laughs, lots of cocktails and beers, and thanked our wonderful hosts for welcoming us to Toronto and letting us stay. I took a lot of pictures of these fab friends, and it all got rather emotional because we were so sad to have to say goodbye soon :(

We decided to order some shots to finish the night, and the boys ordered whiskey while us girls had Lemon Drops to down in one. Stu got a bit enthusiastic when he went to clink glasses with Elliott, and managed to spill 16-year-old whiskey all over the table. Whoops! Sadly it was time for bed as everyone had work or school in the morning, and we had to sort out our packing and do some final sightseeing, though we'd all guaranteed ourselves a lovely hangover!