Museums2:
The Art Gallery of Ontario—known
familiarly as AGO—is the 10th largest art museum in North America. The
museum's original 1916 Beaux Arts-style home has recently incorporated a
stunning Frank Gehry addition; the seamless melding of these diverse
architectural styles is worth a trip in itself. However, the real reason
you'll come is to marvel over the immense collection of Canadian art
(including an excellent Inuit collection), as well as masterpieces of
European art (Rubens, Rodin, Gainsborough, Degas, van Gogh, Picasso),
the world's largest collection of Henry Moore sculpture, and a
wide-ranging contemporary collection.
~ The Royal
Ontario Museum, or ROM, is one of the world's leading museums of
natural history and round-the-world cultures.
With six
million items and more than 40 galleries, you'll find lots to see,
including complete dinosaur skeletons, an exhibit of extinct bird
species (e.g., the passenger pigeon), a glassed-in working beehive,
jewelry and funeral furnishings from ancient Egypt, Canada's largest
collection of Japanese art, and a whole lot more. In addition, ROM
sponsors many major temporary exhibits. ~ Small, wonderful, and
completely unique, the
Bata Shoe Museum tells the story of footwear throughout
human history in a witty and engaging manner (the wit starts with your
first glimpse of the shoebox-shaped building). You’ll see Marilyn Monroe’s red spike heels,
hand-embroidered shoes worn at the court of Louis XIV, tiny slippers
made for bound feet, 1930s Olympic gold medalist Sonja Henie’s ice
skates, and footwear you never even imagined.
You can download a delightful series of shoe history podcasts
here.
~ The Gardiner
Museum of Ceramic Art, housed in an award-winning modernist
building, offers an in-depth view at one of humankind's oldest cultural
forms. You'll follow ceramic arts through the Ancient Americas,
into Asia, Europe, and through many special collections, arriving at an exciting display of
contemporary ceramic art.
The Distillery
District & Other Neighborhoods:
In the 19th century
the Distillery District was home to the thriving Gooderham-Worts
Distillery. The area eventually fell on hard times and suffered the
usual neglect, but in the 1990s it underwent a massive restoration and
began to take on a second life. Today the 13-acre, 10-block district, a
National Historic Site, contains the largest collection of Victorian
industrial architecture in North America, with more than 40
well-preserved heritage buildings (many of them made of handsome red
brick). It's also a highly-popular, pedestrian-oriented arts, culture,
and entertainment neighborhood filled with restaurants, art galleries,
coffee shops, clubs, theaters, boutiques, and a brewery. This place hops
with activity: special events, live music, festivals, farmer's markets,
outdoor exhibits, you name it. ~ But,
hey, Toronto is famous for being a "city of neighborhoods," so don't get
hung up on one district. The only way to really get to understand this
city is to walk the neighborhoods.
Walk the
neighborhoods. In summer, the
Harbourfront area brims with activity,
including live music and festivals. Posh
Yorkville, with Victorian
buildings occupied by restaurants, boutiques and art galleries, is fun
to browse.
Kensington Market is a colorful, multicultural mix of food
purveyors, restaurants, and shops—a must for any visitor. And then
there's Chinatown, India Bazaar,
Greektown, Little Malta... The list is
endless, and each neighborhood offers up its own special charms.
Toronto Music
Garden: In a city renowned for its gardens, the waterfront
Toronto Music Garden
still manages to stand out. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, landscape designer Julie Moir
Messervy (and many other landscape architects, artisans, and artists)
combined talents to interpret in nature the music of Bach's First Suite
for Unaccompanied Cello. Each of the suite's six dance movements
correspond to a different section in the garden. For example, the
Allemande, an ancient German dance, is interpreted as a Birch forest;
its movement invites visitors inward to various contemplative sitting
areas, eventually leading them to a rocky vantage point that overlooks the
harbor. (Plants in the Allemande section include birch, pine, and redwood
trees; foam flower, lungwort, and gloriosa daisy). The graceful formality
of the Menuett movement is reflected in a hand-crafted circular
pavilion; made of steel, it can shelter small musical ensembles. (Plants
here include maple, weeping willow, buckeye, and crabapple trees; various
lilacs and daylilies, blue catmint, and thread-leaved coreopsis).
~
You can rent an
audio guide to the music garden (narrated by Ma and Messervy, fittingly
accompanied by Bach). In summer, the Garden hosts free hour-long concerts
on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Admission to the garden itself
is free.
Download a map of the Toronto Music Garden
CN Tower:
Driving in from the airport, your first glimpse of Toronto will be the
CN Tower. Because the CN Tower does
not have floors continuously from the ground, it's not considered a
building by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) or any
other architectural authorities. The classification of tower includes
similar structures such as the Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Russia; the
Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, China; the Stratosphere Tower in Las
Vegas, Nevada; and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The CN Tower
“towers” over these others…or at least it’s taller. One of the city’s
signature icons, the CN Tower is also one of the most-visited landmarks on
the entire continent: more than 2 million visitors a year come to marvel
over the 1,815-foot building and its views. There’s more to do while
you’re here, though. The Glass Floor is one of the most popular
activities: you gaze directly below you, through the glass, to the street
far, far below. An IMAX theater, interactive (and changing) displays, a
nightclub, a casual eatery, and an upscale restaurant that revolves every
72 minutes. At 1,466 feet is the amazing Skypod observation deck, where
surely you can see forever and ever…or at least 100 miles or so in any
direction.
The St. Lawrence Market: Named one of
the world’s 25 best markets by Food & Wine Magazine, the
St. Lawrence market is housed in an 1844 building (Toronto’s first
city hall) and brims with the best in local and imported food and wine. If
you're a meat-eater, it's practically a necessity to stop at the famed
Carousel Bakery to try one of the wildly popular Peameal Bacon
Sandwiches. This invention dates back to the 19th century, when Back
Bacon—what Americans call “Canadian Bacon”—was brined in a mixture that
included crushed peas. Another must-visit:
Kozlik’s Canadian Mustard
(photo), where you can buy any variety of mustard you’ve ever heard of and
some you haven’t, all locally made. There are stores with fish so fresh
they're practically leaping about, bakeries, a caviar shop, gourmet
coffees, delicatessens to die for, produce, cheese shops, meat vendors
selling Ontario-raised venison and Hugarian lamb sausage, local honeys and
maple syrups, salts imported from around the world. And dozens of small
ethnic eateries.
The Ontario Wine Route: Traveling
along
Ontario's beautiful Wine Route will provide memories you'll never forget.
Along the way you'll be surrounded by stunning landscapes, spend time in
charming towns, and sample unique local attractions. And of course there
are the region's award-winning wines to discover as you go, often served
by the winemakers themselves, people who are eager to share the winery's
history, tell you all about the vineyards, and show off their products.
This vast wine region encompasses four official growing districts:
Prince Edward County (bordering Lake Ontario and the Bay of Quinte, this
appellation is dominated by stony soils);
Niagara-on-the-Lake
(Lake Ontario to the Niagara River); the
Niagara Escarpment (also on
Lake Ontario, it offers a temperate climate and diverse glacial soils);
and Lake Erie North Shore & Pelee Island (with rich soils and summer heat,
this appellation shares the same latitude as the wine regions of Northern
California and Bordeaux in France). In addition, many laudable wines are
grown in the Toronto and York Region in or in close proximity to the city.
Map of Ontario Wine Route
•
Official Guide to Ontario Wineries
Live Theater and
Other Cultural Entertainment: Toronto theater is hot! In fact, it’s
the world’s third-largest English-speaking theater scene outside of New
York City and London. In addition, the city is home to more than 50 ballet
and dance companies, 6 opera companies, and 2 symphony orchestras, and
countless theater venues; among them are the
National Ballet of Canada, the
Canadian Opera Company, the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the
Canadian Stage Company. Major
performance venues include the
Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts,
Roy Thomson Hall,
Princess of Wales Theatre,
Royal Alexandra Theatre,
Massey Hall,
Toronto Centre for the Arts,
Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres,
Young Centre for the Performing Arts, and the
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
Ontario Place features the
world's first permanent IMAX movie theatre, the
Cinesphere, as well as the
Molson Amphitheatre, an open-air venue for large-scale music concerts.
•
You can find
half-price/discounted tickets for most of Toronto's cultural events at
T.O. TIX on performance day.
Read More about Canada:
Provinces & Territories Overview
•
Montreal
•
Quebec City
•
Saskatchewan Driving
Trip
• Toronto
•
Vancouver
•
Vancouver Island
•
Victoria
•
British Columbia:
Food Scene
•
British
Columbia: Golf
•
Quebec City Wine
Tour
•
Vancouver
Island's Wines & Brews
Casa Loma:
This 98-room neo-romantic castle—complete with elaborate chimneys, pointy
turrets, an underground tunnel, battlements, and secret passageways—was
built in the early years of the last century as a private home. No expense
was spared by the owner, Sir Henry Pellatt, who had apparently always
wanted to live in a castle.
Casa Loma, which
means "House on a Hill" in Spanish, cost about $3.5 million at the time,
and required the labor of more than 300 stonemasons and other artisans.
Over the years, Casa Loma served as a luxury hotel and a nightclub until
eventually being abandoned in the 1930s, when it slid into decay. The
Kiwanis Club of Toronto came to the rescue, promising to restore and
maintain the castle. They've done a bang-up job, and today the house, with
its five acres of beautiful gardens (May through October) and many
out-buildings, is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.
~ Take a
self-guided digital audio tour, and explore this amazing place at your own
speed.
St. James & St.
Michael's Cathedrals:
Toronto is home to two architecturally- and historically-significant
cathedrals. Built between 1850 and 1874, the stunning
English Gothic-style
Cathedral Church of St. James (Anglican) is topped by the tallest
steeple (305') in Canada. A Tiffany window honors the memory of William
Jarvis, one of the city's founding fathers, and other superb stained
glass windows glisten like jewels when the sun shines through. The
Cathedral's organ, originally built in 1888, has been updated throughout
the years; it possesses 5101 pipes. St. James holds free Sunday
afternoon concerts year-round and free "Music at Midday" concerts on
Tuesday afternoons from September to June.
~
St. Michael's
Cathedral (Catholic) is also a 19th-century neo-Gothic structure
(built 1845-1848). When the wealthy Armand de Charbonnel became the
second Bishop of Toronto in 1850, he invested heavily in the Cathedral,
purchasing the finest stained-glass windows from France, commissioning
paintings, and constructing small interior chapels which he furnished
with the finest of ornamentation from France. St. Michael's is
internationally acclaimed for its award-winning boys' choir, which sings
at four masses each week (three on Sunday).
More Info:
Toronto Convention & Visitors
Association
Why honeymoon here?
Canada's capital is a big, beautiful, waterside city, perched on the
northwestern edge of Lake Ontario. It's packed with exciting things to
do, fabulous restaurants, world-class museums, and a bounty of
cultural opportunities. The many ethnic neighborhoods allow you to
dine around the world while you're here, public transportation is a
snap, and the surrounding wine region--nestled into gorgeous
countryside--is a pleasure to explore. Cons: Hard to think of
any. 
