You call this a castle?! or There are 6,000 restaurants in Toronto, and...

Hi, readers.  Share with your friends, please.  Our publisher wants our numbers up.

At dinner, EH told the story of one of our faithful readers.  A friend of hers.  Seems EH sent her the link when we were in Central Europe last month ("Part I") and she responded, "Your dad is funny."  EH clarified thusly, "She was laughing AT you, not with you."  Okay, there's some burn in that, but if that's what it takes to get readers, I'm all for it, especially as I'm the Bob Hope in this thing.  He WAS the comic relief and all.

It was Monday, even in Canada, so we moved slowly.  It was heading toward noon before we got out of the apartment and Michael got the car (finally?!) out and drove us to Castle Loma.  Both Barb and K had this on their must-see list.

Requisite pic of outside:

Yes, it's a "castle."  But I was aware that there never were real castles in Canada -- being that their were no medieval wars here, despite the princesses, guys in armor, and warlock figurines in the gift shop -- so was not surprised to find that Castle Loma was built in 1911+ by the local banker.  In a dozen years, he was bankrupt and the city was taking it back for taxes.

In the mean time, he threw up this little crib with some nice accoutrements, like a teak floor in the first floor gallery, a couple turrets overlooking what was then the slum (the sign said it was a slum, how would I know? it's not MY value judgment), a stable, and a nice fountain (see pictures) in the back garden.

EH and I agreed that next to Vienna palaces (see this blog), it was NBD.  A tiger skin on the floor; a couple rooms "after" Robert Adam...but not overly exciting.  One man's folly.

We decided afterward that the interior design was "eclectic," as in, some 18th century (the Adam rooms), some Edwardian (her bedroom, for one), and some Edwardian macho chic (his bedroom, see tiger) and it was a shame that he both poured so much into the place and left it to go to whomever...now the Rotarians own and run it as a tourist site (it works!).

Three of us had lunch on the back garden terrace.  Does not get many stars in my book, and, BTW, it was NOT warm.

In case you don't get it, that's their "Castle All Dressed Bratwurst," with apple slaw, sauerkraut and two types of mustard.

Then off to town as Morgan Freeman dropped EH and K one place, me another and Barb and Michael went to find something not a sausage on a roll for late lunch.

We killed the afternoon with some naps, some cards (EH turns out is VERY competitive at euchre -- she even trash talks!  geez).

But, about dinner:  in the morning, there was a discussion (this is my story and I'm sticking to it) about where to go for dinner.  There was 4+ star Mexican place within 6 minutes walk from the flat.  I booked us there.  When K found out, her response was "there are 6,000 restaurants in Toronto and YOU pick Mexican?!?!"  This was said more than once.  It was never clear who's cuisine she wanted, and EH repeated "I love Mexican food," but we arrived at the restaurant with a certain friction in the air.  (BTW, EH, who loves Mexican, has a culinary rule: don't eat Mexican in a city where you can't buy salsa in the grocery stores.  Hmmm...)

This was not made better by our indecision, again, over the menu.  But Jenn talked us into two orders of guac, which EH and I devoured (no pic, sorry, I was too busy eating) -- it had more lime than usual and had pomegranate seeds on top to give it some sweetness and it was beat pretty smooth.  BTW, they had both corn chips and taro ones.  We all liked the taro ones best.

We then got the empanadas, which change daily.  Ours were chicken and the vegetarian option had corn, black beans, and mushrooms.  Everyone who had some thought the chicken ones were excellent.

Then tacos de rajas poblanos, which was the biggest hit of the night (I think).

THEN (yes, there was more food), there was the chicken dish (Alegeria?) that was on a bed of green beans and mushrooms and had a dark sauce, and EH ordered the fish special, which was sea bass with pineapple-cilantro salsa over a bed of "seafood picadillo."  Over a plantain.  I don't know what seafood picadillo is, but boy was it good. :).

We were all thrilled with the meal, even K told me that it was a good choice (ahhh!).

We were all too stuffed to order dessert, but there was an A&W on the way home, so EH and I stopped for a root beer float.  As we said, our proletarian treat after all the rich food at dinner. :)

Back to the flat for Michael to agonize over the Penguins loss (this, like their anniversary, seems to be an annual tradition on our trips now), and for EH to continue her winning streak at euchre -- she has yet to lose a series.  She grumbled on the way to bed "I can't believe I got set" about the one hand where she didn't crush her opponents. :)

And Tuesday, we are having breakfast, and then off to Stratford (according to Google maps, it is a day's walk...in case you wanted to know) for the first of several plays -- we are all seeing Richard Sheridan's delightful comedy *School for Scandal* in the afternoon.  As they say in the theatre (where there are REAL people acting, I heard at the escape house), break a leg!