Toronto: Touring the Town
Written by William Urbanski.
Upon arriving in Toronto, one of the first things that sticks out is how much of a cultural melting pot it is. Step out onto any street and one will quickly encounter a slew of different languages as well as people from all walks of life. The other thing that one will quickly realize is that unless you plan on staying within the city (and I mean the downtown area, not the GTA, Greater Toronto Area, which is actually quite vast), you absolutely, 100 percent, without question, need a car. But do not fret: Whether you have access to wheels or not, if you are visiting Toronto, there is no shortage of things worth checking out. Here are some suggestions to get you started.
CN Tower
This one is hard to miss and close to Union Station at the bottom of the subway line, so no car is required. It is the symbol of Toronto and offers astounding views of the cityscape, but the CN Tower is quite pricey to go up at over $40 Canadian a pop. My wife and I visited on a rainy, cloudy day, and even though we technically could have gone up to the observation deck, we ultimately decided to heed the advice of multiple employees who said it would be better to just come back another day. We got our tickets refunded – no problem – and even though we never had time to come back, I do not feel like I was missing out on much by not going up the tower since it is cool enough to just check it out from the ground. Right next to the tower is Ripley’s Aquarium, which is apparently the bee’s knees, but having seen fish many times before, I decided to take a pass on this trip.
Canada’s Wonderland
This is pretty amazing overall even though it is a bit out of the city. While I am sure there are technically some public transportation or shuttle bus options, I would say that without a car to just forget it.
Canada’s Wonderland has an interesting system whereby a park visitor can buy a “fast lane pass” and just walk to the front of any lineup. The fast pass is very expensive, tripling the price of a daily visit, so when I first heard about this scheme, I was somewhat incensed, as if Wonderland were profiteering from a problem that they helped create. But, boy-oh-boy, was I wrong about that one because I shelled out for a fast pass and it was awesome, bordering on “radicool.” The feeling of smug satisfaction that came with being able to jump the queue was a privilege worth paying for. But buyer beware, because it also created the interesting problem of being able to ride too many times, too quickly, resulting in a feeling of nausea usually reserved for the morning after a night at the norae-bang [karaoke]. Speaking of the rides, Laviathan and Bohemeth are two of the biggest, baddest, and fastest rollercoasters in North America.
The Toronto Argonauts
While everyone is always yipping about how good the Raptors are, and humming and hawing about how bad the Maple Leafs are blowing it, Toronto’s most overlooked sports team has gotta be the Argonauts: the city’s offering to the Canadian Football League (CFL). Because attendance at Argonauts’ games has been, ahem, dwindling as of late, you can usually get really good tickets for cheap. In addition, much more so than other pro sports teams in the T-Dot (Toronto), the Argos have interesting promotions such as “country western night,” which, while making absolutely no sense whatsoever, was an opportunity for me to score a few free cowboy hats. An Argos game can be a great value as long as you do not scarf down four hotdogs, a bag of popcorn, and five beers like the guy my dad invited to the game.
If you are not into theme parks or sports, walking around downtown, particularly along Queen Street, is always interesting. Toronto City Hall and the Eaton’s Centre are popular sites with tourists who love to take selfies. As well, much like the space-time dimensions postulated by string theory, the downtown core of Toronto is “compactified,” meaning you can easily get around on foot.
If you ever find yourself in Toronto, it would be easy to spend a week just taking in the sights around the city. Of course, there are numerous other fantastic attractions within a two-hour drive of the city, such as Niagara Falls and the Muskoka region, but for now, I hope you have gotten a sampling of what the 6ix* has to offer.
* The 6ix – Slang for Toronto, following the amalgamation of the six former boroughs of Toronto, Scarborough, York, North York, East York, and Etobicoke.
Photographs by Osama Saeed (Unsplash) and William Urbanski
The Author
William Urbanski, managing editor of the Gwangju News, has an MA in international relations and cultural diplomacy. He is married to a wonderful Korean woman, always pays cash, and keeps all his receipts.