Escape Niagara? "Go" to Toronto
Guest Blog by George Bailey
I don't like to drive in heavy traffic to large cities and pay large parking fees. Therefore, my lady friend Ellen and I took the Go Transit bus:
www.gotransit.com or 1-888-438-6646 for the day from the corner of Highway 420 and Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls, into Union Station in downtown Toronto. It was a breeze, and it didn't cost much. Round trip fare for Ellen, still a kid, was under $40.00 and for the old guy, I'm over 65, even cheaper, under $20.00. It costs even less if you board the bus at St. Catharines, Grimsby or Stoney Creek.
We boarded a Go Bus at 7:34 on a weekday morning. Once on the GO Bus, we paid the driver and were on our way to Burlington to connect with a Go Train, at no additional cost, to downtown Toronto. The wait for the train was under ten minutes. Connecting with the train was easy and there's no need to show your ticket again. It was stress free and we were there within two and a half hours.
Toronto is Canada's largest city with a population of 2.5 million. There are 200 different ethnic origins who speak 130 languages. It's also the capital of Ontario and one of the top financial centres in the world.
When we arrived at
Union Station, life was bursting at the seams with energy in the air. We started our day by walking Yonge Street, the longest street in the world. It starts near the train station and ends 1,896 km (1,178 miles) away in Rainy River in Northern Ontario. You need a good pair of walking shoes.
This city never fails to amaze us. We were awed by century-old architecture that blended beautifully with the many modern skyscrapers packed into a small area that snuggles up to the northern shore of Lake Ontario. There was only a certain amount of things we could cover before catching our ride back to Niagara late in the afternoon. Here are few of them, all within a half hours walking distance:
- The red brick Gooderham Building, the "Flatiron Building" on the Eastern edge of the city's financial district at 49 Wellington Street East is an historic landmark. Have your camera ready.
- We couldn't leave without spending time at the Eaton's Centre and exploring the multitude of other shops on Yonge Street. One new find was magnificent Brookfield Place on the corner of Yonge and Bay Streets. This is where you'll also find the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
- Not far away is the St. Lawrence Market
www.stlawrencemarket.com at Front and Jarvis in Old Town Toronto. This market has two floors crammed with everything food related. For lunch we sat inside on a picnic table and enjoyed a couple of Souvlaki dishes for under $7.00 each from Yianni's Greek Kitchen. This has to be one of the best food deals in all of Toronto.
- Toronto's most iconic landmark is the CN Tower
www.cntower.ca the world's tallest free standing structure at 553.3 m (1,815 feet), celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. It's over three times the height of Niagara's Skylon Tower. There's a new Edgewalk attraction at the CN Tower that allows those with nerves of steel to walk outside the pod of the tower.
- After the tower we gave our legs a work out and headed to the Distillery District
www.thedistillerydistrict.com to meet up with John Berman one of the developers of this fantastic centre for arts, entertainment and culture. Berman, said, "We began in 2001 to
restore and develop the largest collection of Victorian buildings found in North America."
- We wished we had another full day to explore this cool place of lovely galleries, cafés, restaurants and boutique shops before having to hoof it back to catch our five o'clock ride to Niagara. Completely relaxed and exhausted we re-hashed our trip. On the bus I even caught forty winks; after all, I didn't have to drive.
- Check out:
www.seetorontonow.com or 1-800-363-1990.
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