Alive and Kicking

Long weekend indeed!

As is our custom, Kim and I spent the May long weekend celebrating our anniversary by doing something special. This year since it was our tenth anniversary, we took a trip to Toronto and did lots of touristy things.

It did not start well. Friday night as we were packing I felt sick to my stomach and come Saturday morning I was not improved. Nausea, lack of appetite, and concern I was coming down with the flu put a damper on the morning but I refused to give up and cancel the weekend. We hit the road and I popped some gravol.

We made it to Toronto and checked into our hotel by the early afternoon. Once safely unpacked, we got pack in the car and went downtown to check out the CN Tower. I normally get butterflies in my stomach when faced with heights so since I was already feeling ill a few times I wondered if I was pushing my luck too far. But I kept my lunch down and the view was quite inspiring if intimidating. Kim played on the glass floor at one point, but I took a pass.

From the main level we got in a long long line to go up to the skypod, the highest man-made observation platform in the world. The wait in the line was not only a long time, it was hot and stuffy too. But the view from on top of the world was amazing.

Next stop we walked over to the Hockey Hall of Fame and browsed there for a while. It was very well done and visually stimulating, and they had a sitting theatre set up with the Sens versus Sabres game on. We watched the overtime period and caught Alfie's game winner. Go Sens Go! We didn't stay long as we had to go back uptown for Kim's Allergy pills so she could watch the show at Medieval Times in peace.

I admit Medieval Times is an event more for kids than adults, but Kim and I are young at heart and enjoy a good time which we did. At this point in the day, my flip flopping tummy was more flopping than flipping, so I was able to enjoy the show with Kim without worry. The Knight of our section was the hero of the show and won the princess' heart. Yay us.

Sunday dawned cloudy and cold, and my stomach was settled but not hungry. We ate a quick breakfast and hit the road to the Metro Zoo. We've been to the zoo several times in the past and always enjoyed it, but I admit some disappointment this time. It was so cool a lot of the outside animals were hunkered down for the day out of the wind and it was very busy inside making it hard to see at times. Also, we've been very spoiled by visits to Parc Safari where the animals can come right up to your window to eat and the big cat enclosures have glass tunnels right through the middle allowing you to get face to face with the lions and tigers. At the Metro Zoo, the big animals were often far away behind wire fences and barricades.

Another sore point was that at the end of the day we still hadn't seen everything and our legs were exhausted. Perhaps paying extra for the zoomobile tour might have been advised.

On the upside, they had a new exhibit called Dinosaurs Alive that we thought was going to be corny and more for kids but I found to be quite enthralling and informative. I won't ruin it for anyone else that might see it, but it made the day for me.

Lastly, on Monday after checking out we went to the Royal Ontario Museum where we got our recommended dose of high culture for the year. I like history and learning about other cultures as much as the next nerd, but for the most part I found a lot of their displays and explanatory blurbs to be lacking in excitement or detail. A lot of sections seemed like disconnected bit of trivia with no unifying thrust. Sometimes there would be some cool areas, but they seemed to be the exception rather than the rule.

Or maybe its just that I'm more into science and hands on activities and someone else would appreciate the ROM more. To each their own I guess.

To summarize:

CN tower: must do at least once in your life.
Hockey Hall of Fame: Do it for any true hockey fan.
Medieval Times: Good show m'lord!
Metro Zoo: Ups and Downs, but mostly ups.
ROM: Give it a pass.