Toronto Bus Tour, Part 1
September 11, 2014
My last morning in Niagara-on-the-Lake I had the breakfast buffet at the hotel, since I would be heading on to Toronto and wanted to fill up rather than having to consider lunch. A limo picked me up to take me to meet the bus that would transport me to the hotel in Toronto. Once I checked in, I decided I'd walk to a stop where I could catch the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. I was booked for a three-day pass for the bus. That also included a boat tour on Lake Ontario. I decided to wait until the next day for the boat tour when the weather would be warmer and more likely to be sunnier.
The CN Tower was almost due south from my hotel. Since it is near the lake and is very tall, it makes a great guide for orientation. Wherever you are, the tower is more or less south. Later I heard a guide say that if you want to be known as a tourist, pronounce the second "t" in "Toronto." If you want to be known as an American tourist, call it the "CNN Tower."
When I arrived at the bus stop, a tour bus was waiting there, and they gave me a receipt to use as my ticket for the bus and the boat. The bus was a double-decker with an open top level. It was a bit "airish" as we say back home, but the top was a great place to see the town and take pictures. All the rest of the day's pictures posted below were taken from the bus.
I wasn't surprised that one of the grandest buildings in town is the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The guide on the bus said that the site of this Big Wax Car Wash was where something really important happened. I don't remember what it was however. So here's a picture of the car wash building for you to contemplate its historic significance. Maybe it was where the first parliament building was burned down by American troops, or maybe it was the first distillery.
St. Lawrence Hall is used for large gatherings, weddings, receptions, and such.
The Old City Hall
The Canada Life Building has a weather beacon on top.
Hudson's Bay Company was chartered in 1670 as a fur trading company and was given control of the whole basin that feeds the bay. It was the de facto government until Britain and France started fighting over territory, and the company became outfitters and had customers who paid in cash rather than pelts. They got completely out of the fur business decades ago. They currently own the Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue stores, also. The headquarters building is a nearby tower.
Massey Hall was the main concert hall in Toronto until the 1980s. To celebrate its centennial, they remodeled the basement and put in a bar and allowed the sale of alcohol.
The bus stopped for a break, and I watched a street performer for a while. By the time I decided to shoot some video of him, he decided to take a break. So the video is just 28 seconds long.
