Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Day 200 - Toronto and the Blue Jays


Today was the earliest we’d gotten up for a while as we were setting off to Toronto for a Blue Jays baseball game but wanted to check out the CN Tower before the 13:00 start. We arrived shortly after 10:30 and made our way straight to the CN Tower where Douglas and Alison kindly purchased a pair of tickets for the two of us. The tower is conveniently located right next to the Rogers Stadium so we would have plenty of time to explore and then make it to the game.

While we made our way up the glass panelled elevator Douglas and Alison ventured down to the waterfront to relax in the sunny Toronto weather until we were done at the tower.

We exited the lift then made straight for the second one which took us up another 33 storeys to the SkyPod which offers a 360 degrees unobstructed view of the skyline. There weren’t many people up here and we spent about 10 minutes walking around and taking in the views of the land around. We could see the brave souls down below us doing the EdgeWalk which involves getting kitted out in all the usual safety gear and then, whilst attached to the railing, going on a walk around the outside of the lookout level.  We even saw one of the guys doing this lean forward off the edge at about a 45degree angle which must be a cool experience. From here we could also see down into the stadium where we could see all the Blue Jays doing their pre match stretches.







The lift dropped us off at the lower observation deck which is also home to the infamous glass floor. 

Needless to say we went straight to the clear floor and had a few looks down before going to check out the views from this level. We weren’t that impressed with this lower deck though as, due to it being outside, there were vertical bars to prevent people falling. We understood this but then on top of these there was mesh which really obstructed the views and made taking pictures rather pointless. We headed back in and then messed around on the glass floor some more.

As we were queuing up to get the elevator back down we realised we’d missed a floor and so set off to find it. Up a set of stairs we found ourselves on another observation deck where the restaurant also lies. This is the main lookout point and was much better for views than the lower SkyTerrace due to the large glass windows. We then went back to the elevator that would take us back down to earth leaving glad that we’d done the trip and relieved that it was a sunny day!

After a short wait Douglas and Alison joined us and we made our way into the Jays’ ground, grabbing some food on the way to our seats. We were sat way up on the top shelf to the right of the field and we had an excellent view of the whole ground. Once play started Douglas, unbeknownst to him, was in for an endless barrage of baseball related questions from the pair of us. Danny, thinking Corrie would soon bore of the game, offered to explore the shops etc with her on occasion but Corrie was quite content with watching the game unfold.

The game was wrapped up rather quickly at 2 ½ hours with the Jays beating the Detroit Tigers 5 runs to 1. Corrie is now a fully-fledged baseball fan and loved the experience, made all the better with a win from the Blue Jays. It would also appear that Alison had had the right idea when she periodically disappeared into the shadows when the sun was in full view and not obstructed by the stadium fixtures of the odd cloud as us remaining three had the sunburn to prove!






To avoid the mad rush and intense traffic we all walked down to the waterfront and had a stroll along here for a while before heading back to the car.

Back at the house we finished off yesterday’s Chinese for tea before settling down for an easy night.

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