Toronto on day one

Toronto First Day
Today was a day that was exciting, exploration and exhausting.
First we drove from Niagara Falls to Toronto and found a campground (the Indian Line north of Mississaugua) now let me tell you there are no campgrounds close to the center of the city and this is a reallllllly large city.
Next find the now city of Port Credit which was way out of town when I lived here but now it’s lie El Monte and Los Angeles. All the freeways are realllly large and they bear no resemblance to when I lived here.
Well we found it and all of the apple orchards that I walked thru on the way to school are now gone. My Junior High School has been transformed into a magnet secondary school (Allan A. Martin Secondary) but my high school still stands much as it had (Gordon Gradon High School) and we visited and walked the halls of both.
Now th find the home I lived in ( I knew the number 1491 but had forgotten the street name. Well all you have to do is retrace the way you went to school right (just walk thru the apple orchards and under the power lines). Actually it was really quite easy and I found the house right off.
We rang the bell but no one was home but a car was in the driveway. Bev said do you think any of the old residents are still here. Yah sure after 50 plus years! Well, I knocked on the next door neighbors just to see if they knew when the people would be home and what do you know Pauline our former neighbor still lived there. I did not remember that mom and dad had sold the house to her brother and his wife. She said that they had died three years ago and her nephew owned the house now but did not live there. It was empty and she had the key and would we like to see it. Would you believe that she still remembered me.
The house and my room were still the same. They had fixed up the recreation room downstairs but the kitchen and even the fireplace implements upstairs were the same.
Next Bev and I went to see the Casa Loma in downtown Toronto. This was a huge estate belonging to Sir Henry Pellatt’s home in Toronto. At one time he was the richest man in Canada having 25% of all the wealth of the country. At a time when the average home in Toronto cost $2,500.00 he spent over $3.5 million on the home and it still was not finished. There were suites of rooms designated for royal visitors, his wife’s drawing room off her bedroom was larger than our living room and dining area. They had separate bedroom suites and his bathroom is purported to have cost over 10 grand. The grounds were immaculate with large terraces overlooking the city.
Alas Sir Henry was to lose his wealth due to the government taking over his hydro electric plants (He built the first hydro electric plant on Niagara Falls and had the first one in Toronto). His plans for an aviation industry in Canada were thwarted when the government took over his manufacturing plant and flight school for the wartime effort. His bank went under and the millions in loans he had came due and he was forced into bankruptcy and Casa Loma and all of its entirety were auctioned off.
Later Bev and I went to the Kensington Market District (really a series of streets in the downtown area and had dinner in a Vietnamese Restaurant. It was a great meal and a fitting end to just a great day.
Well tomorrow is the Royal Museum and a few other things.

1 House in Port Credit
2 Casa Loma Exterior
3 Casa Loma Exterior
4 Mrs. Pelett's sitting room
5 Fountain in one of the gardens