Six days in Toronto

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Before last week I had never visited Canada before. America, yes – numerous times but Canada was never a country I ever really thought about visiting, until last week, when I stayed in the Canadian city of Toronto.

Toronto is located in the south east of Canada, right on the border of their American neighbors. A hustling bustling city, Toronto is Canada’s most populous city and is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Toronto has gone through various changes throughout the years, before the Europeans arrived on Canada’s shores, the city of Toronto was inhabited by the native Iroquois. It was then owned by the British who renamed the city to ‘York’ before the battle of York in 1813 where they were defeated by the American army. These days, Ontario is a widely diverse city with people from many nations making up the population. The city is full of dog walkers and cyclists who make good use of the large amount of green land that is still prevalent across the city.

Day One - The adventure begins

My Toronto journey began by flying into the Ontario International airport from Iceland. Although I live in Britain I had a six-day stop-over in the Scandinavian country which meant a five-hour flight rather than a grueling nine-hour flight from the UK to Toronto – so I wasn’t complaining. But I digress, before I knew it I was in a taxi on the way to the apartment that I had rented for my stay in downtown Toronto. The taxi driver was very chatty and friendly, originally from India the famous Canadian hospitality must have rubbed off on him “call me Sanjay” he told me before he informed me of all the sites that I must visit in Toronto. After a 40-minute taxi journey, I arrived in Downtown Toronto – the location of my apartment.

I was on the 22^nd floor of a high-rise apartment block, a view of the CN tower to the left of the apartment and Toronto’s national football stadium in front. After un-packing my suitcase and settling in, I stepped out onto the balcony (very high, extremely windy) and noticed that there was a football match (or soccer as the North American’s call it) playing out in the stadium. It turns out that Torontonian’s love their sport – Toronto FC, the Blue Jays, the Maple Leafs, Raptors – Canada even have their own esports teams - sport is huge in Toronto but more on that later.

After taking a few photos of the view I decided enough sitting around and went out to get some of the essentials for my stay in the apartment – tea and snacks. After a five minute walk I came across a supermarket and it was every food you could ever want all in one location. On top of all the usual products there was a fresh noodle bar, a pastry counter, an organic and vegan food section with products from all around the world. So I stocked up and headed back before realizing how hungry I actually was – I hadn’t eaten anything since 7am Icelandic time and it was now 5pm Canadian time (Canada is four hours behind Iceland). So I went out to find some grub and ended up at the Craft Brasserie and Grill – a sports bar and noticed the TVs were nearly all set to one station – it was the football that was being played in the stadium that my apartment overlooked! The Canadian women’s football team were taking on Costa Rica. After finishing off my spicy nachos and garlic fries I walked back to my apartment to get some well needed rest.

Day 2 – Exploring the city

Fresh from a great night’s sleep I had already planned exactly what I was going to do today – go up to the top of the CN tower and visit Ripley’s Aquarium - right across the street from the tower. On arriving at the tower I knew that I wanted to purchase a city pass – this pass which cost me around $70 meant that I could visit a number of attractions – definitely worth it if you are planning on visiting various locations across Toronto. After purchasing my ticket, I was herded onto the glass floor lift and to my surprise, shot up the tower! The lift travels at 15mph, you are going up at 20ft per second and it takes less than a minute to get to the top of the 553m structure. Now I’ve been to the top of a few tall buildings – Empire State building, Eiffel Tower, that tall one in Las Vegas – and I have to say that I was quietly disappointed with the CN Tower primarily because there was steel mesh blocking the views almost entirely. But the glass floor section of the tower was cool. However, I grabbed a quick souvenir from the gift shop and headed back down on the lift again. On stepping out of the CN tower the weather was roasting. It was, according to the newspapers, one of the hottest days Canada had had in June for decades – around 30c and the humidity was at top level. So I quickly rushed across from the CN tower to the aquarium and used my city pass to gain access.

Whenever I visit zoos or aquariums I am always in two minds: on the one hand I want to see these amazing animals in the flesh but on the other hand, for a lot of the animals to be kept in such closed conditions it is torture for them. Now I completely understand the needs for some animals - White rhinos, for example - to be kept in closed off environments because of the dangers from poachers, but to see sharks, sea horses, fish, jelly fish and a whole manor of other sea life live within such an enclosed space really makes me think about my morals when I am voluntarily paying the aquarium for this to happen. Anyway, I was in and the place was full to the brim of school children! There must have been over 20 school trips to the aquarium all at once, although I later learned from a local that the aquarium is full of school children almost every day of the year! It was neat to see the animals – the saw fish especially – but on top of the noise in the venue and trying to snake my way past all the children, it is not a place I would rush back to anytime soon.

Day 3 – The trip to Niagara Falls

Who doesn’t come to Toronto and visit Niagara Falls? Not me, that’s for sure. Day three meant an all day visit to Niagara and Niagara Falls and I couldn’t wait. I was up early in the morning – it was a 40-minute walk from my apartment to the pick-up place of the mini-bus and the bus was setting off at 8 o’clock sharp. On embarking onto the mini-bus it turned out that we had a full bus – around 12 of us – and five minutes later we were bombing down the main city highway. The tour guide was great, very talkative, informative and witty, we stopped at various locations before we got to the falls including the Niagara town which was voted the nicest town in Canada. We also stopped at a local wine distillery where we were given the opportunity to sample three glasses of wine – one being Canada’s quite well known ice wine. After nearly everyone on the bus had bought a bottle of wine or two, we were back on the road and this time our next stop would be the falls.

As we were driving to the falls, our tour guide would point out to us the American/Canadian border - just across the lake we could see New York state. It turns out that the border is located in the exact middle of the lake. This brings us to the waterfall itself. I had no idea that Niagara Falls is split into three separate waterfalls – the horseshoe falls on the Canadian side and the American falls & Bridal Veil falls on the American side. I had absolutely no idea of this fact until I came face to face with the falls themselves. They’re only around 100ft away from each other but the horseshoe falls is the waterfall that is in all of the pictures. Again, So, our tour guide led us down to the lake front where we would board a maid of the mist boat that would send us into the heart of the falls. It was a fantastic experience hearing 500,000 gallons of water crashing down, feeling the spray of the water across your face it is not an experience anyone can forget.

Day 4 – Culture Time: Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum

After the thrill of Niagara Falls it was time for a bit of culture. The Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest galleries in North America. Although the gallery is unfortunately not a part of the City Pass deal, it is, nonetheless, still well worth the money if art is your thing. The galleries collection includes more than 80,000 works which span from the first century to the present day. The gallery also regularly holds exhibitions where work from around the world is brought to the art gallery for a select amount of time. Currently, a selection of Georgia O’Keefe paintings are being shown until the end of July. But there is something for every fan of art out there, from contemporary to renaissance. Paintings by Reuben’s, Rembrandt, Picasso, Goya and many other famous names can found whilst what I found particularly impressive were the works of the group of seven, a Canadian group of seven painters that first exhibited together in 1920 and continue to influence national identity. If you are a fan of contemporary art, then make sure to bring your walking boots. The contemporary gallery is accessed via a long, winding and seemingly never ending staircase. But it is certainly worth it when you get to the top.

After the Art Gallery, which is located in China Town I jumped in a taxi and sped off to the Royal Ontario Museum. This museum has something for everybody – Ancient Egyptian mummies, dinosaur fossils, paintings, crystals, jewelry, artifacts from various Asian dynasties – there is A LOT to do here. Luckily, it is accessible via the city pass and the first thing you see upon entering is a giant model of a dinosaur. As I entered I was offered to join a free one-hour group tour by one of the experts at the museum. During this tour our expert showed us and explained to us a variety of different historical items, including an ancient Egyptian wall sculpture, a necklace designed by Pablo Picasso’s daughter, items of clothing that once belonged to a native Iroquois male and female as well as a sculpture by an African contemporary artist. The museum is vast so if you want to experience all of it you really need to give yourself at least three hours to look around everything. Currently at the museum is the Blue Whale exhibit. Several years ago a small sea-side town in Newfoundland, Canada woke up to find not one but five blue whales beached on the shoreline. Although a deeply tragic event (all the blue whales died) it gave scientists the unique opportunity to study these incredible mammals. The exhibition allows guests to listen to the sound that blue whales make in the water p.s. it’s very eerie. Luckily, the sound is turned down – the actual sound would burst the ear drums of any human being, apparently. The exhibition also allows the opportunity for guests to see a real blue whale heart and there is a short documentary detailing the events that happened at Newfoundland. After I had left the Blue Whale exhibit all that was left to do was to get into a taxi and go home after a brilliant day – probably my most enjoyable day yet.

Day 5 – Ball Game time

Day five promised a first for me – my first ever baseball game. True I had watched it on TV before – boring doesn’t bring to describe it – but since I was currently living in the city and with the Blue Jays so popular amongst Torontonians I was excited to watch them live. The trip to the Rogers Centre – a stadium vainly named after the owner who changed the name from the Sky Dome after he bought the property rights – was an experience in its own right. Floods of people in blue had taken over the city, chants of “Let’s go Blue Jays” became louder and louder the closer I got to the stadium. It was a glorious evening so the roof on the stadium was open. I took my seat around 15 minutes before the start time of 19:07 – I still have no clue as to why it’s 19:07 and not 19:00 - but, alas. As I arrived the stadium was pretty empty, as it turns out, a lot of Canadians enjoy drinking in the bars beforehand and arriving at the stadium after the first few innings have been played. By the time the third innings came round the stadium was almost full (not bad for a Thursday night) At this stage the Blue Jays were losing but after two home-runs from Blue Jays players the final scored finished 7:6 to the Blue Jays. I would urge anyone visiting Toronto to attend a Blue Jays game even if you have never seen baseball before – the basic rules are easy to learn and the atmosphere in the ground is electric. Also, if you sit far down enough and manage to catch one of the balls, you get to keep it for yourself. (Word of warning, don’t get hit by one).

Final Day: Walk to the waterfront, music garden and boat trip

The final day of my Canadian adventure had arrived and it was another scorching day. Throughout my stay in Toronto the city was flooded. Where there are usually golden beaches by the lakeside there was only water. Of course, this might be bad for beach lovers but it is good for Canada. Much of the world – especially the USA – is in short supply of water, but thanks to the Great lakes and Niagara Falls, Canada is not one of them. The first thing I did as I got to the harbor was pay for a boat ride in order to see the Toronto islands and the city skyline from the water. Great photos were taken although I chose to pick the wrong boat tour – my boat had windows surrounding it so the only photos I could get were the ones I took when standing next to the exit/entrance ramp. If you decide you want to see Toronto’s islands, make sure you ask which boat you will be traveling on first! After the boat ride I walked up the shoreline passing through the ‘wetlands’ - a small wildlife area where I managed to see a red winged blackbird. After that I came across the Toronto music garden, a quaint park which is host to concerts during the summer months. The walk along the harbor front just as the sun was setting in the evening was sublime. Families were out, people were walking their dogs, hundreds of cyclists were whizzing up and down the cycle only lane. It was the perfect evening to end my Canadian adventure. The next day I would be flying home with many fond memories of the country, will I be back one day? Without a doubt.

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Photos

View of the CN tower as I was walking towards it

If you look closely you can make out the Canadian women's football team competing

Picture taken from Ripley's aquarium
The strange looking saw fish - now an endangered species

The American Falls

Picture taken from the Royal Ontario Museum
Real dinosaur fossil inside the Royal Ontario Museum

The horseshoe falls of Canada

Picture taken from the Rodgers Centre/Sky Dome
The Toronto Blue Jay's beating the Tampa Bay Ray's

The Toronto skyline pictured from the harbour boat cruise

Picture taken from the Art Gallery of Ontario
Painting by the unofficial leader of the group of seven, Lawren Harris