Moving on after the graduation in Rochester, NY, we embarked on the pleasant if long-ish three-and-half hour drive to Toronto. Since the route goes right by Niagara Falls, we felt compelled to hop out of the car and revisit one of the great waterfalls of the world.
Niagara Falls
This was my fourth visit to Niagara Falls, the last being about 18 years ago during the winter, when the falls were frozen. In the prior three visits, I had always been to the Canadian side, so we chose to get the American perspective this time. Unfortunately, the American view is definitely not as good. It is similar to the difference viewing Iguazu falls from Argentina vs. Brazil. From Canada (and Brazil), the view is broader and more majestic.
On the other hand, from the US (Argentina), you can walk to points nearly on top of the falls. You feel like you can touch water just prior to it heading over the cliff. The American side is much less commercialized, too. As you can see from the pictures, Canada has a lot of touristy stuff going on. The US area is a state park and it is managed in that manner. Regardless of which side you pick (make it Canada if you are pressed for time), the falls are stunning, impressive, and picturesque. Two thumbs up!
Wine Tasting in Ontario Canada
On our way down to Rochester the prior week, we noted a lot of Ontario wineries near the highway. We left our hotel early so we would have time for visiting the falls and hitting a winery on our way to Toronto.
Wine is made all over the world, but that doesn’t mean world-class wine is being made everywhere. Because it was close to the road, I picked a winery to try. I can’t say whether this winery was better or worse than its peers. We found it to be OK, nothing we felt compelled to take with us. The one exception to that would be the locally produced ice wine. Ice wines are made by picking frozen grapes at night in the late fall. The resulting wine has concentrated sugars and much less juice. These desert wines are quite good and unique to the region. They are worth a try for an after-dinner drink.
Downtown Toronto
Continuing with our current trend of paying to be in the action, we chose to stay at the Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel, in the heart of downtown. Our Marriott status got us a number of perks. A good free breakfast and access to the lounge for snacks and soft drinks in the early evening. The hotel location was so good I was able to turn in the car at the airport the day after arrival. Thus saving on rental car and parking fees. We never missed it.
Toronto is a vibrant city with a lot going on, some of which I will describe below. If you happen to be coming from within Canada, you can fly into the Billy Bishop City Airport (YTZ). This strange little airport is located on an island just off the mainland. It is very close to downtown and accessible by ferry or a modest pedestrian tunnel. On the other hand, YTZ was ranked the worst airport in Canada in 2019. Using Pearson International (YYZ) might be a better bet.
Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)
I found the Royal Ontario Museum ROM to be an interesting museum. While the collection is small relative to other museums of the world, what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in presentation. The exhibits have a small number of items impeccably explained in some larger context. For example, the exhibit on furniture and interior design started with Gothic and proceeded through Classical, Renaissance, and Rococo, etc. The exhibit went all the way through to today with fine examples, comparisons and descriptions. It was very educational and compelling. I wish more museums would emulate this style.
The mineral and crafts exhibits were its saving graces. I’ve never seen such a collection and presentation of minerals. Pictured below are some really impressive stones and samples.
One disappointment was the current construction, which basically took over the middle of the building. It made it difficult to get around. Worse, the signature dinosaur collection was crammed together in a small corner. A temporary and all-too-short boardwalk was hastily constructed to provide some, albeit distant view of their best specimens.
Art Gallery of Ontario
By contrast, I was mostly disappointed with the Art Gallery of Toronto. Although they had many interesting pieces in their possession, a lot were arranged by donor. So, you would see whatever AB Moneybags had collected and donated followed by CD Landbaron, with little context to what you were seeing.
Fort York
Not far from downtown Toronto stands Fort York, a military outpost originating in 1793. The fort was decommissioned in 1906 and now serves as an historic site/living history museum. There are numerous buildings where you can see period furnishings and military equipment and an overall history of the fort.
The only significant action seen at the fort occurred during the War of 1812. It seems the Americans chose to attack British forts in the Great Lakes regions to force the Brits to divert resources from elsewhere. On April 27, 1813, a US force lead by Gen. Zebulon Pike, easily overpowered the Brits and native Ojibwe warriors within fort, but at a high cost. Pike and many under his command were killed by an explosion of the powder house set alight by retreating British soldiers. Moreover, the Americans only held the fort for a few weeks before moving on to attack the King’s naval base at near Kingston, which had greater military value.
One nice surprise was the taste of currant cake baked on site daily by some dedicated ladies in period costumes. The recipe is prepared over an open fire when the visitor counts are not too high. Another treat was seeing a musket loading and firing demonstration. There are several steps involved, but well-trained soldiers of the period could fire 3-5 times per minute in the heat of battle. We learned part of the reason for the brightly colored uniforms of the time was to diminish incidents of injury through friendly fire.
The Hockey Hall of Fame
Since it was walking distance from our hotel (as is much of downtown), I made a point to get over to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It covers just about everything hockey: origins, equipment development, early leagues, local leagues, women’s hockey, amateur/college, NHL, and international competition. Many jerseys, uniforms and assorted knickknacks are presented.
Still, the museum didn’t really put it in the net for me. I just don’t know enough of the history to really appreciate what I saw. To me, there’s Gretzky, Howe, and now Ovechkin, but they didn’t get much fanfare. Heck, Ovechkin had just broken Gretzky’s scoring record and there was absolutely nothing about it. Still, I got to pose with the Stanley Cup (there are actually two copies) and I did learn a bit more about hockey. Certainly worth a visit for puckheads and those who want to become one.
CN Tower and the Train Engine Roundhouse
One night, we headed down to Rogers Centre to catch a Blue Jays game, our third ballgame in a week. On the way, we stopped at the CN Tower, which is just a few yards away from the ball park. Checking in at 1465 feet tall, the tower was the tallest free-standing structure from 1975 until it was surpassed by the Burj Kalifa in Dubai in 2007. It wasn’t too crowded when we visited, so it was easy to catch great views all around the area and Lake Ontario.
Since we had a little time to kill before the game, I had to wander over to a restored train engine roundhouse. I was into model trains growing up, so this structure was a big magnet to me. I enjoyed the whole setup and the train engine and rail stock. It’s quite well preserved. It also didn’t hurt that I could grab a brew and a bite for some pregame action.
Toronto Blue Jays Game
Another reason to visit Toronto was to visit with a couple of my cousins. One of them did sports reporting for a number of years, so I figured he’d be happy to catch a game with us and would know good value seats to buy. He told us prices wouldn’t be jacked up since the Blue Jays weren’t expected to do well this season and were playing the then-hot San Diego Padres. Despite the odds being against them, the Jays won the game and then swept the Padres. I guess any team can get hot this year, unless they’re based in Denver :-0.
There was a Loonie Dog promotion that night. A few nights a year, they sell a Loonie Dog (small-ish hotdog with zero condiments) for $1 CAD, i.e. about 75 cents US. Despite being warned by my cousin, I had two and lived to tell the tale. No one else in my group tried one. I mention this because the jumbotron posted sales throughout the game. In the end, they sold 50k hotdogs to a crowd of 25k. Knowing some folks wouldn’t touch them, others were really picking up the slack. Guests were limited to purchasing four at a time.
Even though the stadium is getting on in years, it’s held up pretty well. Rain was threatening, so the dome was closed that night. There’s even a Marriott hotel with view rooms in center field. Back when the hotel first opened 30+ years ago, a couple was caught by the TV cameras playing their own game, sans uniforms. I’m sure hefty fines are now threatened in case any others care to try.
Theater in Stratford… Ontario
Although Toronto is known for a having a strong live theater scene with tickets that are less-expensive than Broadway, there wasn’t anything in town that caught our eyes while we were there. Happily, another cousin attends productions nearby in a town called Stratford and was able to get some extra seats for a performance she was attending.
Although Stratford, Ontario, situated on the Avon river, was founded in 1854, it wasn’t until 1953 that the first lines of Richard III were uttered by Sir Alec Guinness for the inaugural season of the Stratford Festival. Originally dedicated to only Shakespeare’s works, the program broadened to present a variety of plays and musicals each season. Busses do roundtrip service for playgoers from downtown Toronto. In our case, my cousin gave us door-to-door service and we had a nice lunch before attending the show.
We chose to see Annie, which I remember seeing when I was about 10 years old. It was a wonderful production. All of the cast, including the children, sang very well. The theater was quite intimate with seating more or less in-the-round, so no bad views. Annie is fun and easy to follow, but I imagine references to Al Smith, Bill Budge and Walter Winchell would be lost on most people today. All in all, a great day visiting with my cousin and enjoying the live theater.
Food
Toronto has been a draw for immigrants from around the world for many years and the food offerings show it. While we were there, we had a nice variety of cuisines to choose from within easy walking distance of our hotel. Below are some dishes we enjoyed around town.
Dining prices are a bargain compared to what we had been eating just prior in the good ole USA. We took advantage to grab a table at Osteria Guilia, a Michelin one star restaurant focusing on food from the region around Genoa, Italy. We got to order a la carte, so we weren’t overstuffed at the end, as can often happen at Michelin restaurants. While the dishes were wonderful and well-priced, the alcohol was not such a deal. We wound up paying about the same for our beverages as we did for our meals.
[Soap Box On] One tiny nit about the menu: if you are a Michelin rated restaurant focusing on the food of given region, the food should be from that region and not just sound like it’s from there. To wit: their Pasta alla Genovese (i.e. pasta in the Genoa style) does not come from Genoa, it comes from Naples. It’s not served in Genoa [Soap Box Off]. Of course, that didn’t keep me from ordering it, as I did in Naples. Made of a ragu of braised beef and caramelized onions, it’s really good and the Genovese should consider adopting it. 🙂
Final Thoughts
As you can see from the above, we had a good week in Toronto and managed to capture many of the sites and experiences that drew 9 Million visitors in 2024. You could probably pare down a visit to 3-4 active days if you chose. We would, however, recommend checking monthly average temperatures. One mid-morning in late May, it was 47 F outside, and we had rain a fair amount of our time in town. Of course, the weather improved as soon as we left, so perhaps that was just us.
Which Hall of Fame do you want to visit most?
