Day 3: 12 May 2017, Friday

It’s Day 3 of our trip, and we have a full day in Toronto today so we basically went on a walking tour around the city. We set off at about 9:45am. It was a chilly and cloudy day, with the temperature hovering around 11 degrees Celsius. From our apartment at Clarence Square, we took a leisurely stroll to Rogers Centre, just 500m away.

Rogers Centre is a huge stadium and it is the home ground of the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Toronto Bluejays. It is a multi-purpose stadium and it can be used to host baseball games (over 49,000 capacity), American football, soccer and concerts. Coldplay sold out two nights here in August 2017 and performed to almost 100,000 screaming fans.

Right beside Rogers Centre is the iconic CN Tower. It is so named because of the railway company Canadian National, which built the tower. When completed in 1976, it was the world’s tallest free-standing structure at 553.3m for 32 years until it was overtaken by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The tower is visible from everywhere in Toronto and it is undoubtedly the city’s icon.

Up on CN Tower, there is a lookout and a revolving restaurant called 360 located 350m above ground level. I had made a reservation for dinner at the restaurant so we would be returning again in the evening. At the foot of the tower is Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, which houses over 16,000 aquatic animals. We only popped in for a look but did not pay to enter.

The whole area around CN Tower comprises the Entertainment District of Toronto, home to theatres, performing arts centres, cultural and family attractions. It is concentrated around King Street West further north, between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue.

From the aquarium, we walked to Union Station, a major train station and transport hub. We continued walking along Front Street West and saw many tall and grand buildings. It was like our Shenton Way and CBD area in Singapore. We eventually reached St. Lawrence Market at about 11:05am.

St. Lawrence Market is a large indoor farmer’s market selling fresh produce such as vegetables, fruits, meat and seafood. There were also bakeries and some souvenir shops. We came across a stall selling “the world famous peameal bacon on a bun” and decided to try it. It cost CAD$6.45 (S$6.68) and it is basically a bun stuffed with four slices of bacon. No veggies, just meat. It was nice but a bit of a bacon overload actually. In all, we spent about 1 hour 20 minutes at St. Lawrence Market.

From there, we walked up north and passed by the Cathedral Church of St. James and popped in for a quick look. It was very quiet and peaceful at that hour.

Next, we turned west towards Nathan Phillips Square. We came here because of the big “TORONTO” sign in front of Toronto City Hall (aka New City Hall), which is a popular spot for photo-taking. During our visit, the sign was undergoing some maintenance works and the shallow reflective pool in front of the sign was empty, so it was a bit disappointing we did not get to see it in its full glory.

We then backtracked past the Old City Hall building and popped into the CF Toronto Eaton Centre for some window shopping. Eaton Centre is a huge mall with over 300 stores and restaurants. It is connected to two subway stations, making it North America’s busiest mall. As we were saving our shopping for the premium outlet malls, we mainly just window shopped and had a late lunch at the basement food court. We then went back to our apartment for a short rest before dinner.

My reservation at the 360 Restaurant was at 6:45pm. We reached CN Tower early and joined a special queue to take the elevator up to the restaurant. The restaurant was 350m above ground but the elevator ride seemed to take no time at all. We were led to a table by the window, where we had an amazing view of the city below. I picked this time slot because I hoped to be able to view the sunset while enjoying our dinner. However, it had been cloudy all day so sadly, the anticipated beautiful sunset did not materialise.

For dinner, you could choose between the two prix fixe (fixed priced) options – either a 2-course meal at CAD$65 or a 3-course meal at CAD$79 (all prices before tax). I chose the former. The price includes complimentary access to the Look Out level at 346m and the Glass Floor at 342m after the meal, so I felt it was quite reasonable. A general admission Tower Experience ticket to the Look Out and Glass Floor levels costs CAD$36 already.

The 2-course meal comprises of a main course and an appetiser or a dessert. Since we ordered three meals, we decided to have two appetisers and one dessert. The food was decent but the main highlight was the view, which was awesome. We spent about 1 hour 45 minutes at dinner, during which the restaurant made almost two complete revolutions. As we were about to leave at 8:20pm, the sun finally emerged from the clouds briefly before descending into the horizon.

Here’s a time lapse video of the view from our table…one hour compressed into 39 seconds:

We then went to the Glass Floor level to have a look. Well, it’s not exactly an entire level made of glass but rather, only a few small glass panels strategically positioned on the floor. From here, it is 342m to the ground below. Those with a fear of heights will probably skip this, but it is actually not scary at all. The glass panels are 2.5 inches thick and they can bear the weight of 35 moose, so you can even jump on them and they won’t break.

Also on this level is the Outdoor SkyTerrace. We stepped out for a breeze in the rapidly cooling night air. The view here was obscured by the mesh wire so it was a bit pointless, really. Anyway, we more than had our fill of the view during dinner already.

We didn’t linger for very long and went back to our apartment to retire for the night. Heading to Algonquin Provincial Park tomorrow!