It turns out I’m getting the Al Capone tour of Canada.
After the rumours of Mr. Capone in Moose Jaw, SK, I’m now in Guelph, ON, and my friend just took me to a mansion that people of the city are extremely sure has connections to Al.
So that’s an inadvertent theme of this trip. Another inadvertent theme of this trip has been model ships. You wouldn’t believe the number of model ships I’ve seen at museums and galleries. Only one of the museums was actually a maritime museum.
Anyways, Wednesday I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario. I limped there, I hobbled around it and I shuffled back to the hostel where I decided to take it easy for a few hours. Which is why there is no Wednesday post, because it would have been a not particularly well written ode to blisters. I did have dinner with some journalism school friends in what I believe is the Little Italy section of Toronto and that was lovely. I kept the walking to a minimum, so I only clocked about 10 kilometres, resting up for Thursday. I also invested in blister bandages which have helped a lot.
After my quasi-rest on Wednesday, on Thursday I headed to Casa Loma, which is a castle that boasts a heck of a view of Toronto. It was built by a businessman who later lost most of his fortune and the house when the Great Depression hit, with the castle eventually taken in lieu of unpaid property taxes and a service club suggested turning it into a tourist attraction. The castle is amazing, many movies have been shot there (including scenes from X-Men) and its like they turned Clue into a castle – there’s a billiards room, a gorgeous conservatory and even secret passages.
It’s also interesting because Sir Henry Pellatt, who owned Casa Loma, was quite involved in electricity and put a lot of modern conveniences into his castle like a shower, electricity and phones all over the place (it was built between 1911 and 1914).
I then decided I’d had enough of tourist attractions for the day and headed to a neighbourhood of Toronto a friend had suggested I wander through, Roncesvalles, and looked through some neat shops (and did some shopping). I also did a brief wander through High Park, then headed back to the hostel to rest before I headed to the musical Kinky Boots (yes, based on the movie).
It was fabulous. The music and lyrics are by Cyndi Lauper, and you could definitely picture a few of the songs being sung by her. The staging was wonderful, the dancing was fantastic, the music was catchy, the actors were terrific and the theatre was very neat (the Royal Alexandra Theatre). I’m glad I can now say I saw a big musical in Toronto (and glad that a movie I like translated so well to a musical).
Today, I went to the Toronto Zoo, where I saw all manners of lions, tigers and a couple different types of bears, along with other animals. It was a well laid out zoo and I was impressed by a number of the enclosure designs for the animals. I also had a lot of fun taking photos, until the rain became serious about soaking my camera.
I think I’ve walked clear over 60 kilometres in the past four days. I’m now visiting a friend from my time in Rocky Mountain House at her home in Guelph, and tomorrow we’re off to check out a really big waterfall elsewhere in Ontario.
Victoria Paterson 