The north side: Toronto
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Don’t fancy the States? Then head north of the border, to Toronto. It’s a diverse, contemporary and buzzing city, and is a great place to spend your summer, writes Andrew Cosgrave.
Hanging onto the edge of Lake Ontario, Toronto is a melting pot of sun and smells, cultures and fun. It is not a place to visit alone; you won’t lose yourself in endless museums, majestic cathedrals or ancient streets. But in the company of friends, there are good times to be had.
I arrived in mid-summer a few years ago. Stepping off the airport bus at Queen Street, you are hit by the kind of searing sunlight that makes you squint and sweat, and a whirlwind of sound and movement that takes you by surprise after a long flight.
As you walk up Spadina Avenue, ruck-sacked and jetlagged, the city snaps and crackles around you. It’s kinetic, this place. The trip up Spadina, toward the student housing which is available to rent during the summer, takes you through Chinatown. It’s a buzzing part of the city, with restaurants, shops, fish markets and clothes stalls, and is a long way from the sleepy airport I had left earlier in the day.
My home from home was one of the ageing three-story townhouses set amidst the University of Toronto’s scattered schools. Basic, rough around the edges, and covered in foliage, these houses are relaxed and low-key, comfortable in their surroundings.
It’s a good area in which to base yourself, as it’s within walking distance of most places, and is also well serviced by streetcars (Toronto-speak for trams), which have the sort of old-fashioned style our Luas will never match.
The city is quite reasonable from a financial point of view.
Honest Ed’s on Bloor Street West, a Toronto institution, is great for all kinds of bargains.
Accommodation-wise, sharing a room with a friend – while not strictly allowed in some places – helps keeps the rent down. Eating out is cheap by Irish standards, and you can get weekly or monthly tickets for the excellent public transport. But if you don’t organise employment before you leave home, work can be hard to come by.
The night owl, meanwhile, is spoilt for choice. Like any big city, there are plenty of pubs and clubs to choose from, and conces¬sion nights with reduced-rate drinks are easy to find. Students will always find their favourites; usually whatever’s cheapest.
There is little in the way of history in Toronto, at least to our European eyes. Even though there are a couple of fine museums, they mostly tell the stories of other places. This city’s soul is out on the street.
For this reason, I’d recommend that you steer clear of the tourist bus, and save your¬self a whopping C$30 in the process. You won’t learn anything that you can’t find out on your own. I blagged a ticket through a friend in the ticket office, and still felt ripped off. According to my tour guide, notable Toronto landmarks include some condominiums, a park and a building site for some new condominiums.
If you want to step back in time, then, Toronto might not be for you. It does not live in the past; there are few stories seeping from its walls.
Instead, you will find yourself in a thoroughly contemporary city, but this is no bad thing. Little history means little baggage, and cultures converge here like in few other places; Toronto is one of the world’s most diverse cities. With 5.5 million people living in the Greater Toronto Area, the city is home to people from all corners of the globe.
As well as Chinatown, there is Little Italy, Portugal Village, Little India and Greektown. And, inevitably, some Irish pubs. The locals pride themselves on welcoming people from all over the world, and as a result you feel like you are in a place that is happening right now. Toronto is not looking back over its shoulder, or gazing ahead into the distance; it’s just having a good time. And, after my summer in the city, I can say that I did, too.
So walk the streets and soak up the smells. Go to a Blue Jays baseball game at the Rogers Centre. Visit Greektown during the Taste of the Danforth food festival. Take in some Brazilian Capoeira during one of Kensington Market’s Pedestrian Sundays, and try to copy it on the dance floor later that night. Take a wander down Yonge Street, and call into the Eaton Centre mall or the Hockey Hall of Fame. Visit the CN Tower. Grab a late-night slice at Cora Pizza.
These are just a couple of ways to pass your time, and I’ve elaborated on some of them. Take them only as a rough guide, though, because this city is a blank canvas. It has no back story in which you must immerse yourself; Toronto is yours to do with as you will. The memories I take from it are my own; they are linked to no landmarks, and mean little to anyone who isn’t part of them. But that’s okay; spend a summer in Toronto, and you’ll make your own memories, guaranteed.
- Andrew Cosgrave
