Advance planning for Toronto trip

[NifT]

So, since I'm going to be up in Syracuse, NY for a bowling tournament just prior to Memorial Day in 2018, I'm thinking of doing a trip over to Toronto for a bit, since it's just a few hours away.  Does anybody have any suggestions on things to do? I'm planning on something between 2-7 full days in the city before returning home.

[Bob Schroeck]

Having done Toronto a few times over the past 15 or so years, I have a few favorite things to do/places to go:

* Casa Loma. AKA "Xavier's School for Gifted Children" and "Site of my cousin-in-law's wedding and reception" (Seriously. She got married in Storm's classroom.)

* The Bata Shoe Museum. No, I'm serious.

* The CN Tower. If you can, eat at 360, the revolving restaurant at the top of the tower. Great food, a bit pricey, but really good, and the view cannot be beat. And if you have the cash and the guts, do the Edgewalk. (I had neither, but it still looks cool.)

* There's also now an aquarium at the base of the Tower, which I hear is a great stop, but I haven't done it.

* If you're into craft beer, there's a brewery in the Roundhouse a block to the south of the Tower. They give out unlimited free samples. Sharing the building with them is the Toronto Railway Museum.

* Rogers Centre, formerly the Skydome, also near the Tower. They do behind-the-scenes tours which are a lot of fun. They also do baseball games. Time things right and you can do the tower, the aquarium the stadium, the museum and the beer all in one day. Maybe.

* College Street. If you like cool little shops with odd stock and clientele.

* The Second City comedy club, a couple blocks northish of the CN Tower and the stadium. Some days they have free shows where new and potential cast members try out their material or just do improv riffs.

* The Marche Movenpick, a restaurant styled like an open European market, in the Brookfield Place mall, about four blocks east-northeast of the CN Tower. Great food, and the mall is pretty cool, too, as part of it encloses some older buildings. Oh, and the Hockey Hall of Fame is at one end of Brookfield Place, too, if you're into that kind of thing.

* The Royal Ontario Museum.

* Fort York.

I think I'll stop there.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

Bob got to some of these while I was gathering the URLs...

The CN Tower was the tallest freestanding structure in the world for decades. It's still the tallest tower in Canada. (You don't need to visit it specifically; you will see the CN Tower on the skyline if you visit Toronto.)
http://www.cntower.ca/intro.html

The Royal York Hotel - Toronto's "Grand Old Hotel" - is worth a look, and worth photographing if you like architecture. Rooms are pricey.
http://www.fairmont.com/royal-york-toronto/

You've probably already seen Nathan Phillips Square - or, at least, Toronto City Hall - without knowing it.

http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/conte ... d60f89RCRD

Massey Hall is Canada's equivalent to Carnegie Hall.
http://www.masseyhall.com/

Queen's Park is where the Government of Ontario has its sessions. If you're into that sort of thing, you might want to take the guided tour of the building.
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/home.do

The Royal Ontario Museum ("the ROM") has a reputation of being one of Ontario's finest museums. They're north of Queen's Park.
http://www.rom.on.ca/en

Have you ever had okonomiyaki? Okonomi House is inexpensive (it's practicially on the grounds of the University of Toronto) and it's only a few city blocks east of Queen's Park and the ROM.
http://www.google.ca/maps/place/Okonom ... -79.387161

The Art Gallery of Ontario has a collection that rivals (and, in some fields, outshines) the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.
http://www.ago.net/

You've seen Casa Loma if you've seen the X-Men movies.
http://www.casaloma.ca/

The "distillery district" has become an upscale shopping district. There's only one distillery left in the "distillery district" - and the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company brews sake. (We're so multicultural.)
http://ontariosake.com/

The Ontario Science Centre can be fun, depending on what the special show is at the time you visit.
http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/

Oh, and one shibboleth:

* Rogers Centre, formerly the Skydome,

Only visitors to T.O. who don't know any better call the SkyDome "the Rogers Centre". Everyone else calls it the SkyDome.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

* If you're into craft beer, there's a brewery in the Roundhouse a block to the south of the Tower. They give out unlimited free samples.

Steam Whistle Brewery. Their motto is "Do one thing really, really well", and they follow that motto.
http://steamwhistle.ca/contact/mapAndDirections.php
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

That they do. If only I could get their beer shipped across the border...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[hazard]

What, brew steam whistles? Didn't know that was possible.

Also, IIRC Nathan Philips Square was a set for a Resident Evil movie, and it's probably been a set for many more. Toronto is a fairly common choice for city scenes on the silver screen.

[NifT]

Wasn't expecting quite that long a list, but thanks! I'm definitely going to try an fit in as much of that as possible. Except probably the Edgewalk. Terrified of heights, I am.

Hazard wrote:

---

Toronto is a fairly common choice for city scenes on the silver screen.

So's Vancouver, as I understand. Didn't get to see nearly as much of it as I wanted when I was out there last year, since most of that day trip was spent in Butchart Gardens.

[robkelk]

Wasn't expecting quite that long a list, but thanks! I'm definitely going to try an fit in as much of that as possible. Except probably the Edgewalk. Terrified of heights, I am.

Know the feeling, I do.

A couple more, from Ross (who has an account here but is away from his computer):

The CNE grounds. I like the triumphal arch and the exhibition building architecture.

Nearby is Ontario Place, which like City Hall, appeared in Sci Fi in the terrible '70s Shape of Things to Come.

Oh, yes: How are you planning on getting to Toronto?

If you're flying, fly into Billy Bishop Airport if at all possible - it's right downtown.

If you're driving, I can suggest a couple of places in Hamilton, which you'd be driving through.

If you're taking the train (I think you can still take the train from Buffalo), get a window seat and bring your camera. EDIT: Just double-checked, and discovered the Toronto/Manhattan train stops in Syracuse!

Toronto is a fairly common choice for city scenes on the silver screen.

So's Vancouver, as I understand. Didn't get to see nearly as much of it as I wanted when I was out there last year, since most of that day trip was spent in Butchart Gardens.

Canada is generous with tax incentives to people who hire Canadian actors and Canadian crews to make their movies in Canadian cities. Not so generous as to pull all the business away from Hollywood, but generous enough that Suicide Squad was made in Toronto.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Photo by Cmdr. Hadfield: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9zWh5lXsAItsxS.jpg

From the angle, I'm guessing this was taken from Billy Bishop Airport. The CN Tower is centered in the image, and you can see the curve of the SkyDome in front of and to the left of the tower.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, another thing you might want to do. When we were last at Toronto, we took a boat tour of the harbor. Great views, and more interesting than you might think.
Edit:  And now that I think of it, maybe it was Queen Street that had all the quirky little shops, not College.

And for Tex-Mex + live music, Sneaky Dee's at Bathurst and College.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[NifT]

robkelk wrote:

---

A couple more, from Ross (who has an account here but is away from his computer):

The CNE grounds. I like the triumphal arch and the exhibition building architecture.
Nearby is Ontario Place, which like City Hall, appeared in Sci Fi in the terrible '70s Shape of Things to Come.

More things to look at, yay!

robkelk wrote:

---

Oh, yes: How are you planning on getting to Toronto?

If you're flying, fly into Billy Bishop Airport if at all possible - it's right downtown.

If you're driving, I can suggest a couple of places in Hamilton, which you'd be driving through.

If you're taking the train (I think you can still take the train from Buffalo), get a window seat and bring your camera. EDIT: Just double-checked, and discovered the Toronto/Manhattan train stops in Syracuse!

Was planning on driving, actually.  Five-ish hours to Syracuse for the tournament, then a bit over four to Toronto, not including a tentative stop for Niagara Falls on the way, and way cheaper than flying. A stop in Hamilton is probably doable, depending on how long I spend gawking at a bit of water going over a cliff

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

Oh, another thing you might want to do. When we were last at Toronto, we took a boat tour of the harbor. Great views, and more interesting than you might think.

That sounds great.

[robkelk]

I've been lead to believe that Niagara Falls is a tourist trap nowadays, but that's second- and third-hand information.

Hamilton:

HMCS Haida, "Canada’s most fightingest ship". If it isn't so hot that letting you stay below decks would be a health hazard, you're allowed to explore this destroyer from the bridge to the engine room.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/on/haida

Dundurn Castle - it's a "castle" because the front door is flanked by pillars; most folks would call it a manor house. See this if you're interested in early-19th-century life.
http://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/ham ... toric-site

The Museum of STEAM!
No, seriously - it's the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology. Emphasis on "steam". It's just off Nikola Tesla Blvd, almost at the off-ramp from the QEW immediately south of the Burlington Skyway, so if you're driving from Syracuse to Toronto, you're literally going right by it.
http://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/ham ... toric-site

For craft beer in Hamilton, I recommend Collective Arts Brewing. It's on the main road between HMCS Haida and the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology.
http://collectiveartsbrewing.com/
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Heh. Niagara Falls has always been a tourist trap. Doesn't mean it's not pretty. We stopped there on our way back from our last trip to Toronto. If you can, do the cave behind the falls.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[NifT]

robkelk wrote:

---

I've been lead to believe that Niagara Falls is a tourist trap nowadays, but that's second- and third-hand information.

Hamilton:

HMCS Haida, "Canada’s most fightingest ship". If it isn't so hot that letting you stay below decks would be a health hazard, you're allowed to explore this destroyer from the bridge to the engine room.http://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/on/haida

Dundurn Castle - it's a "castle" because the front door is flanked by pillars; most folks would call it a manor house. See this if you're interested in early-19th-century life.http://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/ham ... toric-site

The Museum of STEAM!
No, seriously - it's the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology. Emphasis on "steam". It's just off Nikola Tesla Blvd, almost at the off-ramp from the QEW immediately south of the Burlington Skyway, so if you're driving from Syracuse to Toronto, you're literally going right by it.http://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/ham ... toric-site

For craft beer in Hamilton, I recommend Collective Arts Brewing. It's on the main road between HMCS Haida and the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology.http://collectiveartsbrewing.com/

Looks like I may have to add a night in Hamilton, then. That's probably a full day's worth, and then some.

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

Heh. Niagara Falls has always been a tourist trap. Doesn't mean it's not pretty. We stopped there on our way back from our last trip to Toronto. If you can, do the cave behind the falls.

Will do.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions.