Toronto, is the largest City in Canada and the Capital of the Province of Ontario.
The people who live here insist you call this city Ta-ran-ta. It's easy to get around the areas near downtown, because they have a great bus, subway system and the underground walkway system,(they call The Path). It holds the Guinness World Record’s ’Biggest Underground Shopping Complex’, (it’s over 10 kilometers long).
The people who live here are similar to the people who live in NYC because both believe that they live in the center of the World. Torontonians also talk funny. I only have to give you one example of this. I would pronounce the city’s name as ’Tor-on-toe’ while they call it ’Tara-ranta’!
Toronto is now a mega city as all the cities that surrounded it are now part of Toronto. More than 80 World Cultures make up the population.
The Attractions
It is possible to see a lot of the attractions, (in the downtown area), by walking. I know because when I took a walk I saw the CN Tower that is used for many promotional pictures. The City Hall has a wonderful fountain and at Bloor and Yorkville 12 block shopping district shoppers will find the most expensive shops in the city.
At Young and Dundas Streets you will find the Eaton Center, (which will probably renamed soon to the Sears Center as Eaton’s is bankrupt), it has 360 shops and many cafes.
The Toronto Zoo offers the largest indoor gorilla exhibit in North America. I don’t like to see animals in cages but in this case this is the only way we can save the gorillas. There are 8 pavilions at the Zoo that has 5,000 animals in them.
We went to the Princess of Wales Theater to see the ’umpinth’ version of the musical, ’Show Boat’. I preferred the older version of the show but I did enjoy the comfortable seats. I have also been to hear the Symphony at the Roy Thomson Hall, see the Toronto Maple Leafs play hockey at the SkyDome.
I loved the neighborhood markets. I visited the Kensington Market by beginning on Spandina Avenue and ends on Bathrust Street. It is a maze of small streets that mixes homes with shops, traditional restaurants, small cafes and music. It looks like a huge bazaar and is a lot of fun.
The St. Lawrence Market has two levels of 120 shops that sell fresh flowers, plants, vegetables, fruit, cheese, fish, meats and sausages.
If you take a 10-minute ferry ride from Toronto waterfront you can visit the Islands in Lake Ontario. On the Islands there is the Centerville Amusement Park, a boardwalk to walk along or you can rent a bike or go roller balding. Within the city there are 300 golf courses, you can go kayaking, hiking, skiing, sailing and horseback riding.
There Are 7000 Restaurants
Afro-Caribbean: Most African restaurants are not located in downtown core, though many can be found in the Bloor West area (between the Dufferin Street and Dundas Street West subway stations.) They tend towards the East African cuisine (a combination of Arab, Indian and African influences), and offer wonderful stews prepared with mild curries, saffron and cloves). The Caribbean cuisine tends to reflect the foods of Jamaica (with its wonderful jerk spices) and Trinidad (a combination of South Asian and Chinese cooking).
Arab and Middle Eastern: The cooking is as diverse as its people and includes Lebanese, Turkish, Persian and Syrian -- chickpea-based salads, chicken with sesame sauce, spicy veal stews, eggplant casseroles and stuffed green peppers, and much more. Moroccan cuisine is also available, with its saffron sauces, grilled meats and delicious wines.
Balkan: Albanian: is a mixture of Italian and Greek dishes. Croatian is the coastal food that has a strong Italian influences. The mountain food is more Germanic. There are also Romanian, Serbian and Slovenian Cafes/
British and Irish: I love the with traditional pub fare, the afternoon tea and fine dining English style.
Canadian and the U.S.A.: The food ranges from steak houses, oyster bars, regional specialties and contemporary food. They also serve a number of excellent wines from the Niagara region.
Chinese: Where can I suggest you should go to eat when Toronto has over 500 Chinese restaurants? The cooking styles from the various provinces of China, including Szechwan, Hunansese, Mandarin and Cantonese.
French: Toronto has a wide assortment of French restaurants. A few also specialize in quality French-Canadian food, (I enjoy this hearty food much better than the way the Parisian’s food that ruin a good steak by pouring exotic gravy over it).
Greek: I always go to ’Greektown’, (between Danforth Avenue between Chester and Jones), to eat fava salad, calamari, souvlaki, moussaka and baklava and to dance.
Indian and South Asian: This includes a variety of cooking styles. These including Tandoori, Sri Lankan, Madras, Bengali and Afghani. Some restaurants are vegetarian.
Italian: No visit to Toronto would be complete without visiting ’Little Italy’ that is off College Street just west of Bathurst. It doesn’t matter what café you pick to eat at I have tried at least 7 and they were all great. I have not visited the other Italian area called Corso Italia.
Jewish: In most areas of Toronto you will find Jewish or Israeli food. They range from delis, (Kosher meat and dairy), to non-Kosher that sever meat and dairy, Eastern European restaurants to Middle Eastern cafes.
Latin: The Hispanic community is well represented as you will find Brazilian, Argentinean, Cuban, Chilean, Mexican, Peruvian, Portuguese and Spanish restaurants.
There are also many Japanese, Indonesian, Filipino, Korean, Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese Cafes.
Some Thoughts
Despite the fact that TORONTO is the City that other Canadians hate I do enjoy visiting here.
I could not tell you everything there is to see and do so please visit their web site at:
https://torontotourism.com
Thank you for reading my review
©LL2002
