This Week In Toronto...

The CN Tower

We've been living in Toronto for over a month now - does that mean we're no longer tourists? I don't think we qualify as locals just yet, so we must be somewhere in between the two extremes. In any case, we decided to experience one of the most popular tourist activities in Toronto this week: the CN (Canada's National) tower. Our tickets came courtesy of my thoughtful work colleagues as part of a farewell gift - thanks Wheatstone HR! There was a quite a crowd when we arrived, but fortunately the queue moved quickly and we were soon taking the 58 second escalator ride to the observation deck. At 350m, it provides a great view of the city and we were able to spot many landmarks we've already visited. We couldn't see our apartment from the tower as there are some other buildings in the way, but I was proud of my (usually poor) navigational ability to point in the right direction nonetheless. We took some tentative steps onto the glass-floored viewing deck, which was fun but slightly unsettling! Didn't feel brave enough to do the 'Edge Walk', where you dress up in an orange jumpsuit, get harnessed to a rope and lean over the edge of the CN tower. Maybe next time... (or not).

NYC in Toronto

Recently we saw a notice in our condo lobby advising tenants that a television crew would be filming on our street for a few days. Could this be my big break into a prime time TV series? Well, not exactly. But it was entertaining to watch them film a scene and to see our street filled with yellow NYC taxis!  If you're a fan of the show 'Alphas', please turn away now as I don't want to ruin anything for you. Personally, I've never heard of the show, but from what I could tell, this episode involves some girls walking out of a yoga class, one of them getting into an expensive looking car with a man, and the other two looking shocked as the car drives away. Once they had finished filming the first take, the director called for a re-set which meant that all the yellow taxis and other vehicles had to reverse back to the start of the street - pretty funny to watch! Apparently they film quite a lot of shows and movies in Toronto because it's much cheaper to do it here than in the States.

Personalised 'Pop'

Last week we saw a movie at the Scotiabank Theatre and tried out the 'Coca-cola Freestyle' pop fountains for the first time (I'm Canadian now so I have to say pop instead of soft drink). The machines use advanced medical technology to pour your choice of over 100+ Coca-cola beverages at the push of a button. You can even mix different drinks to create your own customised concoction - I opted for raspberry-vanilla coke zero, which was delicious!