• 50% off the adult regular fare in Comfort class or
• 25% off the adult regular fare in VIA 1 class

Your destination must be Toronto, travel must take place between now and December 19th or from December 26-30 inclusive. Make sure you use the code 11448 when you select "Other Special Discounts" on the "Passengers Information" screen.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art galleries in the world and the current construction that is proceeding on the building will make it even bigger and better.  According to their website, when the construction is finished there will be over 110 galleries in the building.  While I’m not entirely sure how many were there before the construction started, I know from being there personally that it was nowhere near that amount.  The construction has been going on since October 7, 2007 and for the whole time that the construction has been proceeding, the gallery has been closed to visitors.  The latest update puts a rough date of opening in the fall of this year, but no firm date has been set.  For more information on this, check out the Art Gallery of Ontario Director’s Message.

Art Gallery of Ontario Location

The Art Gallery of Ontario is located at 317 Dundas Street West, which puts the gallery between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue on Dundas, right near Beverley Street and McCaul Street (MAP).  You can easily get to the Art Gallery of Ontario from Dundas Subway Station, which is located at the intersection of Dundas and University.  From that point it’s only about a three block walk west to get to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Art Gallery of Ontario Collection

One of the main reasons that the Art Gallery of Ontario is famous is the fact that it has one of the largest collections in the world.  Before the renovation started, there were roughly 70,000 pieces of art in the collection and they spanned the course of history from approximately the year 100 AD to the present moment in time.  In particular, the Art Gallery of Ontario has focused on promoting Canadian art to people both inside the country and those visiting.  This is why two out of every five pieces in the pre-renovation collection were from Canadian artists.  Canada has had many famous artistic talents such as the Group of Seven and Emily Carr.  There have also been rich artistic traditions amongst Inuit living in Canada and that tradition is displayed proudly within the walls of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Transformation AGO

Transformation AGO was a project that was envisioned by a new board of directors at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Their aim was to create a bigger and better version of the gallery that so many had come to love.  Indeed, looking at the construction over time shows that the physical building appears to be getting larger and that definitely bodes well for the insides which pre-renovation were stuffed full of artistic works.  The main goal of the transformation is to add new art, create new collections, add volume to the building and increase the overall exposure that artists can get through having exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  While construction has been long, it is also close to being over and the executives are promising that what you see when it re-opens will be more than worth the wait.

Photo Credits: Personal Collection

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

One of the things I haven’t talked that much about on The Toronto Traveler is the outdoors in Toronto.  Most of the things I mention are either places you can visit or things you can do inside one of the many buildings located in the city, but I have yet to discuss something that you can do outside if you’re just looking for some time to kill or want to get some fresh air.  Well, there are many great places that you can walk in Toronto, but one that should definitely get first mention because of its close proximity to many of the main tourism areas in the city is Philosopher’s Walk.

Beautifully crafted thoroughfares like the one shown to the left are commomplace in Philosopher’s Walk, which is a walkway that starts on Bloor Street West between the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Royal Ontario Museum and continues southward to Hoskin Avenue.  The walk itself is only a few minutes long, but it gives you a chance to bask in a beautiful walkway and take the pulse of the city in a very real way.  It also gives you the chance to encounter a number of people.  University students, music performers, city residents that live nearby and tourists walk back and forth through Philosopher’s Walk all day and with the benches that are available for your use you can just sit there and watch them come and go.  It is a great place to reflect and a great place to relax.

One final point that is worth mentioning about Philosopher’s Walk is the fact that it allows you to branch off and visit many of the other nearby areas.  In addition to being able to visit the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Royal Ontario Museum, you can also go take a look at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Arena and field as well as tourisn some of the nearby campus buildings, most notably the very beautifully constructed Trinity College.

Philosopher’s Walk is also located walking distance from St. George, Bay and Museum Subway Stations; if you check out the subway line map and take a look at many of my past posts, you will notice that these three subway stations form part of the downtown core where most of the action takes place vis-a-vis tourist attractions in Toronto.  That is the main reason why Philosopher’s Walk is shorter than normal, but there are other places in Toronto where you can take a really long walk without stopping that I will talk about in later posts.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Toronto is a city with lots of fantastic artwork attached to it.  Sometimes, as in the case of the above photo, the artwork manifests itself on one of the walls of the city or some other such public place.  However, in most cases, to see great Canadian art you have to head to one of the many artistic venues in the city such as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, which from now on will also occupy a place on The Toronto Traveler’s blogroll.

The MOCCA as it’s known for short is exactly what the name implies and between May 2, 2008 and June 1, 2008, they are going to be having an exhibition of art entitled Between Memory and History: From the Epic to the Everday.  Here is a partial list of people that will have works on display at the event:

Raymonde April

Raymonde April is indicative of the large pool of French Canadian artistic talent that Canada is privileged to have.  She’s one of the contemporary photographic artists that Canada has built a reputation for turning out and ever since she got her start in 1979, her photographs have been in high demand for display around the country.

Robert Burley

Robert Burley, like Raymonde April, is a design photographer and one that has been working for over two decades.  According to his website, the work he does explores the relationship between nature, architectures and the overall urban landscape.  He has many excellent pictures that deal with the meat of this conceptual area, including very awe-inspiring pictures of large pockets of nature next to significantly smaller urban areas.

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a man that refers to himself as the “chronicler of our age.”  He is a man that has been highly critical of mainstream media photography and serves to counter that photography with what he refers to as “criticism, seduction and humour.”  This gives us a chance to take a look at his interpretation of many famous media shots over time and that in itself is a very interesting thing to do.

MOCCA’s Location

MOCCA is located at 952 Queen Street West, which puts it at a major intersection nearest to Queen Street West and Ossington Avenue.  This is actually somewhat far away from the Subway, although there are busses that run along Ossington Avenue from Ossington Subway Station on the Bloor-Danforth line as well as streetcars that run along Queen Street that intersect both the Yonge and University Subway Lines, so the TTC coverage to this particular location is still extensive.

Summary

Event: Between Memory and History: From the Epic to the Everday
Location: Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), 952 Queen Street West
Dates: May 2, 2008 to June 1, 2008
Museum Hours: 11 AM to 6 PM Thursday-Sunday, closed Monday
Admission: Free to the gallery
More Information: 416-395-7490 or mocca@toronto.ca

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Photo Credit: Flickr

Hot on the heels of the new Subway Sundays series at The Toronto Traveler is Media Mondays.  This series will take a weekly look at one news story from that week that I found relevant to tourists in the city, helpful to people that are new to Toronto or have not lived here for a long time or just plain interesting for one reason or another.  It’s my eventual hope that this continual look into current themes and goings on within the city of Toronto will help you connect with the city on a deeper level.

This week’s winner is a piece done by City News called How To Drive Safely Following A Flood.

What did I find interesting about the piece?  Well, essentially this is a type of reporting that you don’t see very often in the media.  Other news outlets such as CBC and The Toronto Star did cover the weather problems that have been going on in the city in recent times, but they also neglected to mention on a large scale what people visiting the city could do to help themselves.  City News has a way of covering the news that lends itself to this type of helpful article and that is one of the things that I like about that news organization.

All of the tips are good, but their main tip of “Don’t drive unless absolutely necessary” is definitely something to take notice of.  Stay away from flooded areas unless you absolutely have to go (and if you read this blog because you’re visiting the city, chances are you can cancel an event and just chill out at the hotel for awhile) and also take note of the last two tips which state what one and two feet of water can respectively do to most automobiles.  SUVs aren’t immune to this type of thing either, so be very wary if you need to go somewhere that is in a flooded area.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Talking about the Royal York Hotel in the context of discussing places in Toronto that you can stay when you visit is actually a bit strange, not just for me but probably also for most people that live in Toronto.  The main reason for this is that to most people that grew up in this city, the Royal York Hotel is really a monument and a tourist attraction first and a place to stay second.  Even though the word hotel is right there in the name of the place, most Torontonians would probably associate the Royal York Hotel more with tourism than with hospitality.

This is not to take away from the excellence that is the Royal York Hotel; far from it in fact.  The Royal York Hotel is one of the most luxurious places to stay in the City of Toronto and it is most certainly the most historic.  From the time the hotel was built in 1843 until the present day, the Royal York Hotel has been one of the city’s centres for tourism and business hospitality service.  Many people stay at the Royal York Hotel each year and each year many people end up leaving the hotel and wanting to come back the next time they visit Toronto.

The inside of the Royal York Hotel is really something out of another era of life in Toronto and pieces within the lobby such as this clock illustrate that the interior decoration of the Royal York Hotel is really an exercise in combining modern concerns for things such as safety and functionality with old world trinkets that would look out of place in most of the other hotels in the city.  This nice blending of old world and new is perhaps another reason that people like the Royal York Hotel so much and it is certainly one of the things that make the Royal York Hotel as big a city monument as it is.

However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that the Royal York is all looks and nothing else, because you’d be totally wrong if you did!  Located at 100 Front Street West (MAP), the Royal York is right by the waterfront of the city.  You could literally walk to the rest of downtown from the Royal York, making it one of the most functionally sound hotels that Toronto has.  It’s quite literally right next to everything and if you stay at the Royal York Hotel, most of your itinerary within the city will likely be within walking distance of your accommodations.

Unfortunately, all of these advantages don’t come cheaply.  Depending on the nights you decide to stay, a typical suite at the Royal York could run you anywhere from $200 to $500 a night and if you include additional services on top of the room that could get even pricier.  The best thing to do if you want to stay at the Royal York would be to book in advance and travel to the city during the off-seasons of tourism in the winter months.  Also, be sure to check out the Royal York Hotel’s website for more information.  I’ll also be including the website in the side links from now on just in case anyone wants to get back to the website.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons, shown under the GNUFDL & Clock in Royal York Hotel by alexindigo on Flickr, shown under the CC-A 2.0 License respectively.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons, published under the GNUFDL

Looking for a good place in Toronto to find some music being played?  Well, here are some venues in Toronto that are dedicated solely to music or alternatively that host music events on a fairly regular basis:

1) The Air Canada Centre
2) Exhibition Place
3) The Four Seasons Centre
4) The Harbourfront Centre
5) The Sony Centre for the Arts
6) Massey Hall
7) The Phoenix Concert Theatre
The Rogers Centre
9) Roy Thomson Hall
10) The Toronto Centre for the Arts

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Enjoy!

Post from: The Toronto Traveler