Babymoon in Toronto

Please tell me you know what a babymoon is! Much like the push present, the babymoon has slowly become the norm for most couples and  is the perfect excuse to sneak in some couple time before the arrival of baby. The hubs and I have been having a busy schedule lately and as part of my recent projects I was enlisted to review some local Toronto properties as Masalamommas’ travel writer. It was the perfect way for us to sneak in a nontraditional babymoon. I highly recommend spreading out the babymoon as it gave us something to look forward to as we approach this final week in the home stretch. Over the course of 10 days we spent a night at three different hotels mixing a bit of work with pleasure.

With the first baby I was whisked away to Quebec City for a weekend of foodie exploration all planned by the hubs. What he did not realize was that Quebec City whilst pregnant can be a bit tough due to the many hills and the inability for me to enjoy some of the finer cheese, cured meats, pate and foie gras. WOE be me! Well this time we spent three different nights at three different Toronto hotels. It was the first time in two years that we had spent the night away from the Little Monkey, luckily my parents were more than happy to watch her the nights we spent away. Ofcourse the biggest challenge was that technically I was working during the stays, so the hubs had to constantly remind me to stay off the phone (hah! like that can happen) and to turn off all electronics. I gave myself a cut off time but till 10 p.m I was in work mode.

While this isn’t a full review (you’ll have to wait to read the Masalamommas series) today’s post is all about the design elements that caught my eye during my stay at the three hotels and the little surprising touches that captured my heart. Quite appropriate since it’s #IGThurssday! All pictures are ones I’ve shared through Instagram.

 Disclaimer : We were invited for a complimentary stay but as always, opinions are totally mine!  

Each room at the Gladstone hotel is uniquely designed by different artists. Our room had handpainted wallpaper and each wall was different!  Also being an art destination we popped by an art show taking place that evening and I loved the canvas that was made solely of images of Toronto residential buildings. It is true, we have a resurgence of condos rising everywhere! And finally the Gladstone has a unique character known as Hank the Cowboy and the only hand operated elevator is all of Toronto is dedicated in his memory. He used to work at the Gladstone till he passed away two years ago and his legend still lives on!

The Windsor Arms captured my heart at every corner with its nod to old school charm but favourites included instruments in every suite,which meant that the hubs TRIED to strum a few tunes! Once again the lifts … err.. elevators came in to play. This one looked like a library! It had built in bookshelves INSIDE. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a good picture of the ginormous painting of a lady that hangs above the main events space. The painting was the focal point for me and I can completely envision hosting an event there and just staring at it all night long!

I seem to be obsessed with chandeliers lately and our stay at the Shangri-La Toronto fueled this passion even further! My favourite were the 180 green and amber glass orbs scattered throughout the BOSK restaurant. I also loved what looked like hand blown shards that hung by the reception. Ofcourse it’s hard to ignore the famous Shangri-La chandeliers and these ones were in their Museum event space and there were 13 Italian crystal chandeliers hanging at varying heights. Bedtime was the best….bookmarks instead of chocolates. Very cute, especially since I had chocolates with my dinner!

Tomorrow I check in to a very different type of accommodations… the hospital! Not as luxurious but costs pretty much the same!

What about those of you with kids, did you head out on a babymoon?