I was born and raised in the province of Quebec, in the majestic and scenic city of Lac-Saint-Jean. This is the historically French part of Canada settled by French explorers hundreds of years ago, and the locale for French named towns and highways and the speaking of the French language.
But when I want to see something a bit different and a place that maybe resemble an American city, I pack up my car and head west about 310 miles to the financial capital of Canada, the vibrant and sparkling city of Toronto.
Traveling to Toronto is always an exciting experience for me.
I generally arrive in Toronto on Thursday afternoon and book a hotel for four days and three nights. Toronto has a wide array of fine hotels, from the high priced to the moderately priced.
Depending upon which season I visit, I can take in a baseball game or a football contest at the Rogers Centre. The stadium has a retractable roof, an in- house hotel, and a Hard Rock Café. The Centre is the home to the Major League Baseball Blue Jays and the Canadian Football League’s team, the Argonauts.
In all seasons outside of winter, the beach is a place I love to go and stroll. A boardwalk runs along Lake Ontario and I can stop for coffee in a bistro on Queens Street East. If I’m with my girlfriend, we shop for clothes and all sorts of household goods. At night she’ll sometimes drag me to bars where she can sing along to the music for karaoke.
Another place to enjoy the outdoors is the Waterfront Trail at the foot of Galloway Road in the Scarborough section. There I can find an outdoor nature world in the middle of the city. Occasionally, I encounter fox and deer. The view of the lake is magnificent.
Sometimes it can be chilly in Toronto and that weather makes for a good day of staying indoors and touring the museums and galleries. Toronto has many.
The Royal Ontario Museum is the largest in Canada and reflects the archaeology and natural history of the area. A few blocks away is the Royal Art Museum, whose mission statement is to: “Inspire wonder and build an understanding of human culture.” It holds six million objects. The Art Gallery of Ontario displays twenty five thousand works.
I have a fondness for science and the Ontario Science Center has eight hundred interactive exhibits. I can land on the moon and look at my own body through scanning machines. The OmniMax Theater in the building has a wraparound digital screen.
The Montreal Canadiens, my local team, is considered by most of the people in Quebec to be the greatest sports franchise ever assembled. I love to wander around the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and look at the pictures of the great players and the old time uniforms, trophies and mementos from an era when there were only six teams in the National Hockey League.
Shopping abounds in the downtown area. Queen Street West has wild stores and eclectic restaurants. Elegant boutiques and fine restaurants line the sidewalks in the Yorkville section. Yorkville has a flair for the bohemian lifestyle and hippies. Harbourfront has shops and restaurants all with a crystal clear view of the blue waters of Lake Ontario.
Sometimes if my date and I are in the mood, we take a ferry to the Toronto Islands and bring along a picnic lunch.
Occasionally, on a Saturday, the person I’m with wants to leave the city and travel eighty miles to Niagara Falls, the home to lovers and honeymooners. Sometimes I wonder if she is dropping me a hint. There are the Canadian Falls and the United States Falls and they all thunder and roar as they cascade into the raging waters below. To see the falls is to view the ultimate power and grace of nature.
On Friday or Saturday night, I usually book tickets to Massey Hall, an 1890’s cavernous concert hall which seats over two thousand listeners. Everyone form Neil Young and Aretha Franklin, to Gordon Lightfoot performed there, and the acoustics are world renowned.
The CN Tower is the tallest structure in the world, and it rises to breathing taking pinnacles and affords a view of the area inside and outside Toronto for miles around. On the top is a revolving restaurant which is always fun to go to at night and look out at the twinkling stars.
Depending upon the month I visit, Toronto has some outdoor festivals. Doors Open Toronto is held the last weekend in May and offers free walk-in views of over one hundred fifty architecturally delightful buildings. The Luminato takes place the first Friday in June and is a testament to art and culture. The Toronto Film Festival is one of the best in the world and is held in September.
I love my home of Lac- Saint- Jean, but I also love Toronto, one of the world’s great metropolitan treasures.
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