The Royal York Hotel!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to some top secret sneakery (that cannot and will not be mentioned here) Paddy and I were miraculously able to score a night in the The Royal York Hotel. On the GOLD floor no less, with a private concierge, Honors Bar (where they trust you to declare all your drinks...), sushi at our fingertips and opulence a-plenty. It was pretty swish, and in true Paddy/Sarah style, we sipped wine from the bottle, spilled soy sauce EVERYWHERE and had our fill of spongebob. It was wonderful!!!!!

I found a great article by ninjalicious that provides a nice background into this fine building......

http://www.infiltration.org/hotels-ryork.html

""A Baby Building
I used to think the Royal York was really old. Really old. Like built by the Mayans before Europeans discovered North America. In reality, the Royal York is a mere baby among buildings.

The Royal York was originally constructed between 1927 and 1929 (AD). At the time of its unveiling (n.b. no actual veil was used), it was billed as "the largest hotel in the British Empire" and the only building in Canada with elevators. A concierge boasted to me that people used to come to Toronto just to ride the Royal York's elevators -- I chose not to confide that some still do. The 15-floor east tower was added to the hotel in 1959.

The Royal York underwent extensive (i.e. over $100 million) renovations in 1993, which modernized the hotel and made it fancier. These renovations killed much of its original stern and gothic charm in favour of colour and airiness. I've seen pictures of some of the old dining rooms and ballrooms, and they're delightfully dismal. One old dining hall had the appearance of a remodeled dungeon. I detest renovations, and fail to see how we will ever successfully coat this planet in civic space if we insist on wrecking something old everytime we put up something new, but I digress.""

It was good.





An interesting fact about the Royal York. It is home to Canada's largest kitchen! Long enough to house seven 747's. That's BIG!