Casa Loma is a pretty dazzling sight, being a castle in a country where I, at least, don’t expect to often find them. Wikipedia says that as far as castles go, Canada has never really had them in the true sense of the word.

Wikipedia also proved to be a fairly unreliable source for research, since the list I consulted to try and get an idea of whether or not Canada had many big, fancy houses that at least existed at some time in history is incomplete. It also accounts for buildings that are no longer there, which was a very reliable source of great confusion for me. My high school teachers may have had a point.

Anyhow, what we have can be characterized more as country houses, or some other building that was built look like a castle, talk like a castle, walk like a castle, but still fail to really be a castle. Most of these structures can (or could) be found in Montreal, but Toronto actually has (or had) more than one. This is a completely new and unexpected fact to me, and I may get back to the “castles” of Toronto at a later date. For this article, I set out to write about one specific “castle”, and I will keep on doing that. After all, this is the one that I’ve heard about most frequently.

So here’s what I learned about the place for this week.

Casa Loma, it seems, is the place to go when you’re in Toronto and want to feel your Disney prince/princess fantasy. It was built by a man who dreamed of living in a medieval castle, and although he only managed to occupy the space for less than ten years, he accomplished that dream. Now, if you dream of daydreaming about what your life might look like if you were, say, Lady Mary Crawley, or a fairy tale princess, there is a place in Toronto you can visit that might be able to spark something. It definitely sparked something for many filmmakers, as the estate has made appearances in X-Men, Chicago, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a Rocky Horror Picture Show “re-imagining”, among other films. There just is a fantastical quality about the place, and it definitely embraces it. They had it cosplay as Hogwarts for the Deathly Hallows 2 premiere, making this the building that has the most in common with this author on a personal level.

I placed this entry under the Holiday Tourism Spotlight out of what looks like a dislike of consistency, and because Casa Loma is celebrating the holidays too! The estate is hosting a combination of two events: Magical Winter Nights, and When You Wish Upon a Star. Magical Winter Nights occurs every Wednesday until January 4th, and When You Wish Upon a Star will be operating in some fashion until January 8th.

Essentially, Casa Loma will host a tour through the light displays in the castle gardens every Wednesday night until the first week of January, and the rest of the time there will be opportunities to meet Santa, create arts and crafts, sing Christmas carols, and hopefully have some hot chocolate while taking a break from the singing.

There is also the holiday decor, which includes a grand total of ten Christmas trees, to look forward to in a December visit to this historic building.