Toronto Day 2

CN Tower Imposing, originally uploaded by Tim McDonald.

Today was my first full day in Toronto and my main objective was to check out as much of the city as I could as I was off to Niagara Falls all of the next day. My main objective was to check out the CN Tower. A boat cruise on the lake was also recommended.

Today's weather was not as good as yesterday's; it was muggier with a few clouds around and with some darker clouds moving in. The forecast called for storms later in the day.

At first, I just walked around town, following some of the main streets to see where they would take me and worked my way to the CN Tower after taking a short cut through some 'ghetto-ey' looking area. There were a couple of drops of rain, but the weather held.

It costs about $30 to go up the CN Tower, depending on what optional 'extras' you want to take in. I just did the main observation deck, glass floor, and sky pod. From underneath, the Tower looks like a jet engine stuck on a skewer. It takes about 45 seconds for the lift to reach the main observation deck. Once there the view is spectacular; far better than the Space Needle in Seattle. Unfortunately, the clouds had rolled in by then so it was quite grey outside. You can go outside as well up there onto a lower deck and the wind is quite strong, possibly stronger than normal due to the approaching storms. The lower deck also has a glass floor which allows you to stand over and look down on the street some hundred-odd storeys below. Not the place for those with a fear of heights.It gets better though- you can another elevator to the skypod, an obsevation deck even further up. Had to queue up for about 10 minutes before I could go up. Once there, the view is even better.

According to the stats, the sky pod is 147 storeys or 447m (1465ft) off the ground. There were a group of young Australians in the lift on the way down and when one of the blokes was asked what he thought of it he simply said in true Aussie style "it was sick".

After the CN Tower, with sky getting darker I took a one hour tour by boat of Lake Ontario. This tour only cost $16 and gave a great view of the city from the water.

The tour goes out through the 15 islands (14 natural and 1 man-made) in the harbour, past yacht clubs and even an amusement park. Aparently, the Everglades chase scene from one of the Police Academy movies was actually shot around the Toronto Islands. Whilst in the harbour, the name of a moored ship caught my eye: "Capt Matthew Flinders". I found it strange that a ship bearing his name would be about as far away from South Australia as you could get.

The last activity of the day was found purely by chance. I happened to be walking past an old train yard in front of the CN Tower and saw that it had a sign saying 'Steamwhistle Brewery" above the door. Breweries are always good and brewery tours are even better. I'd never heard of Steamwhistle before so thought I'd check it out. As luck would have it, they offered brewery tours and the next one started in 15 minutes. The cost was $8 and that included a number of free 'samples' and a souvenir bottle opener or glass. I chose the bottle opener. Steamwhistle only makes one beer- a Pilsner and it's actually quite good. Slighlty bitter, but a very crisp, clean taste. Had a couple of 'samples' while I waited for the tour to begin. Once the tour began, we were immediately instructed to go to the bar to top up our glass to take with us on the tour. My third free beer of the day. Sweet. We headed outside and sat down to listen to the guide explain the history of the brewery (started by 3 blokes retrenched when the brewery they used to work for was bought out). At this time, the heavens opened up. Like Australia, and unlike Vancouver, when it rains in Toronto, it really rains. Vancouver rain is lighter and prolonged, here in Toronto it just dumps and gets it over and done with. The way it should rain. We continued the tour inside and then headed back to the bar where we had more free beers and waited for the rain to stop. Like the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam, the Steamwhistle brewery gets brewery touring right: an intersting tour, a useful souvenir, is cheap, and free beer. After about half an hour of drinking and waiting I'd had enough of waiting and headed back in to town. By now the rain was easing and it was time for dinner. Had a good meal at a little italian place near the hotel. Linguine and meatballs with ricotta in the centre. Yum.