Surfergeeks

Sorry this is a little late. Yesterday didn’t feel much like a writing day.

Saturday. Downtown Toronto. The plan was to visit the ROM and the CN Tower. And that’s what we did. We did make a stop on the way in Mississauga at a construction site. You see, they’re building a really cool condo project called Absolute World (sadly it has nothing to do with vodka). Two of the buildings twist as they rise up into the sky a la Turning Torso. I wanted to see it and get some pictures. Then we headed of to the ROM to see some dinosaurs, bats, and terracotta warriors.

I’d never been to the ROM before so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Now that I’ve been, I’m still not sure about my experience. For starters, it was crowded – ESPECIALLY the Chinese Warriors exhibit. Too crowded. It was virtually impossible to hear any of the video presentations and you felt like you were obligated to keep moving. That said, what I did see and hear was really cool.

I was super impressed with all the dinosaur skeletons they had on display. Probably could have spent all day there if I was by myself just wandering through the display reading and learning about the various species. The bat cave was kinda neat although lacking in real bats. Alex like it. He also liked some of the dinosaurs as well but the Chinese Warriors exhibit was boring for him and Ryan.

We ate lunch at the Studio Cafe inside the ROM and the food was quite yummy. I had this chorizo sausage thing that had roasted peppers, pickled red onions, and a spicy mustard on it. SOOOOO good.

The highlight of the ROM visit was by far the Extreme Martial Arts shows put on in the Eaton Theatre. It was a half hour show that was a perfect mix of showmanship and action by a local martial arts company. Fortunately they had no problem with video cameras so I captured the entire show.

After the ROM we headed to the CN Tower for Alex’s first trip. Sadly the trip wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped. We were in line for about an hour or so to get up to the top. Ryan had become super cranky by that point. When we finally got up to the top I took Alex around while Nikki sat with Ryan. When Alex & I got back to them Ryan was asleep, poor little guy. We then made our way to the glass floor portion and Alex hopped right out onto it. No fear at all of the 500m of nothing between him and splatsville. I was good looking over the edge.

We hit a Subway on the way home and ate in the hotel room. Sunday was a straight-forward day. We were up about 8:00, had breakfast, packed, checked out, and headed home. Traffic was smooth the entire way and we were back in London by 11:30. We then took the kids out mini-golfing at North London Golf Centre. That was a miserable experience as Ryan was really really cranky. Alex, while still need MUCH more practice, did have a few good shots and actually scored an honest 3 on a couple holes.