Sights in Ontario
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CN Tower
Though it’s been around for more than 30 years, the funky CN Tower still warrants ‘icon’ status. Its primary function is as a radio and TV communications tower, but relieving tourists of as much cash as possible seems to be the second order of business. It’s expensive, but riding the great glass elevators up the highest freestanding structure in the world (553m) is one of those things in life you just have to do. On a clear day, the views from the Observation Deck are astounding; if it’s hazy, you won’t be able to see a thing. Beware: two million visitors every year means summer queues for the elevator can be up to two hours long – going up and coming back d…
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Art Gallery of Ontario
The AGO houses art collections both excellent and extensive (bring your stamina). Highlights include rare Québecois religious statuary, First Nations and Inuit carvings, major Canadian works by the Group of Seven, the Henry Moore sculpture pavilion, and a restored Georgian house, The Grange. There’s a surcharge for special exhibits.
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St Lawrence Market & Hall
Old York's sensational market has been a neighborhood meeting place for over two centuries. The restored, high-trussed 1845 South Market building houses more than 50 specialty food stalls: cheese vendors, fishmongers, butchers, bakers and pasta makers with lots of action and yelling of prices in silly voices. Inside the old council chambers upstairs, the St Lawrence Market Gallery (admission free; 10am-4pm Wed-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat, noon-4pm Sun) is now the city's exhibition hall, with rotating displays of paintings, photographs, documents and historical relics. Hordes of school kids laugh it up, perhaps not as enthralled as you might be. On the opposite side of Front St, the …
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Casa Loma
The mock medieval Casa Loma lords over The Annex on a cliff that was once the shoreline of the glacial Lake Iroquois, from which Lake Ontario derived. Climb the 27m Baldwin Steps up the slope from Spadina Ave, north of Davenport Rd. The 98-room mansion – a crass architectural orgasm of castellations, chimneys, flagpoles, turrets and Rapunzel balconies – was built between 1911 and 1914 for Sir Henry Pellat, a wealthy financier who made bags of cash from his contract to provide Toronto with electricity. He later lost everything in land speculation, the resultant foreclosure forcing Hank and his wife to move out. Parking costs $3/9 per hour/day.
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Goethe-Institut Gallery
This esteemed German cultural centre presents temporary exhibitions of contemporary fine arts emphasizing the avant-garde from Europe and across Canada. German language courses, German film screenings with English subtitles ($5 per person), concerts and dramatic readings are also on the agenda. Check the online schedule.
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Kakabeka Falls
About 25km west of Thunder Bay, just off Hwy 11-17, is Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park. The spectacular 40m waterfall is the source of many local legends. The moody chute is at its best after the thaw in early spring and it gushes year-round after heavy rains.
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French River Provincial Park
This sweeping provincial park traces the historical route of the French voyageurs between Lake Nipissing and the Georgian Bay. The new state-of-the-art visitor center offers an informed perspective on the dramatic topography and its accompanying history.
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Butterfly Conservatory
Inside the botanical gardens, the conservatory has more than 50 species of butterflies (some as big as birds) flitting around 130 species of flowers and plants. This is also a breeding facility where you can see young butterflies released.
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Parliament Hill
Vast yawning archways dominate this stunning complex of copper-topped towers. The city’s most picture-perfect attraction by far, Parliament is Canada’s nexus of political activity. The primary building, Centre Block, supports the iconic Peace Tower, the highest structure in the city. Venture inside to peruse the hand-carved limestone and make a stop at the gorgeous library with its wood and wrought iron. Visitors are allowed to see the Commons and Senate while they’re in session. Question Period in the House of Commons is particularly popular, occurring every afternoon and at 11am on Fridays. Admission is on a first-come first-served basis.
Free 45-minute tours run …
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National Gallery of Canada
Canada’s largest art gallery is a must, housing the largest collection of Canadian and Inuit art in the world. The structure is a piece of art in itself – one of Ottawa’s modern architectural gems. The striking ensemble of glass and pink granite was concocted by Moshe Safdie, a noted architect who also created Montréal’s well-known ‘Habitat’ (a unique apartment complex). His emphatic glass spires at the museum’s rear echo the ornate copper-topped towers of the Parliament nearby. The dialogue between the heavy metallic roof and the floating crystalline steeple is magical even on the dreariest of days.
On the interior, the vaulted galleries display classic an…
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University of Toronto – St George Campus
Life at the University of Toronto rotates around the grassy/muddy expanse of King’s College Circle, where students study on blankets, kick soccer balls around and dream of graduation day in domed Convocation Hall. Dating from 1919, sociable Hart House is an all-purpose art gallery, music performance space, theater, student lounge and cafe. Soldiers’ Tower next door is a memorial to students who lost their lives during WWI and WWII. A nearby mid-19th-century Romanesque Revival building houses the U of T Art Centre, a contemporary art |gallery for Canadian and world cultures. If you’re architecturally bent or have an inclination for urban planning, check out the Eric …
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Canadian Museum of Civilization
This must-see museum documents the history of Canada through a spectacular range of exhibits. The stone exterior has been sculpted into smooth ripples – like the undulating wave of a current. In fact, you won’t find any corners at the museum, as it is believed in aboriginal lore that the evil spirits live in these angled nooks. Allow at least an entire afternoon to explore the museum and to take in the stunning views of the Parliament across the river.
The Grand Hall, with its simulated forest and seashore, illuminates the northwest coastal aboriginal cultures with towering colorful totem poles. Kids get a passport when they enter the Canadian Children’s Museum, a v…
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Canada Science & Technology Museum
This hands-on museum, about 6km southeast of downtown, is a wonderful place to tickle the senses. Ambient squeaks and boinks fill the air as contented visitors gingerly turn knobs and push buttons.
Clever displays are designed to teach visitors about the basic scientific laws that govern our world. Permanent collections explore optical illusions, the laws of physics, and Time, with a capital ‘T.’ A walk through the Crazy Kitchen is a must – the lopsided galley dips at a 10-degree angle causing passers-through to cling to the railings as they try to stumble from start to finish. Climb aboard the heavy-duty trains at the back of the museum to learn about the science beh…
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Royal Ontario Museum
The multidisciplinary ROM was already Canada’s biggest natural history museum, even before embarking upon the ‘Renaissance ROM’ building project, which should be complete by the time you read this. The new work involves a magnificent explosion of architectural crystals on Bloor St, housing an array of new galleries. ROM’s collections bounce between natural science, ancient civilization and art exhibits. The Chinese temple sculptures, Gallery of Korean Art and costumery and textile collections are some of the best in the world. Kids file out of yellow school buses chugging by the sidewalk and rush to the dinosaur rooms, Egyptian mummies and Jamaican bat-cave replica. Don’t…
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Scarborough Bluffs
The Scarborough Bluffs are a 14km stretch of glacial lakeshore cliffs. Elizabeth Simcoe named it in 1793 after Scarborough in Yorkshire, England. Several parks provide access to cliff tops, with views across Lake Ontario. From Kingston Rd (Hwy 2), turn south at Cathedral Bluffs Dr to reach the highest section of the bluffs, Cathedral Bluffs Park (65m). Erosion has created cathedral spire formations, exposing evidence of five different glacial periods. You can also access the shore at Galloway Rd further east. Below this section of bluffs off Brimley Rd, landfill has been used to form Bluffer’s Park, a private marina and recreational area. Unless you have wheels, getting t…
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Maple Leaf Gardens
This hallowed hockey arena was built in an astounding five months during the Great Depression, and was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs for over 50 years. The Leafs lost their first game (and the last at the Gardens in 2009) to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1931, but went on to win 13 Stanley Cups before relocating to the Air Canada Centre in 1999. Over the years, Elvis, Sinatra and the Beatles have all belted out tunes here. The Gardens were bought by grocery chain Loblaws in 2004, but have sat unchanged since. When we visited, renovations were under way (with a $60 million price tag) that will include sports facilities, a Loblaws store and a memorabilia museum. Renovations a…
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Todmorden Mills
Sitting quietly by the Don River, Todmorden Mills is an industrial relic housed in a late-18th-century gristmill-turned-sawmill, then brewery and distillery, then paper mill. Historical exhibits loiter inside the Brewery Gallery, where eager guides show visitors around old millers’ houses and the petite Don train station. The renovated Papermill Theatre and Gallery showcases local and emerging artists, as well as performances by the resident Eastside Players. Nature paths start near the bridge and wind back to the secluded Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve, 9 hectares of wildflowers growing on former industrial wasteland, complete with boardwalks and viewing platforms…
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Hanlan’s Point
At the west end of Centre Island by the Toronto City Centre Airport is Hanlan’s Point, named after world-champion sculler ‘Ned’ Hanlan (1855–1904), a member of the first family to permanently settle here. Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run here in 1914 while playing minor-league baseball – the ball drowned in Lake Ontario, the ultimate souvenir lost forever… The sport of iceboating atop the frozen lake was at its peak until the 1940s. Thanks to climate change, winters nowadays are too mild for it. Beyond the free tennis courts and a fragile ecosystem of low-lying dunes sustaining rare species, the not-so-rare nekkid humanus roams free on the gray sa…
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Polar Bear Habitat & Heritage Village
Despite the name of the train (Polar Bear Express), and the giant replica at the info center, there are no wild polar bear roaming around the region, although Nanook became Cochrane’s furriest citizen (let’s hope) when the Polar Bear Habitat & Heritage Village opened its doors in 2004. A loving staff cares for the scruffy beast – the oldest polar bear in captivity – who was brought to the center as a cub after poachers shot his mother. Visitors can interact with Nanook at daily ‘meet the bear’ sessions, or swim with him in a pool divided by a thick sheet of glass (swim session $5). Voyeurs can check out the live ‘Bear Cam’ on the website. An on-site mock colonial village,…
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Gibraltar Point
Gibraltar Point, as per Gibraltar in the Mediterranean, was the most easily defensible point in the harbor. Captain John Simcoe ordered a British fort built here in 1800. It was destroyed just 13 years later during the American raid on York. Not far inland stands the photogenic Gibraltar Point Lighthouse (1809), just 25m tall, built with grey limestone quarried at Queenston on the Niagara escarpment. The lighthouse was the first of its kind on the Great Lakes, using sperm-whale oil to fuel its lamp. Its first keeper, JP Radan Muller, disappeared mysteriously in 1815. Years later human bones were unearthed nearby, supporting the theory that Muller was knocked off by Americ…
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Dionne Quints Museum
North Bay has never seen the mining-related booms and busts inherent to most towns in northern Ontario. In fact, the area was rather unremarkable until five little girls briefly turned the city into the most visited destination in Ontario after Niagara Falls. These little girls were the Dionne Quints – identical quintuplets. Born during the Great Depression, they were exploited as a tourist attraction by the provincial government. Their fame became so widespread that they even starred in four Hollywood films. Today, the Dionne Quints Museum contains a fascinating collection of artifacts from their early years. (Their later years haven’t been such a happy story – growing u…
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Mt Pleasant Cemetery
Rest assured, we have space' is the slogan here, and indeed, it's hard to imagine a more pleasantly assuring place for the ultimate rest. Since the 19th century, many of Toronto's brilliant and best (or at least richest) citizens have concurred, including classical musician Glenn Gould, former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie, Eaton's founder Timothy Eaton, Titanic survivor Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, and Foster Hewitt, Canada's 'Voice of Hockey, ' who coined the phrase, 'He shoots, he scores!' The cemetery is north of Moore Ave, between Yonge St and Bayview Ave. Guide maps are available from the office near the south gate on the east side of Mt Pleasant Rd, which cuts t…
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Trinity College
The most famous University of Toronto college is the ultratraditional Trinity College, where entering collegians are anachronistically required to wear academic robes to meals. It's worth looking around the traditional quadrangle and the Anglican Chapel, which was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, the same man responsible for Britain's ubiquitous red telephone booths. Pick up a self-guided tour pamphlet from the rack near the door. The leafy Philosopher ' s Walk leads north along the east side of Trinity College towards the stone-and-iron Alexandra Gates on Bloor St W, just east of the Royal Conservatory of Music.
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Science North
This huge science center is a major regional attraction conspicuously housed in two snowflake-shaped buildings on the edge of Lake Ramsey. After passing through a tunnel dug deep within the 2.5-billion-year-old Canadian Shield, take the elevator to the top and work your way down through the spiral of exciting hands-on activities. Wander through a living butterfly garden, stargaze in the digital planetarium, explore rocks through a microscope, build an empire out of Lego or fly away on a bushplane simulator. The blue-coated staff are exceptionally friendly and can tackle the most obscure questions about the displays. Major exhibits change regularly, as do the films screene…
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Fort York
Established by the British in 1793 to defend the town of York (as Toronto was then known), Fort York was almost entirely destroyed during the War of 1812 when a small band of Ojibwe warriors and British troops couldn’t stop US troops. Today, a handful of the original log, stone and brick buildings have been restored. In summer, men decked out in 19th-century British military uniforms carry out preposterous marches and drills, firing musket volleys into the sky. Kids feign interest or run around the fort’s embankments with wooden rifles. Tours run hourly from May to September, and a fancy new visitor’s centre was being planned when we visited. It’s, off Fleet St W, east of…
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