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Toronto |
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Toronto
You’ve seen it onscreen, standing in for other cities ranging from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh. How is this possible? Toronto’s incredible diversity is hard to appreciate until you’re actually there. The city has a mind-boggling array of attractions, including the best shopping, the biggest museums, and the edgiest theater in Canada. Generous immigration policies have led to vibrant ethnic neighborhoods, including Chinese, Korean, Greek, and Italian enclaves. There’s literally more to Toronto than meets the eye—there’s a whole city underground, as well.
Activities and Attractions:
The biggest names in fashion—Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton—are located along the swanky Bloor West Street corridor. The West Queen West area (the western end of Queen Street West) is known as the Art and Design District, and has many galleries and boutiques. Avenue Road north of Bloor Street has become an antique district. And if you want it all in one place, the Eaton Centre has 300 shops under one roof.
If the weather’s bad, there’s also the Underground City. Located underneath the financial district, this sprawling mass of tunnels allows pedestrians to navigate the downtown area in the rain or bitter cold. The miles of passages are lined with 1,200 shops. You’ll find many of them above ground as well, but who can resist pretending they live in a subterranean world while shopping at the same time?
In addition to shopping, Toronto offers some of the best cultural attractions of any North American city. The theater scene is especially strong, with the touring versions of many Broadway shows stopping through. The city also fosters many homegrown performance troupes. If you’re a real fan of live theater, try to visit during the Fringe Festival held every year starting in late June or early July. Also, consider visiting one of the city’s many comedy clubs. Canadians just seem to be funnier than most, and you might catch the next Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, or Dan Aykroyd doing stand-up.
The city’s museums are also first-rate. The Royal Ontario Museum is Canada’s largest, with six million objects collected from all over the world. The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art fills in any modern gaps in the ROM holdings. Other museums, like the Bata Shoe Museum and the Hockey Hall of Fame, appeal to more specialized audiences. You know who you are.
Toronto is a city of parks, but one in particular stands out because it was created by the unusual team of a landscaper and a classical musician: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma helped design the Toronto Music Garden, inspired by Bach’s First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello. Stroll the grounds on a sunny day, and if you want, follow an audio tour with snippets of inspiring classical music.
Finally, if the weather’s nice, take a break from all that art and culture and indulge yourself with a ride up the CN tower. Sure, it’s touristy, but on a clear day, you can see to Niagara Falls.
Insider Tip:
Although Toronto is a sprawling city, it’s not all that driver-friendly. (It’s not parker friendly, either.) Toronto drivers tend to be aggressive and are famous for running red lights. In addition, navigating the grid is not as easy as it looks because road names tend to change for no clear reason. Our recommendations: pick up a good map, and save the car for out-of-the-way sights. Leave inching through the city center to a taxi driver.
-Exclusively for Perfect Escapes by Nicole Clausing |
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