I have always been a sucker for castles. Living in Canada
my options to view castles are very limited. I am sure there are more than a
few modern castles out there, but they are in private hands and wandering the
halls is not only frowned upon, but it’s also called trespassing which carries
a fine of $2000 for the first offence and up to $5000 for subsequent offences. I’ve
checked.
The first real castle I saw was Casa Loma in Toronto .
It was built over a period of three years for Sir Henry Pellat between 1911 and
1914. There is all sorts of information available about it on the web, and it
is pretty interesting, but for me the best part was that I got to go with a
school group. I can’t remember how old I was or what grade, but I do remember
being very impressed with the building. I must have been fairly old, because I
wandered off and found my way to a tunnel that went under the road to the
stables. I didn’t get to the stables because that end of the tunnel was locked.
Still, I did get to see a part of the casa that most people aren’t allowed to
see. I think that I will look into a tour the next time I find myself in good
old Toronto .
The castle that I am most familiar with is the Banff Springs
Hotel. Louise and I just love the place. Not enough to want to stay there, but
we do go a couple of times a year. I especially like to go just before
Christmas. The setting is perfect for Christmas and the staff decorates the
hell out of the old girl.
There is always a ginger bread Banff Springs hotel
and there are hundreds of trees throughout the halls and common areas. The
photo opportunities are just amazing. There are circular staircases which are
designed for defence against sword wielding attackers. They probably wouldn’t
be much good against someone with an Uzi or a Kalashnakov, but thankfully Banff
has yet to be invaded by any hostile forces. The next time you find yourself in
Banff , make a point of stopping at
the Banff Springs. I have heard that the rooms aren’t anything special, but a
few years ago there were upgrades made so who knows?
The only other castle I have been to was at Lewes in England .
It was a really and truly castle. It had it all and more. We spent an afternoon
wandering through the rooms, grounds and turrets. It was built in 1069 by
Willian De Warenne. I’m assuming that he had some serious enemies that he
wanted to keep away from. I took hundreds of pictures and every now and then I
look at them and think back to that afternoon.
The reason that I am talking about castles is that I made a
promise to Hurricane and I spent part of today keeping my word. I mentioned a
while ago that it would be neat to have a (secret) passage from the room I made
for the boys under the stairs to what is Louise’s sewing room’s closet. The
last time he was here, he went downstairs and came up kind of dejected because
there was no secret door. I promised him that the next time he came over there
would be a special door for him. Louise was talking to Arwen and she told
Hurricane that Poppa might not get the doorway done because he is busy.
Hurricane looked at her like she was crazy and said “It will be there because Poppa
promised”.
I haven’t always kept promises to my children and I have let
down the grandkids more than a few times, but not this time. To Hurricane and
Tornado it will be like they are exploring Casa Loma, The Banff Springs Hotel
and Lewes Castle
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