1.) Casa Loma (“Toronto’s majestic castle”)
The former home of Sir Henry Pellatt features some beautifully furnished rooms and a nice view from one of the towers. For Canadians this (about 100 years) old European-style building must be something really really special they’ve never seen before, there’s no other reason why you should pay an entrance fee of about $20 to see it… It’s easy to guess which one is my favourite picture :)
2.) Toronto Zoo (“Canada’s premier zoo”)
Over 5,000 animals, 460 species and 10 km of walking trails. The Toronto Zoo, located in the beautiful Rouge Valley, invites to an “Around the World Tour” with animals from different continents. Of course it also includes a “Canadian Domain” with grizzly, moose & Co. But the most important animals are of course the two giant pandas which arrived in Toronto in spring 2013. The whole souvenir shop is filled up with panda toys and stuffed pandas, there are information about the waiting time to see the pandas, there’s a big hall of information about pandas before you eventually reach another building where one of the bears is disinterested – back to the window – eating bamboo canes. The other panda is sitting outside, eating bamboo canes. Great animals. And thank you so much, dear Chinese government, that you are “taking significant actions to save endangered species”. Or did you just obligate the zoo to write this as an act of friendship, as you provided it with the two giant pandas?
3.) CN Tower (“wonder of the modern world”)
A signature icon of Toronto's skyline and a symbol of Canada, according to wikipedia attracting more than two million international visitors annually. Completed in 1976, it remained the world's tallest free-standing structure and the world's tallest tower until 2007. Yes, I'm talking of the CN Tower.
We explored two observation desks, the upper one with the restaurant at 346 m and the lower one with the “world famous Glass Floor” and the outdoor SkyTerrace at 342 m. Yes, this tower is fucking expensive (the TorontoPass is not that much more expensive than the fee for only visting the tower). But the view is awesome. You don’t believe me? Look at this:
4.) Ontario Science Center (“Canada’s leading science center”)
You’ve been to the “Deutsches Museum” in Munich before? Imagine it a bit more old-fashioned (yes, even more old-fashioned), and much smaller, sponsored by different companies who are allowed to place quite obvious advertisements in the exhibitions, but still highly educational. A great place for children and their parents, perhaps also interesting for physicians and engineers, while for someone being all thumbs as I am the architecture is more interesting than the exhibits of the Ontario Science Center: the three main buildings, connected by a series of bridges and escalators, follow the natural contours of the Don River ravine! The museum was opened in 1969. Unfortunately, concrete must have been really cheap in the 1960s…
5.) Royal Ontario Museum (“engage the world”)
On the last day the Pass was valid, we visited the Royal Ontario Museum. With more than 6 million items, the ROM is Canada’s largest museum. Since the famous architect Daniel Liebeskind added another 40,000 square feet of exhibition space in 2009, the museum is even more famous. And yes, it is worth a visit. Not only because of Liebeskind’s architecture, also because of the artefacts from all over the world. The exhibits have actually not too much to do with Ontario, but give an impression of the history of cultures, countries and the biosphere all over the world. A little bit of everything, perhaps sometimes a little bit too much.
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