A five legged elephant, dinosaurs and domesticated snakes

Quoting the Globe(Toronto newspaper), "It should be preserved as a humourous commentary on the state of civilization in this city in the early 20th century... it should be kept intact as an awful example of local artistic immaturity. It should be stuffed and mounted like a five-legged elephant" 
When Sir Henry Pellatt decided to build Casa Loma, he didn't realize that it would become famous for the wrong reasons. The building wasn't fit for anything. It is some kind of an elaborate joke. After Pellatt went bankrupt, plans were made successively to make the structure a home for war veterens, a war museum, a high school, a convent, a monastery, a hq for the Orange Order , a club for wealthy men, and even a home for the Dionne Quintuplets. It became a night club for a short while and then a luxurious hotel for a shorter while, before it finally became a tourist spot. Even here it doesn't fit. I seriously feel that this is a waste of money for tourists.

The subway service in Toronto isn't too impressive, especially the token system. We went downtown to the harbourfront, and were humbled by the tall imposing structures. You kind of feel looked down upon.

                             Not tall enough?                                                        How about this?

 Keeping snakes as pets is common in Canada. The one in my hand is a bull snake, one of the largest species of snakes in Canada.

 One with the sky  - Toronto and Lake Ontario from atop CN Tower

Going up the more-than-half-a-kilometer tall CN Tower was part of the unwrit rule that I spend an evening of my second weekend in a foreign land at a high place (Australia- Skydeck; Europe - Eiffel Tower). The view was as usual majestic. 

The CN Tower package also involves a short 4D exprience called Himalamazon, but Torture would probably have been a more apt name for the show.

We crashed at Aritra's place for the night. He was the ghost host because he was in Montreal. Sukanya was the replacement host and she did well. However, little did Aritra know that for two nights, his room would become a dormitory for five. I was specifically told not to use his roomie's bed, but I took the responsibility of doing so without him getting a hint about it. The roomie made the task more difficult with loads of clothes strewn randomly over the bed. A camera click and a pre-departure referral of the pic was sufficient to work around the issue.

-----------------------

Day 2:

Royal Ontario Museum - the entrance

 

T. Rex -Other than the dinosaur section, almost everything else bored us to death

We went to the Toronto Islands. Many of us wanted to go to the volleyball beach (a code word for something else) in these islands, but there wasn't enough of the sun left for us to reach there in time. We had a long walk along the southern side of the islands. USA would have been visible on the other side of Lake Ontario but for the fog, which seemed almost creepy, as if a storm was building. Thankfully nothing happened.

As we approached Toronto downtown from the islands, it felt like we were nearing an alien city. A spectacular sight.

Dundas Square, the Times Square of Toronto

Closest to the target group (note university building immediately behind)