During our Friday in Toronto, we stayed in the CN Tower area and completed the EdgeWalk outside the Tower, visited the Steam Whistle Brewery, and took in the underwater wonders of Ripley’s Aquarium.
The CN Tower EdgeWalk
We woke up bright and early to make our way to the CN Tower for our EdgeWalk at 10 am. The CN Tower is the tallest tower in the Western Hemisphere and the EdgeWalk is the highest full-circle hands-free walk in the world. Basically, we walked in a circle around the CN Tower while we were 1,168 ft above the ground, on a 1.5 m wide platform with no railings!
Walking on the edge.
In addition to ourselves and Aunt Vicki, there were three other people joining us on the walk, plus our guide. We were strapped into safety harnesses and had a cable attaching ourselves to a track above the platform. Since we were only out on the platform for 20-30 minutes, we had to progress quickly from just standing on the platform and trying not to look down, to leaning out over the edge. Even though we were securely fastened, it was still scary when the guide first told us to walk out to the edge and put our “toes over Toronto”.
Luke putting his "toes over Toronto".
While we were up there, the air was surprisingly calm and the view of Toronto/Lake Ontario was unbelievable. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy and muggy outside so the view wasn’t completely clear, but the whole experience was about as much as our brains could handle anyway.
After making our way back into the safety of the CN Tower, we were given a DVD of our walk, as well as two printed pictures each. The three of us then met up with Elizabeth’s terrified family who had watched the whole thing from even further up the Tower. We then took advantage of our CN Tower passes and explored the Tower for a bit, however we quickly discovered that the view from behind the glass isn’t nearly as exciting as the one from outside on the platform.
After lunch at the CN Tower, we all wandered across the street to the Steam Whistle Brewery. For $10 each, we received a guided tour of the brewery and a souvenir pint glass. Little did we know that the tour also included a substantial amount of beer for tour-attendee consumption . It’s a good thing we ate lunch first.
After making our way back into the safety of the CN Tower, we were given a DVD of our walk, as well as two printed pictures each. The three of us then met up with Elizabeth’s terrified family who had watched the whole thing from even further up the Tower. We then took advantage of our CN Tower passes and explored the Tower for a bit, however we quickly discovered that the view from behind the glass isn’t nearly as exciting as the one from outside on the platform.
After lunch at the CN Tower, we all wandered across the street to the Steam Whistle Brewery. For $10 each, we received a guided tour of the brewery and a souvenir pint glass. Little did we know that the tour also included a substantial amount of beer for tour-attendee consumption . It’s a good thing we ate lunch first.
Inside the brewery.
The tour took us through rooms where the beer is made and fermented, and to the bottling and canning areas. We found it interesting that they only produce one product, a Pilsner, and that it’s a pure coincidence that their brand is called Steam Whistle and their brewery is located in an old steam locomotive repair facility. We also found out about their (extensive) green initiatives and heard some anecdotes about the founders of the company. Overall, a great tour. Afterwards, we hung around for a bit to finish off our drinks before venturing back across the street to Ripley's Aquarium.
The aquarium is expansive and there’s a fairly clear route through the entire facility. The beginning of the exhibit areas starts off with marine life from Canadian waters, before going into coral reefs, the Ray Bay and Planet Jellies. But our favourite part was the Dangerous Lagoon where we stood on a moving sidewalk and slowly made our way through the tunnel of the lagoon, surrounded by an enormous aquarium.
The aquarium is expansive and there’s a fairly clear route through the entire facility. The beginning of the exhibit areas starts off with marine life from Canadian waters, before going into coral reefs, the Ray Bay and Planet Jellies. But our favourite part was the Dangerous Lagoon where we stood on a moving sidewalk and slowly made our way through the tunnel of the lagoon, surrounded by an enormous aquarium.
In total, we were wandering around the aquarium for a couple of hours, in awe of the amazing marine life in the world. It was tough to get a good picture of anything because of reflections on tanks and moving animals, but luckily Elizabeth’s mom went on a picture-taking spree so she managed to get some great ones. We also learned lots of random facts and learned about some more creatures that we didn’t know existed – who knew there were so many types of sharks? And there are some that “walk” instead of swim?!
We ended off the day out by going out for a tasty dinner with Elizabeth’s extended family (+ Janet) for dinner at an Italian restaurant downtown.
In case you missed it, here is the link to our first blog post about this trip:
A Week in Toronto (Part I)
And here are the rest of the posts from our trip:
Niagara Falls Saturday
A Week in Toronto (Part III)
Finally, here are some more pictures from our day of EdgeWalking, Brewerying, and Aquariuming:
We ended off the day out by going out for a tasty dinner with Elizabeth’s extended family (+ Janet) for dinner at an Italian restaurant downtown.
In case you missed it, here is the link to our first blog post about this trip:
A Week in Toronto (Part I)
And here are the rest of the posts from our trip:
Niagara Falls Saturday
A Week in Toronto (Part III)
Finally, here are some more pictures from our day of EdgeWalking, Brewerying, and Aquariuming:
