Toronto

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This excerpt, from the Pleasures and Pastimes section, gives you a taste of what Toronto has to offer and the sights and scenes that make it a great place to visit.


Dining

The city's dining scene has flourished in the late '90s, providing a huge variety of choices. Formal establishments and even steak houses are thriving, but not at the expense of the many new bistros, tapas bars, and noodle bars. After each of Toronto's immigration waves, an intriguing new batch of restaurants open. In the last half century, Toronto has been introduced to everything from Hungarian schnitzel after the 1956 revolution to Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian cuisines in the 1970s and beyond. Italian restaurants dominate the city's dining scene, reflecting the locals' long-term passion for this cuisine in all its regional variations, but you can also choose from an abundance of excellent Chinese, French, Greek, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Thai, seafood, vegetarian, creative contemporary, and, of course, Canadian fare. The wine lists of the finest restaurants include, in addition to international selections, excellent regional wines, while local microbrews provide wonderful acc
ompaniments to more casual meals. If you're visiting in summer, do as the locals do and dine alfresco, a cherished Toronto pastime.


Ethnic Neighborhoods

You can tour the world in Toronto, where you'll encounter markets, clothes, music, newspapers, cuisines, and customs from around the universe. If you walk around long enough, you'll hear everything from Hindi to Greek. You can pick up a sari on Gerrard Street East, purchase Chinese herbal medicine on Dundas Street, and browse for French books on Queen Street West. The West Indian community holds a summer festival, Caribana, that draws hundreds of thousands of people. Many of the immigrants who originally settled Toronto's ethnic enclaves have moved to the suburbs, but others have taken their places and kept the old traditions alive.


Lodging

Toronto offers an array of places to lay your head that is commensurate with a city of its size and sophistication. Although it isn't strong on historic lodgings or bed-and-breakfasts, there are some notable exceptions, and chain hotels have reliable properties in convenient locations around town. The First Nations inhabitants who came up with the name Toronto, or "place of meetings," certainly had foresight: Conventions book huge blocks of hotel rooms year-round. This can mean annoying lobby bustle, but it also tends to ensure that properties in this competitive town have plenty of amenities and high levels of service. The emphasis on business also means that rates sometimes go down drastically on the weekends; many hotels have special packages for couples and families, too.


Parks and Ravines

When Toronto was first settled, it not only had a fine natural port, but also sat at the mouth of two rivers and a handful of streams. While these small streams have either dried up or been covered over by urban development, their valleys and ravines have been retained by the city as parkland. Many parks offer dirt, cinder, or asphalt paths for bikers and joggers. High Park, west of downtown, is lovely, and miniparks throughout the urban core afford good views, public sculpture, historical plaques, and, of course, benches for resting tired feet.


Shopping

From haute couture to ethnic markets, Toronto has retail options for every purse and personal taste. Megamalls like the Eaton Centre vie with intimate boutiques on Bloor Street West and in the Yorkville area for shoppers' attention. Unique areas to explore include the St. Lawrence and Kensington markets; funky Queen Street West, with its street-smart shops; Chinatown and Spadina Avenue, loaded with bargains; Queen Street East, with a treasure trove of vintage and antiques stores; and Queen's Quay Terminal, a delightful converted warehouse on the waterfront (the Harbourfront Antiques Market is nearby, too).


Spectator Sports

Toronto has venues for American favorites like baseball (the Toronto Blue Jays) and basketball (the Toronto Raptors), as well as for other spectator sports that have a stronger following in Europe. Ice hockey is a national mania; children start out as soon as they're old enough to toddle around on skates, move to league play when they're around 10, and generally keep going as long as their knees hold out. Maple Leaf tickets are a scarce commodity in this town. Amateur leagues sometimes play at 2 [am] because there's so much competition for ice time. For a free look at nonprofessional enthusiasts, check out any park with a skating rink on a bright winter's day. American fans may want to sample Canadian football at an Argonauts' game; the play is faster and (locals say) more exciting.