A Winter Walk In Downtown Toronto

 The other day Neal and I decided to take a walk in downtown Toronto.  As we were walking we saw this old building that was blended into a new condo tower.  I was interested to know what this was.  It use to belong to The Royal Canadian Military.  Inside they have a small museum describing the various battles that took place in the city.  It was really interesting how they blended the old with the new.



As we walked along we saw Osgoode Hall, with it's tall black iron fence around the grounds.  There is so much history in that building as it's been around since the 1840's .  Next we saw City Hall and all of the families skating on the reflecting pool at Nathan Phillips Square.  Since it is still the holidays there was quite the crowd.  We also saw Old City Hall as well.

Finally we came to our destination, The Eaton's Centre.  Of course the first thing one does at this time of the year is to look at the windows of The Bay.  They are beautifully decorated for Christmas.  Each year the windows have different scenes that move and have holiday music. 

 As we entered the Eaton's Centre we found this interesting spot called the Urban Lodge.  It's a comfy place to rest your tired feet and relax by the fake fire.  The fire even sounds like a fire burning.  You can't get much more Canadian than that.

 Here Neal found the Blue Jays store.  It had all sorts of Blue Jays fan stuff (hats, shirts, jackets, etc.).  This may have been Neal's favourite store in the entire mall.

Just before we got back on the subway to go home, we walked to Yonge-Dundas Square.  There is always something interesting to see there.  They still had all of the Christmas decorations lit up.  It was really nice.

I'm a bit sad to say that one of my favourite stores is no longer there.  The World's Biggest Bookstore had been a fixture for as long as I can remember.  It's now gone, probably to make way for yet another condo tower.  I use to go there as far back as I can remember.  I loved to look at the books and magazine.  The loss of many historic buildings to condo towers makes me sad.  We throw away our city's vast history so easily.  Do we really need more condos?  I think not!!!  Why not come to Toronto and take a historical walking tour of our city.  You'll have a great time no matter what time of year it is.

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 First off let me wish you a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and whatever other festival of lights you may celebrate.  My the coming new year be awesome for you!

Every year my husband and I take on the task of creating some sort of gingerbread creation.  So far we've made gingerbread men, gingerbread homes, a ginger train and this year, well it takes a village.  We made an entire village.  Let me start by saying, it may look cute and rather festive but it was a difficult project to put together.  The instructions were horribly written and all of the pieces were attached and extremely difficult to break apart without breaking them.  All in all we would never attempt this village ever again.  Next year we will be back to building a gingerbread house.

For all of you Dr. Who fans I was going to decorate the small square building in front to make it look like Dr. Who's Tardis but couldn't do it justice as I didn't have the correct colour blue icing. 

Chanukah ends tonight.  We lit the 8th candle and said the prayer.  We ate some latkas.....oh they tasted so good.  Happy Holidays everyone!  Enjoy your various festivals of light.