Open doors Toronto

Thanks to good timing, I was able to enjoy Open Doors Toronto, when you can visit several museums and buildings for free...
Saturday we first went to Kensington marked but aparantly we were a bit early (10.30 am) so it wasn't as alive as it should have been...
Next stop we had planned was Casa Loma. The streetcar just left so we decided to walk. On our way we ended up at several stop overs, first one was the First Nations house, about the culture of the Canadian aboriginals. It was great, there were story tellers there and if you just tried to imagine not sitting on a nice couch but around a fire place with a star lit sky, the stories were even more moving. Next stop was the Knox Presbyterian church where we had a guided tour and found the nicely hitten bowling alley. They have a lot of activities going on there and even day care for infants on Sunday so that the parents can attend mass...
After a quick lunch we finally made it to Casa Loma, a huge castle built by Sir Henry Pallat to resemble a medieval castle and he did a great job. Walking around in there you wouldn't think it was built around 1910-1915. He spend a fortune on it, sadly enough he also lost a fortune due to bad investments and the first World War so he had to move out. Lucky for all who wants to see something strange and special, it was preserved. As only a part of it was free, Jamie decided not to visit it so we agreed to meet each other again 2 hours later. I loved the inside garden the most but also the grandness of it all. You had an audio phone and got a lot of explenations...
Today we first went to the Elgin and Winter Garden Theater center, an old and beautiful restored vaudeville theater with an upstairs theater as well, the so called Winter Garden, done up in such a way with leaves on the ceiling and trees as pilars to give you the idea you were in a garden, not a theater. It was absolutly amazing, a pity the tour was so short but we were with more than 400 persons there. If I ever come back to Toronto, I definetly will take the whole tour so I can see more of it...
Also visited the McKenzie house, he was the first Major and the nearby St Michael Cathedral, followed by the old and new City Hall...
After a short shopping break, we went to St James Catherdral and St Lawrence hall, sady enough closed. As it wasn't too far from the waterfront, we walked over there finishing our day with having a look at the Toronto Islands again and walk toward the Harbourfront center...
Next two days I'll be at Niagara...