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Hello From Toronto Part 1 A First Little Driving Tour The City Viewed Through The Eyes Of First Time Visitors
o my brother is in town, by fascinated them. After a
together with his wife and leisurely drive on Queen Street
2 friends from my little through the quaint Beaches
home town in Austria. It is neighbourhood we parked the car
everybody's first time in North close to the St. Lawrence Market
America and their initiation to and started our walk around.
Toronto. Just to give you ideas
of dimensions: Austria has a Since my brother is a chef and
population of about 9 million and always loves to purchase
the country extends about 900 km market-fresh food, I initially
from east to west while the took him to the St. Lawrence
Greater Toronto area nowadays Market which always has an
probably has about 4 to 5 million antique sale on Sunday. The food
people and Lake Ontario alone is market is actually closed on
over 300 km long. The first thing Sunday. We checked out the wares
my visitors noticed was the from old furniture to cameras to
difference in size: the size of various knick-knacks.
the city, the size of the lake,
the size of cars, the size of Our exploration continued
supermarkets, and even of westwards along Front Street past
refrigerators. historic 19th century houses and
of course past the famous
On Sunday we started off with a triangular-shaped Flatiron
little driving tour of Toronto Building which has a mural on its
where I first took my visitors west side. Approaching Yonge
down to the lakefront by the Street we walked past the Hockey
historic Art Deco style R.C. Hall of Fame, a historic
Harris Filtration Plant. All of Beaux-Arts former bank building,
them love water and to have a the magnificent Royal York Hotel,
lake as big as an ocean so close built in 1929, once the largest
hotel in the British the CN Tower and the entrance to
Commonwealth. the Skydome, Toronto's
multi-purpose stadium with a
One of the things that fascinated retractable roof, now called the
my visitors most was how old and Rogers Centre. We then snaked our
new can coexist right next to way up through the Entertainment
each other: shiny skyscrapers are District to Queen Street where we
located right beside historic admired Osgoode Hall, built in
sandstone churches. Our walking the 1830s, and now an oasis of
tour continued past Union green in the city. An ornate iron
Station, Toronto's impressive fence, built in 1867, renowned
central railway station, built for its peculiar "cow gates,"
between 1914 and 1927 as a joint surrounds the property and its
construction project by the beautiful gardens. The cow gates
Canadian Pacific Railway and in particular fascinated my
Grand Trunk Railway (now the visitors.
Canadian National Railway). Its
monumental scale, classical Our next stop was at New City
detail and rational, ordered Hall and Old City Hall, opened in
planning were hallmarks of the 1899, which racked up
style. The station is massive and construction costs of more than
takes up an entire block on Front $2.5 million at the time which
Street between York Street and caused great controversy in those
Bay Street. The Great Hall of the days. Continuing past the Bay
Station is 250 ft. long and 84 Department Store on Queen we
ft. wide. passed the Metropolitan United
Church, an English style
Our walk continued further west cathedral dating from 1872, whose
on Front Street past the churchyard was filled with people
Convention Centre to the base of enjoying the warm day.
husband was waiting for us with a
Once back in the car we drove big brunch to strengthen
through the U of T campus, my ourselves for attending a
Alma Mater and we stopped briefly birthday party of one of my
to check out Hart House and Kings friends that had the motto of
College. Then we headed down to "let out your inner child". The
Chinatown at Spadina and Dundas party was unique in that it
and my visitors marvelled at this involved such time-honoured
exotic, busy market area. Our Toronto traditions as hitting a
last stop on the tour was piñada while a bunch of adults
Kensington Market, a lively were playing with water guns,
little neighbourhood full of food chasing one another around the
and clothing stores and house with buckets of water
restaurants where we ended up dropping on the combatants from
picking up fresh vegetables, dry the second floor.
beans, and a variety of cheeses
for some of the scrumptious meals I think our visitors had a full
to come. My brother, the chef, day, from getting a first taste
marvelled at the variety of food of Toronto, to participating in a
available here, combined with the rather eventful birthday party,
inexpensive prices a food lover's their first impressions were very
dream. positive and they were looking
forward to exploring more of this
We took our loot home where my exciting city.
About the Author:
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.
Read more articles by: Susanne Pacher
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