Luke met up with some friends in New York last weekend so we delayed our Something Saturday until Tuesday and checked out Symphony in the Gardens!
After work on Tuesday we took the subway to Dupont Station and wandered up the hill. Symphony in the Gardens is an outdoor summertime concert series at Casa Loma featuring the Toronto Concert Orchestra.
Casa Loma is a large Gothic Revival style residence that was constructed from 1911 to 1914 in what is now midtown Toronto. It took $3.5 million to build and was the dream home of financier Sir Henry Pellatt, who at one point was chairman of 21 companies in the mining, insurance, land, and electricity industries. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hit and Pellatt went into debt to expand the home and could not recover. This massive residence was eventually abandoned when he moved to the country and it is now a tourist attraction and event space in Toronto.
Casa Loma is a large Gothic Revival style residence that was constructed from 1911 to 1914 in what is now midtown Toronto. It took $3.5 million to build and was the dream home of financier Sir Henry Pellatt, who at one point was chairman of 21 companies in the mining, insurance, land, and electricity industries. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hit and Pellatt went into debt to expand the home and could not recover. This massive residence was eventually abandoned when he moved to the country and it is now a tourist attraction and event space in Toronto.
We arrived at Casa Loma on Tuesday at at 7:20 pm (for the 7:30 pm show), and we immediately realized why the doors opened over 2 hours earlier; the event was incredibly popular! We made our way through the crowd and scoped out the food situation. While the orchestra was warming up, we lined up and got ourselves duck spring rolls and spare rib poutine, along with a couple of drinks.
Scanning the area, we found a place to perch with our food. While it would have been nice to have grabbed a table somewhere, we ended up with a good view over the gardens and of the stage itself.
Scanning the area, we found a place to perch with our food. While it would have been nice to have grabbed a table somewhere, we ended up with a good view over the gardens and of the stage itself.
While we originally struggled to eat with plastic knives - they temporarily ran out of forks - we really thoroughly enjoyed our snacks and the atmosphere. Throughout the evening, we were treated to performances by a number of opera singers, accompanied by the Toronto Concert Orchestra. It was a beautiful evening to be dining al fresco and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Last Tuesday was a good reminder that there are cool events happening in Toronto on every day of the week! Here are some more photos of our weekday adventure:
Last Tuesday was a good reminder that there are cool events happening in Toronto on every day of the week! Here are some more photos of our weekday adventure:
(SLIDESHOW)
This time last year we checked out the Lulaworld Music Festival, two years ago we tried out Foot Golf with our friends, in 2014 we visited Toronto (it was Luke's first time here!), and in 2013 we explored an abandoned mine on Bell Island.
