ruthdelacruz

travel & lifestyle blog by ruth dela cruz

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A Visit to Casa Loma (Old Castle in Toronto)

March 30, 2013

How would you feel if someone tells you that he wants your (his and your) house to be as grand as Casa Loma?

Well.. if you haven’t seen Casa Loma, you might feel giggly and blush-y.. but once you get to see and tour the “castle” (yes, it is a castle!), you would worry how you can keep the entire place clean and tidy.
Welcome to Casa Loma! This blog is looong over-due, and might be the last entry for my Canada series.

Here is an old picture of the castle
Something about history, it was built for 3 years from 1911 to 1914, and was the residence of Sir Henry Mill Pelatt. It was never a residence of any government official, but Casa Loma was used to conceal research on sonar and sonar devices during World War II. 
How to get to Casa Loma?
Let’s get Downtown Toronto as our starting point. From Downtown, Toronto, the nearest subway station is Dundas. From Dundas, take the Southbound train and alight at Dupont. From Dupont station, it is just walking distance to Casa Loma.
We don’t really know how to get to the castle, we just boarded the train and went to our favorite place (Downtown Toronto), and from there, we asked direction from the subway store keeper. It was such a breeze. Cool and safe. I surely miss that. 
We met interesting people and creatures on our way 
to Casa Loma.. 

Click Read More to see more pictures of Casa Loma.

Then we made it Casa Loma!

We were starving when we arrived in Casa Loma, and we decided to have pizza at Pizza Nova, which was just a block away from the castle. We were worried that the food in the castle would be too pricey.

 When we went back, we were advised that we only have an hour to check out the castle (business hours is only until 5PM – I know, we should have checked operating hours!). At the time, I was not certain if that was because of the wedding –  Casa Loma is also a popular place to hold wedding ceremonies. How grand!

Casa Loma Ticket Price

We paid around $25 CAD for one adult ticket. We were thinking of getting a City Pass which includes 5 Toronto Attractions (CN Tower, Toronto Zoo, Ontario Science Centrum, Royal Ontario Museum and Casa Loma) for only $63 USD. But we thought we didn’t have enough time to visit these places because we have work on weekdays.

We also forgot about the discount voucher that we got from the hotel which gives 10% discount for entrance to Casa Loma. Argh.

What’s Inside Casa Loma?

As soon as we got the tickets, we were instructed to go to the Gift Shop to get this gadget – an audio guide. The rooms are numbered and you just enter the number and listen to the recording narrate the history of the room/place.

This so much reminds me of Aguinaldo Shrine but fancier

The royal bathroom
When I had this picture taken, two of the guests were looking curiously..
They probably don’t know how to have fun while exploring things 😉

The brick walls and wooden beams 
are interesting characteristics of Casa Loma.
At the top tower, we found engraved signatures of guests/tourists, 
of course, we also left a mark there 😀

At the top, we felt like kings of the world! I so much lived the moment and forgot to take pictures.. Then we decided to go down the tunnel. 
While exploring the rooms and basement, we heard an announcement that guests must return back the audio guide and leave the castle as they were closing in 10 minutes. We were determined to know what’s under the tunnel, and we wanted to see the stables. 
We were being mischievous in a castle, in another country..  
such an adventure!

We decided to go back but we kind of lost the way back..
We found staircase which we thought was the exit
but led to this room.

We were worried we would be locked up!

Whew! We were relived! When one of the castle keeper saw us, 
he said we must leave the castle now and he started locking doors. 
I felt like he just declared World War III. 
Back to where there is light, we found more interesting things.. 

I found out that Casa Loma has been a favorite location for movies.
Outside the Gift Shop, movie posters are framed and displayed. 
Movies include  X-Men, Strange Brew, Chicago, 
The Tuxedo, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Warehouse 13, 
Twitches Too and The Pacifier

Before we left, we took more photos and did camwhoring.. 😉
It was Fall when we went there. I could still get away with
wearing sleeveless 😉 

What is a good souvenir to bring home?
You can buy good shirts, frames and key chains, and even silver spoons at the gift shop. I should have bought a picture frame but it was too expensive. We just got one souvenir coin from the coin machine (like the ones in Disneyland and take many pictures – which I still think are not enough ;)). 
Can I just say that this is one of the best days of my life? Exploring a historic place in a different country, add a dash of adventure and fun. Some people might not get it, but this will go to my milestone 😉
So what do you think of Casa Loma? 

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