Toronto: highlights
Here are our highlights for Toronto:
CN Tower
You will be in the minority if you don’t begin your waterfront tour with a trip up the 553m (1,815ft) CN Tower. This handsome, outsize TV antenna is named after its builder, the Canadian National railway and telecommunications company, and has become the iconic symbol of Canada.
A plexiglass lift whizzes you up the outside of the tower to the four lookout levels. First is the Outdoor Observation Deck and inside, the famous Glass Floor where you can peer down to the ground, 342m (1,122ft) below. On the next level up is Horizons Café and the Indoor Observation Deck. At 351m (1,150ft), 360 offers fine food in a restaurant with a 360-degree view of the city; the restaurant rotates every 72 minutes. The Sky Pod, located at 447m (1,465ft), is one of the world’s highest public observation decks. Thrill-seekers can sign on for the newly-opened EdgeWalk, a full-circle, hands-free walk 116 storeys above the ground.
From the top you can see the whole of Toronto in a huge panorama in which the glass-and-steel skyscraper canyons of the Financial District, the geometric dome and resolutely modern structures of the Ontario Place leisure centre, contrast with the old-fashioned architecture of Victorian houses. Far beyond the city, you will see the full sweep of Lake Ontario’s so-called ‘Golden Horseshoe’.
St Lawrence Market
Jarvis Street
The huge and partially covered St Lawrence Market is open from Tuesday to Saturday. On Sunday there is an antique market and plenty of buskers and wandering musicians. Nearby St Lawrence Hall, once host to Vic torian vaudeville, including Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind, has now been beautifully restored to its original pink and green.
Eaton Centre
At the corner of Yonge and Dundas streets, is the giant mall of the Eaton Centre, the first of Toronto’s temples of commerce, a spectacular show case of galleries under an arched glass roof, with fibreglass geese suspended in a refreshing décor of greenery and flowers. The centre is named after Eatons, a great Canadian department store chain. Ironically it has now become part of Sears, but the name remains.
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen’s Park
Popularly known as the ROM, the Royal Ontario Museum recently completed a major expansion. In addition to renovating some of the original galleries, the museum commissioned Daniel Libeskind to design the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal building, which houses six new galleries within a glittering aluminium and glass structure built on to the north side of the building – a controversial design that has occupied much print and airtime in the city.
ROM is the only museum in North America to house art, science and archaeology under one roof. Its Asian collection is world-renowned – the Chinese collection is one of the finest outside of China. The Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Temple Art is magnificent, with three huge wall paintings (painted around AD1300) and 14 massive wooden Buddhist sculptures created between the 12th and 15th centuries. The T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art span more than 6,000 years of history, and a Chinese tomb complex of huge 14th- to 17th-century stone sculptures can be seen in the Matthews Family Chinese Sculpture Court and the Gallery of Chinese Architecture. One of the new galleries, the Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan, was created to house rom’s Japanese art, Canada’s largest collection.
Toronto Islands
The Toronto Islands, facing Harbourfront, are a favorite summer destination for Torontonians, who crowd the ferries with their bicycles and picnic hampers, headed for the shady paths and quiet waterways of the 14 islands. In 1858, a series of storms created the islands by shattering what was a peninsula joined to the Scarborough Bluffs east of the city center. Today, bridges link the islands so you can walk or cycle the length of them.
Ferries leave regularly in the summer from the docks behind the Westin Harbour Castle at the foot of Bay Street, calling at the three main islands. Centre Island is the most popular, but its beach and picnic areas can be crowded. Kids enjoy Centre ville, an old-fashioned amusement park that includes a petting zoo. Ward’s Island is favored by some for its lively boardwalk. (Between Centre and Ward’s islands is the exclusive Royal Canadian Yacht Club, worth a visit if you belong to an affiliated organization or know a member.) Hanlan’s Point, alongside Toronto Island Airport, has one of Toronto’s only nude beaches along the western side. Due to pollution, Lake Ontario beaches are often closed to swimmers.
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