BY Clay Larroy
Do you feel like it is time for a short vacation? Canada
is a wonderful vacation destination. Once you decide to travel, how good you
plan the trip will help you feel comfortable and be comfortable at your
destination. Not only will you feel less anxiety before the trip, but you can
rest assured that once you arrive where you're going you will have a good
understanding of what's going on there. When you need to plan a vacation contact me!The article below offers an interesting
perspective on Toronto.
Fly to
Toronto: 10 great reasons (besides low fares)
After a barely-there winter and a heavy dose of springtime,
Toronto's out and about and ready for a nice, long summer. Canada's biggest
city – the city population is now pretty much tied with Chicago's at
approximately 2.5 million – continues to evolve and surprise, offering
appealing, hip neighborhoods and unusual attractions in town, complemented by a
handful of one-of-a-kind destinations just a short drive out of the city.
Simply
put: There's a ton to see. Here are ten musts. If you're flying, be sure to
check out Porter
Airlines, which services close-in Toronto Island Airport ) just a
few minutes from downtown via free shuttle bus. Porter offers frequent promo
codes up to 50% off,
which rival Air Canada often matches for flights into Pearson Airport.
1. Get extreme Toronto,
tame? Say that after you hit the city's newest attraction, EdgeWalk. How
does it work? You pay $175, you put on a harness and get hooked to a guide
rail. Then someone pushes you out the window of a 116-story tower, where you
spend approximately half an hour staring down at the city below, with nothing
but a little see-through ledge at your feet. If you're not almost throwing up
in terror at the prospect (we kind of are), you can find out more here.
2. Get naked Toronto
may be getting more crowded all the time, but out on the Toronto Islands,
that little emerald necklace just a short ferry ride from the downtown
waterfront, things tend to stay the same. Get house envy in its charming
residential areas, sip coffee at the relaxed Rectory Café, take a brisk walk
along the boardwalk, hit the little amusement park or – if you dare – head
through the brush towards the island chain's western end to one of the city's
(the planet's?) most famous nude beaches.
3. Eat dim sum Nearly
fifty percent of Toronto's population is foreign-born, and if the immense array
of restaurants in the city and suburbs is any guide, plenty of them hail from
Asia. While the heaving Chinatown along Spadina Avenue is what most tourists
see, you really need to slot in some time with the suburbs north of Highway
401. These bland hellscapes conceal more than their share of outstanding dim
sum palaces, where it's as much about the experience of sampling as many dishes
as possible in almost theatrical surroundings as it is about eating your lunch.
The surroundings at Yang's Fine Chinese in
Richmond Hill aren't exactly palatial, but the food is, at its best, fit for a
king (9665 Bayview Avenue). Herbivores will have their socks knocked off by the
often blissfully delicate dim sum at Graceful Vegetarian in Markham;
from here, you're just across the parking lot from the Pacific Mall, a
multi-level, are-we-in-Asia shopping center (7131 Kennedy Road).
5. Get wet Speaking
of all things Niagara, you can't come all the way up to Toronto without making
the pilgrimage to the city of Niagara Falls, Canada's own Las Vegas, a
glittering and unabashedly mass-appeal tourist zone towering above the
thundering, 170 foot-high Horseshoe Falls. You don't have to gamble in the
casinos or even bother with the insane kitsch that defines the famous Clinton
Hill entertainment zone, but it’s fun to give it a whirl anyway. The main
attraction, though, now and forever, remains the falls themselves. And the best
way to get to know them is to hop onboard the historic Maid of the Mist
steamboats, which get you up close and personal. And wet. Click here for more.
6. Catch a flick To see
the city at its most glam, hit the annual Toronto International Film Festival
in September, which draws A-listers from all over the world for big premieres
and bigger parties. Can't make it? All-access pass lost in the mail? The
festival's super-cool TIFF Bell Lightbox theater complex downtown
keeps the action going 365 days a year, with an impressive selection of films
and events spread out over multiple cinemas, galleries, studios, a reference
library, shop, a restaurant and lounge. Film lovers could easily make a day of
it. Clickhere for
more.
7. Buzz, buzz The
northern climate and long winters (well, usually) mean tons of dark days and a
need for a great deal of coffee to keep motivated. The scene, while always
strong, has really been evolving lately, to the point where you can buy beans
that rival the ones you find on shelves at the best roaster-cafes in the
Pacific Northwest, or San Francisco. For the whole package – beans worth
bringing home, perfect cortados, people watching – hit Te Aro, a converted
garage space in Leslieville (983 Queen Street East).
8. Have a
shoegasm. The Bata Shoe Museum isn't
like other museums. Other museums probably don't have more than 12,500 shoes
(from all around the world) in their collection. Of course, not all museums
were founded by Sonja Bata, who married into the famous Czech shoemaking family
and helped rebuild the company after the fall of communism. Housed in a
striking modern building on the western edge of the city's most upmarket
shopping district, it's almost like they made a secret pact to build the museum
here, in order to help boost sales in the shoe department at nearby
Holt-Renfrew, Canada's most la-di-da department store. Click here for more.
9. Go out. To
see Toronto at its most fun after dark, give downtown a wide berth and head
into the much funkier (and hipper) neighborhoods. As a rule, west is best – you
can't fail along Queen Street West, heading out from the city center;
things tend to get more up-to-the-minute as you go. Make your end destination
the Parkdale neighborhood's Grand Electric, a bustling, mod-Mexican cantina, currently one of the more
buzzed-about addresses in town, both food and scene-wise (1330 Queen Street
West).
10. Festival times. Few
cities in North America offer as much legit stage action as Toronto does, but
in the warmer months, much of the top talent (and their followers) can be seen
just a short drive out of town, at Ontario's two world-class theater events,
the Stratford
Shakespeare Festival (April-October)
out in farm country, and the Shaw
Festival, over in
Niagara-on-the-Lake (April-November). From Broadway blockbusters to
Shakespeare's finest, George Bernard Shaw's classics and lots of other
thoughtful little plays both old and new, both festivals offer plenty to suit
all tastes. Venues are comfortable, the tickets generally affordable and the
locations are really nice – enough to keep you around for a whole
weekend.
George Hobica is a syndicated travel journalist
and founder of the low-airfare listing site Airfarewatchdog.com.
REFERENCE SITES:
http://www.travelresearchonline.com/
http:// FoxNews.com
"The winds of change are blowing across Ontario." Thomas Mulcair
Travel to experience life!
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