Date visited: June 2009
Post written by Laura
Throwback Thursday!
Moving out of Europe this week and across the pond for a look back on my first visit to Canada! I was fortunate to be attending a work conference on ‘Emotional Intelligence’, added another 4 days of annual leave and enjoyed 6 days in Toronto which included a day trip to Niagara Falls.
Toronto is the capital of the Ontario province of Canada and has a population of around 2.8 million. Toronto is home to skyscrapers and is located on the shores of Lake Ontario.
Eager to explore one of the first things I did was to check out the CN Tower which at 553 meters was the tallest building in the world until it was overtaken by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
I took the elevator to the viewing platform of the CN Tower and in under a minute I had these spectacular views of Toronto.
From the heights of the CN tower I came back down to ground level and walked the short distance across to the waterfront.
From the waterfront I took a harbour tour.
Toronto has islands in its bay, a myriad of greenery in contrast with the skyscrapers you can see on the skyline.
Yonge (pronounced ‘young’) Street is one of Downtown Toronto’s main streets and at one time was thought to be the longest street in the world. Yonge Street began in the 1700’s as a dirt track which ran through prairies and forests and with much development over the years it is now bustling with shops, bars, restaurants and suchlike.
Yonge-Dundas Square is a huge public open space at the intersection of Yonge Street and Dondas Street and holds events and festivals. I was in Toronto when Michael Jackson died and this square was the scene of MJ tributes.
Yonge-Dundas Square is also where I started my hop on hop off bus tour of the city the following day.
Above the Gooderham Building in Wellington Street East is a historical wedge shaped office building.
Built in 1871 St Charles Clock Tower in Yonge Street is a distinct feature of Toronto’s gay community and feature as part of a “Meet me under the Clock” advertising campaign.
I disembarked the bus midtown at Casa Loma. Casa Loma a historic castle, built in 1914 by Sir Henry Pellatt. It is now owned by the City of Toronto and is one of Toronto’s top tourist attractions with over 650,000 visitors each year.
There are many grand and ornate rooms to explore inside Casa Loma.
Casa Loma is situated on the top of a hill which offers views across the city.
There are also extensive gardens to explore at Casa Loma.
Toronto City Hall is located in an area which was once home to migrants, refugees and newcomers to the city. The modern city hall building was opened in 1965 as part of the Nathan Phillips plaza complex.
Nathan Phillips Square is a lively buzzing plaza complex which features a reflecting pool. In winter, this is turned into an ice rink. The square holds events, exhibits, festivals and weekly farmers markets. It was named after Nathan Phillips, mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962.
Concrete arches span the reflecting pool and in 1989 they were dedicated as ‘Freedom Arches’ to commemorate those who fought for freedom. At the time, a piece of the Berlin Wall was placed in the central arch.
Toronto’s China Town is located along Spadina Avenue and as well as Chinese restaurants and cultural features it has Korean, Japanese and other Asian options. Established in 1878, this is one of Toronto’s oldest districts.
Niagara Falls
While in Toronto I took a day trip to visit Niagara Falls and had one of the most exhilirating experiences of my life! Yes – a helicopter ride over the Falls.
Niagara Falls is located about 80 miles from Toronto and I had booked to visit as part of a tour in a mini bus. On the way, the minibus stopped at the helicopter ride place and we were all given the once-in-a-life time opportunity to take a ride over the Falls. Not everyone participated but I remember it costing only around £40 at the time, something not to be missed!
The experience of lifting off in the helicopter is etched in my memory to this day, along with the incredible scenery as the mighty Niagara Falls came into view.
Niagara Falls are amongst the largest and most spectacular waterfalls in the world and sit on the border between Canada and the USA. They are over 50 meters high and more than 168,000 m3 of water goes over the top of the falls every minute.
Heading back to the helicopter base we passed over the international Rainbow Bridge which was first opened in 1941 and offers spectacular views for those who cross between Canada on one side and and the USA on the other.
From the helicopter ride the minibus took us to Niagara-on-the-Lake a picturesque town on the edge of Lake Ontario. This town is famous for its production of ice wine and before a short orientation walk around the town and down to the lake we did some wine tasting.
Niagara ice wine is produced from grapes which are left on the vine into the winter and are frozen at -7 degrees. Once picked and pressed the wine produced from these frozen grapes is sweeter. And tasted delicious!
We stopped around the perimeter of the Falls at a couple of viewpoints.
Before embarking on a Maid of the Mist boat tour which took us to the bottom of the thundering and crashing falls our little group queued up in the hot sun and we were each given our protective blue waterproofs!
The main town of Niagara Falls is busy and touristy and thankfully we didn’t stay there for long before being driven back to Toronto at the end of the tour.
With the ice wine tasting, helicopter ride and Maid of the Mist boat trip this was an overall incredible and brilliant day!
With a couple of hours to spare one afternoon I took a short train ride from Toronto Downtown along the edge of Lake Ontario.
There wasn’t too much to see and it probably wasn’t really worth doing but I did see a chipmunk!
While in Toronto I had my first (and only) experience of watching a live baseball game! There was an amazing atmosphere inside the stadium as I watched the Toronto Blue Jays while eating nachos smothered in plastic cheese!
Skybar cocktail!
Opened in 1900, the Path is an underground shopping and entertainment complex and set of subterranean walkways and elevators. With a span of 30 km it is the largest underground shopping mall in the world. During my visit in July this provided a cool air conditioned environment to escape the heat. It must also be a most welcome in Toronto’s cold winters.
Richtree is a Canadian Restaurant chain and I found this one inside the mall close to the hotel, it was a relaxing place for breakfast a few times!
Summary
I had a fabulous time in Toronto, a city which is just ‘easy’. Easy to navigate, easily walkable, clean and friendly and with an abundance of things to see and do. As mentioned, I experienced a couple of ‘firsts’ on this trip with my first helicopter ride and my first visit to a baseball game!
frombluetogreen.com 