Visiting my sister in Buffalo(NY) gave me an opputunity to take in Toronto for two days, only 150km away and feel a city which I have considered moving to.
Modern Skyscrapers & clean streets
Situated on the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway, the area was once inhabitated by nomad indian tribes. Toronto became the capital of the province Ontario when Lieutenant-Govenor Simcoe moved there from Niagara Falls. It was a stoping point for trade and immigration up river, a 104 m step from Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Now largest city in Canada (~5 million) and much a business and arts center, also wonderfull tourist attractions and year-round events, a large city but not cramped.
Favourite spots:
- Ontario Place, an entertainment place built over the lake - Toronto Islands, where the locals escape the buzzling city for picnicing and grilling, park walks and cycling
What's really great:
Standing on a glass floor in the viewing platform of CN Tower
The CN-Tower. Still the largest free standing tower in the world at 553 meters is awsome. The complex also offers multi-media on its construction and the broadcasts that are transmitted there. Info: the worlds largest office buildings are the Petronas Towers in malaysia at 452m. Largest supported mast is the KTHI-Tower in North Dakota (629m) after the Warsaw Mast (645m) collapsed in 1991. Under construction are Taipei-101 (509m) and to substitute the WTC in New York the Freedom Tower (667m with mast) for completion in 2008!
Sights:
Niagra's Horseshoe Falls from
- St. Lawrence Market (great!)
- Ontario Science Center
- Niagara Falls are only 100 miles by train or coach
Accommodations:
Early morning suburban street, tower far away
I used the accomodation information office at Union Station to easily select a hotel for my budget. There are a lot of places to stay in the suburbs and transport is made easy with metro and bus network.
Restaurants:
Taking the metro to Chester station the are a selection of greek restaurants on Danforth Avenue like Pappas-Grill.
Other recommendations:
Info: the Canadian National Exhibition runs 18 days from mid-August