Toronto 7/26 -- 7/28, 2012 [Toronto Gallery] [Back to Photo Page] [Slideshow]

Toronto, the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario, is a relative modern city with its history dating back to the late 18th century.  The City of Toronto has over 2.6 million residents in 2011, and it is currently the fifth most populous city in North America.  Its cosmopolitan and international population reflects its role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, with about 49% of the population born outside Canada.

Getting there ...

My brother and his family came to Canada and United States for summer vacation, and we planned to meet them in Toronto to start our journey together (Toronto and New York).  We arrived in Toronto earlier in the afternoon and checked in to the hotel in the city, and drove back to the airport at night to pick them up.  We had two rental cars that Woanyu and I drove separately for the next few days.  When we went back to the parking lot after we picked up my brother, we (the boys) struggled for a while to try to find our car (we were really disoriented that we searched for the wrong level, wrong sections, etc.) so I arrived at the hotel almost 20 minutes later than Woanyu did.

The Second Day ...

• Niagara Falls
  Niagara Falls, on the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York, is a collective name for the three waterfalls, Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls.  While not exceptionally high (~173 feet for Horseshoe Falls, and 70-110 feet for American Falls), the Niagara Falls are very wide (Horseshoe Falls is about 2,600 feet (790 m) wide, while the American Falls is 1,060 feet (320 m) wide). More than 6 million cubic feet (168,000 m^3) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m^3) on average.
  Stepping out of the parking lot at the Niagara Falls, we already felt the mist and spray in the air. Iris thought that it was raining, but it turned out that it was only the mist.

We took the famous "Maid of the Mist Tour" ferry (which included a simple rain poncho for every passenger) from the Canadian side.  The ferry can reach quite close to the base of the falls.  Even though we stayed in the lower deck, no one could keep away from the water spray.

• Toronto
  We left from Niagara Falls at about 3PM and drove back to Toronto to take a break in the hotel.  Everyone else were all so tired that nobody wanted to come with me to go around.  I decided to go alone at about 5PM to take the ferry to Toronto Island.  It's a nice walk through the downtown Toronto to the ferry terminal (~1.25km).  The view of the Toronto skyline with CN Tower from the ferry and the island was really awesome that I wished I could stay longer until after sunset, but I had to catch the next ferry back to Toronto by 6:30PM to have dinner with my family.

• CN Tower
  We had a nice dinner at a place called "Big Daddy's".  The dim atmosphere, along with the jet lag from the long flight from Taiwan last night had my brother's families falling asleep during the dinner.
  After dinner, we walked to the CN Tower to see the night view of Toronto.  At 553 meter (1,815 feet) in height, the CN Tower was technically the world's tallest building from its completion in 1976 until 2009 (surpassed by the Burj Khalifa, Dubai).  Stepping on the glass floors (called "elephant proof") in the elevator and at the main observation level was actually a little scary. One cool thing was that we can even watch the baseball game at the Roger Center from the above.

The Third Day ...

• Casa Loma
  Built by Canadian financier Sir Henry Pellatt in 1911-1914, Casa Loma's 98 rooms took $3.5 million and 300 men to build. At the time of its completion, it was bigger than any private home in North America.  Unfortunately, the Pellatts made some bad financial decisions, sunk deeply into debt and eventually had to declare bankruptcy.  The house was abandoned in 1924 until the city purchased the property in 1937.

• Distillery District
  The Distillery District is a national Historic Site with an incredibly rich history. The site was once The Gooderham and Worts Distillery, and represents the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America.  After 153 years of continuous production, the Gooderham & Worts Distillery finally ceases operations. During the '90s, The Distillery finds a second life as the number one film location in Canada, and the second largest film location outside of Hollywood. Over the years, more than 1700 films used the site.  In 2001, an ambitious project was undertaken: to restore The Distillery and its more than 40 buildings and transform it into a pedestrians-only village entirely dedicated to arts, culture and entertainment.  When the Distillery Historic District opened in May 2003, it quickly becomes a vital part of the city and one of Canada’s top tourist attractions.
  We wandered around the Distillery District for several minutes, trying to locate a good restaurant. Unfortunately, there were too many choices to choose from, so we went to a small cafe and had a few sandwiches and bowls of pasta. After our short lunch, we spent another few minutes checking out some stores. There was nothing interesting, so we just got into the car and went on our way.

Next Stop ...

We drove back to Toronto Airport (YYZ) after lunch to catch flight to our next stop: New York City.  However, there was a storm around NYC so our flight could not take off until it cleared up (we actually got on the plane, but were asked to get off to wait for further notice).  Although there was almost 2-hour delay, the kids had a good time at the airport ....

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