Chinatown

Having been awake since the wee hours due to the time difference, this morning we were both showered, fed and ready to go before 9am! We walked to the beginning of the tour bus City Tour Route and picked up an open-topped double decker bus to begin exploring the city.

Although the settlement of Toronto has been here since the late 1700s, two fires at the turn of the last century decimated most of the city, so there is no architecture that predates the Victorian era. Today’s architecture is mainly made up of large glass-built sky-scrapers and Victorian town houses and theatres, giving the city a clean, modern feel. But what Toronto lacks in history, it makes up for in cultural diversity.

There are over 160 languages spoken on a daily basis and over 51% of the population were born outside of Canada. French, which is one of the official languages of Canada is actually only the 12th most spoken language. English comes first, with Chinese and Cantonese coming in second and third respectively. This variety of cultures follows through with the cafes, restaurants and bars, with every type of food imaginable on offer on every street corner.

We jumped off the bus tour at the harbour and boarded the ‘Serendipity Princess’ riverboat to explore the Toronto Islands on Lake Ontario. We were also treated to some fantastic views of the city from a different perspective. Toronto has many similarities to New York (apparently it is regularly used for filming ‘New York’ scenes in films and televisions shows) and this was certainly evident as we watched the city skyline from the shoreline.

Afterwards we had lunch in the Distillery. An historic Victorian, pedestrian-only, village area where only independent business are allowed to trade from the refurbished industrial buildings. The cobbled walkways gave the area real character and without the city’s traffic racing around the roads, it was certainly a peaceful afternoon. We had lunch in a Spanish Tapas bar and just generally chilled and gave our feet a rest.

At the end of the afternoon we jumped back on the bus and finished the tour in the sunshine and then headed back to the hotel for a cocktail and some much needed rest, before heading out again for the evening.Read more