Highlights of Toronto – Day 1
Three bus fulls of grade 8 students visited us tour guides in Toronto for three and a half days exploring the highlights of Toronto.
Our first activity was to watch the Blue Jays game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Sadly, we went to watch the wrong game as the Blue Jays lost an embarrassing 0-7! However, this did not bring the students’ spirits down as we cheered, ate gigantic hotdogs, danced and started the wave multiple times. In addition, we also got a great view of the colorful sunset over the Roger’s Centre and the CN Tower.
For our first activity, we decided to go to Famous People Players- a glow in the dark Dine & Dream Dinner Theatre. We watched the Too Darn Hot number that had an interactive portion in which students had the chance to go on stage and practice with a performer how to control their puppet and move around the stage. Students really enjoyed the uniqueness of the show and the opportunity to get to know each player and their contribution to the show.
We then headed downtown to enjoy some shopping time at the Eaton Centre, one of the most visited malls in Canada with over 200 stores. Followed by the Hockey Hall of Fame, a museum solely dedicated to the history of ice hockey, exhibits about players, teams, the National Hockey League records, trophies and the beautiful Stanley Cup! Students loved the interactive part of the museum which consisted of playing goal keeper and shooting pucks. There were some talented players, that is for sure.
After the gift-shop of the Hockey Hall of Fame we walked over to the CN Tower located in the heart of Toronto. This communications and observation tower was completed exactly 40 years ago, becoming the world’s tallest free-standing structure at the time. Interestingly, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World in 1995. We took the elevator 553 meters up to enjoy the unique skyline view of Toronto, Lake Ontario and the Toronto Islands.
To finish off our first full day in the city we visited Ripley’s Aquarium and discovered some of the 16,000 aquatic animals it holds. This majestic place features several aquatic exhibits including a walk-through tank, marine and fresh water habitats that represent the various aquatic ecosystems that you can find around the world. Exhausted from all the activities but happy from all the new things they learnt, we headed to the hotel to re-charge batteries for their second day in Toronto.
Highlights of Toronto – Day 2
Our second day started at the Science Centre, this museum was designed by Raymond Moriyama, the same architect that designed the artifact-looking museum of War in Ottawa. He connected three main buildings with a series of bridges and escalators that overlook the natural contours of the Don River green space. What makes this museum different from others is that the majority of exhibits are interactive and live demonstrations from subjects such as, geology, science of nature, astronomical science, music, technology, human anatomy and communications.
With little traffic we drove over to our next stop, the Princess of Wales Theatre to watch ‘A Gentleman’s guide to Love and Murder‘. Students, teachers and guides all enjoyed this amazing musical that left all of us singing for the rest of the day. Our next stop was the ROM, The Royal Ontario Museum, and to make our visit a little more interesting we divided the group into teams for a super fun and challenging scavenger hunt. Students were to find the answers by carefully reading and exploring the museum exhibitions of art, world culture and natural history. In addition, to be considered for the final prize groups had to take funny selfies at the spot the found the answers. After going through results and laughing at the pictures, the winner team was announced and received exclusive Evolve Hats.
To finish off the day we headed to play laser tag. It was the first time a lot of the students participated in such activity. It went a little like this, each player has a laser and an infrared-sensitive vest, we were then led into a maze-like structure where each player fended for themselves. The first time everyone was competing against every one, the tour leader Sara had the highest score of the first round, the second round was a team effort. The green team dominated the competition by almost doubling the red team’s score. By this time of the day, students were ready to go to bed, on our bus ride back to the hotel we chatted about our favorite parts of the day, what did, what we learnt and what we would do again.
Highlights of Toronto – Day 3
Day three started with a delicious warm breakfast, we then drove to Canada’s Wonderland. My favorite place! The courageous students headed right to the Leviathan, the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada! After hours spent pushing personal limits of fears of heights and speed, the entire grade eight class met up for blizzards at the park’s Dairy Queen. To top this wonderful day off we celebrated the end of our trip and the memories made from the last three days at Medieval Times. This dinner theater featured medieval-style games, sword fighting and jousting performed by actors playing nights, villains and servants. Delicious food and great entertainment made for an unforgettable last night.
