Our friends L & M from Kingston came to visit this past weekend. It's the first time we've seen them since their wedding back in August, so it was great to have them here. Not only are the good friends, but they force us to become tourists in our own city. Last time they visited, we went to the Toronto Zoo and had a blast. This time they wanted to visit Casa Loma, a castle built here in TO back in the day by a rich guy who lost everything in the Great Depression. It's now a tourist attraction, and kind of neat.
This is the library, located just off of the great hall. You can't tell from this picture, but most of the books are actually fake. When the castle was privately owned, though, it was filled with the family's books.
I took this picture of the lady of the castle's sitting room because I think I could spend a significant amount of time here. Look at all that gorgeous light! There are comfy chairs to curl up in with a book or a craft project, a piano to play when the mood struck - and servants to clean it up when need be. Me likey :)
After touring all the main floors (there were three of them), we climbed an endless number of spiral stairs up into the highest tower to see the view from the little windows (that's M, taking a pic of the view). Every available surface of the tower was covered in the signatures of others who had made the climb, people from all over the world which was neat.
From the top of the castle we went all the way down to the bottom, through the secret tunnel that connects the main castle with some of the outbuildings. First stop...
...the potting shed. Apparently the grounds of the estate are spectacular, and after seeing this place I completely believe it! We'll have to go back in the summer to see the gardens. The next stop (and the final one)...
...the stables. The original family that owned the castle had quite the horse collection from the looks of things. What struck me was that it hasn't been inhabited in more than 50 years, but it still smelled like horse pee. Mmm. And, tucked away behind a locked door and down a shadowy hall, we beheld a rather creepy sight...
I bet you didn't know that Santa and his helpers hung out in the basement of the stables of Casa Loma during their off season, did you?
Creepy Santa workshop notwithstanding, I think my impression of our visit to Casa Loma was summed up rather nicely by another visitor:
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