• Toronto was the first North American city to use traffic computers.
• Yonge Street aka Highway 11, which forms Toronto's spine, is the longest street in the world. It extends from the harbourfront to Rainy River 2000 km away. The street continues on into Minnesota, USA for several hundred kilometres more, albeit under a different name.
• One story Canada's Wonderland employees like to pass around is that they have a ghost. As the story goes, it is a worker killed while fixing the Thunder Run (Note: no deaths have been reported). Another inside gag: if you look closely at the goat and Swiss kid statues at Bayern Curve, you can see they're wearing sunglasses.
• The heaviest snowfall in Toronto history occurred on December 11, 1944, with 48 cm. The second heaviest snowfall in history happened on Dec. 11, 1993, with 46 cm. (Yes, I still went to school that day)
• The Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park is at the former site of a lunatic asylum.
• We have two "secret" (abandoned) subway stations - one is under Bay Station, the other under Queen.
• Our mayor and the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia "bet" that if the Blue Jays won against the Braves in the 1993 World Series, we would get the Olympic Games. If we lost, they would get CN Tower. We won. Atlanta has since then welched on the bet.
• Speaking of the Jays, they have won both 1992 and 1993 World Series.
• SkyDome's 11,000 ton roof takes twenty minutes to open and close.
• The wedding cake-shaped Canada Life building (University & Dundas) has a light beacon colour-coded to the current weather. Just don't ask for the colour codes; I don't think anyone knows.
Downtown is where the action is, but uptown is more...stately. Uptown basically is all the five boroughs excluding Toronto (I know it's confusing, but bear with it).
Casa Loma 1 Austin Terrace, Davenport Hill, Etobicoke. (416) 923-1171 This is the only authentic 20th century castle in North America. Meaning 'house on a hill' in Spanish, Casa Loma was built by loyalist Sir Henry Pellatt in 1911 for his wife. It was lost a decade later to the taxman. There's 98 beautiful Victoria-style rooms, three bowling alleys, twenty-five fireplaces, an organ, a 1700-bottle wine cellar, an elevator, indoor pool, and stone towers. Such attractions are the 60ft ceiling of the Great Hall, the sumptuous stables, underground secret passageways and lots of wood paneling.
Metro Toronto Zoo Meadowvale Rd. near Hwy 401, Scarborough. (416) 392-5900 The Metro Zoo is a great place to see with kids. The zoo was designed with the animal's tastes in mind, with forests, rivers and botanical gardens nestled in the Rouge Valley. There's a monorail, the LittleFoot Land petting zoo and various pavilions with exotic animals. The zoo has annually showcased some really different animals, such as giant pandas, white tigers and komodo dragons.
Ontario Science Centre 770 Don Mills Rd., North York. (416) 696-3127 Called "Toronto's Toy Box" by Howie Mandel, this science museum has 800 interactive exhibits, fascinating demonstrations and a fun atmosphere. You can watch lasers burn through bricks, or walk inside a real rainforest. The complex itself is a masterpiece. A cool new addition is the OMNIMAX Theatre, which showcases documentaries on a 24-foot dome screen. The restless types will find a whole day here boring, but it is great learning experience for the young and the young at heart.
Okay, so this stuff is technically not in Toronto. However, there's lots of great things to see along the Lake Ontario countryside we call the Golden Horseshoe.
Cullen Gardens & Miniature Village 300 Taunton Rd. W., Whitby. (905) 686-1600 There's a colourful 35-acre floral garden for Mom and others obsessed with their lawns, and the really adorable authentic traditional Ontario village - except it's 1/12 the size. Simply a darn pretty place.
Niagara Falls View the FallsCam live South-west Lake Ontario Okay, so the Falls aren't anywhere near T.O. - it's a 150 km drive on the QEW - but you've just got to see it. Charles Dickens called it "an image of beauty". The whole town has become a large tourist attraction with the Skylon Tower, the Floral Clock, Fort George, the hovering Spanish Aero Car and the Maid of the Mist cruise that sends you right up to the Horseshoe Falls. It's great, whether the water's frozen in winter or roarin' in summer. Drop by; the view is better on our side!
Paramount Canada's Wonderland 9580 Jane St. (Hwy 400, off Rutherford Rd.), Vaughan. (905) 832-7000 This is T.O.'s answer to Disneyland. Actually, it's just as expensive too. The food costs a lot here too. There's very little theme and fantasy, but if riding rollercoasters is your game, this is the place. It's home to the celebrated inverted Vortex and Top Gun, the stand-up SkyRider, and the new DropZone (which does just that). It's only half hour drive from Toronto. Stop when you see the concrete mountain.
Stratford Festival 55 Queen St., Stratford, Ontario. (905) 363-4471 A place worth driving to (it's 75 minutes west), hordes flock to see - you guessed it - Shakespearean plays in the grand Festival Theatre (shaped like the crude tent they used in the 50's), the traditional Avon Theatre and the neo-play Tom Patterson Theatre. The plays aren't all the Bard's works, many contemporary plays written by such likes as Arthur Miller and Bernard Shaw are also shown.
Here's a secret: Toronto has the third largest theatre industry in the world. If they don't sue me, try getting tickets at TicketMaster Canada.
Famous People Players Dinner Theatre 110 Sudbury St., Toronto. (416) 532-1137 The brainchild of Diane Dupuis, this unique show consists of man-sized puppets and props magically moving to pop music and oldies. It's done with blacklighting, making the performers themselves invisible. Famous People Players supports the mentally-challenged and helps them lead normal lives. In fact, all the performers are mentally handicapped.
Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts (was: O'Keefe) 1 Front St. E., Toronto. (416) 872-2262 Architecturally and acoustically not very well designed, but it has hosted Riverdance, and is showing Broadway hit Grease.
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament Exhibition Place, near Dufferin Gate. (416) 260-1234 Eat, drink and be merry as you watch jousting, knights, that sort of thing in a giant arena. Definitely a different dinner experience.
Pantages Theatre 263 Yonge St., Toronto. (416) 872-2222 (as you can see, this ticket number is very popular) The refurbished Pantages hosts its first-class hit The Phantom of the Opera. Since 1989, the disfigured Phantom has harassed the Paris Opera House, courted and teached the singer Christine, annoyed all concerned and composed music (by Andrew Lloyd Webber.) This is traditional theatre at its best.
Princess of Wales Theatre 300 King St. W, Toronto. (416) 593-4142 This is T.O.'s newest theatre, created by discount king "Honest Ed" Mirvish no less, in 1993. This contemporarily styled theatre has housed Le Miz-like drama Miss Saigon, and is wrapping up the special FX-intense Disney's Beauty and the Beast. OK, it's just like the movie, but the sets, costumes and effects are a must-see.
Royal Alexandra Theatre 260 King St. W, Toronto. (416) 872-3333 Formerly the home of "Les Miserables" and "Crazy for You", the architecture is impressive (it was built in 1907, and rescued by Ed Mirvish in 1962). Jolson: The Musical, a biography of 1920's-1930's performer Al Jolson, is now showing.
Roy Thomson Hall 60 Simcoe St. (416) 593-4828 Since 1982, the radically, acoustically designed Hall has been a nice piece of the skyline. Looking like a net over an overturned glass bowl, it is the replacement for Massey Hall (1894) and is home to the Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and hosts orchestras and singers from Liz Minelli to Anne Murray. Organ tours are available.
Toronto Truck Theatre 96 Belmont St., Toronto. (416) 922-0084 Toronto's oldest running show, Agatha Christie's whodunnit The Mousetrap has been leaving audiences guessing the murderer at Monkswell Manor since 1977.
"Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera: a mystery never fully explained. We are told ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster...Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination! Gentlemen?" -- Auctioneer, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera
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