Olga and the kids shared a small bed in the motel, but they have slept 11 hours closely cuddling. Tim had the other bed for his own, next to the open window, and he was shiffering the whole night.
We take a shower and buy some fruits and vegetables at the Your Local Grocery to up our vitamines. We eat them while driving South towards Toronto. The snow disapears fast and the sun is shining. First stop is a waterfall in the small town of Bracebridge. The waterfall has lost most of its form as it’s just a huge white rush of water.
After two more hours of driving we can see Toronto’s skyline in front of us. We stop to visit The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, showing much work of the group seven. Six of the seven members are burried in the sculpture garden. We also see many paintings of the Algonquin Park, we regret we could not stay there longer as it looks stunning. The works of art are geographically grouped together this way we get a great picture of the rest of Canada which we’ll have to visit some other time. The kids are also sad as they had a lovely colouring corner they don’t want to leave.
The closer we get to Toronto the busier the road gets, before we know it we’re driving on a 6 lane express way surrounded by thousands of cars, when we started this morning it was just us and one or two other cars. Traffic is slow but eventually we get to our next stop the Aga Khan musuem.
This museum is dedicated to islamic art from all over the world, including Iran, India and Turkey. At the back of the ceramics room is a room with childrens toys so we take turns to see the upstairs exhibition about playing games around the world, including the world oldest chess board (Iran 11th century)
We buy the Toronto City Pass (valid for 9 days) to visit Casa Loma, Toronto’s castle- style mansion and garden built in 1914. The parking is full, so Olga & kids exit the car while Tim waits for a parking spot.
There are three floor full of decorated rooms. We recognise paintings of the group seven on the walls, although we also learn that Sir Henry Pellatt (financer and first owner) was known for buying fake paintings at auctions.
There are several rooms with exhibitions about the history of the land house, the stables were used to conceal research and production of sonar. We continue up, pass two smaller escape game floors to visit the tower, enjoying a nice view of Toronto.
It’s busy in the landhouse. It makes us think of the many landhouses we visited in the UK last summer.
When we’re back down, half of the ground floor is blocked for a wedding. Stylish people are gathering and walk up and down nervously.
We drive through Toronto to get to our motel on the outskirts. We’ll be visiting Olga’s family tomorrow, so no need to stay in the expensive city center. Sadly, we were a bit too skimpy and we’re staying in a typical roadside motel, it’s smelly and Cleo describes it as the dirtiest holiday stay ever. Luckily it’s only for one night, so we eat our microwave meals, read a book and get into bed.
