Out And About In Toronto With The CN Tower & Eva's Chimneys
Published On Friday 14 Jul 2017 by Sticky Beak
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Other than the hiccups at our New York Hotel, The Manhattan on Times Square and the drenching on our Night Bus tour of Washington D.C we have dropped pretty lucky with our family holiday. Us Brits are known for our pragmatism, so when the only chance we got to go up the CN Tower came along and the clouds were very much in evidence we just shrugged our shoulders and headed up anyway.
The way we looked at it was this; sunny sky views are ten-a-penny, but how often would we actually get chance to walk in the clouds? When we finally made it up to the viewing platforms it wasn’t all doom and gloom anyhow because the obstructed view gave The Man Bird an opportunity to walk across the glass floor and test his hypnotherapy session. A few ginger steps were taken, before he put his whole foot on the glass and looked down. Result :)
We went outside to the viewing platform and we could see the mist of the clouds ahead of us so we knew that we really were “in the clouds”; cue me humming “walking in the air” from the film “The Snowman”. Cheesy I know but I couldn’t help myself!
I spotted one of the men’s’ semi-finals at Wimbledon on a screen in the cafe, so I persuaded Chickadee and His Nibs that a sit down would be a great idea. Luckily they fell for my cunning ruse and I got to see some Tennis whilst drinking a Latte.
Lady luck decided to cut us some slack as when we finished our coffees there was a break in the clouds and we could see some of Toronto’s sky-line. OK, it wasn’t the postcard view that lets you see miles and miles, but it was enough to satisfy us. When we got back to the glass floor and looked down, you could actually see all the way down to the ground so we had another fox-trot across them; well The Chick and I did.
The Man Bird used the techniques Leah had shown him and it was case of shoulders back, head up, and let’s do this! Off he strutted and all was going well until an indecisive lady moved back and forth in front of him; I thought he was going to going to plough through her, but no, he kept his composure and moved around her and also navigated around a couple of kids sprawled on the glass floor too. CN Tower 0 – Man Bird 1.
Our next stop was a boat tour of Toronto Harbour and its Islands. Normally you can get off and walk around the islands, but there has been an almighty amount of rain that has raised water levels by about 3-4 feet above normal values. This has meant that the ground is less stable than usual and prone to be damaged by tourist footfall, something that is highly undesirable; the result is that for the short-term (maybe until August) the islands are open only to their inhabitants.
The most astounding sight though was the proximity of the aeroplanes coming in to land at Billy Bishop airport; this local airport is right on the harbour-side and planes were only about 100 feet above us at that point. What an incredible experience that was! The Harbour Bridge is also where one of the scenes from the film “My Big Fat Greek wedding” was filmed.
We hopped back on to the City Sightseeing tour bus and headed up to Casa Loma and I’m going to let you into a secret; well I assume it’s a secret as no-body had told us. When you’re in the castle, head out onto the terrace and look straight ahead; you get an incredible view back into the city and can see the CN Tower and accompanying stretch of Toronto skyline. By this time the sun had come out and the clouds were nowhere to be seen so we got a cracking photo :)
From Casa Loma we hopped back on the City Sightseeing bus for a stop then started the short walk up to Eva’s, eager to sample one of their original Chimneys. If you’ve never heard of these rascals, allow me to enlighten you. These gourmet delights begin with a sweet cone, very much like the ones we see in a Cream Horn at home (the ones filled with jam and fresh cream); you can see them being cooked and cooled in front of you.
Then they have ultra creamy Ice Cream swirled into them, before the servers add your choice of fillings; you can make your own combo or select one of Eva’s signature versions. I had Peanut Butter Pretzel Parfait, Chick had Team Coco, and His Nibs had The Dream Cone. When this middle section has been done, the team then put more of the delicious Ice Cream on top; either a single flavour, or a “twist” of vanilla and chocolate flavours.
I cannot describe the sheer bliss that you experience when you have one of Eva’s Original Chimneys. The Boy Wonders’ Dream Cone was topped with a Salted Caramel Brownie on either side, and his mid-section was full-to-bursting with Nutella and Toffee bits. My chimney had Peanut Butter, peanut pieces, and pretzel pieces in the middle and a whole Pretzel on the top with chocolate sauce drizzled around it. The Chick had a gorgeous combo of Vanilla ice cream and fresh Coconut shavings in the mid-section of her chimney, with more vanilla ice cream on top, coconut shards and crisp Coconut wafer as its crown.
Eva’s chimneys are a definite not-to-be-missed experience for anyone visiting Toronto, but be warned; these delights are very filling! Thank you Kristin and Karla for inviting us along to try your incredible creations, we loved them! We think you should expand your shops to include a Derby store, just sayin’ :)
Our last morning in Toronto before we headed up to Niagara Falls had one key visit pencilled in; back to Carousel Bakery in St Lawrence Market for a Pea-Meal Bacon butty with egg and cheese for breakfast. This Bacon is my new addiction; when my waistline resembles that of a Weeble, I shall be blaming you Kevin (from The Culinary Adventure Company)!
Toronto, you have been an incredible city to visit; we’ve loved every second in your company and would happily come back. You have so much to experience and we only barely scratched the surface, I think a week at least is needed in this terrific city. I would always choose to stay in The Chelsea Hotel too, there’s nothing I would change about our time there.
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