Toronto, Ontario – August 2000

It’s still summer in the city though this one’s been on the cool and rainy side so far. Nevertheless, the streets are alive with the sound of music, food tasting and fun! Here are the highlights of August events in Toronto:

SummerWorks 2000 (Aug. 3-13)

New and established artists from the Toronto area only during this 11-day festival.

Taste of the Danforth (Aug.11-13)

The original Greek part of the city becomes a giant street festival focusing on the food of the areas many restaurants, all Mediterranean in flavour. Some bistros and bars are open past 2 a.m. when the living is easy in the good old summertime and attract a young and lively crowd.

Toronto’s Festival of Beer (Aug. 11-13)


A three-day beer festival, featuring breweries from around the world. How’s this for a little culture with your brew? This event will be held at historic Fort York, near Skydome and the CN Tower.

Candian National Exhibition (Aug. 18-Sept. 4)
This is the ‘grand-daddy’ of Toronto summer events from years gone by, known affectionately among the locals as simply TheEx. It signals the drawing to a close of summer ending with Labour Day on the first Monday in September. The Ex features midway rides and carnival games, exhibits, music and a wide assortment of live entertainment.

The Canadian Hockey Show 2000 (Aug. 25-27)


Yes, it’s summer but hockey season is ‘just around the corner’. This show is a Shangri-La for hockey fans and consumers lasting three days, under one roof. For details about The Canadian Hockey Show, see their website.

Well, post Labour Day (September 4 this year) means back to the grind at school and work, but it also ushers in early fall in Toronto – a beautiful time!

Tune in to September Updates and a future article on Day-Trips from the City.

Location

Toronto is in Southern Ontario on Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes. It is about 90 minutes by road from the U.S. border (New York state), about 4 hours from Ottawa and five from Montreal, Quebec. The city is quite spread out from east to west and also north but about all the main tourist attractions are accessible by TTC (public transit: bus, streetcars and subway: a third subway line is being completed).

Climate

Lake Ontario tends to moderate the city’s climate especially near downtown so that both the winters and summers are not extreme (with some brief exceptions to the rule!). Spring is brief but fresh and the fall is filled with the glorious colours of maple leaves from mid-September to mid-October approximately.

Getting There

The Airport Express Bus (frequent departures from all three terminals) runs from Pearson International Airport to downtown and three subway stations at a reasonable cost. The subway runs about 20 hours weekdays, less frequent on weekends If you arrive by bus or train, you are right downtown. Pacific Western has excellent, clean coaches with helpful drivers and even runs a van after hours downtown (0100-0500).

Currency and Measurements

There is a Canadian Dollar (x-change rates) with circulating paper bills (multi-coloured) of $5, 10, 20, 50, and $100. The last bill is difficult to change everywhere.

There are 100 cents to the dollar and coins of 1, 5, 10, and 25 (called a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter). There are also two larger coins: a ‘loonie’ ($1) and a ‘twonie'($2).

Canada uses the metric system on the whole, but clothing sizes are often still in inches. Remember that a kilometre is only 6/10 of a mile!

Travellers cheques in Canadian Dollars should be available in your home country and are readily accepted for payment. There are many banks with good hours and also “Bureaux de Change” such as Thomas Cook in many tourist areas.

Neighbourhoods to Explore

Yorkville, The Annex (University of Toronto area), College Street, Corso Italia, The Danforth, Dundas-Spadina/ Kensington Market (Chinese, Vietnamese, and Portuguese), High Park and Bloor West Village, The Beaches and others to discover on your own. All of the above have ambiance and interesting places to eat.

Click here for a map of Toronto’s neighbourhoods in a new browser window.

About the Author

I was born and brought up in Montreal and worked as a driver-guide at Expo ’67, the World’s Fair to celebrate Canada’s Centennial Year in 1967 – what a memorable summer!

I’ve lived in Israel and taught English there before moving to Toronto in 1976. I left teaching 12 years early in middle age to enjoy more adventurous travel, writing and learning.

Some countries/regions I’ve traveled to on my own without a fixed itinerary in the past 5 years are: Morocco, Tunisia, Ecuador, Sicily, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba and the island of Carriacou (find this one!). An upcoming trip is to Greenland at the end of June.