Hello From Toronto - Part 1- A First Little Driving Tour -The

So my brother is in town, together with his wife and 2 friends
from my little home town in Austria. It is everybody's first
time in North America and their initiation to Toronto. Just to
give you ideas of dimensions: Austria has a population of about
9 million and the country extends about 900 km from east to west
while the Greater Toronto area nowadays probably has about 4 to
5 million people and Lake Ontario alone is over 300 km long. The
first thing my visitors noticed was the difference in size: the
size of the city, the size of the lake, the size of cars, the
size of supermarkets, and even of refrigerators.

On Sunday we started off with a little driving tour of Toronto
where I first took my visitors down to the lakefront by the
historic Art Deco style R.C. Harris Filtration Plant. All of
them love water and to have a lake as big as an ocean so close
by fascinated them. After a leisurely drive on Queen Street
through the quaint Beaches neighbourhood we parked the car close
to the St. Lawrence Market and started our walk around.

Since my brother is a chef and always loves to purchase
market-fresh food, I initially took him to the St. Lawrence
Market which always has an antique sale on Sunday. The food
market is actually closed on Sunday. We checked out the wares
from old furniture to cameras to various knick-knacks.

Our exploration continued westwards along Front Street past
historic 19th century houses and of course past the famous
triangular-shaped Flatiron Building which has a mural on its
west side. Approaching Yonge Street we walked past the Hockey
Hall of Fame, a historic Beaux-Arts former bank building, the
magnificent Royal York Hotel, built in 1929, once the largest
hotel in the British Commonwealth.

One of the things that fascinated my visitors most was how old
and new can coexist right next to each other: shiny skyscrapers
are located right beside historic sandstone churches. Our
walking tour continued past Union Station, Toronto's impressive
central railway station, built between 1914 and 1927 as a joint
construction project by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Grand
Trunk Railway (now the Canadian National Railway). Its
monumental scale, classical detail and rational, ordered
planning were hallmarks of the style. The station is massive and
takes up an entire block on Front Street between York Street and
Bay Street. The Great Hall of the Station is 250 ft. long and 84
ft. wide.

Our walk continued further west on Front Street past the
Convention Centre to the base of the CN Tower and the entrance
to the Skydome, Toronto's multi-purpose stadium with a
retractable roof, now called the Rogers Centre. We then snaked
our way up through the Entertainment District to Queen Street
where we admired Osgoode Hall, built in the 1830s, and now an
oasis of green in the city. An ornate iron fence, built in 1867,
renowned for its peculiar "cow gates," surrounds the property
and its beautiful gardens. The cow gates in particular
fascinated my visitors.

Our next stop was at New City Hall and Old City Hall, opened in
1899, which racked up construction costs of more than $2.5
million at the time which caused great controversy in those
days. Continuing past the Bay Department Store on Queen we
passed the Metropolitan United Church, an English style
cathedral dating from 1872, whose churchyard was filled with
people enjoying the warm day.

Once back in the car we drove through the U of T campus, my Alma
Mater and we stopped briefly to check out Hart House and Kings
College. Then we headed down to Chinatown at Spadina and Dundas
and my visitors marvelled at this exotic, busy market area. Our
last stop on the tour was Kensington Market, a lively little
neighbourhood full of food and clothing stores and restaurants
where we ended up picking up fresh vegetables, dry beans, and a
variety of cheeses for some of the scrumptious meals to come. My
brother, the chef, marvelled at the variety of food available
here, combined with the inexpensive prices a food lover's dream.

We took our loot home where my husband was waiting for us with a
big brunch to strengthen ourselves for attending a birthday
party of one of my friends that had the motto of "let out your
inner child". The party was unique in that it involved such
time-honoured Toronto traditions as hitting a piñada while a
bunch of adults were playing with water guns, chasing one
another around the house with buckets of water dropping on the
combatants from the second floor.

I think our visitors had a full day, from getting a first taste
of Toronto, to participating in a rather eventful birthday
party, their first impressions were very positive and they were
looking forward to exploring more of this exciting city.

About the author:
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (href="http://www.travelandtransitions.com">http://www.travelandtr
ansitions.com), a popular web portal for unconventional
travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new
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