Casa Loma

Seven years ago we were in Toronto for about 10 hours on our way to Jamaica. Mikes friend and mentor, Lieu, took us around the city and showed us the sights. Unfortunately it was at night so I only saw the outside of everything. I still remember when I first laid eyes on Casa Loma, in Spanish it means 'Castle on the Hill'. Today I was able to see the inside of this incredible place. Sir Henry Pellatt was a great entrepreneur in the late 1800's He sponsored Thomas Edison and commissioned to have electric lights through the city of Toronto. His story is both one of victory and tragedy. www.casaloma.org

In this modern age, there is no tour guide talking you through the sights. Everybody carries a small device that plays the information for each room. Its so much nicer than reading a signpost and not viewing what you came here to see. I really enjoyed wandering from room to room and learning while looking at the antiques. Henry was a visionary and a dreamer. He chose to decorate his estate as the mood took him. One of the guests suites was completely furnished in Oriental design, while the room next to it was Edwardian. I love this.

My favorite room was the conservatory. Henry wanted flowers in bloom year round, so he had steam pipes run through the soil in the conservatory to keep the plants warm. The marble floor was beyond spectacular, and as I was suffering another ferocious headache today I just wanted to lay down on the cool surface for a while. Although this would have been frowned upon by the staff, I did manage to find a corner and sit with my back against the marble wall for a bit. It provided some relief from the pain.

Well, part of being in a castle, is finding ones way up into the tallest tower. So up and up we went. From the third floor we came upon the never ending flights of stairs. Often times we would have to wait for a group to pass before we could wind our way up the next staircase. This part of the building has not yet been restored to its former glory. As can be expected thousands of people have taken advantage of the unsupervised areas and have written their names on the bricks. Funny enough, we did find a little alcove where someone had inscribed 'Enter Here Diane'. So we took some pictures of her hiding in the little space.The view from the top was spectacular. I could imagine Sir Henry and wife Mary spending time together admiring the view. Amazingly dad made it all the way up the tower as well. He's pretty fit, probably more so than myself and he's 76 years old!

In total we spent three and a half hours touring this magical place. We went up and down secret stairs. And through the 800 foot long secret tunnel to the stables. These stables were used during WW II for government research. All the while tourists were enjoying their visits in the castle.