Toronto Sidewalk Safari -- Neighborhood Sampler

By now, Canada has started to thaw, but I wanted to take a moment to write up my Sidewalk Safari from my visit to Toronto in February.  As my readers know, I'm a bit like the mailman...  a little inclement weather doesn't stand in my way.  I set out on a bitingly cold morning to explore the different neighborhoods of Toronto.  I saw "Oddfellows Hall" along Yonge Street in the downtown core.

 

I caught a glimpse of where classic meets modern architecture near the University of Toronto.

  

Apparently, I had wandered into "Toronto's Discovery District".  Toronto is pretty savvy about marketing themselves.  I loved it.

  

I took a walk through the University of Toronto campus and admired the hallowed old buildings of higher education.

  

  

  

  

On the other side of campus, I pass the angular addition to the Royal Ontario Museum.  I remember visiting here as a kid but it had a much more classical look and feel at the time.

  

I continued into the Yorkville shopping district which is touted as the Beverly Hills of Toronto.  I saw this Cartier storefront decorated with Canadian flags.

  

Yes...it was indeed cold.  I stopped to show off my mittens above the Bloor-Yorkville sign stamped in the sidewalk.

  

This firehouse was just so quaint.

  

I got a chuckle when I passed the Regal Beagle.  This totally make me think of Three's Company -- the 70's sitcom where misunderstanding led to laughs each and every week.

  

The cold and exertion were making me hungry so I stopped at Cobs Bread for a fresh baked, hot-from-the-oven white-chocolate raspberry scone.  So delicious!

  

I saw this stylized mural along Bloor St.

  

I stopped into Honest Ed's -- A Toronto bargain institution.  

I have to say...this clock was a bit tacky no matter how cheap the price.

 

I stopped for lunch at an authentic Hungarian restaurant called Country Style on Bloor.  The spicy goulash gave me renewed energy for my walk.

  

I saw this seafood inspired mural as I approached Koreatown.

 

The city was well prepared to welcome the Year of the Tiger.

  

I took the subway and streetcar to the Cupcakery for a little sweet treat.

  

The Red Velvet cupcake was moist and good but I'm not convinced it was worth the effort the get there. 

 

I took the streetcar back to the top of Yonge St. and then proceeded on foot back to my hotel.  Just to prove how cold it was...check out the icicles in this water fountain!

  

Even the dogs had to wear booties to protect themselves from the cold.

  

There was just something incongruous about MTV being colocated with a Masonic Temple.

  

I detoured into the Church-Wellesley Village before settling back into my hotel.

  

After a long day, I cracked open a Canadian beer and watched the Super Bowl.  One surprising thing to me was that the commercials are different in Canada.  I missed a lot of the buzz-worthy ones since I was on the road.

  

I covered about 6.5 miles in the freezing cold.  Not a bad Sidewalk Safari!  Toronto was definitely a city worth exploring.

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