If Toronto is not on your list of places you should visit, it should be, so don't wait a moment longer and add it to that little list of yours. If you do need a bit more convincing then here are some reasons why you should add that on now and make plans to visit...
Toronto, The biggest city in Canada
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That's right. Toronto in Ontario, Canada is the biggest city in the Country. I was born in Canada and lived there my whole life up until about just over 5 years ago. I was looking back on all that time trying to figure out which city I wanted to talk about for this teamcanada post and realized that even though I moved quite a bit, that Toronto was where I have spent the most years in total. I lived in Toronto (various areas of it) for about 10 years. My daughter was born in a hospital in Toronto, with the help of wonderful midwives there.
What is so great about Toronto?
This is an easy question to answer but has many different answers. So I will cover some of the more popular answers as well as my own personal answers.
It is home of the CN Tower
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The CN Tower has been standing since 1968. It was the tallest standing tower for many years up until 2009, when it lost its place, but I am happy to say it is still the 3rd tallest standing tower in the world. The CN Tower is the most iconic piece of the Toronto skyline. It sits there tall and beautiful looking over Lake Ontario. Often times for special occasions, times of the year, or as support for something, the lights on the sides of the tower (lit within the elevator shafts) as well as around the main pod of the tower (the round looking area towards the top) will change during those times.
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The CN Tower is complete with a 360-degree revolving restaurant where you can enjoy a very slow moving tour of the city from up high while enjoying a wondrous meal.
The CN Tower also features something called the EdgeWalk which is where thrill-seekers have a chance to walk hands-free around the top of the main pod. All participants are tethered to an overhead railing system and they can walk around (360 degrees) on the main pod. Obviously, due to weather conditions, it is only available during certain times of the year and certain days, but for those interested, it is something to try out.
I personally enjoyed the glass floor in the tower. It is a small piece of the floor just under about 250sqft and is a very very very thick glass, enough to withstand a huge amount of weight. The view on the glass floor though is wonderful, you are literally looking straight down. If you hate heights you may not even be able to stand on it, but it is really fun being up that high, especially knowing you won't fall.
The CN Tower is also used many times for stair climbing fundraisers. Many years ago (and most still go on) there was a challenge to help raise money for a good cause (it has been a while so I do not remember which one I participated in) but it was to raise money by pledging to walk up the stairs of the CN Tower. That is 1776 steps to the main deck (which is where we would end). It was definitely fun and something I would probably do again even just for fun.
Lastly, the cool thing about the CN Tower being the largest structure in Toronto is that if you are outside of the city or at the end of its limits that often times you can see it even from quite far away. It is a very pretty sight whether you are far or near.
Rogers Centre, which is home to the Toronto Blue Jays
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The Rogers Centre, the dome looking structure beside the CN Tower is home to a lot of events including concerts, it is also most famously known for being the home to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rogers Centre (Previously name the Skydome) was the first location outside of the United States to host the World Series of Baseball. In 1993 the World Series was hosted in Toronto and subsequently, the Toronto Blue Jays actually won the World Series that year, which was fantastic especially it being a home game. I was at that game actually, I was 10 at the time and went with my biological father. He was a big baseball fan and that day is etched in my memory because since he was with me he decided for some reason to leave that game early. Well, we missed the final hit by Joe Carter that ended up winning them the series. I was excited after to find out that the team had one and we never really spoke of it, but I do remember being there and missing out on all of that excitement. It was a great win for the city.
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Toronto has the only Basketball team in Canada: The Toronto Raptors
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That's right, you read that right. THE ONLY ONE. I don't know why we only have one basketball team in Canada, I honestly took that for granted I suppose. I have spent many times watching the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre, which is where they play. They haven't won any championships or anything but we have had some pretty decent players throughout the years.
The Food choices are amazing
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Toronto has an overwhelming amount of choices when it comes to food, it is like New York in this regard, except smaller of course. You can find things like food trucks, hot dog stands, poutineries, High-end Mexican food, Korean food, fantastic steak houses, Ethiopian food, Vegan restaurants, there are so many I could not even do a list justice as it is ever changing. You can also come across a bunch of different fusion style restaurants.
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When I went to visit a couple of years ago, my family and I went out to a restaurant in downtown Toronto that was a Mediterranean and Asian fusion style restaurant, it was fabulous. The major thing I was personally excited for when going back was the food. I currently live in Florida around Tampa and it just isn't the same. After living in a huge city like Toronto, it is easy to miss things like the plethora of good food and good food choices. I often come across places that people in the area rave about and they end up falling flat because I have such a taste for the good food of the big city.
Caribana
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Caribana is the festival celebrating Caribbean culture. There are events that start to take place in Toronto from about Mid-July to Early-August, but the most important and most attended event is the street festival which includes a parade, complete with floats, dancers, costumes, you name it. This particular event usually falls on the last weekend of the Caribana festivities and it brings over a million people into attendance. There are people who come from the U.S. and all over the world just to attend this street festival and parade. The costumes and floats are always really fun, and if you don't mind crowds it is a great party to be in and watch.
I have spent quite a few years attending Caribana over the years because my husband was born in Trinidad which hosts the largest street party in the world apparently called Carnival. Caribana is meant to kind of emulate what Carnival is, except it's in Canada of course and a lot smaller. So, I have attended because of my husband's heritage, and come on, let's be realistic it can be fun. I don't enjoy crowds as much anymore so it isn't something I would purposefully go to see because I have been to a few, but since my daughter is half Trinidadian I would love to take her one time at least to see and experience it. It is a ton of fun so if you haven't been then it is something to experience.
Those are a lot of what brings people into Toronto, or what they would rave about most I would say. I want to add a couple more to that list.
It is multi-cultural, very multi-cultural
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One thing I adore about Toronto, which I just haven't experienced the same since moving, is how multi-cultural the city is. You can find many many people from different backgrounds, religions, just from a different heritage altogether. You can find people speaking all these different languages and we put them all into a melting pot (in a way). That is why the food scene is what it is, different and wonderful. That is why you can go into various parts of the city and find different experiences. You can go out to eat French food and then travel just a little bit and hit up an Asian karaoke place. You can go eat at a distillery and then go to a museum. You can go to an international film festival and then go to some art exhibit or shop in high-end stores. There are so many things to do, see experience.
Toronto is home of the Toronto International Film Festival
This film festival is hosted in Toronto and is one of the most well-known film festivals in the world. It has a pretty big attendance rate and some great films have come out of this festival. I had the chance to go to a screening of one of the movies, thanks to my husband because he chose this film and we saw it together, you may know its name: Slumdog Millionaire. This was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and blew critics and viewers away and that movie became extremely well known. It was great to go to a screening and even better than the movie ended up being so fantastic.
Places are open late, some things even 24 hours
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If you want to go and sing Karaoke in a room with just you and your friends for hours at 3 AM, then you can do that in Toronto. If you want to go grocery shopping, and probably not be the only one in there, then you can do that. If you want to go and hang out in a used bookstore for hours until midnight or even a bit later, and then walk down the street and get a piercing, you can. If you want to go to a nice restaurant and hang-out at the bar with friends and then go hit up a nightclub, you can. This city knows how to have fun, keep itself busy, and have a good time.
If you haven't put Toronto on your must-visit destinations then it might be a trip you want to make one year. It definitely is an experience for sure.
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I hope you enjoyed reading my post.
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As always, Stay Awesome Steemians
By @bearone
