Image taken on 2006-02-07 01:42:44 by Jeherv.
Archive for the ‘Toronto Travel’ Category
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Monday, December 19th, 2011Toronto Travel: Toronto Skating Tour: Dufferin Grove Park
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
A clip ice skating at a family orientated public all ages ice rink on a brisk -20C January Day, skates rent for $2.00! Home grown local dinner for $6.00 on Friday evenings only.Great place for inexpensive night out, SAFE and lots fun
Toronto Travel: Toronto walking tour: Chinatown & former Victory Theatre
Saturday, December 10th, 2011
These video clips were taken during my walking tour with famous Toronto historian and tour guide Bruce Bell on July 16, 2007. After meeting at the famous and eclectic OCAD Building (I call it the “gift box on stilts”) just south of the University of Toronto, Bruce took us past the Grange, Toronto’s oldest building, past the Art Gallery of Toronto to some of the mansions along Beverley and Baldwin Streets. Along the way Bruce explained to us the early history of Toronto, and the family compact — a group of extremely wealthy and powerful English families that used to rule Toronto in the early days. We then walked westwards to Chinatown and the ethnic mix of the Kensington Market area which started as a Scottish market, then became a popular Jewish residential area in the 1910s and 1920s (evidenced by two local synagogues) and morphed into the diverse, multicultural and hip neighbourhood that it is today. Vendors sell fruits, vegetables, cheeses, dry goods, meat, fish, vintage clothing and all sorts of other unique items in this Bohemian neighbourhood. A great variety of different ethnic restaurants caters to eclectic tastes. We then visited Denison Square and admired a statue of one of Toronto’s popular actors, Al Waxman, the “King of Kensington”. We then continued on our walk through busy Chinatown to Toronto’s Garment district along Spadina and Queen Avenues and then headed east along a variety of restaurants and bars on Queen Street West to end in front of the …
Cavalcade of Lights Toronto, 2010 – Fireworks – 1
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Fabulous fireworks and glittering lights at annual Toronto Cavalcade of Lights Christmas festival at Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall, Toronto. More information on www.toronto-travel-guide.com/ cavalcade-of-lights.html
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Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Image taken on 2006-02-04 21:36:59 by Jeherv.
Toronto Travel Discoveries – Stores & restaurants in the Annex
Monday, November 28th, 2011
What makes Toronto so special in my opinion is this collection of ecclectic neighbourhoods, organically grown residential areas that have history, character and vibrant street life. One of these neighbourhoods is the Annex. I started my discoveries of the Annex just south of Casa Loma, headed underneath the railway tracks on Howland Avenue and entered this popular area. One of the first sights that came into view was the Royal St. George’s College, an Anglican private school for boys that is the choir school for the Cathedral Church of St. James. Once arrived on Bloor I made my way to Bathurst Street past another Toronto landmark: Honest Ed’s, the landmark discount store opened by Ed Mirvish all the way back in 1948. Another landmark, the Metro Theatre, is apparently the last porno movie theatre left in Toronto. Further west I moved into the Korean area west of Bathurst. It was time for a late lunch so I decided to sample a vegetarian platter at Lalibela Restaurant, a popular Ethiopian restaurant on Bloor Street West. A huge platter featuring a combination of split peas, lentils, chick peas, cabbage and collard greens combined with the typical Ethiopian bread really hit the spot. After a very filling meal I walked back almost all the way to Spadina Avenue and admired the many boutiques and specialty stores. I discovered “hemp beer”, all sorts of ethnic giftware, vegetable and fruit stores, futon stores, funky restaurants and delicatessens and a whole lot more …
Toronto Travel: Toronto Skating Tour: Colonel Sam Smith Ice Trail Etobicoke
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Skating on Boxing Day at Colonel Sam Smith Ice Trail along Toronto’s waterfront in Etobicoke
Toronto Travel Discoveries – St. Lawrence Hall – Cathedral
Saturday, November 19th, 2011
The St. Lawrence Market area is one of Toronto’s most historic areas. On a Saturday in late October I started my discoveries at the Gooderham Building, also called the “Flatiron Building, one of Toronto’s most well-known landmarks. Similar to it’s New York City namesake it is a triangular building, but it was built in 1892, 10 years before its NYC counterpart. Front Street in Toronto east of Yonge Street is the location of some historic Victorian townhouses that today house a variety of retail stores and cafes. Just east of there at Front and Jarvis is the St. Lawrence Market – one of Toronto’s most popular landmarks. It was first built in 1845 and originally housed Toronto’s first permanent city hall, the former Police Station #1 as well as a jail house. The market was expanded in 1899 and the big market hall on the south side was added. Today dozens of merchants sell anything from baked goods to cheeses, fruits and vegetables to different types of meat and seafood. All sorts of delicatessens are represented and there are even vendors selling giftware, clothing, art and souvenirs. I had a chance to interview some of the vendors on this busy market day. From here I made my way north to St. Lawrence Hall, one of Toronto’s most imposing historic buildings and one of its original meeting places. Just a few steps west at the intersection of King and Church Streets is St. James Cathedral, first opened in 1853, featuring the second highest church spire in Canada.
Toronto Travel: Riding through High Park neighbourhood
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
This video clip was taken on September 1, 2007 during my cycling trip to see the Canadian International Airshow which is always held on Labour Day weekend. I started in Toronto’s east end, cycled in on Gerrard Street through the colourful neighbourhoods of Little India and Toronto’s eastern Chinatown, both of which feature ethnic cuisine, vegetable, fruit and retail stores. Then I crossed the Don Valley Parkway and cycled by Regent Park, a public housing development from the 1950s and 1960s which has experienced significant social problems in the last few decades. A portion of Regent Park has been demolished to make way for a brand-new mixed housing development that will include low-income housing as well as middle-income housing. Right across the street from Regent Park is Cabbagetown, a neighbourhood that was originally settled by Irish immigrants that started to be settled as early as the late 1840s after a wave of poor immigrants left Ireland due to the Irish potato famine. These poor residents grew cabbage in their front yards, hence the name Cabbagetown. In the last few decades Cabbagetown has become increasingly popular and has seen extensive gentrification. I cycled through the relatively poor downtown east side to the intersection of Gerrard and Yonge; Yonge Street is the east-west dividing line in Toronto and used to be the longest street in the world. I then continued west on College Street, past Queen’s Park and the University of Toronto to the intersection of …
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Friday, November 11th, 2011
Image taken on 2006-02-07 02:19:48 by Jeherv.