We are cruising again! After we returned from our world cruise in May, we decided that we were done traveling for awhile. At least EXTENDED travel. We had several projects at home that we wanted to complete, had family obligations and our dogs were just getting to the age that they were difficult to leave. We made the decision that we would postpone our “bucket travel list” until Zoe and Tessa passed, afterall, they were 14 and 15 years old! We kept to this plan all summer. We (I) enjoyed gardening, dollhousing, traveling to see family and friends and enjoyed our visitors. Then, one day while walking the dogs, I realized how spry they still were and it made me realize that they could be around for quite a while longer, in fact, maybe so long that if we waited, WE may be TOO OLD ourselves to travel!
Then, the next day we received a Viking brochure in the mail that featured two upcoming cruises that peaked our interest. By upcoming, that meant departing in just 8 weeks! Both cruises checked our bucket list and by booking them back to back, we could stay in the same stateroom and minimize flying. Two other things sealed the deal for us. This was to be on the Viking Polaris, a new expedition ship that we have had our eye on AND it was to be a repositioning cruise so the price was great! We signed on the dotted line!
So, we are cruising again - this time for 35 days! We get on the ship in Toronto, cruise around Canada via the St. Lawrence River, travel the eastern United States coast to Fort Lauderdale. At Fort Lauderdale the second cruise begins. We head to the Panama Canal and down the western coast of South America to Santiago, Chile.
We departed Savannah and landed in Toronto. Toronto is a beautiful city! We stayed at a hotel right on the Harbour with views of the Toronto islands. It was in a popular part of the city and we could walk to tourist spots and nice restaurants. It was getting dark by the time we got to our hotel so we decided to forgo any touring and simply have a quiet dinner. We found a pub nearby, ate and enjoyed our evening walk back to the hotel.
Here we are at the Savannah airport, Toronto Airport and at Millers Pub where we shared an order of Fish and Chips. Yum!
Our hotel had beautiful harbour views!
The Hop-On-Hop-Off trolly stop was only two blocks away. That was the first thing we did after our quick breakfast sandwich at Starbucks. We always try to do the Hop-On-Hop-Off when we travel to a large city. We love the overview. This one was a two hour tour and we “hopped off” at Casa Loma which is a castle that was built by Sir Henry Pellatt, a Canadian entrepreneur, as a gift for his wife, Mary. It was stunning and huge! We found out that Henry lost his fortune and he was never able to complete the castle. It is now a museum owned by the city of Toronto that also pays tribute to the Canadian military and has many wartime artifacts. We spent at least two hours there and it was my favorite part of Toronto.
Here are some quick snapshots from the Hop-On-Hop-Off
Here are some - sorry, many! - photos of Casa Loma which I loved!
There was a Princess at the castle to greet us!
I loved the portraits of the Queen and the “Prince” in the Oak Room! Very comical!
The Gardens were Beautiful!
And the interiors were equally as stunning!
The Conservatory was my favorite room!
Study and Dining Room
Guest Room
Bathrooms!
More Bedrooms!
There was a tunnel in the basement area leading to the Carriage House and Stables. This tunnel was VERY LONG because the Carriage House and Stables were actually located across the street about a block away. The Castle gets decorated seasonally and is open to the public. We arrived just as the Castle was being transformed into a Halloween theme. The tunnel, stables and carriage house had been completely transformed into a “haunted area”. It was so well done!
Above the Carriage House was a “Hollywood” Section that featured life size wax figures of movie stars in the movie role that was actually filmed in the Castle! Amazing!
This is the exterior of the carriage house.
Views from the Hop-On-Hop-Off after we hopped back on. Road sign that says to “Squeeze Left” as the road narrowed. I loved that one. I also loved the name of the pub - Village Idiot!
After our Hop On Hop Off ride ended, we took a short ferry tour of Lake Ontario and the nearby Toronto Islands. There are 15 islands clustered together and joined by walking bridges. There are about 500 permanent residents of Toronto Islands. There are no cars permitted on the islands and residents can only access the islands by boat. There are also no grocery stores or other shopping venues on the islands. There are restaurants and probably tourist shops, however. It looks like it could be a charming place to call home!
On the way back to our hotel we stopped for a “Beaver Tail”. We chose the original cinnamon one which reminds us of what we call “elephant ears” back home. It was YUMMY!
After a quick change of clothes, we set out again for the CNN tower. We wanted to catch the views from above for both day and night. We caught it just right as the sun had not quite set by the time we reached the top. Toronto is stunning!
We walked back to our hotel and on the way stopped at a nice restaurant on the Harbour for dinner. It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful (albeit tiring) day. Tomorrow we board our ship!
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