Toronto

Toronto has some interesting attractions, but few must sees, and in the weeks prior to my visit I alternated between thinking I'd never be able to fill my days there and thinking I'd have far too much to fit in during my stay. It was hard to tell from my mini guide book what the absolute must sees were, but over a day and a half I packed in the following. It may seem like a lot, but I never felt too rushed, and also had time for a bit of shopping ...
...building is as near as Toronto gets to any kind of stately home, built between 1911 and 1914 by Sir Henry Pellatt. Inside you can watch a film about its former owner, explore the many rooms, still furnished in their original style, discover secret passages and climb the towers for views over the city. The audio guide comes in many languages and is interesting but unfortunately not an 'intelligent' one. It cannot sense where you are in the building ... more

Toronto has some interesting attractions, but few must sees, and in the weeks prior to my visit I alternated between thinking I'd never be able to fill my days there and thinking I'd have far too much to fit in during my stay. It was hard to tell from my mini guide book what the absolute must sees were, but over a day and a half I packed in the following. It may seem like a lot, but I never felt too rushed, and also had time for a bit of shopping and lots of eating, things equally important in any city break itinerary I draw up for myself.

On my first day, on the advice of a local friend, I headed to CASA LOMA. It was quite a trek since I chose to walk and it was the total opposite end of the city from my hotel, but it was sunny and I thought it could be a good way to get to know the city. There are two parts to Casa Loma, the castle and the gardens, and one entrance gets you into both. I was feeling clever, having found a money off coupon in the leaflet racks at my hotel, but this wasn't all it turned out to be. While I did get a discount on the admission itself, once they added on the (compulsory) fee for the audio guide, the (compulsory) fee for the documentary and the (compulsory) donation to the improvement works, I was still asked for $14.60 (usual price $17), quite a lot for one attraction. Or so I thought.

The building is as near as Toronto gets to any kind of stately home, built between 1911 and 1914 by Sir Henry Pellatt. Inside you can watch a film about its former owner, explore the many rooms, still furnished in their original style, discover secret passages and climb the towers for views over the city. The audio guide comes in many languages and is interesting but unfortunately not an 'intelligent' one. It cannot sense where you are in the building so you have to keep entering the code for each new room. Combine this with the different audio streams available (from a historian's point of view, from a servant's and so on) and there's a lot of faffing around. I gave up after a few rooms, choosing just to look rather than listen as I explored.

The second part of Casa Loma is the extensive gardens, worth a visit in their own right. This beautifully maintained area stretches for acres to one side of the castle, and includes patches with names such as 'Spring Woodland Garden' and 'Rhododendron Dell'. I had time to look, though not the linger, but were I a resident in the city I would be a frequent visitor, especially now I know they also have free garden access days every month.

Coming back into the centre from Casa Loma, I stopped into the BATA SHOE MUSEUM where I was won over immediately by the man on the desk welcoming me with, 'One student, is it?' I may have ditched my old NUS card years ago, but having come from Mexico I imagined my income for the year was probably less than that of most students back home, so had no problems accepting this discount. The museum was a place I wanted to go because it sounded unique and intriguing, and while it was worth a visit, it wasn't quite what I had been expecting. I was thinking art gallery-meets-shoe shop, with row after row of fancy footwear, probably in sleek displays with subtle up-lighting. What I found instead was a more hands-on, kiddie friendly museum looking at the history of shoes from around the world, and including random articles like Chestnut-stomping-boots and boots made with bear fur, from Japan. They had some designer pieces, but they weren't the focus of the museum.

On the upper ground floor, they had a video reel running, which was an interesting look at people who could be defined by their shoes (Nureyev by his ballet slippers, for example) but it was let down by a shrine to Ginger Spice, those Union Jack platforms being a star feature. Other displays included Native American footwear and stuff for winter sports - ice skates, hockey boots and so on. A free audio tour is available but this requires you to have access to a local cell phone, rather unusually. I appeared to be the only non-Canadian visitor there, so this might be popular for them, but most foreign visitors would not be able to dial into it.

The ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO, my next stop, could not have been more different. This is a typical, large, modern gallery, featuring floor after floor of precious art works. I was lucky to find, on arriving, that I had got there just 5 minutes before a free tour was leaving, so decided to tag along. The woman who led us round was excellent, and hers was one of the most popular tours though this could have been due to the theme: African, Contemporary and European art tours were being run at the same time but hers, on Canadian art, was naturally a keen pick for many visitors. We took in various paintings, learnt a little history (one guy only donated his work on the agreement that none of the pictures would be labelled with name, artist, year etc) and also got to see the stunning wooden Galleria Italia. Admission was $14.40 including a discount (again, check those coupon books at your hotel), and I felt I could have spent all day there, had I had longer. The gallery was such a nice place to wander round, and while not too busy, had enough people there so you didn't feel the security guards tracking you with every step you took.

The CN TOWER is something you just have to do, despite its hefty price tag and dazzling array of packages on offer. I chose to go for the basic, admission to the observation deck and glass floor, and even this came in at $21.99 - prices rocket up to $32.99 if you include optional extras like a special ride, the film and the super-high Sky Pod. The experience started with a 'professional' photo shoot but as you walked round to the lifts there were also other things to pose next to / beneath (including a mini model CN tower) so you could get some photos of your own if you didn't want to pay another $25 or so for the 'experience' photos they took. Then the lifts whisked us up to the observation deck. This is two floors, one indoor, one with outdoor sections, that allow you a great view over the city and the bay. You can go higher, into the Sky Pod, but I'm not sure how much more you'd see for your extra $8.41 or so. As it was, I stuck to the cheaper (ha!) option and spent a good hour wandering around. I looked at the exhibitions inside, one comparing the CN tower to other structures, always good for a game of 'Where I've been': Empire State Building (tick!), Sears Tower (tick!), Eiffel Tower (tick!), KL Twin Towers (tick!) and so on. I also spent a suspicious length of time drooling over the cake counter on one side, though I'd eaten far too much at breakfast far too recently to be able to indulge. This floor offers access to a restaurant too, but this was pretty empty when I was there (early on a Saturday morning).

Though I'd not had to queue to get in, I was by no means the first person there that day, as I discovered when I went looking for the glass floor and found it hidden beneath the bottoms of 20-odd visitors who were all posing for the ubiquitous 'Look at me, being all brave' shots. Naturally I wanted one - so much so, I asked a stranger to take one for me in the absence of a companion. The glass floor is tiny, only a few meters square, but deceptively scary. The rational part of me knew it would never have been opened were there the slightest chance it could break or even develop a sliver of a crack as people stood on it. The scaredy-pants part of me moved swiftly to the side when a hefty 10 year old arrived and gleefully started jumping up and down on it much to the horror of the other visitors. Exiting through the gift shop, I didn't even bother to stop and look at the photo they'd taken of me, knowing I would probably like it and then feel tortured about whether or not to invest. The quality of the 'experience' photos the day before at Niagara had been excellent, so I imagine the ones here would be equally good, but I just cannot justify spending over $20 on a photo of myself when I'm not dressed in a cap and gown.

I had been thinking about doing either a bus or boat trip of Toronto ever since I found out I couldn't pop over to the islands since there was a city-wide strike on the weekend I was there. In the end I decided to combine the two with a HIPPO TOUR (aka a duck boat...except, you've guessed it, it's shaped like a hippo not a duck). This was also not cheap at $38 ($34.20 for us lucky people with coupons) but turned out to be one of the best parts of my stay. It is a 90 minute round-trip tour that runs every hour, and takes you up to the university, down through China Town and Little Italy and then onto the water round Ontario Place for a quick cruise. Interestingly, I never saw a Hippo on the road at any time during my stay, though with 8 tours per day, they must have been out there. My tour was pretty full, and even though I arrived 30 mins early or 30 minutes late depending on how you look at it (having mistimed my departure from the CN tower) I wasn't the first person waiting.

There were two members of staff on board, a 'captain' who drove the bus/boat and our 'hostess' who talked us through what we could see and told terrible hippo jokes when we stopped at traffic lights. The service provided was excellent, and I thought it was great that we had a live commentary provided, instead of the usual recorded thing. It gave a unique, personalised experience because the hostess talked about what was going on in the city at the moment, pointing out temporary displays and so on, and even commenting on individual street performers we passed. You wouldn't get that on a turi-bus. When we splashed down into the bay, the captain let all the kids on board go up and 'drive' the boat, and posed for pictures, which was a nice touch. I really enjoyed the tour, but I'd recommend you did it on your first day as it gave a great orientation of the city, and distances between places.

These were the highlights of my trip, but by no means the only things I saw. I went to the St. Lawrence market, admired Campbell House from the outside and even had a nosy at the very-overlooked St James Cathedral. I explored Union Station and the Eaton Centre, ventured into the PATH (the underground passages covering a vast number of blocks). Had I had the time or inclination, I could have headed out of the centre to the city zoo, or to the Science Centre.

The only downside I saw was the price of things. I may have been spoilt having spent a year in Mexico where museums cost pennies (or nothing at all if, like me, you have a teacher's ID) but I did think Toronto was quite pricy. I didn't not do stuff because of the cost, but it made me pull a face every time I arrived somewhere and noted the admission prices. It is certainly worth looking out for coupons before you set off each morning as there are many different ones to be had. At several places I rocked up with multiple coupons (say, a fixed dollar amount off, and a percentage off) and forced my brain to do some quick mental arithmetic to work out which was the best deal in each case. NB: A City Pass, multi-admission ticket is available, but would not have been a good choice for me as it covered places I didn't go to, and didn't cover many I did.

I took the metro out to visit my friend, but otherwise walked around the city, as I like to walk and often discover things along the way. The city was notably different from Mexico City (no surprises there) and wasn't as crowded and loud as I remember New York being, but I can't say I found massive differences between the USA and Canada. It's just a nice, friendly, North American city with a fair bit going on, and while many people would see it as a tag on to Niagara, you could certainly visit the place in its own right.

For more information:

www.casaloma.org/
www.batashoemuseum.ca/
www.ago.net/
www.cntower.ca/
www.torontohippotours.com/
www.stjamescathedral.on.ca
www.stlawrencemarket.com

www.citypass.com/city/toronto.html  

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