This has been my first trip to Toronto, and it’s left a favorable impression.
Starting at the airport, going through customs couldn’t be easier. I always find it odd that it’s easier for an American to enter a foreign country than it is to come back home to the U.S. Our office is located in the heart of downtown, and it’s incredibly easy to get a cab or public transportation to get here. There are plenty of restaurants and clubs, serving pretty much any kind of food you’d be interested in thanks to Toronto’s generally high level of multi-culturalism. We had dinner on Wednesday night at a small Argentinian-Italian place near our hotel called The Hornero, and it was fabulous.
All of the people have been unfailingly nice and cooperative to me and the other nasty American who came here with me, and there has been lots to see and do. With some time on our hands last night, we took the opportunity to ride to the top of the CN Tower. It was a bit pricey ($23 per person, plus another $26 for us to have a drink in the restaurant on the observation deck), but the views were as spectacular as you would expect (we could see Rochester, NY, across Lake Ontario), and it was well worth it just to find out that my colleague is terrified of heights and simply refused to walk on the glass-floored part of the observation deck. I will now remind him of this endlessly.
After that, we took in a baseball game between the Blue Jays and Angels at Rogers Centre, my 10th major league park, and that was my only disappointment so far. The facility itself was very nice, with real restaurants, including a Hard Rock Cafe that has tables overlooking the field, and nice touches like granite counter tops at the concession stands and ample food and drink options. That said, it’s still a dome when the roof is closed, and, despite being a gorgeous day, it was closed last night. I’m not a big fan of indoor baseball, and last night was no exception. Throw in the remarkably subdued crowd, and it was easily the most boring, antiseptic environment I’ve ever personally experienced at a ballgame.
Oh well, no place is perfect, and Toronto is no exception. But this strikes me as a great place to both visit and live. It’s a damn sight nicer than going to White Plains, NY in the dead of winter.
Filed under: Baseball, Sports, Travel, Work | Tagged: CN Tower, Rogers Centre, visiting Toronto
I remember reading when Toronto first became a valued city to shoot a tv show or film in how the city workers would come out and repeatedly clean up after the crews even when they had deliberately left out clutter, trash, etc, as part of their shots…because the city has such a reputation of being pristine they couldn’t deal with the fact parts of it were “disfigured,” even in the name of art. Has a reputation of being a cosmopolitan, modern…and orderly locale. Would like to visit someday – have been to Canada twice but both times to Montreal, which sounds about 180 degrees from what Toronto is like.