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Key Attractions CN Tower At a height of 553m (1815ft), the CN Tower is the world’s tallest free-standing structure and the defining symbol of this lakefront city. On a clear day, it offers stunning views of up to 120km (75 miles) across the surrounding cityscape and Lake Ontario. A glass-fronted elevator ride leads to the main section – at an equivalent to 114 storeys high – where a terrifying glass floor enables visitors to stare 342m (1122ft) straight down. A more leisurely view can be had from the revolving 360 Restaurant on the floor above. Another set of elevators leads to the SkyPod, 33 storeys further up. There is also a group of entertainment venues at the base of the tower, including two motion-simulator rides. 301 Front Street West Tel: (416) 360 8500. Fax: (416) 601 4722. Website: www.cntower.ca Transport: Subway Union Station. Opening hours: Daily 0900-2300. Admission: C$15.99; plus C$7.50 (SkyPod); concessions available. Casa Loma Toronto seems an unlikely location for a castle but, since 1911, the soaring battlements of Casa Loma have lent an element of magic to the city. The 98-room castle was completed in 1914 by Sir Henry Pellatt, a charismatic financier, industrialist and philanthropist, to be his home. Financial ruin forced its sale years later and the castle eventually became the popular tourist attraction it is today. The castle is a bizarre hybrid of a medieval-style stonework exterior and early 20th-century interior. Outside, turrets and battlements lure the visitor inside to the splendidly carved Oak Room, secret passageways and a pseudo-Gothic Great Hall, which has 18m-high (60ft) ceilings. The two-hectare (five-acre) gardens are open between May and October. 1 Austin Terrace Tel: (416) 923 1171. Fax: (416) 923 5734. E-mail: info@casaloma.org Website: www.casaloma.org Transport: Subway Dupont. Opening hours: Daily 0930-1600. Admission: C$10 (concessions available); includes self-guided audio tour. Art Gallery of Ontario Canada’s premier art gallery, the AGO contains 50 galleries displaying temporary exhibitions and a large permanent collection of international art. The ground floor houses a European collection covering the Italian Renaissance, Flemish Masters, 17th-century French painting and the Impressionists, right through to 20th-century works by Chagall and Picasso. The gallery’s greatest attraction, however, is the Canadian section on the first floor, featuring a cross-section of work from the Group of Seven, a group of early 20th-century painters whose work embodies the sublime beauty of Canada’s boreal wilderness. It is worth allowing extra time to visit the Henry Moore Sculpture Gallery, as well as The Grange, a restored 19th-century house. 317 Dundas Street West Tel: (416) 979 6648. Fax: (416) 204 2711. E-mail: info@ago.net Website: www.ago.net Transport: Subway St Patrick. Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1100-1800 (Wed until 2030), Sat and Sun 1000-1730. Admission: C$6 (suggested donation); special exhibitions cost around C$10. Bata Shoe Museum Another relative eccentric in this clean, efficient city, the Bata Shoe Museum is the only museum of its kind in the world. Housed in an equally unusual building, shaped, appropriately enough, like a shoebox, the museum owns some 10,000 items of footwear dating as far back as 4500 years. Pieces range from Elvis Presley’s loafers and Queen Victoria’s ballroom slippers to 19th-century beaded Native American shoes and leather broad-toed Tudor shoes. 327 Bloor Street West Tel: (416) 979 7799. Fax: (416) 979 0078. E-mail: info@batashoemuseum.ca Website: www.batashoemuseum.ca Transport: Subway St George. Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1700 (Thurs until 2000), Sun 1200-1700. Admission: C$6 (concessions available); free first Tues of month. Royal Ontario Museum The entrance hall alone is reason enough to visit the ROM – two massive Native Canadian totem poles from British Columbia flank the stairs, underneath a beautiful golden mosaic ceiling. Deeper within, the museum offers a seeming mishmash of different collections. The exhibits representing the Far East include a renowned collection of Chinese art, including wall paintings, snuff bottles and ceramic head cushions, as well as the only complete example of a Ming tomb in the west. Other levels handle the life sciences, the ancient Mediterranean and a Canadian heritage collection. 100 Queen’s Park Tel: (416) 586 5549 or 8000 (recorded info). Fax: (416) 586 5863. E-mail: info@rom.on.ca Website: www.rom.on.ca Transport: Subway Museum. Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-1800 (Fri until 2130), Sun 1100-1800. Admission: C$18 (Mon-Fri); C$20 (Sat and Sun); free (Fri 1630-2130); concessions available. Ontario Science Centre The Ontario Science Centre was opened in 1969 with a mission to ‘open minds to science by creating environments that excite curiosity, inspire insights and motivate learning in science and technology’. This difficult task is successfully accomplished with over 800 fascinating exhibits. Themes explored in depth include, the Human Body and the Information Highway. Interactive exhibits include piloting a spacecraft or touching a Van der Graaf generator to make one’s hair stand up on end. An Omnimax Cinema offers a 24m (79ft) domed screen. 770 Don Mills Road Tel: (416) 696 1000 or 3127 (recorded info). Fax: (416) 696 3166. E-mail: webmaster@osc.on.ca Website: www.ontariosciencecentre.ca Transport: Subway Eglinton/Pape. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700 (until 1800 in summer). Admission: C$12 (exhibitions); C$10 (Omnimax Cinema); C$17 (both); concessions available. Parking on site costs C$7. Toronto Zoo Situated on a sprawling 287-hectare (710-acre) forested piece of land next to the Rouge Valley in the suburb of Scarborough, the Toronto Zoo is the fourth largest zoo in the world. The collection of over 5000 animals is truly international, since the zoo features pavilions named Africa, the Americas, IndoMalaya, Australasia, the Indian Rhino, Gaur and the Malayan Woods. Underwater exhibits showcase polar bears, South African fur seals, beavers in their dens and otters swimming at eye level. Meadowvale Road (two kilometres/1.2 miles north of Highway 401) Tel: (416) 392 5900. Fax: (416) 392 5863. E-mail: torontozoo@zoo.metrotor.on.ca Website: www.torontozoo.com Transport: Subway Kennedy, then bus 86A. Opening hours: Daily 0900-1930 (mid-May-early Sep); 0930-1630 (Nov-early Mar); 0900-1800 (other times of year). Admission: C$15 (concessions available); extra charge for some activities. Parking on site costs C$5. Fort York Fort York harks back to the days when Toronto, then as British as afternoon tea, was named ‘York’. As a colony, the city occasionally had to deal with revolutionaries to the south, so Fort York was founded in 1793 to fortify British control of Lake Ontario. Most of the buildings, however, date from 1814 because, during the War of 1812, the evacuating British blew up the gunpowder magazine – an explosion so unexpectedly large that it killed ten of their own men, 250 advancing Americans and a good deal of the fort. Highlights of Fort York include blockhouses, barracks, officers’ quarters, costumed staff and period demonstrations. Garrison Road, off Fleet Street Tel: (416) 392 6907. Fax: (416) 392 6917. E-mail: fortyork@city.toronto.on.ca Website: www.city.toronto.on.ca/culture/fort_york.htm Transport: Subway Bathurst Station; tram 511. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700 (late May-early Sep); Mon-Fri 1000-1600, Sat and Sun 1000-1700 (early Sep-late May). Admission: C$5 (concessions available). Paramount Canada’s Wonderland Located in the northern suburb of Maple, Canada’s Wonderland is, as its name suggests, an amusement park. Although not on the same scale as a Disney or Universal theme park, the park features over 200 attractions on its 134 hectares (330 acres) of landscaped grounds. Rides include Cliffhanger, Scooby – Scooby-Doo’s Haunted Mansion, Mountain Eruption and Meteor Attack. Summer 2001 saw visitors spun around by the new Shockwave ride, a trend that continues in 2002 when the Psyclone will spin guests around 37m (120ft) in the air at the end of a giant pendulum. 9580 Jane Street (Highway 400, exit 33) Tel: (905) 832 7000. Fax: (905) 832 7419. E-mail: info@canadaswonderland.com Website: www.canadas-wonderland.com Transport: GO bus from Yorkdale or York Mills stations. Opening hours: Daily 1000-2200 (Jun-Aug); Sat and Sun 1000-2000 (May, Sep and Oct). Admission: C$44.99 (unlimited access); C$24.99 (grounds admission only); concessions available. |
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