Apr 19 2011

Toronto Day 4: The CN Tower, and Kitchener for the second show

Again we thought that we may be greeted by the sun in Toronto, but alas, overcast skies with high chances of precipitation. However, according to the forecast, the morning would have clearer skies than the afternoon. As such, we headed downtown to visit the CN Tower. The CN tower was the tallest building in the world until that monster was built in Dubai.

Once downtown on Front Street, we found a parking lot and figured that we would just walk to the Tower. In that parking lot, there was this really strange advertisement from Evian water that had pictures of adults with babies’ bodies superimposed on them, so it looked like babies with adult heads. Apparently it is some ad for releasing your inner youth.

Anyway, we made it to the CN Tower, and I had looked at the possibility of going to the 360 Restaurant located just above the visitor area of the Tower. There was a lengthy queue, but we bypassed it by making reservations to eat at 360. We hopped on the lift, and it scared the daylights out of me to see even the taller buildings in the city go racing by the window.

At the 360–and as the name implies–the floor rotated around the Tower, so that diners could view the entire panoramic. We sat down for our three-course meal. I started with these really nicely prepared sweet potato fries, and she had a spinach and Brie tart. For our main courses, I had prime rib with roasted garlic bread pudding and asparagus, and she had salmon. Lastly, I had an apple-almond strudel with pineapple ice cream, and she had a chocolate mousse tower with re-hydrated fruits.

After lunch, we went down a floor to the observation area of the Tower. Having just seen the entire city one floor higher, there wasn’t all that much to see below. However, there was an area that had incredibly thick lexan plates for flooring, so that one could see straight down. Being a wimp, I couldn’t even walk over them and wondered how all these kids were okay with jumping on the panes. Fearless.

We then headed back to the hotel to change for the Libera performance in Kitchener-Waterloo. The drive was a little less than an hour, so it went by quickly. KW is a much smaller town (more of a college feel) than the big city, and so we walked to find a little cafe for tea before the show.

The Kitchener show was a bit special as it was in a theatre (the Centre in the Square). It was a large auditorium, but we had front-row, dead centre seats (which apparently was a guessing game for people involved with the show–they couldn’t wait to see who had seats 19 and 20). Though the performance was essentially the same as the night before, each show is a little bit different. The new talks that the choristers gave during this tour were fun and cute. For instance, Freddie and Cassius had a little spiel about the hoods on their robes. Freddie pulled Cassius’s hood over his head, and proceeded to leave him out in the middle of the stage. Also, they talked about wanting to see a moose in Canada, considering their choir mascot is a moose named… “moose.” It seemed like one of the primary soloists (Stefan) had a bit of a cough, but he managed to execute his parts beautifully regardless.

As with the night before, the show ended way too quickly, and we were off again. Before we left, though, we spent some time talking with many of the great people that we met on this tour (Kent, Lauren, Stephanie, Sean, Beth, and Charles, just to name a few). We headed back to the hotel room and packed for our departure in the morning.

|:| Zach |:|

Apr 18 2011

Toronto Day 3: The Village, Thai, and the first show

Today we woke up to see more rain… bummer. Also, it was quite cold, so we couldn’t get to the zoo again. We decided to go downtown to see what the “big city” was like. We started out by going to this cafe that we visited when we were in Toronto about 4 years ago. It was called the Village Rainbow Restaurant, and was located in Toronto’s “Village” at Church and Wellesley (near the University). We just stopped in for coffee and tea, but the homemade desserts did look tempting.

After that, we walked around a few blocks to see what there was to see. There’s wasn’t all that much that was interesting, except this storefront that was advertising the Charlie Sheen “Winning” doll. That gave a good laugh. Instead of giving up our parking spot, we decided to just walk to our lunch destination. It was only about seven blocks to the Salad King Thai restaurant, so no big deal. However, it started to snow, and the flakes grew exponentially until they were approximately the size of golf balls and could knock you out if they got ya’ in the temple.

The Salad King had great reviews, and had just reopened after a fire a few months beforehand. The newly-renovated building was decorated in a really fancy, modern, and colourful way. The door on the inside of the bathroom said “Ahhhhhhhh, that feels better.” Anyway, I got this meal with some chicken, carrots, and onions in a spicy sauce with Kafir lime leaves. She got mango chicken, which was really an interesting flavour combination.

After our late lunch, we headed back to the hotel in order to get ready for the first of our Libera shows. This particular show was at the Islington United Church, which was only about ten minutes away. We showed up about 90 minutes early, and there were already a few people in queue. I called Sean and he relayed the message to Lauren to bring out the tickets. Unfortunately, it was dastardly cold outside and it started sleeting. Yet still, we waited in order to get the best seats possible. Little did we know that we were allowed to sit in the “reserved” rows in the front of the church. We took our seats, and waited for the show to begin.

The show was really nice, but the choristers seemed a bit cramped on the small stage. Further, I believe that the venue had been oversold, so there were people sitting everywhere, including on chairs in the aisle. Five members of the choir came out for the first song, and it seemed like only a few minutes before they were announcing their last song of the evening.

After the performance, we headed back toward the hotel, but weren’t ready to call it a night. We went over to the Woodbine racetrack and casino right across from the hotel. The restaurant was open until 00:30, so we had sandwiches and a glass of wine.

|:| Zach |:|

Apr 17 2011

Toronto Day 2: Niagara weather change

After a few hours sleep, we decided to get up and attempt to seize the day. Unfortunately the weather forecast was correct, and it was raining in the morning. Most of the things we planned for the day were outside, so we might have to rethink this itinerary. Instead of going to the CN Tower and the Toronto Zoo, we’ll head for Niagara Falls.

Before heading to Niagara though, we decided to stop at a place called Sweet India for some lunch. It was really affordable, and not bad at all for the price. On the way out, we saw all of their deserts. Thinking that we should try a bunch of them, I got a box of a dozen cookies and such. They were really interesting. These little pastries that looked like doughnut holes were actually wet because they had been soaked in syrup. We also got a bunch of different flavours of barfi, which is a bit like marzipan.

The drive around Lake Ontario (through Hamilton) was about 90 minutes, which wasn’t all that bad considering the poor road conditions due to the heavy rain and fog. Upon arrival, the rain was still pretty intense, but we tried to find parking to view the falls anyway. I found this place that said free parking with entry ticket. It turned out to be this bird aviary, which was quite cool! We went in, and there were three floors of differently-themed aviaries, each with birds native to that type of climate and environment. I took plenty of photos, and once I get home, I will try to upload some of them.

After the bird sanctuary, we decided that we would try to walk down and see the falls. It was quite chilly and damp, but we made the walk anyway. Right around the time that we got to the falls, the rain dissipated, the clouds cleared, and the sun came out. What a difference! Not only did it feel significantly warmer, but it really gave us the chance to see the falls like they should be seen. They were spectacular.

The drive back to Toronto was a lot nicer (and shorter) without the heavy rain. We made it back in a bit over an hour. Once back, we tried to find a place to eat, but unfortunately, many of the places on the GPS weren’t there anymore, or were closed. After driving around in circles, we went back to a place that was somewhat like a Chinese buffet. We bought a bottle of sake, and enjoyed a quick meal before heading back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we are going to try to see a bit of downtown, provided the weather isn’t as bad as today. 😉

|:| Zach |:|