B&B in use again

In 2011 we lived a couple of months in Helsinki in the apartment of my cousin and her husband, who themselves lived then at their summer cottage. As a thank you we had given them a Bed&Breakfast voucher to Canada for 2 weeks. So on September 14th they came to visit us for 2 weekends. In between they traveled through a part of Ontario. The first weekend was still quite summery and we went to see the typical tourist areas and walked a lot. On Sunday we took the ferry to the Toronto islands and enjoyed ourselves there for about 5 hours. The next weekend I went with them to Casa Loma. I had never been there before either and to understand more of the history of Canada and Toronto in particular it's very useful to visit the castle. The castle was build by Sir Henry Pellatt, one of the most ambitious men of his time, who had a lot of influence and fortune. He is well-known for his role in bringing hydro-electric to Toronto, but also a well-known soldier and financier. With his fortune he built a huge castle on the top of a hill in Toronto with all it's luxury and high-end amenities. Unfortunately as a consequence of the depression after World War I, he went bankrupt and had to leave Casa Loma. Nowadays it's a museum open for the public.
On Sunday we went to High Park in the Western end of Toronto.
It was great to have them over and now they are exploring New York. They only used 8 days out of the 14 we had given them, so we'll expect them back someday :)

Chinatown

Paula and Mika

Street meat

Local beer brewery

The Distillery District

Now serving Hertog Jan at the Biermarket

The Hockey Hall of Fame

Casa Loma

the library and living room

the entrance hall

Living room to entertain guests

Sir Pellett's bathroom

Lady Pellet's bedroom

We climbed the stairs to the tower

Sunday at High Park

It is not really hard to get homesick, if you don't count the miss of beloved people, because both Finnish and Dutch food can be bought in different stores around Toronto. Today I found a bakery, literally around the corner, where they sell Finnish pastries as well as other goodies. In our local supermarket I found Dutch salted licorice. Of course they are a bit more expensive than back home, but sometimes you can treat yourself :)

Korvapuusti