A Stay-cation at the Royal York

The Royal York then...

Growing up in the GTA - we've all (or most of us) walked out of Union Station's Front Street doors to look at the Royal York. Almost a throwback to what you see in movies about old hotels, like 1408, or the 13th Floor - with the bellhops in red, and the doors trimmed in gold - a current photo resembles those of the early 1900's in Toronto.

...and now...no difference right? Well except, there's no blimp now...

So imagine me, admiring it from afar, having the chance to stay there for a company offsite conference. Add in the fact that I could grab a quick subway home if I forgot something, and I completely forgot about the trip to Ottawa I got for the same event last year.

Let me start by saying - as exclusive as it looks - there is literally open access to the hotel lobby via the underground PATH, not to mention free-use elevators (meaning no swiping of cards to go up), so I suggest you go in and take a look around.

See those stairs? Yeah, this is dead in the middle of the
lobby and goes down to the PATH. No doors, or staff...

Some of the things that stood out to me...

"Is it haunted?", "I heard someone killed themselves on the 19h floor". Sure, I started the circulation of these stories after a quick Google search, but half the fun of an old building is being scared of its history. The people who work at he hotel will be very open with the stories they've heard, so long as you're not asking at he wrong time.

Do these hallways look scary to you? They're so long that
it looks like there COULD be something at the end, but you're
not sure, so you just piss yourself anyway...

The room...nothing special, which
somehow made it more special

The rooms are what you should expect from a century old hotel. You're not getting the brand new design of the Trump tower, it's all about the experience. It kind of reminded me of going to a really expensive restaurant and getting the tiniest portion. It's all about saying "yeah, I ate there".

The lobby bar was like a scene out of madmen - a bunch of old white dudes wearing what I called smoking jackets ordering scotch and reading the stock portion of the globe - at 11 o'clock at night. I felt uncomfortable, but how could I say no to company paid for gin and Tonic, where the gin was from England and the tonic from India (seriously)

I think I had that server...

Overall, what the experience made me realize is that you really can have a vacation close to home. The whole week I forgot that I was in Toronto - and even walking to the streetcar to go home on Thursday, I felt like a tourist. Well worth the lost feeling though, because the Royal York? "Yeah, I ate there"

Cheers,

Deric