We’ve spent the last few days based out of St Michael’s College here in Toronto, but that hasn’t stopped us from having new and exciting adventures each day! We were supposed to have a “free day” for all of the teams to do whatever they’d like on Friday, but we all enjoy each other’s company so much that we all decided to go to Casa Loma together. This tourist attraction is a huge castle-like house built by a businessman named Sir Henry Mill Pellatt that is basically the royal castle of Toronto. The house itself is immense, with a ballroom, conservatory, extensive gardens, and incredible bedrooms, but our favorite part was the secret tunnel that led to the garage and stables. The barn that held Pellatt’s prized horses was constructed of mahogany, with Spanish herringbone tiles for the floor and the horse’s names written above them in gold paint.
After our tour at Casa Loma, we headed back to our favorite spot, the all-you-can-eat sushi place that we visited our first day here in Toronto! We were all adventurous and more educated sushi-eaters afterwards. An enjoyable moment was watching some of the coaches and riders attempt to eat with chopsticks to avoid the embarrassment of having to request a fork. Sushi was followed some shopping for all of the teams- our friends from the southern hemisphere are very excited about the lower prices in Canada and are already talking about having trouble packing it in their suitcases for the way home!
Friday night brought one of our most exciting dinners in our adventure to Medieval Times, a place where you are transported back to the times of knights and princesses to watch an impressive and entertaining show. We all decided to wear our fancy banquet uniforms so that we could get more than one use of out of them, and got to top it off with fancy paper crowns.
We got to take a peek at some of the horses in their stalls before the show, and these were all shiny white Andalusian stallions. A creepy dungeon tour showed us torture devices used in the Middle Ages, which was both fascinating and horrifying. It is hard to believe they really used things like stocks and “the rack”. Eventually, we were all led to the arena, which had seating around it in color groups (go Green Knight!) and we sat at long tables set with metal dishes and… no silverware. Good thing we were wearing our white dresses. The show began with a horseman free longeing one of the Andalusians, which was way more talented and breathtaking than we, as horse people, expected. We got to watch drill team exercises, long lining, dressage riding, relay races, a falconry display, jousting, and sword fighting! The riders/knights/swordsmen were very impressive with all of their many talents, and we decided that they must have started in pony club games or as dressage riders before becoming medieval knights.
A very notable moment was when our handsome Green Knight (complete with flowing blonde hair and a mustache) tossed a victory rose toward Team USA, and in our excitement in reaching for it, Ema knocked over my glass which nearly fell into the lap of my white dress! Luckily those cool metal plates caught most of the drink and Ema graciously gave the rose to me to have to keep track of for the rest of the trip. Very kind.
Saturday brought a gray sort of day, and everyone was feeling a bit tired from our castle touring and Medieval adventures. The plan was to head to St. Lawrence Market, a huge artisan shopping area complete with any type of food you could imagine. We all set off at different times, depending on when we awoke and got ready for the day. USA started with a coffee stop (Jenn and Allyson are quite the coffee drinkers) and took the subway to the market. The amount of things to buy there was absolutely incredible, and we spent a few hours wandering, sampling, and talking with the shopkeepers. Most impressive was the cheese shops, the interesting produce, and the vast amount of pastries to choose from. We finally settled on what we wanted to buy and enjoyed a nice picnic of snacks, bread, cheese, and fruit. After we were all stuffed, we wandered toward the Eaton Mall, which was incredibly overwhelming in its number of stores and floors. Jenn, KC, and Allyson were good shoppers and found some really cute clothing to buy, but Ema and I found ourselves taking a short walk through the stores and then heading outside in search of a seat and some Wifi. We then headed to Ripley’s Aquarium and caught some of our southern hemisphere friends along the way. One of my favorite things about hanging out with the Aussies is that no matter where you are, if you call “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” they always respond with “oi, oi, oi!”- even if you’re all at a crowded intersection in downtown Toronto. It always is sure to bring a few chuckles to passersby.
The aquarium was really impressive- they have a gigantic tank that you can walk beneath with sharks, sting rays, and many different kinds of fish. We also enjoyed seeing sea horses, horseshoe crabs, jellyfish, and all sorts of other aquatic creatures.
Ema getting up close and personal with some jellies.
The very happy looking sting ray, those are actually his nostrils and mouth- the eyes are on top!
We finished off our last night in Toronto with Ethiopian food at an authentic restaurant. Basically, they bring you a spongy kind of pancake topped with lots of different curries, meats, vegetables, and salads, and again- no silverware. We started sensing a theme here with eating with our hands! Everything was extremely delicious and again, the more cautious eaters were brave and tried new tastes. After a quick stop for ice cream sandwiches, we spent some time in the dorms packing up our bags and getting ready to ride on Sunday in the Maple Leaf Cup scramble competition. For a bunch of Pony Club riders, not riding for a week feels like eternity- here’s hoping we haven’t forgotten!
Cheers! Nicole
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