So…where was I? Oh yes…we had just spent a great day in Niagara Falls! We topped off the evening with a very nice dinner in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The next day, we took a road trip to Toronto. About 50 miles up the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), a large interstate-style highway that curves around the western edge of Lake Ontario. Lots of lake views, plenty of nurseries, vineyards and fruit orchards to admire until you hit the Toronto suburbs. When the skyline came into view, the traffic slowed down some and we were staring at the CN Tower for quite some time:

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

We parked underneath the Rogers Centre (formerly the Toronto SkyDome, where the Blue Jays play). This put us in convenient distance from several touristy attractions, so first things first: the CN Tower!

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

After paying the $25 CD per person for the elevator ride up to the top (compared to the ~$20 for the Empire State Building), we were greeted with a grand view of the city and Lake Ontario! The Northeast US was suffering a heatwave this particular week, and Toronto was feeling some of that heat. Therefore, there was some haze in the sky but otherwise the view was pretty unimpeded. In 1992 (my previous trip) when we attempted the trip up, there was a cloud deck that made the elevator ride useless. This is our view towards the northwest — looking away from the lakeshore:

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

A relatively new attraction at the CN Tower was the glass floor. I’ll admit, even though I’m relatively NOT afraid of heights, this freaked me out some! It was several minutes before I would step out fully onto the glass!

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

After the CN Tower, we toured around the recently-restored Canadian National John Street roundhouse that’s right at the base of the tower. There were several static display locomotives to admire, and Dave and I were attempting a picture of a CN locomotive in front of the CN Tower. Dave’s turned out very good:

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

It was lunchtime and Dave and I wandered the streets a bit for something for lunch. We caught sight of a noodlehouse sign in front of CBC Centre. It’s the little yellow folding sign in front of the doors:

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

Dave enjoyed a bento box, while I had bimimbap, yum!

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

So after lunch, we did some more walking, but with the heat, we started to lean towards indoor attractions. The Hockey Hall of Fame wouldn’t stop calling for us. The signs were everywhere! So we made our way over….it’s actually in a beautifully restored Bank of Montreal building.

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

Lots of cool stuff to see here! I’m not that much of a hockey fan…I enjoy going to games with my boys, but I don’t have the same allegiances that Dave has to his NY Islanders, or my boys have to their Carolina Hurricanes. I still had a great time, though.

The highlight of our trip to the Hall of Fame was definitely getting to visit the Stanley Cup. It’s the “Replica” Stanley Cup, which is used when the real thing is traveling with the winning team. It’s EXACTLY the same, except for one error in one name in the engraving. The real thing is currently spending the requisite 100 days with the Chicago Blackhawks right now.

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

A professional was available to take our picture, and we could enter a code in a computer in the gift shop to preview the picture. My camera accidentally went off in front of the preview screen…

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

We slowly made our way back to our truck after the HHOF. Dave got several great pictures of train action moving in and out of Toronto’s Union Station:

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

For dinner, we stopped at Tim Horton’s (again!). This time in Niagara-on-the-Lake:

From 2010 07 08 Toronto Visit

The next part — onward to Penn State!