My daughter and I planned a trip to Toronto,Ontario for a “just the girls” trip before she settled into college.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the greatest mood as we rode in the rain from Toronto Pearson International Airport to our destination that was located in the downtown section of the city, the  Windsor Arms Hotel.  This was to be a special trip for my daughter and myself so I had bought fairly expensive nonstop Air Canada tickets to give us more time to enjoy the city. But instead, we ended up waiting for over an hour at the baggage claim area to finally find out that our bags had been taken off the plane before takeoff because of weight considerations.

“Maybe”, the Toronto baggage reps told us, we would get them the same time the next day. As any one of us who has traveled knows, a “maybe” can mean a lot of things including “several days” or “never”.

But then our taxi turned off of Bloor Street, Toronto’s version of Fifth Avenue, and stopped in front of the Victorian-style structure that we had been invited to be a guest at for the next few days.  As a wooden door to this 28 suite hotel was opened by one of its “butlers” I could feel my anger and frustration lifting away, and I felt as if Sarah and I had entered into a luxurious oasis. I had anticipated that this would be somewhere special because the  Toronto based passengers on our flight were very impressed that we were staying there. I just hadn’t realized at the time how well founded their response had been.

We entered an intimate yet elegant lobby. We were a little bedraggled from the travel but there was no stuffiness there as we were greeted by two friendly staff members at the front desk. Then our “butler”  Tim took us up to the fourth floor and through a hallway, a gallery of famous paparazzi pictures of celebrities including Marlon Brando, Elton John and Andy Warhol.

Once inside our spacious comfy room, Tim showed us the amenities including the special sound system and the free WiFi. Tim also showed us a narrow closet next to the main entrance that had two doors; one that we could open and a locked one  that led to the hallway that permitted our butler to provide us with papers such as the New York Times in the morning and special treats in the afternoon without ever actually entering our room.

 

We found that this was in a wonderful location because it was close to well known stores, restaurants, pharmacies, museums, and the metro system. However, because it was also situated on a side street, we personally had no problem with street noise.

 

We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast including omelettes in the morning and the top level indoor salt water pool at night.  We would have liked to have tried their popular afternoon tea, but there was no time.

Great experience that I really recommend if you’re visiting Toronto.

 

Next: The nearby Bata Shoe Museum and Mildred’s Temple Kitchen.