Spring

Spring is a rather weird season in Toronto.  Weather wise, the snow is starting to melt and while floods can get into the city from time to time, the receding layers of white can be beautiful for photography.  The warming weather combined with the regular breezes from Lake Ontario can create heavenly weather for those that enjoy weather ranges between 5 and 15 Celsius and breezy conditions.

In terms of the attractions, all of the major city attractions are available around the calendar, so you’d be able to see them regardless of when you choose to travel.  However, special events at places like The Canadian National Exhibition usually don’t start until the summer, so if you’re visiting the city in the hopes of going to a lot of events, this is not the best season to do that.

Summer

In my rather humble opinion, Summer has the worst weather of all four seasons in Toronto.  Of course, I’m partial to cold weather and vacationing in a tropical paradise isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.  If you’re partial to warm weather, then Summer is a great time to visit Toronto because the moderating influence of the nearby lake creates temperature ranges that frequently break 25 Degrees Celsius.

Summer is also the high period of tourism in the city, which means that all of the major and minor attractions will be in full swing.  The baseball season is well underway by the time summer comes and the football season is not too far off.  There’s usually extra public transit service in anticipation of higher traveller numbers, but by the same token finding transportation to and accommodation in the city can be harder and end up costing a lot more money.

Fall

Fall is a lot like Spring, except without the great view of melting snow.  Towards the end of Fall however, snow will start to fall on the ground and provide a wholly different set of photographic opportunities.  The weather ranges are about the same as they are for spring, although you can expect more wind in the Fall months.

Fall is a great time to visit Toronto if you’re looking for deals, because it is right after all of the Summer tourism peaks have passed.  Attractions are looking for people to sustain themselves and many airline and hotel companies are doing the same thing.  Rates in a lot of the city’s hotels tend to fall during this period and many of the attractions are silent enough that you can enjoy them alone.  For the various parks, water bodies and beautiful religious structures in the city, this can really make all the difference in your overall experience.

Winter

As a Canadian for the last two decades, I’ve really developed an affinity for cold weather that makes me prefer winter over all of the other seasons.  In terms of weather, you can often expect conditions that are below freezing, with a wind chill factor that can often make temperatures seem like they’re 20 to 25 below zero on the Celsius scale.

The major attractions are all still open, although the number of events that tend to be hosted during this time dips slightly.  However, if you’re a big fan of photography, then getting the chance to take pictures of all of Toronto’s most beautiful buildings when they’re covered by snow might definitely be worth the colder weather.

As I said in the introduction, visiting Toronto is ultimately a personal choice.  There are good points and bad points in visiting the city at different points during the year, but aside from personal opinion there is really no season that is better than the others.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

One of the major reasons that people tend to visit Toronto is that they enjoy how nice the city looks.  From the creatively built buildings in old Toronto to the beautiful suburbs that have managed to preserve a large section of the natural environment, Toronto has really done more than most cities in terms of preserving its green space.

Now, they’re taking aim at reclaiming some of that space for the green world through the beautification of many areas near the major highways that run through the city.  The Don Valley Parkway is the first candidate for this flowering beautification and specifically, this is happening right where the Don Valley Parkway and Eglinton Avenue East meet.

But there are more than just daffodils involved.  There are also rows of Scilla and Muscari flowers along the road as well, all of which are starting to flower for the first time after being planted last March.  This is part of what will eventually be a larger strategy on the part of the city to make its roadways easier on the eyes.  If they have the same amount of success as they did with this first venture, then things should be very beautiful in the city indeed.

So, if you visit Toronto sometime this summer, make it a point to drive past that intersection at least once and take in the view!  In the meantime, I’ll try to see if I can get out there and get some pictures posted sometime before the end of the summer.

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

I was looking for a change of pace for The Toronto Traveler, since I’ve been posting a lot of long descriptions of various excellent restaurants, nightclubs and other establishments in the city as of late.  Since those posts have been received so well, I’ve decided to try and branch out a bit to see what else can be blogged about in Toronto and I’ve come up with an idea that might be good.

May 21st is a day that has seen a lot of history in the City of Toronto, so let me acquaint you with just a few of the things that have happened in and around the city on this day.

May 21, 1821: William Allan, a member of the colonial elite, was given a charter for the Bank of Upper Canada and a decade-long monopoly on the production of currency.  The Bank of Upper Canada Building is one of the oldest buildings in Toronto and still exists today, having been declared a national historic site.

May 21, 1871: Alexander Muir’s crowning achievement, The Maple Leaf Forever, has its first public recital.  It has since become one of the most famous songs celebrating Canada ever created, arguably second to the national anthem in popularity.

May 21, 1965: Ontario’s current flag becomes the official flag of Ontario and is displayed in the Toronto parliament buildings for the first time.

May 21, 1986: Keith Alexander, the President of Jetco Manufacturing Limited, is convicted of the crime of dumping toxic materials into the sewers of the city.  His conviction represents the first time that a corporate executive was sent to jail in Canada for endangering the general public.

May 21, 2008: The Toronto Traveler blogs about this day in history

So, there you have it.  Five different May 21s in history…well okay four, I’ll stop tooting my own horn for now.  Four different May 21s in history, each one bearing witness to an important event in the history of Toronto.

What do you think?  Would this enhance your understand and appreciation for the city, or is it something that is better left up to other blogs about Toronto?  Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts – I welcome all feedback and since I try to tailor what I write to the interests of the people reading, I invite everyone to leave at least a short comment in order to state their thoughts.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The City of Toronto is a very diverse place and even when you are not at one of the major tourist attractions, you have the chance to see something spectacular.  If you’re interested in a way to tour the city as us locals see it, then I’ve come with a way that you might be able to do that for a very reasonable price.

I call it touring the city on the TTC.  All you have to do is get on a bus or streetcar route that goes by a number of places that you want to see and then either stay on the vehicle the whole time (paying just $2.75 for your trip) or get off at various intervals to see different things, getting back on the next bus or streetcar when you feel like leaving.  Because a day pass on the TTC is $9, you’ll never actually end up paying for more than 4 trips, so this is a great way to save some money if you really want to get down into the cultural underpinnings of the city that prop up the great tourism industry it enjoys.

The 506 Streetcar

Route 506 is a streetcar route known colloquially as the Carlton Streetcar.  While TTC copyright prevents me from posting a route map of the streetcar, you can check out a list of TTC routes and select 506 from the drop-down menu in order to get the map of the route I’m talking about.  Essentially, the route starts in the west on College and continues along Carlton and Gerard, covering about 2/3 of the East-West subway line that the city has.  It’s a particularly fun trip to take because of the ease of sitting down on streetcar during off hours and staring out the window at the world going by.

Highlights of the Trip

College and Ossington

College and Ossington is the first place that I’d like to point out.  It’s the first of the highlights that you reach if you’re coming from the West and the last if you’re coming from the East.

What makes this particular intersection so interesting is that it happens to be the heart of the Portuguese community in Toronto and for that reason mixes immigrants from both Portugal and Brazil in order to create a flair that is probably unique to the City of Toronto.  You can eat at both Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants and buy music and drink that originated in both countries.  The people in this area are extremely friendly and I still have the Brazil soccer jersey I purchased at one of the stores here a decade ago.

College and Spadina

Not soon after you’ve crossed out of the Portuguese area of the city, you’ll come to College and Spadina (assuming you’re coming from the West).  There are two things in particular that warrant interest about this intersection and they are both things that I get the pleasure of enjoying whenever I’m at the University.

The first of those things, as the previous sentence implied, is the University of Toronto St. George campus.  If you want to tour the university, then getting off either at this stop or at the next one is a great place to start and even if you don’t want to tour the university you can get some good shots of the campus as it looks from College Street right from the seat on your streetcar.

In addition to that, there is also Chinatown on Spadina south of College.  While getting a picture would be hard from the streetcar (you only get a brief glimpse as the streetcar goes through the intersection), you can certainly get off and walk a bit to encounter restaurants, clothing stores and souvenir shops that all have an Oriental flair.

Gerard and Coxwell

Gerard and Coxwell is the final intersection/area I’d like to draw your attention to, because it is the heart of the South Asian community in Toronto.

Whether you are interested in figures and sculptures such as the ones depicted in the picture or great food cooked in one of the many South Asian culinary styles, Gerard and Coxwell is definitely where you want to start your search.  There are literally hundreds of different establishments with a South Asian theme that are in walking distance of this intersection.  That makes it the final highlight of the 506 streetcar route.

Final Thoughts

While touring the city using public transit is not exactly the most conventional thing for a tourist to do, I think that many people would find it a fun exercise if they give it a chance.  For just $9 (make sure you buy the day pass if you want to get off at all three highlight locations), you can do the following things:

- Start at High Park and take pictures in one of the most beautiful natural areas of the city

- Visit three of the major cultural areas within the city

- Take time out of your day to relax on a scenic trip even if you don’t want to get off the streetcar

- Have access to dozens of different authentic foreign cuisine types

- Fit some genuine interaction with Toronto residents into a 1-2 hour chunk of your day that otherwise would have been spent doing nothing

If you’re up to it, touring the city on a bus or streetcar can be an extremely cost effective and authentic experience.  The 506 is by no means the only bus or streetcar route that gives you this chance, but it is most definitely one of the most intense.

Photo Credit: Flickr (Streetcar Starbucking), Flickr (college/ossington), Flickr (Spadina x College), Flickr (Sacred Hindu Cows)

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Okay, so I’m a little bit behind the ball here since Victoria Day started about 19 hours ago (my time) and ends in about 5 hours, but I still felt it important to convey best wishes on a holiday that is important to Canadians, although not necessarily celebrated in earnest by any other country in the world.  While there are other countries such as Scotland that do celebrate Victoria Day in some areas, all of Canada celebrates it and that makes it an important topic for The Toronto Traveler.

Speaking Victoria Day like a Torontonian

While Victoria Day is most definitely the official title of the holiday in Toronto, you’ll also hear it referred to on a frequent basis as the May Long Weekend, because it happens to be a federal statutory holiday in nine provinces and three territories, with Quebec also celebrating a provincial holiday at the same time.  Other more colloquial ways to refer to Victoria Day are May Long, May Run and The May Two-Four, in honour of the term we use for a case of 24 bottles of beer!

The History of Victoria Day

May 24th is the birth date of Queen Victoria, the first sovereign of Canada after confederation in 1867.  Before that however there was already a tradition of celebrating Victoria’s birthday as in 1854 on May 24th over 5000 residents of what was then known as Upper Canada gathered to celebrate the Queen’s birthday.

In 1901, May 24th was declared Empire Day throughout the British Empire, although because each new sovereign had a different birthday, chaos tended to ensue with people not being exactly sure when each successive yearly celebration of Empire Day would take place.  Eventually, Empire Day became Victoria Day and was settled as being on the Monday on or before May 24th, Queen Victoria’s birthday.

This way the day would be known well in advance every year and there would be less confusion on when to celebrate it.  Incidentally enough, Victoria Day as a holiday often coincides with Memorial Day in the United States, although this year the two dates will be missing each other by a week.

Celebrating Victoria Day

The best way to celebrate Victoria Day in any part of the city is fireworks!  And indeed, there are many public places within Toronto that have fireworks on this day as well as many individuals that go out to open areas and light fireworks of their own.  If you keep your eyes peeled to the sky once twilight and night hit the city, you should definitely be able to see one sweet show.

There are also parades in many cities on Victoria Day, the most famous of which takes place in Victoria, British Columbia.  That city was named after the monarch, so it seems only fitting that the largest parade happen there each and every year.

So once again, The Toronto Traveller wishes you all a very happy Victoria Day!

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The tour starts at the Southwest end of the campus at the intersection of Spadina and Bancroft and ends at the Eastern end of the campus at the intersection of Queen’s Park and Wellesley.  A full map of the tour can be found here and a brochure detailing the event can be found here.  However, being a student of the university I have been inside many of these buildings before, so I’d like to take the time to offer a few comments on some of the twelve buildings that are going to be part of this tour.

University of Toronto Multifaith Centre – Stop #1

Located at Spadina and Bancroft, the Multifaith Centre is arguably one of the most important cultural buildings in the City of Toronto.  It is home to all of the different spiritual student groups and for that reason forms a sort of hub of faith-based student activity not just within the university, but really across the city.  The University of Toronto is home to over 80,000 students and for that reason forms the lion’s share of the post-secondary student population residing within the city.  It’s a real education chatting with many of these groups and you’ll get a chance to see firsthand just how richly diverse the religious community within the city actually is.

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library – Stop #3

The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library really doesn’t have anything to do with spirituality, but the tour has billed it as being a “temple to the book.”  While that’s perhaps overstating things a little bit, it is certainly true that the inside of the library does lend itself to that type of imagery.  With many of the rarest books in the world being housed within this area, getting a chance to see them firsthand could be considered a spiritual experience for anyone that is inclined to reading as a hobby.  This building is located at St. George and Harbord and is very hard to miss.

Hart House – Stop #9

Well, no tour of the University of Toronto would be complete without a stop at Hart House and luckily enough for the people going on this tour there happens to be a chapel right inside where people can pause for a moment before continuing the tour.  Hart House is one of the central hubs of the university and even on the weekend you can expect it to be bustling with activity.  The architecture of the building is spectacular as well and according to the University of Toronto public relations division, it is one of the most photographed buildings in the country.

These are just three of the twelve major stops on the walking tour of the university and truth be told you can probably check out many of the adjacent buildings as well.  The University of Toronto is one of the most spectacular campuses in the country in terms of its historical value and aesthetic beauty and for that reason a walking tour of the campus is always a fun thing to do.  When the added bonus of a tour from a cultural point of view is thrown into the mix however, the results are that much more pronounced.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Are you interested in visiting Toronto sometime in the near future?  Well, whether you’re planning to drive across the border from the US, hop into Pearson International Airport from another continent or simply take a bus or train ride into the city from elsewhere in Canada, the upcoming weekend of May 24th and 25th should be your top priority when doing the scheduling.  The reason for this is that a great event will be taking place during this time. 

Known as Doors Open Toronto, this event will showcase some of the best of the city as 150 buildings will open their doors to the public over the weekend.  These include places that show off Toronto’s distinct multicultural heritage and religious diversity as well as the historical heritage that the city has come to be proud of over the years of its existence.  Some of these buildings would not normally be open to tourists because of their private nature, but during Doors Open Toronto you can tour them to your heart’s content.

Event Details

Doors Open Toronto 2008 is the 9th incarnation of this event and it is going to be the biggest one yet.  Admission to all of the buildings participating under Doors Open Toronto is completely free during the May 24-25 weekend.  To get an idea of how remarkable that is, every single building on the list is either a building that would not normally be open to the public during those hours or alternatively would charge an entrance fee for you to enter.  However, during the weekend that Doors Open Toronto is going on, admission is free and accessibility is universal.

More information about the event can be found by visiting the Doors Open Toronto Website, by e-mailing doorsopen@toronto.ca or by phoning 416-338-0628.

Buildings on Display

A full list of buildings on display is readily available from the Toronto City Website, but in looking over it I’ve come up with some highlights that I think warrant special attention:

Allan Gardens, located on 19 Horticultural Avenue, is one of the premier botanical garden sites in Toronto.  It was created in an act of philanthropy more than fifteen decades ago and ever since that time it has been a must see site within the City of Toronto.  During Doors Open Toronto, it will be open on both days from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.

The City of Toronto Archives is a site that doesn’t get mentioned much in traditional tourism, mostly because access to the archives is restricted by the city’s governing council.  However, all of the information that you could ever want to know about Toronto’s rich cultural and historical tradition can be found inside the archives and for people that love to totally immerse themselves in a city both past and present, the accessibility to the archives during Doors Open Toronto is an opportunity that can’t be missed.  The archives will be open on Saturday from 10 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon and will be closed on Sunday.  It is located on 255 Spadina Road.

There’s no specific reason for me to mention these two out of the 150 that will be available aside from the fact that I haven’t covered either before on The Toronto Traveler.  The fact of the matter is that every single site on the list is an important one for understanding Toronto, so you can quite easily scan the list and pick out the buildings that interest you the most.

Photo Credit: Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Toronto, like many of the other cities, is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of many different pools around the city.  Swimming is a great exercise to pursue if you are in the city not only because it is extremely fun for the whole family, but also because swimming is considered one of the best forms of exercise you can do; it works all of the muscles in your body.  This combination of fun and fitness makes it the perfect tourist activity and in Toronto during the summer there is no dearth of places for you to go if you’d like to swim.  The swimming areas in Toronto are divided into four distinct areas, each with its own set of rules and opportunities.

Some General Rules

Here are some general swimming rules to be followed when you are in one of the city pools:

- Those with serious medical conditions should consult a doctor before swimming and should also have someone with them that understands their condition; they should also notify the lifeguard before entering the pool

- Children seven years of age or older need to use the change room of their own gender, unless special arrangements are made with the pool staff beforehand

- No street shoes are allowed in the shower or in the deck areas and a pre-swim shower is recommended in order to keep the pool clean

- Using devices like cell phones is prohibited anywhere in the change room or washroom

- Children 5 years of age and under must have at least one adult supervising per two children; Children 6-9 years have that ratio at four to one unless they can pass the faculty’s swim test in which case they may swim alone.

Different Pools

There are dozens of different pools across the city (both indoor and outdoor) available to people that are interested in grabbing a swim.  The city catalogues their pools through the use of four different regions.  The links below will lead you to a listing of pools and special events being put on by each region during the upcoming summer months:

Etobicoke Region
East York Region
Scarborough Region
North York Region

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Believe it or not, there actually is a World Cocktail Week! It’s celebrated by the Museum of American Cocktail in New Orleans and it will be celebrated from May 8th to 13th as the best mixologists around will create their best confections in New Orleans in order to dazzle and tickle the taste buds.  Thanks to my excellent associate over at The DC Traveler, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel will be celebrating this event through a collective blogging effort of which this post is a part.

Toronto actually does have a real cocktail named after it, although apparently it happens to be more popular in the United States than in Toronto.  I only heard about it when doing the research for this post, but maybe some of you have come across it before.  Here’s what it takes to make a Toronto:

- 2 ounces of rye
- one quarter ounce of Fernet Branca
- one quarter ounce of simple syrup
- two dashes of Angostura bitters

Directions: Place all the materials together with ice, stirring together and then straining into the cocktail glass once stirring is complete before flaming a disc of orange zest into the cocktail, dropping it in afterwards.
Of course, people that know the city well might come up with a different recipe for the quintessential tongue-in-cheek Toronto cocktail and that might look something like this:

The Toronto Toddy

- 1/3 cup of imported tea
- 1/3 cup of bitter tasting beer, flavoured by a disappointed Leafs fan
- 1/3 cup of sweet-sounding promises from local politicians
- a dash of arrogance
- two parts multiculturalism
- two parts envy from the other Canadian cities (wink)

Mix together well, but don’t sweat it if there are still chunks floating around in it when you’re done.  There’s always the next one!
Whatever cocktail happens to be your preference, make sure you check out the other blogs in the channel to see what they come up with for World Cocktail Week.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler