Going to TO boat show in Jan., 3 days, only one at boat shot. Usually stay between College and Cabbagetown and love gay district restaurants. Will go back to fave haunts... St. Lawrence market, Queen Street, dim sum in Chinatown, enjoying the skyline and city hall and stuff downtown.

Have seen Casa Loma, CN tower(I'm scared of heights and loooved the transparent floor as well as the bar!), the ballpark )(all significantly recommended)(sorry I forgot the ballpark name as an engineer I admire its amazing techonology but I hate sports this will give away my identity for sure).

I hate clothes shopping (I am too fat), but love other shopping even window shopping.

New thrills that no one talks about, for fun-loving but not too outrageous straight 40+ couple?

One "new" area in Toronto is the Distillery district. It's south on Parliament Street below King. It's apparently the largest collection of Victorian buildings in North America and is built around the Gooderham & Worts distillery. Lots of galleries, some shops, etc. In the summer, it's great - usually jazz on the weekends, not sure what it'll be like in the winter, but you might want to check it out.

If you like antiques there's the large antique market on King St West (it used to be near Harbourfront). There's great furniture shopping (mostly contemporary) on King St East between Jarvis and Parliament St. Little India is really lively and colourful on the weekends though I'm not sure if it's quite as lively during the winter. If you do go I highly recommend the barbecued corn from the vendors - it's delicious. Kensington Market near Chinatown is also a lot of fun as is Greektown on the Danforth. As previously mentioned the Distillery District is lovely. As for thrills, have you tried the helicopter ride over the city? Again I'm not sure if they fly in the winter but I'm sure it would be enjoyable if they do.

Royal Ontario Museum's current special exhibit is North American premiere of Art Deco exhibit and Ontario Art Gallery's current special exhibit is Degas.

The musical Producers starts next week but get tickets quick, assuming they are even available (hotels may have package).

Second City comedy show is usually good entertainment, especially if you have never seen the troupe before.

Definitely visit The Distillery. You can watch artists at work in their studios, do lots of one of a kind shopping and get something to eat too. I'm told a chocolatier has just opened up there that is phenomenal.

If you enjoy Greek food, the Danforth/Greek Town is also highly recommended.

The Bata Shoe Museum is worth a visit.

If the weather is half decent, it's worth walking along "West Queen West", walking West from Bathurst, to explore the new stores, restaurants and galleries that have opened (but if you have time for only one such exploration, I'd choose the Distillery District instead at this time of year).

Here is my trip report:

We had already been to the Beaches, the ROM, Greek town, Kensington market, as you have suggested. We are not into shopping or theatre but love walking around the neighborhoods.

So, Thursday we arrived in TO, great view of city hall from our room in the Sheraton Centre. It was only $69 (Boat Show special) and was rather tired but with excellent service. Regular price is $199, and in my view not worth it if you are paying yourself.

We cabbed it to the Red Lion on Jarvis for dinner and live karaoke Thurs. nite(the band leader is an old rocker complete with the long platinum hair). Cheap good food, no cover. It was colder in TO than in Winnipeg that day with horrific winds, but the cold rarely keeps us from enjoying ourselves. Just cab rather than walk!

Friday we slept late, early lunch at Jeremiah Bullfrog's on Queen near University (excellent Shepherd's pie and service), shuttle services to the boat show in the afternoon (we only looked at the really big boats!), napped, then met friends for dinner at Select Bistro on Queen St.(menu right out of countryside France!). This restaurant is a bit pricey but well worth every penny. A huge wine list!

Saturday we walked through the downtown area, to St. Lawrence market for brunch, then the distillery district (more later) and Queen Street. Went to Cabbagetown for dinner only to find our favourite tapas place is gone. Ate there anyways... it is a "Danish" food place now... deserted and for good reason, overpriced, dry overdone veal chop @16.95 which was supposed to be med-rare, 13.95 for lame lasagne. (Two-Two Six is the name, avoid it, there are plenty of better restaurants on the same block.)

Sunday had a dim sum "brunch" in Chinatown, walked around Chinatown and Kensington market, saw the cool new OCAD building under construction on the way back to the hotel. It looks like it is floating on soda straws!

Distillery district was very nice. Cool turn-of-the century industrial buildings and nice galleries and shops. My only complaint was that there is no casual "bar" in the Toronto sense. All eat/drink places were either coffee/pastry or relatively fine quality restaurants. We did taste the beer samplers at teh brewery, but wanted to sit for a real one after 4 hours of walking! However, as we walked back to the hotel, we stopped at the Rex (again on Queen) and saw a really good blues band. There was no cover and service was really good. We luckily got there at 3 just before the place really filled up.

Even though we are not big into galleries or museums, next time we will check out the Art Gallery of Ontario, and maybe the Textile or Bata museums.

Check out www.toronto-underground.com for neighborhoods, and lots of good info on exploring the city.

Carolred, you're going to Mexico as well, aren't you? When is that trip coming up?

I'll print out your trip report and drop a copy off at Jeremiah Bullfrog's on Queen near University.

These guys don't get a lot of publicity and I expect they'll be pleased someone wrote about then, nicely.

$70 for ther Sheraton. Wow. It shows to go you how far down tourism is in Toronto.

Story in a mag. today saying the city has hired a new tourist promotion advertising agency.

BAK

SusaninToronto, I go to Casa Andrea Feb. 20. Much needed. It is hanging in the -20 daytime range here (Wpg) and snowing every day. The snow stays here since it stays cold, so there is no where to shovel it any more.

BAK, Remember the $69 was only for the boat show. IMHO, that the Sheraton charged me $199 for Sunday night means that the SARS scare is well over in TO and gouging is back in.

The waitress we had at Jeremiah Bullfrog's was a gem... a pretty young woman probably of East Indian ancestry, if you know her. She was so on top of everything on a lunch hour where the place was packed, really hustled, and she was really nice and knew her beer.

Carol, I spent my childhood years in Winnipeg and remember those cold winters. Mind you, here in Toronto, it has been dreadful throughout January. When we have sunshine here in Toronto in the winter, it usually mean that it's cold. Today the snow is really blowing. I sure envy your trip to Mexico!