Many thanks to Aurora for all of her suggestions!
Ride the Ferry to Ward's Island and ride bikes all around.
The Humber River also has an often-recommended bike path, and the lakefront multiuse path is supposed to be fun for cycling when it's not crowded, we hear.
Go up the CN Tower and stand on the glass floor and walk around the open air promenade. Is it better at night or in the day? We don't know, but it was nice when we were there in the day.
It's like the Sears Tower would be if it didn't have any offices for the first 105 floors and the aerial were taller.
Go to
Pinball Cafe on Queen Street in Parkdale, eat roasted marshmallow ice cream or fancy ice cream floats, and play Asteroids, Pac Man and 25 cent pinball for hours. Play old records on the jukebox for free.
There's a bike store nearby that's open late which we heard repairs well, sells used bikes, and seemed nice!
Visit the
Bike Pirates, matey.
Eat Japanese ramen on Spadina in Chinatown that's better than any in Chicagoland, and then try the waffle stand in the entryway of the Dragon City Mall. $5 for two.
Not in the mood for noodles? Everyone liked
Curry Twist on Dundas in the Junction too -- butter chicken and fish curry and then some. Yummy. They have good lassis. And you can draw on the paper on the table.
We didn't try it, but the boat restaurant in the harbor near the ferries seemed exciting to everyone too.
Go to
Delight Chocolate Shop and
Junction Cheese Shop nearby- the chocolates are great and the cheese shop has house made toasted cheese sandwiches. There's not a lot of stinky cheese there but the blue cheese from Quebec and the butter from PEI are super delicious. The bread was worth writing about in your blog.
I bet there are a lot of great cheese and chocolate stores in Toronto but these are two of them.
High Park for playground and fun in the big park. The squirrels are an odd color.
Night bike ride though the city
Ride the rabbits near the CBC building. Or aardvarks, or something.
Meet the dog at Inabstracto, a used furniture and design store on Queen St.
Places we did not get to that we are going next time
Royal Ontario Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario
(shiny and falling over) (big and blue with spirals)
Science Center
all those fancy stores we read about
Bata shoe museum?
Non-kid things we also liked:
the Drake Hotel is a little trendy but who can complain about this lighting?
The kids loved breakfast there but it's probably not really a kid hotel for staying.
The coffee from the 1950s Elektra machine was really good.
the trams
the bike lockers
Got any more suggestions?
Ride the Ferry to Ward's Island and ride bikes all around.
the trams
We've got a few of those black squirrels that meandered across the border and into Chicago. They used to be endangered in North America but have made a come back in the last years.
ReplyDeleteOne of this hippie mama's favorite things about Toronto is the breastfeeding woman statue on University Ave.
Thanks Ash. For our fave hip grown-ups we heard that the Black Hoof is great for cocktails and the bars at the Gladstone and the Drake are supposed to be terrific. Hint Hint Anne. The food at Libretto near Queen St. is also recommended. The guys forgot to mention TIFF the Toronto Film Festival's new headquarters and the pastries at Canteen which is housed in the building.
ReplyDeleteCurry Twist was just delectable. We have a huge crush on Toronto --as you can read I think. The people we met there were incredibly nice, helpful and funny. It was also very rideable.
There were piles of shops and little great coffee shops but we did not drink much coffee at all. Crema was pretty good. Sonic looked good but it was closed! We're curious about what other people find there and what Anne likes when she gets back!
I thought Jet Fuel was THE bike coffee shop.
DeleteWe did all of our drinking in Queen's West. I think our favorite spot was Sweaty Betty's. They have a sweet as pie little patio out back.
DeleteLast one! There's a great little comic book shop called The Beguiling by the giant bargain center on Bloor.
DeleteCan we have the next women who bike happy hour in Toronto? Many thanks Ash- now I want to go back and sit on that patio!
ReplyDeleteTake heed Anne! J.