Sunday, September 8, 2013

Sep 7 – Wedding at Casa Loma

One of the reason we wanted to come home for the wedding of Jennie’s cousin’s daughter was that it was at Casa Loma. Jennie has lived in Toronto most of her life and had never been there. Since we were going to the wedding we didn’t have to pay the $9 parking and the $21 a person admission fee. The only thing we didn’t get were the handheld gadgets that gave you an audio tour.

The wedding was at 10:45 but we got there at 10 to wander around.

Sir Henry Pellat had relatively wealthy parents but through many smart investments became enormously wealthy. A video we watched said that at one time he directly controlled companies that made up 25% of the Canadian economy. He loved the British royalty and part of the reason he built Casa Loma was to have one of them stay there. In the end he lost almost everything and died poor.

Casa Loma definitely steps it up a notch from Boldt Castle, that we saw last week but Jennie’s sister and her daughters had just been to England and said that the castles there made this place look like servants quarters. We will have to get there some day but I sure this place looked much more opulent when Sir Henry and his wife were living here.

Unfortunately the weather did not co-operate for the wedding. It rained quite hard most of the morning.

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The main hall.

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The view from the balcony of the pipe organ.

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The library and I assume grand dining room.

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The second floor had the Pellat’s living quarters.

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The third floor was a lot less luxurious. I guess this was the servants quarters. It was now filled with a lot of displays.

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From here you could go up into one of the towers. Unfortunately the Norman Tower was closed but the Scott’s Tower was open.

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A nice but hazy view of downtown.

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We headed back downstairs and took the 800 ft tunnel over to the building with the stables and the potting shed.

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Back in the main building we made a final stop at the unfinished pool.

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We ran out of time so we headed to the conservatory for the wedding. I took this picture when we first got here. We were really early.

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It had a great glass ceiling.

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Ready to go.

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Afterwards we stayed around for group pictures. Jennie’s family was by far the largest group.

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We did a bit more exploring and watched a movie before we headed home.

The reception was at a banquet hall in north Toronto with dinner a 7 pm.

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The food was really good with lobster, abalone, scallops, fish, chicken and pork. Not exactly a vegetarian meal.

Jennie’s mom is looking great at 96 years old.

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Jennie’s sister and part of her family.

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Jennie’s brother and family.

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The bride and groom made their offering to the lions for long live and happiness.

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Afterwards Jennie got her dancing fix. I did dance with her unlike many of the other husbands.

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As old fogies, the music was really loud and not exactly to our taste but we just moved to the beat.

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