Dinner in the Sky's the Limit

Dinner in the Sky—in which American Express, as a kick-off to Summerlicious, foots the bill to suspend groups of twenty-two cardholders and lucky members of the media and public thirty-five metres over Dundas Square while they all eat—is done its stint in Toronto as of a few hours ago; the team is off to Montréal next.

Torontoist was among the last to go up today, and we were served what was termed High Tea. (The food was pretty good, but not nearly as good as the pun.) BlogTO already has a great run-down of the experience, Sam Javanrouh of Daily Dose of Imagery has plenty of great photos, and Rannie Turingan has a few great videos. We, then, find ourselves in the rather unusual spot of not having very much to add, other than to assuage some potential jealousy: those who weren't among the few hundred people able to make it up over the event's two-day run shouldn't feel quite so bad. The whole thing, while fun, is not quite as fun as it sounds: being strapped into chairs that face in—and rotate only a little to each side—and having a large translucent roof just overhead made the whole thing noticeably less exciting and far less scenic. (What we could see of Dundas Square from thirty-five metres up, though, is no prettier than it is from the ground.)

Then again, "exciting" may be the exact wrong mindset to frame the experience: while the area is no nicer-looking with a bird's-eye-view, it's far less overwhelming. That's Dundas Square for ya—it takes a crane, a multi-ton rig, extensive seatbelts, twenty-one strangers with cameras, a half-dozen waiters and attendants, a hundred or so feet, and a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor to be able to relax and enjoy a tranquil snack on a weekday afternoon outside the Eaton's Centre.

Photo by David Topping. More are here.