Our last day in Canada - well, for Aid, Rosie, Bridget and Laurie. We awoke to a bright sunny morning, and a bit of a view from our hotel room down towards the lake.
Also across to St James' with the CN Tower peeping out above the skyscrapers.
All packed, bags placed in safe storage for the day, we set out for the city in sunshine.
There are lots of modern buildings, but quite a few older (Victorian?) buildings among them.
The Hippo tour bus passed us.
We walked to Queen Street subway, where Meld and Mary took the train to St Georges to visit the ROM. The subway station had some interesting scultures hanging down, almost impossible to photograph though.
The rest of us went shopping in the Eaton Centre.
We were greeted by a large airy space with birds occupying the higher levels.
Aid got a bit bored with shopping after a while - can't keep up with the girls - and went for a walk around the block. This is the coach station.
And this is a pub - quite English looking, though the adjacent buildings are less so.
More red brick.
Back to Eaton Place.
We luched at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Memorabilia on the walls behind us...
...and above the bar...
...and on the ceiling.
The Ethels returned and lunched in the food court in the basement.
There was lots of choice.
Aid had to go back to the hotel to collect Mary's car hire booking. At this point the heavens opened and a massive thunderstorm ensued.
As it brightened up I kept walking - I think this is the old city hall (and the water in the foreground is used for skating in winter).
Winston Churchill's statue.
Clock tower reflected in the building behind.
Canada Life
St Andrew's Church
Another impressive modern building.
A modern building opposite St Andrews with the church and the CN Tower reflected in its windows.
More reflections.
Aid met Mary, Meld and Katherine at Union Station, where they picked up a hire car and headed off to Peterborough. I headed back to the Eaton Centre (via the subway) to meet the others.
We headed back to the hotel, retrieved our luggage, changed, rationalised the packing, then our taxi arrived and we drove out to the airport in a massive storm. Check in went smoothly and we're now seated in the departure lounge enjoying free wi fi. The girls liked the big cats.
Laure liked the free wi fi.
B caught up with her book.
The lounge was quiet and airy.
The sun set over the control tower.
And over a departing aircraft (not ours - we're rather early, but it's more comfortable here than the hotel lobby!).
So, the end is nigh. It's been a good trip. Next updated from the UK!
Indeed, we took off to the west, looped back over the lake south of Toronto getting great views of the city lights, then up into the clouds. Apart from a few peeps over Ireland and the Bristol Channel, it was cloudy until we descended towards London. Near Woking we turned right and did a loop down to Crawley and back, then a circle over Leatherhead before going east to Croydon, north to Greenwich and then west across London to Heathrow. Apart from Rosie being ill at the airport, all went to plan and we were home by 13:30, lunch with Mum, then collapsed as per the schedule!