Toronto still buzzing after long-awaited solar eclipse

Much of Toronto came to a standstill early Monday afternoon asthousands of people lookedup way up to see a rare event in sky, a partial solar eclipse.

The CNE and Ontario Science Centre were just twoof the placesbuzzing with activity as peoplearmed with their eclipse glasses patiently waitedfor the event to start at 1:10 p.m.

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So was it worth it? People like Carrie Genteswere at theOntario Science Centre for hours before the big event.

"It's quite phenomenal, it's a very rare experience," she said, looking up at the sky with her eclipse glasses on.

Nine-year old Matteo Piccolo said the moon blotting out the sunreminded him of an old videogame.

'It kind of lookslike Pac-Man,"he told CBC Toronto.

Others on Twitter who created their own pinhole viewing boxes had a bit of a different reaction.

Lineups startedearly

Some people like Julia Knightgot to the event grounds at the CNE as early as 9:20 a.m. to make sure they could get thefree pair of eclipse glasses guaranteed by the Ex.

"I hear they're selling online for 25, 30 bucks," she said.

The viewing event washeld byUniversity of Toronto'sDunlap Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"This is all about sharing our passion for astronomy with the public and making this amazing celestial event as accessible as possible,"saidMike Reid, one of the school's astronomers.

There were also telescopes on-site to let people get an up-close-and-personal view of the rare event.

"It's nice to be able to look into the telescopes and see things you don't usually see on the sun, like the solar flares and the sunspots," said attendee DawnDell'Agnese.

Many attendees created their own eclipse viewers using old cereal boxes and shoe boxes.

Over at the Ontario Science Centre, some people decided to skip work and school for the special event.

Seven-year-old RuelRamalingam was told that students at his Whitbyschool would not be allowed outside to witness the eclipse.

His parents decided that wouldn't stop him from missing the event.

So Ruel'sfather,AndrewRamalingam, decided to make a trip down to the Science Centre for the viewing party.

"He's always been interested ineventhingto do with astronomy, the stars, the sun, everything. So I figured it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Something we can both experience today."

Andrew Ramalingam and his wife watched aneclipse in the 90s and wanted to create similar memories with their son.