This weekend is 'Toronto open door', a tourism driven event in which many cultural and historical buildings are open to the public for free. I never knew this till Sheryl told me. However the saying goes 'nothing good comes for free'. We visited
Casa Loma, the largest private residence in Canada and found out only the garden is free but not the interior. The entrance fee is 16 bucks and the splendid ornaments are worth every penny. There is simply no boundary of where luxury can go. I'm once again convinced we're born hedonists.
My camera was dead after 20 photo shots. Then Sheryl's went dead too, followed by Gang. Well well...
The audio guide (a walkie talkie thing) had extensive historical background in it, most of them stories and jokes. It never made any sense to me anyway. Here's what I know in a nutshell: The castle was commissioned by Sir Henry (whoever you are) but was never fully completed. The hall and the underground swimming pool were left unfinished. In a financial crisis Henry had to sell off a large portion of his art work and deco collection for an obscenely cheap price (I pity you). There are 4 stories in the building:
lower level: basement, wine cellar, furnice, secret tunnel to the stable
1st floor: hall, study room, library, conservatory (my favourite place)
2nd: Henry & Lady Pellate's bedroom+bathroom, also several guest rooms, one modelled after Chinese architect and the other for the royal family
3rd: servant's room, mini rifle museums and staircase leading to the tower
Most impressive is the staircase to the tower. It's a steep climb on what resembles a tightly wound helix. To climb down one floor you'll have to spin around 2 or 3 times in a stuffy, low oxygen chamber, the walls around which were covered with tourist graffiti from all over the world.
Too many photos. Here's the first part of the tour - the veges. Takes a botanist to name all the flowers!! Some photos were taken by Gang. I pay credit where it's due so don't hurt me!
Castle through the trees, photo credit Gang
an ornate chair in the garden, Renaissance style
牡丹花还真是显眼啊，肥大的花朵在众多小花中显得格外慷慨。原来觉得我们的国花是牡丹还真够俗，现在又喜欢上了，大的真爽！
So cute and appetising!
Haha I play around with it a lot in childhood. Who knows the English name for it? You throw it on someone's back and it'll stick to the clothes, especially woolen ones.
white bells
How gaudy can they get??!
Wild duck grooming in the pond (under a thousand tourists' eyes), photo credit Gang
Reminds me of wedding flowers. Photo credit Gang
me holding a funny piece of tree bark torn off by Gang. It's flimsy white and highly polished. You can practically use it as paper. Photo credit Gang
Sundae shaped pine guarded by a circle of orange tulips, photo credit Gang
Furry leaves, like a little doggie's ear XD, photo credit Gang
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Something surprised me. I resemble mum a lot in this photo, which is rare.Nostalgic too.
