Some Pics and Notes from My Toronto Trip!
 

Hi Everyone! I will just do a quick lil report on my trip to Toronto and include a few pics....

Toronto street hotdogs/sausages are totally to die for....none of that yucky hotdog sitting in warm water all day mess...No! They grill your hotdog AND your bun right there in front of you and you can get a good little meal for under 4 bucks! Vegetarians can also get a delicious veggie dog!!

The subway system looks like something from the 1970s (the pastel-ish lime greenish color just screams 1975), but the trains are super fast, and, though the station may be hot and icky, the trains themselves have nice cool airconditioning!
Also, they don't seem to be too crowded, even during rush hour!

Zoning? What zoning? Do not be surprised if you find row after row of idealic red brick beautiful houses next to 20 story apartment building complexes and a nearby subway station.

Taxes......sigh...that is the toughie...any gains you THINK you may have in converting the US dollar to Canadian, you quickly look to the gst and pst, which total about 14% tax (1 of them is 6 percent, the other 8 percent). But, for good healthcare, I would be willing to pay higher taxes.

And lastly, but not leastly, THE PEOPLE! The people totally rock in Toronto. While they weren't perhaps the most talkative, I did feel totally at ease there. I never once wore a money belt, and even while carrying my camera, I didn't feel unsafe or as if I had to worry about someone snatching it. The pace of Toronto seemed a bit more relaxed and welcoming than San Francisco. I will preface it by saying that my friend from Toronto thinks that SF is much more beautiful, and that because both of us are natives to the two different cities mentioned, we both have our own biases towards our home cities. ;)


I will write more later, here are some links to some photos of Toronto...

http://tinyurl.com/ec6vc
http://tinyurl.com/mzzkt
http://tinyurl.com/rlb6a

Ilovetotravel - sounds like you had a great time!

On the taxes, you can get some of that back - but it pays to read the requirements BEFORE your trip. Your hotel taxes are fairly easy to get back, but taxes on purchases have minimum amounts per receipt and require stamping at customs before you leave. I didn't realize that ahead of time, but I did get over $100 back from the hotel stays.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about the places you went and how your schedule worked out.

Good info on the subway, food and "safety factor". That all puts me more at ease as I'll be travelling with my digital SLR...

I knew about getting the taxes back, but my purchases were kept to a minimum and didn't include any hotel stays.

So, all in all, prices were about equal....

toedtoes, but she lost her camera

I laid my camera down on a park bench and forgot it...so, it was totally my fault. I borrowed my friend's camera for the rest of the trip and used the around the neck sort of carrying case

Ilovetotravel - I'm so sorry about the camera. I hadn't read your other post and was unaware.

I have the neckstrap on my dSLR, so it is either around my neck or in my beltpack.

With my previous camera, I used a nice padded wrist strap. Picked it up at the local camera shop for under $20. I carried a tote/messenger bag that has snap pockets on the outside (cargo style) and the camera would slip right into the larger pocket yet still be easy to access.