Yonge Street by night

Tuesday June 22nd - Saturday June 26th 1999

A relatively easy nine-hour journey brought us to Toronto, capital of Ontario and Canada's largest city, with 2.3 million people in the city itself and some 4.7 million in the greater Toronto area. Toronto claims to be the third largest theatre city in the world, presumably after New York and London, and also the third largest TV and film production centre in North America. Our main impression of Toronto is of an intriguing, friendly city, full of life and very safe. Also, Canada's troubled economy and favourable exchange rate means that it is very cheap (perhaps not so much so if you're from the Euro zone, but at C$ 2.30 to the British pound, you can get a good meal very cheaply). One warning though: as in the US, prices in shops are marked exclusive of tax, so that you can sometimes get an unpleasant surprise when you get to the counter to pay.

"Not Just Noodles", 570 Yonge Street, Toronto

Our favourite place to eat in Toronto was a little place called "Not Just Noodles", a cheap but very pleasant Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant. I would particularly recommend the hot and sour soup, or go for one of the chicken fried rice specials: at C$ 3.99, you can't go too far wrong. Yonge (pr. "young") Street claims to be the longest street in the world, and at 1,190 miles (1,900 kilometres), I'm not about to dispute that claim. It is a very lively, interesting street, with many cheap restaurants and shops, and although it has its fair share of "Adult" cinemas and dodgy shops, it never quite seems to become seedy. We always felt safe there, even late at night.

Yonge Street is also home to the Eaton Shopping Centre, Canada's largest, and although we never we went inside since we were not here to shop, there is often some form of street entertainment going on outside. My favourites were the busking band where you could play the drums for a donation, although the results could not always be called rhythmical, and the fire-juggling unicyclist:

Playing with fire on Yonge Street

Toronto can be a very colourful city, in part because it is home to some 80 ethnic groups, including the largest Italian community outside of Italy and no fewer than 3 separate Chinatowns. Also, there are plenty of painted buildings, ranging from large-scale beer adverts to more abstract designs:

Mural just off Yonge Street, Toronto

Fortunately, Yonge Street is also home to a number of bars ...

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