TravelinVic

I have been reading about this large park and that it has nice features. Would you feel safe going during the day, on a weekday? The reason I ask-- my husband & I were at a park in San Francisco and there were some questionable characters walking around and it was quite deserted during the week. Have never even been to Canada so just wondered about the safety factor. Thanks for any help.

BAK

I used to live right next to it, and after I moved away, my early twneties daughter lived there. She spent a lot of weekday time in the park. There's a children's playground, a sort of zoo-like place, a half-decent restaurant, and the grteenhouses that syupply most of Toronto's parks, so there's lots going on all day long.

If you decide to go visit by public transit from downtown and you feel like a good walk, take the Bloor-Danforth subway to Jane Sttreet, walk east through the Bloor West Village area, and along to High Park. Enter the park, and follow the roads or walk across the grass, heading south toward Lake Ontario. You'll go down a big hill.

At the bottom, catch a Queen Street streetcar and go back downtown.

For disreputatble characters, but don't worry about them, go to Allen Gardens, in downtown Toronto at College Stteet and jarvis. Big indoor conservatory. You'll walk past some bums, but so what. I spend a lot of time there, and it is well worth a visit.

The other most interesting downtown small park is between King Street East and Adelaide Street East, at Jarvis Street, near the St. Lawrence market.

And the biggest downtown park is most of Toronto Islands.

BAK

Kate_W

If you time your visit right, you might also be able to catch Shakespeare in High Park, in the evenings.

Some parts of the Park border on some of the most attractive (and rather expensive) residential areas in Toronto, very popular with families raising kids. So those areas on the Park probably will be fairly busy during the day.

But High Park is also not that far away from Parkdale, a lower income "transitional" neighbourhood, with some questionable characters. (I had a friend whose apartment in a nice old house was raided very early one morning by the drug squad, because the fellow downstairs was operating a little crack factory.)

Toronto is a large city, but is rather safe by "large city" standards. Sensible precautions would include not wandering through secluded, unpopulated areas. By all means, go for a walk in the park in the daytime, but stick to the areas where you can see other people most of the time.

gemelli

Information on this year's Dream in High Park Shakespeare production...
"Much Ado About Nothing"
One of Shakespeare's best loved comedies.

Show Dates:

Opening 29 Jun 2005
Closing 04 Sep 2005
Performance Schedule:
Tuesday- Sunday @ 8:00 PM

TravelinVic

Appreciate everyone's info!