Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons 

Even though The Toronto Traveler has only been around for about two and a half months or so, there are still highlights to talk about!  Here are some of the more memorable posts that have come up in the short time that The Toronto Traveler has been online:

- The Welcome Post, on October 19th

- A Great Picture of the CN Tower, on October 25th

- Staying Safe on Halloween, on October 30th

- A Plug for the Official City of Toronto Website, on November 18th

- Great Music at one of Toronto’s best Jazz Locales, on November 20th

- Toronto’s First Snowfall in 2007, on November 24th

- Me Moaning and Groaning About the Toronto Maple Leafs, on November 30th

- Toronto’s First Real Snowfall in 2007, on December 2nd

- Instructions in Speaking Torontonian, on December 10th

- Christmas Wishes from The Toronto Traveler, on December 25th

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

1) The Toronto Islands, from the Wikimedia Commons

2) Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto, from the Wikimedia Commons

3) Massey Hall in Toronto, from The Wikimedia Commons

4) The St. Lawrence Market, from The Wikimedia Commons

5) The Ontario College of Arts & Design, from The Wikimedia Commons

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The second addition to the blogroll at The Toronto Traveler is toronto.com, a website that has been around for a very long time and has everything you are going to need when it comes to knowing what is going on in Hogtown.  To give you a brief introduction to the website, let us take a look at the major categories that they cover.

Events: Chances are if it is going on in the city, then toronto.com already knows about it and has posted it on their website.

Attractions: Just like the Toronto Tourism Tendencies series that we did before, toronto.com also has things to say about the major attractions within the City of Toronto.

Movies: Want to know where a particular movie is playing so that you can fit it into your schedule?  Check out the movies section of toronto.com!

Restaurants, Bars and Clubs: While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it is still one of the best lists around.

Hotels: Again, not really an exhaustive list, but at the same time one that should help most people find a place to stay if they are planning a visit to Toronto.

Shopping: Shopping is big in Toronto and there are a lot of places around that people can shop at.  While it is once again not a list that covers all of the shopping outlets, it has enough to be of use to a person that needs to find a shopping outlet close to their location.

In closing, toronto.com has all of the makings of a good reference website that people can use if they want to find something.  Unlike The Toronto Traveler and other blogs about Toronto that are similar to it, the goal of toronto.com is not really to provide a running commentary on the tourism situation in the city, but rather to act as a point of reference for people that need to find something fast.  The reviews are not as detailed as you might find on some other websites (i.e., this blog), but if you just want the basics of where it is and how to get there, then toronto.com will get that information to you very quickly.

I’ll be adding the website to the blogroll, so it will be there for you to use for future reference.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

While it is not exactly the Official Christmas tree, this tree from past years within the Eaton’s Centre does a very good job of approximating what the tree looks like.  This year’s tree is sponsored by the Bay and stands a full 50 feet tall.  It was created by a Canadian named Brian Gluckstein, who you might remember as being a designer of some renown both here in Toronto and across the continent.  It was designed under a “sparkling” theme and as a result includes a lot of reflective colours in great quantities; gold, silver and white feature prominently within the design of the tree.

Courtesy of the City of Toronto website, here are some interesting facts about Toronto’s Christmas Tree:

- The tree is around 50 feet high, although a more accurate measurement will be obtained once the tree is placed on the stand in the position in Nathan Phillips Square that it conventionally occupies

- The tree has to be transported by truck and has to be lifted into place with the help of cranes

- The tree is put in place by a crew of six that spend half a work day at least on the process

- Three days are allowed to pass conventionally between the tree being set up and between it being decorated

- The tree is decorated by a crew of four and it takes them three work days to complete the task

- One of the biggest annual collections of machinery in one place occurs during the decoration of the official Christmas tree

- The tree is recycled into mulch after the holiday season in order to strenghen the beauty of the city’s walkways and flower beds

In any case, once the tree has been put up, I’ll snap some pictures for you guys to see.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

There are a number of different places that you can go to get really quick information about the City of Toronto.  The best place (aside from this blog of course!) has to be Toronto’s Official website.  As far as an official website is concerned, http://www.toronto.ca is perhaps one of the best sources of Toronto centric information that you could find.  The website was slow to get started and for the longest time was little more than a poorly designed and rarely updated piece of information, but with the new push for tourism in Toronto the local government has done an absolutely spectacular job of getting this website up and running for people to use.

There are a bunch of things that you can find using this website.  Here is a summary of a few of the more important ones:

- Information about ways to get to Toronto

- A calendar of events for Toronto

- Information about how to get around the city, as well as breaking information regarding any delays in events and transporation for them

- Detailed descriptions of the different tourist attractions within the city as well as links to websites for those attractions

This is just a small sample of what you can get from the City of Toronto website; a resource that is completely free for people to use.  So, if there’s something that you can’t find on The Toronto Traveler, then chances are pretty good that a quick trip to the City of Toronto website will allow you to find it just fine.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler