View of the 2012 CNE from the Kiddie Ferris Wheel

I love a good roller coaster as much as the next person - or more than, depending on the person - but I never turn down the opportunity to ride the ferris wheel. What some people perceive as a slow and predictable yawn is, to me, an effortless opportunity to see the world from a different angle. I was glad when my son pulled my arm in that direction!

On the surface of the CNE grounds, you can feel the pulse and smell the sugar as you drink in such details as hand painted muskoka chairs and a charmingly simple sixty year old fountain named for a queen's visit.

We got to sample the latest toys and refill our bottles at a water station for free and witness a frenzy of eleven piglets all nursing at once.

But to rise above everything and watch the cluster of people turn into ribbons of colour flowing around tent tops added another layer to the experience. The view was fabulous and the nature of a ferris wheel affords the rider ample time to shoot in every direction, and even downwards, if so inclined. It was neat to see such frivolous multihued fanfare on one side and serious monochromatic skyscrapers on the other. But that's Toronto!