Toronto - Part 1

So, way back in August last year, after our road trip to Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side), we continued on to Toronto.  

Toronto is a diverse city, with a huge amount of development and construction taking place.  It kind of feels like it's still working out what it wants to be when it grows up, although the area has existed for a long, long time.  It's the provincial capital of Ontario, and the most populous city in Canada (over 2.5 million people).  In a weird deja-vu twist, when British troops purchased the land from the native Mississaugas, they established it as the "Town of York" (bit of a recurring theme for the British?).  It was renamed Toronto in 1834.

Our first views of the Toronto skyline were dominated by the CN Tower, and that was one of our first sight-seeing stops for amazingly clear views of the sprawling city.  

The Tower also has a glass floor so that you can really appreciate how high you are.  At 553.33m, it was the world's tallest "free-standing structure", up until 2007 when it was eclipsed by the Burj Khalifa.

In fact, there were many architectural surprises in Toronto, with a significant mix of old and new, which made it all the more interesting.  

From the kooky sculptures on the Rogers Centre Stadium...



  

To a local news studio literally "breaking news"...

...to its very own Flatiron building...

...to the the Hockey Hall of Fame (now situated in a former bank building),

to the controversial Royal Ontario Museum - there was so much to see!

Having safely descended the Tower, we obviously had to visit the Aquarium, helpfully located at the bottom, and we spent a contented few hours watching beautifully surreal jellyfish, weirdly happy-looking rays and lots and lots of sharks swimming just overhead.

From there, in need of refreshment by this time, Hubby conveniently spotted the Steam Whistle Brewery just next door, in part of a former locomotive repair site, now also a railway museum and restaurant.  But back to the beer - or rather, lager - reportedly a "premium pilsner lager" (bleuughhh).  We took a guided tour of the brewery, where they explained the brewing process which utilises only four natural ingredients - Canadian spring water, hops from the Czech Republic and Germany, barley and yeast.  The lager has won many awards.  Needless to say, Hubby happily drank all my free samples as well as his own...

Afterwards, needing some "fresh air", we took a long walk (admittedly a little further than we'd perhaps intended), all the way to the other side of the city, to the Distillery District.  This is (unsurprisingly) a former whisky distillery site, whose buildings now house cafes, restaurants, galleries and boutique shops.  And also, actual black squirrels.  Who knew?

New York, New York

Between Christmas and New Year we took a trip up to New York for a few days.  We decided to try out the train service from our local Amtrak station in Lancaster, and it was surprisingly easy - only 2 1/2 hours to Penn Station.  (I can see us taking more train trips in the future...)  From Penn Station, we eventually navigated the process of getting new metro cards and the metro itself to get to our hotel near Times Square.




And then we hit the sights!  Despite being very chilly, it was still extremely busy.  We headed along 5th Avenue towards the Rockefeller Center, taking in St Patricks Cathedral (looking very pretty in the fading light)...








...and then the very loud and flashy (and eventually, annoyingly repetitive), light show at Saks.  

The huge Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center looked beautiful all lit up.  We also found some oversized Christmas lights and baubles on nearby 6th Avenue.


We had intended to head to the top of the Rockefeller Tower (supposedly better views from there than from the Empire State Building), but sadly it was too overcast and foggy, so we bought tickets for the following evening, hoping to beat the queues.  By this time we were hungry and thirsty, and stopped at the Spotted Pig (apparently co-owned by Jay-Z) for much needed sustenance.

Day Two started out at Ground Zero, with a first stop at Trinity Church.  The Church dates back to 1766 and was George Washington's place of worship.  It also survived the events of 9/11 completely unscathed, whilst the surrounding buildings were destroyed.  It served as a refuge base for the rescue workers on the days following the attacks. and there is a thought-provoking display of service memorabilia inside.  We were also lucky to catch an orchestral rehearsal in progress - lovely to just sit and listen to the musical acoustics inside the small church.

From there, we wondered past the huge queues at Memorial Plaza and the Reflecting Pools, and past One World Trade Center (which disappeared disconcertingly into the lingering low cloud above us), before a gentle stroll along the Hudson River and some murky views of the Statue of Liberty.

After a pit-stop for food, we headed into Central Park, visiting Strawberry Fields...

... the Bow Bridge 

and my favourite, the Alice in Wonderland sculpture.  

A few more minor sights later (the cubist Apple Store, Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building), and it was time for our trip to the "Top of the Rock" - the observation decks of the Rockefeller Tower.  And despite the low cloud and mist we had experienced all day, it magically lifted as the sun went down, and we were able to get some amazingly clear views of downtown New York at night.

All too soon, it was our final day, but we still managed to squeeze in some final sights.  The High Line is a re-purposed train line, now a walking trail ("linear park") which runs through the historic meat packing district.  We walked a small stretch of this, taking in more views along the Hudson, 

before we reached the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.  Lots of historic aircraft, and also the USS Enterprise Shuttle.  

And then our brief few days in New York were over, and we were headed back to Penn Station. But after all that walking, it was nice to just rest our legs and relax on the train with happy memories for the journey home!

Lititz Fire & Ice Festival

As the snowy weather over here continues, last weekend was, quite literally, freezing cold. The forecast low temperature was 0°F  (-17°C) with a wind chill making it even colder. It wasn't unusual to see people going out in their ski gear, with only their eyes peeking out between lowered woolly hats and raised scarves.

Driving anywhere was interesting, as the freezing wind blew snow across the road from the open farmlands either side:

So, naturally, it seemed like the perfect weekend to check out the annual Fire & Ice Festival in Lititz! This event is held annually, and combines beautiful ice sculptures (sponsored by local businesses) with a chilli cook-off.  Many of the sculptures are placed around Springs Park, which is where we headed, but some were also hidden in spots around the town itself (we didn't venture that far!).  On the previous night,  they had been lit up, and some were even sculpted "live".

We'd sadly missed the warming chilli by the time we got there, late afternoon, but were content to brave the temperatures and check out the ice sculptures.  It was so cold, in fact, that even the spring water was steaming!  

In the chilly winter sunshine and remaining snow in Springs Park, the ice looked very pretty. Some of them were a little tricky photograph in the sunshine, but see if you can work out what they are!

Thoroughly frozen by this time, we were happy to head back to the car and to somewhere much warmer for a well-deserved hot-chocolate!