It had been well over a decade since I last visited Toronto. That time, I arrived in the city with my friend, Melody, in the middle of a whirlwind road trip that had us stopping off in the Adirondacks, Montreal, the Thousand Islands, Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Howes Caverns. Consequently, we only had 24 hours or less in the city before venturing off to our next destination.
This time around, I was able to spend four straight days in the city. I think that’s the perfect amount of time to explore everything the city has to offer. We arrived early on Friday morning and immediately headed out to explore Queen Street West and West Queen West (a formerly derelect neighborhood even further away from downtown). It’s a rather funky area with numerous art galleries and shops. Closer to downtown (still on Queen Street) we explored the new and old city halls (side by side….one modern, one Richarsonian Romanesque).
That night, we explored the Gay Village, centered around Church and Wellesley.
The next morning, we intended to head toward Casa Loma (a castle built by an eccentric rich man nearly 100 years ago). On the way there, we stopped into Queen’s Park before realizing that in front of us was the Ontario Parliament Building. We walked in and took a tour, then hopped back on the subway and headed up to the castle.
Casa Loma is gorgeous. Perched on a hill (a rarity in flat Toronto) the castle has gorgeous gardens and unlike the castles I’ve toured in Europe (or even in the states) this one lets you explore nearly every room. It’s the most comprehensive castle tour I’ve ever seen.
We left Casa Loma and headed south again to Kensington Market…claimed to be the largest public market in North America. It was block after block of cheap crap (tshirts, meats, produce, knick-knacks, etc…). It’s right next to Chinatown and Koreatown and mobbed with people. We ended up eating at a Hungarian Thai restaurant. Yep, you heard that right: it was called the Hung(a)ry Thai…I had wiener schnitzel and Randy had a green curry dish. YUM!
We then hopped on the subway and headed to the Bloor/Yorkville area. This is their version of Boston’s Newbury Street or NYC’s Fifth Avenue, except it also houses Canada’s largest museum: The Royal Ontario Museum. The main drag is very urban, but just one block back you’ll find narrow streets with even more shops and nice homes.
We read that the Little Italy area was having a fair that evening (similar to Boston’s North End feasts) so we headed over there for dinner. The streets were mobbed with people and performers. Ironically, we ate at a Thai restaurant (though I technicaly had Vietnamese food).
On Sunday, we headed out to the Distillery (their version of Boston’s Faneuil hall or San Francisco Ghiardelli Square. Amongst the old buildings are some new condo towers and lofts being constructed. One had a fascinating pinpoint of a corner (I can’t imagine how a tenant would vacuum or sweep at that wall). The area was hosting an arts fair and produce market, too.
We then walked down to Queen’s Quay and took in the skyline view from the harborfront. For even better photos, we went to the top-floor observation deck of the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel. It was from here that you can see how tall their buildings really are in that city. I think Boston may have more hi-rises, but at 25-40 floors tall, they’re nearly half the height of Toronto’s 50-70 story buildings.
After an afternoon break, we headed over to Cabbagetown (our favorite neighborhood) and then to the Necropolis: Toronto’s oldest cemetery. We hopped on the trolley and then headed out further to their 2nd Chinatown (the city apparently has five of them) and then to Little India, where Randy and I enjoyed a samosa.
That night, we lazily headed into the Gay Village again for an Italian dinner.
That brings us to Monday (Labor Day is also a holiday for Canadians). We started off the day taking the Queen Street trolley as far west as possible to find a store that sold art from a painter that interested Randy. After nearly an hour (trains were irregular because of a Labor Day Parade, and then one train car became disabled) we arrived at the location. It wasn’t an art gallery: it was a convenience store.
Seriously! We traveled half way across the city (almost to Mississauga) to the only neighborhood we actually felt unsafe in, only to find a convenience store. After a few minutes, I was able to laugh. But things did get testy for a brief while as we were BOTH rather frustrated.
We got out of that “hood” as fast as possible and took the Queen Street trolley completely to the other side of the city: east (another hour or so ride). This time, we arrived at a neighborhood called The Beaches. We walked around the shops, had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, then headed down to the beach. Lake Ontario is so vast that it actually feels like you’re at an ocean beach in New England. This is the one area of the city where the housing stock was built differently (less brick, more clapboard and shingle). We laid out under some trees for an hour or so then headed back to the hotel for a rest.
We ended the trip by taking the subway to Greektown for dinner.
I’m so thrilled I actually got to see the real Toronto this time around. It’s the most ethnically diverse North American city I’ve ever visited. Yeah, most large cities on this continent have a Chinatown and Little Italy (North End). Some have pockets of other ethnicities (San Francisco has JapanTown, midwestern states have German and Polish)…but this one city has countless distinct neighborhoods offering markets and clothes and restaurants: there are 5 Chinatowns, plus KoreaTown, 2 Little Italy’s, Cabbagetown (Irish), Greektown, Little India, a gay neighborhood, even a Polish area (that we didn’t visit). And even in each of those neighborhoods we’d find restaurants of various ethnicities.
It really did feel like I was exploring multiple different countries instead of just one.
September 2nd, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments
