Toronto Day Two: City Hall, Shopping Malls, and the Aquarium

After our late-night on Day One – and all that walking – we were a more subdued family the morning of Day Two . We slept well, but everyone was still awake early because of the 1-hour shift in time zone. The kids eased into their day by watching some Disney+ while eating breakfast.

On our agenda:
City Hall/Nathan Philip’s Square
Eaton Centre
Dundas Square
CN Tower/Ripley’s Aquarium
Distillery District (didn’t make it!)

We took the subway back to the downtown core, stopping just shy of Union Station so we were closer to City Hall/Nathan Philip’s Square. My father-in-law used to work at City Hall, which gave this visit special significance. We couldn’t believe how empty things were at the central plaza. More generally, Toronto seemed almost eerily quiet/devoid of people during our entire visit.

In addition to the unique architecture of City Hall and the iconic TORONTO sign, the pool had an interesting art installation. From one angle the shapes were designed to look like houses, a school bus, and a church partially submerged due to rising water levels; from the opposite side, the same shapes (unpainted) looked like icebergs in a flow.

This space becomes a public skating arena in the winter – wouldn’t it be fun to skate here at night with the lights of the plaza twinkling in the background? The kids really enjoyed this stop and insisted on posing in front of every letter (which became a very fun spread in our annual photobook)! Here are a few of their poses…

A and I had a few minutes alone while the boys explored; I love this picture of our shadows!

By 10 am it was oppressively hot. We planned to navigate from City Hall to Dundas Square (Toronto’s equivalent of Times Square) and opted to walk through the Eaton Centre – North America’s busiest shopping mall – since it offered respite from the heat.

We really enjoyed the Eaton Centre. It was clean, nicely laid out and had PUBLIC BATHROOMS. This final part was key. I reference public bathrooms repeatedly in these recaps because they were such a hassle; it seemed our kids only needed bathroom breaks at the most inopportune times. And yes, we always made everyone go whenever we stopped at a public bathroom…but there were still crisis moments nonetheless.

The mall also had lots of escalators; our kids still love escalators, so we took a lot of unnecessary trips up and down escalators because it was fun and it meant we got to stay in close proximity to air-conditioning (and bathrooms). We splurged on some delicious treats at a high-end chocolate shop – it made for a fun memory as the kids appreciated getting to make individual selections.

Back into the heat, we emerged in the middle of Dundas Square. It had some water features that allowed the kids to wet their hands and cool down. One of the reasons we timed our trip for June was to avoid the oppressive summer heat, but we hit Toronto at the wrong time. It was sweltering. About 40 degrees (Celcius) with the humidex.

At this point in the day, I made a bad call. I love food, but find dining choices overwhelming when we’re traveling (especially in a city where there seem to be an infinite number of options). John mentioned we could go to the huge food court in the Eaton Centre so we could all pick something we wanted…but I said we should navigate to a Wendy’s (what the kids had specifically requested) so there was no choice involved.

We found one close to our next destination and navigated there, only to spend 30 minutes (and an additional 2 km of walking) trying to find this elusive Wendy’s. We finally asked for directions – turns out it was down a dead-end street which did not show up properly on Google Maps. When we finally arrived, we discovered it was a pick-up-only station for online orders via platforms like UberEats. So, not only were we tired and hungry and hot, we also couldn’t get any food at this pseudo-Wendy’s location. At least we got some great views of the CN Tower and Union Station. At the time it felt like a small consolation.

We eventually found a food court nearby with a Subway…which we could have found in seconds inside the Eaton Centre. Sigh. My sub was delicious, but I was sweaty and frazzled. In happier news we bought tickets for Ripley’s Aquarium while eating.

Ripley’s came highly recommended by family and friends; the price point was enough we dithered a bit, especially since the entry was timed so we had to coordinate our schedule. (There is a 20% discount available for CAA members; with those savings, it was $130 for our family.)

I have mixed feelings about aquariums and zoos. I appreciate the difficulties associated with conditions in these spaces, but also recognize the role they can play in awareness and inspiring future generations to pursue careers and support causes to protect the environment and the creatures in it. This was actually my first time visiting a large aquarium and I thought it was excellent.

Before we got to the entrance I had to pose in front of Rogers Centre. Hands down my biggest regret on this trip was not getting to see the Toronto Blue Jays play. I loved major league baseball growing up and tickets in Toronto are both readily available and affordable. They had home games with the Yankee’s and Red Sox (their main rivals) in the week before and after our trip, but were on the road the whole time we were in Toronto. We explored options for changing our trip itinerary to accommodate a home game, but in the end it didn’t make sense. This was a big disappointment. Oh well. It gives me a great reason to return to Toronto one day!

Back to the aquarium. This experience had highs and lows. The kids wanted to rush from one display to the next which was…frustrating. I prefer to wander slowly and really enjoy the experience; the kids were either sighing about being held back or rushing past interesting exhibits. Also, one child was battling an upper sinus issue that day (no sneezing or runny nose, just a lot of pressure – and I didn’t think about antihistamines until that evening) and that definitely impacted their mood. But, there were enjoyable moments, too.

We timed our visit perfectly to take in the daily sting-ray feeding. This was SO cool. The kids’ moods were tanking around this point, and it felt wonderful to sit down in the dark. I also pulled out a handful of candy (Mike and Ike’s were one of the best “hacks” from our trip; they don’t melt and are delicious – I brought along a small dish of them every single day). The combination of rest and sugar did wonders for us all.

We all got to visit a Touch Tank with smaller stingrays. They felt so slimy, yet firm. VERY COOL!

I also really enjoyed the “kelp forest” which was a huge cylindrical tank scaling multiple levels of the aquarium. Watching fish swim in and around huge clumps of kelp – gently swaying in the current – was mesmerizing. There were also really fun interactive displays like standing on a scale that would tell you how much you would be worth if you were a tuna (I can see this being problematic on many levels, but it was irresistible. I hadn’t stepped on a bathroom scale for several months but, if I was a tuna, I’d be worth around $13,000!!). At another exhibit, you could hold your hand under water being circulated at the speed/temperature of the surrounding tanks. It was freezing!

And now I get to share another bathroom debacle. Right before we left the aquarium, I wanted everyone to use the bathroom. Because a connecting hallway was shut down for a private event and since, due to COVID, traffic could only move in one direction, we actually had to leave the aquarium and enter/show our tickets again to access a bathroom. But then, to exit, we had to navigate through the ENTIRE museum. There were a few shortcuts along the way, but people must have thought we were crazy walking by everything so fast without even a sideways glance at the exhibits.

Another day I think this aquarium visit would have been an A+ for the kids; even as a B-, I’m really glad we went.

But when we left the aquarium everything started to break down. One adult was keen to keep exploring (we had discussed going to the Distillery District), while another adult was very much ready to call it a day and both kids were completely over it. In the end, we headed back to the condo (it was mid-afternoon at this point) and regrouped for our next adventure of going to visit family who live outside of Toronto.