Saturday, April 08, 2006

Kristina's Visit to cK's Canada! (Part 1 of 2)

Clubbing, the CN Tower and Jenny's Birthday

My dear friend, Kristina arrived from Germany on March 31st. She had never been to Canada before, and was very excited to be here. I was there to welcome her at the airport and take her to the "CrazyHouse" where she would be staying for her trip.

The first night, she wanted to go dancing. My friend, Sabrina was having a little birthday get-together at her place and invited us to come over. So we went there first. We met some of her crazy friends and chilled. After hanging out with her, we then went downtown --- Kristina was very eager to go dancing. I took her to HOTEL BAR, where I put my name on guestlist during the day.

Hotel bar was good. Nice crowd, good people. The music was alright, I think it could have been better. It was a Friday night, how much more do I want?? I don't think I stayed the entire night. I had a lot of things planned for Kristina the next day -- if she woke up in time.

SATURDAY

The next day, the weather was overcast -- and Kristina had one big sleep. We didn't leave the house until the afternoon. She wanted to eat some Canadian pancakes, so I took her to Denny's for breakfast. After Denny's as I was driving, I noticed about 20 police officers standing in a parking lot chatting -- they all seemed relatively young and new. So I figured that Kristina would like to meet some real Canadian police officers. I parked the car and walked up to them, then asked them if they would like to take some pictures with my friend who is visiting from Germany. At first it looked like they were hesitant, but then they smiled and agreed to do it. Special thanks to the Peel Regional Police for taking the time to pose for us tourists!

Since our day was limited - I took her to the one place every tourist in Toronto should start out their tour...

THE CN TOWER
This architectural icon is the heart of Toronto. Once you know where it is, you can use it at a compass from anywhere in the city. The 553 Meter / 1815 foot tower dwarfs any other building in the world.

While we were buying our tickets, the girl at the ticket counter offered a special CITYPASS that allows you to see 6 Toronto attractions for one price. It actually works out way cheaper if you do buy the pass! So Kristina got it. I didn't have to get it because during the week I will be working. So we take our CN Tower tickets and then proceed to a line. This line leads to a big x-ray type of machine that you have to walk into, while it blows all these little air jets on you. I don't know what its checking for. Anyways, we get to the line for the elevator up.

The ride going up was really breathtaking. The open window elevator allowed you to see the city from a view you only could see while on an airplane. We toured the different decks -- the main observation deck and the skypod. The outdoor area was closed for some reason. It looked like they were doing some sort of construction. I really did want to go outside. They also have a glass floor that you can walk on! Your mind plays tricks on you, making you think you should be falling when you set your foot on it.

After touring the top decks, we sit in the cafe and drink some hot chocolate. The view of the city was beautiful. We then took the elevator down and went into the souvenir shop.

x-ray air chamber	standing on glass floor	at SkyPod deck	view down from SkyPod

This is a video I took of the elevator trip down. The guide in the elevator was really nice, but remember the whole trip down is about 60 seconds, and he has to say the same thing for every ride. Which is about 210 times a day!

After the CN Tower, we walked up John Street and stopped in a pub for a drink of Canadian Beer. That is what Kristina wanted. When we entered the pub, just by chance - there was a hockey game that night playing. The Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Buffalo Sabres. It really added to the assumption that all Canadians do is drink beer and watch hockey!

THE HIDEOUT LOUNGE
Later on in the evening, we went to the "Jenny & Jon Trini-pino" Birthday party. Lots of friends there and great music. This was Kristina's first time meeting my other friends and cousins. We all danced up a storm. It was lots of fun.



Continue to PART 2