Multicultural metropolis on the shores of Lake Ontario
Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and a highly cosmopolitan one as well, with over half its population being part of a minority group. Originally established under the name York, it was burned to the ground by the Americans in 1813, precipitating the British retaliatory burning of Washington D.C. the following year. Things have calmed down since then, and it has a much more relaxed and safer feel than many American cities. Being continental and inland, Toronto’s climate varies from hot summers to extremely cold winters, with freezing ice storms and weeks on end below zero degrees.
I spent only two nights in town on my first visit in 2000, but managed to fit in Niagara Falls, the SkyDome, the Eaton Centre and the CN Tower. The tower was unfortunately shrouded in cloud for the whole weekend, when we had dinner at the top all I could see out of the window was blurry lights from below. The food however was excellent! During my second visit in 2010 I had much better luck with the weather, and that is when most of these pictures were taken.
The skyline of Toronto as seen from Toronto Island Park on a beautiful July day. This was my second visit, in 2010, and I took the ferry out to the islands specifically looking for a shot like this. On the left is the graceful CN Tower.
The CN Tower was for a long time the world’s tallest freestanding structure at 553 metres in height, completed in 1976 by the Canadian National Railway Company. It took the title from Moscow‘s Ostankino tower, but it wasn’t until 2007 that the Burj Khalifa in Dubai supplanted it. The tower has a smaller, higher observation pod visible above the main cluster at 350 metres.
Downtown Toronto as seen from the Skypod of the CN Tower at 447 metres. This was once the highest observation deck in the world, but was surpassed in observation deck height in 2008 by the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Our host was having none of that, but I didn’t bother trying to argue, they have to sell tickets after all. Skyscraper nerds will note the re-cladding of First Canadian Place (the white tower in the centre) had just begun.
Toronto’s distinctive New City Hall opened in 1965 and eschewed the prevailing neo-classicism of municipal buildings with its asymmetric curved inward-facing pair of towers. Besides the CN Tower, it is perhaps the next most recognisable building in the city. Much of the rest however is not especially stand-out, lending Toronto the regular ability to double for New York and thus save movie shooting costs.
Looking down from the Skypod of the CN Tower to the main observation pod 100 metres below. During my first visit in 2000 it was so cloudy that there was no point in coming up this far. Even from the revolving restaurant all we could see was foggy gloom.
One of the most popular attractions at the CN Tower is the glass floor, not for those with vertigo! Other tourist spots across the USA have since been getting in on the act, including the erstwhile Sears Tower in Chicago, and the Grand Canyon, no less.
Looking out across Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands act as a breakwater for the harbour, hosting parks and amusements, and even a regional airport. On the horizon the fuzz of the opposite shore and New York State is just visible.
Looking up the CN Tower from the base, the lifts look out through the strip of windows on all three sides. I’ve been fascinated with this structure since I was about five years old. Can you tell?
The Rogers Centre is the home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, and upon opening in 1989 was called the SkyDome, owing to its sliding roof which can open to let in the sun or keep out the rain.
Effigies of typical Canadian sports fans adorn the sides of the Rogers Centre – one of several artworks commissioned, this one is The Audience by Michael Snow.
Inside the SkyDome, at my first ever baseball game in 2000. The Toronto Blue Jays were soundly thrashed by Oakland Athletic 8-0, but the game itself fairly dragged on. The second baseball game I saw was in Houston six years later, and much more exciting.
But who should have been sitting watching the game – only Mr T! Every so often the jumbotron would find him and play the theme from the A-Team. He just sat there quietly and pitied the fools.
The Eaton Centre on Yonge Street in Toronto is one of the best shopping malls in Canada, and although not quite on the same scale as the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, it has a lot to offer. Like in Montreal, it is connected to various downtown offices and hotels (including The Royal York) by a rabbit warren of retail-lined underground tunnels known as the PATH Network.
Examples of Toronto’s 1970s downtown office architecture, including the Royal Bank Plaza, which is tinted with 71 kilos of gold dust embedded in the glass cladding. The black towers of Toronto-Dominion Centre were completed in the International Style from the sixties to the nineties.
The Royal York Hotel, owned by the Fairmont Chain, in turn once owned by Canadian Pacific (rivals to Canadian National, of CN Tower fame). It opened in 1929 and has scarily long old corridors and reminded me strangely of the Overlook Hotel from “The Shining” on the inside.
Inside the lobby of the Royal York Hotel, showcasing the 1930-style splendour. This picture was from my second trip ten years later in 2010, and includes the clock donated by the royal family.
Directly across Front Street from The Royal York is Toronto’s Union Station, nexus of Canada’s rail network and precipitator of the hotel’s construction. According to the text on the building, it was built in 1919.
If the nineteen miles of underground PATH Network aren’t to your taste, Toronto’s Streetcar network has been operating trams extensively and continuously since 1861. The year of my visit is firmly confirmed by this tram’s hosted advertising.
Between downtown and Lake Ontario, the Harbourfront area had been rapidly developed in the years between my 2000 and 2010 visits, and I believe that has continued apace since. There was no shortage of fancy waterside condos.
Out on Toronto Islands I had a very pleasant afternoon wandering through the parkland past the yachts and trees.
There is even a small fairground, Centreville Amusement Park, complete with old-school rides and shoppies.
Another shot of the city skyline from Centre Island, while waiting for the ferry back into town. A flight from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport has just taken off.
Created 2001 | Updated 2014, 2023
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