Toronto for 2 nights
 

My sister and I will be in Toronto on a Friday and Saturday evening the end of January.

We'll have about 1-1/2 days to sightsee. As it will be cold, I heard about underground shopping at PATH???? We'd like a hotel right over it if it's underground.

What would be must-sees/dos in our short time there -- first trip. We'd like to take in the Casino at night -- from a good hotel, how much would it cost to get there & how would we get there?

A couple of good restaurant suggestions would help also.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Lois

There's no real casino in Toronto. You'd have to go to eitehr CasionRama, north of the city, or the Casino in Niagara Falls. In either case, assign a full day to going, gambling, and coming back to the city, although I guess you could squeeze it into an evening. Twohours to Niagara Falls, two hours getting back, plus time there. To bad you'd miss the attractions of NF, though.

Tell us your food interests and we'll suggest places to eat. Same with tourist interests. We don't know if you're two sisters 22 and 23 or 78 and 80, ...

But we'll be helpful.

BAK
If you'll settle for slot machines, that can be done in the city, or at least at the racetrack on the edge of Toronto.

No telling how cold it's going to be, but we manage to survive in the winter here without turning into moles.

Hotels on the PATH network include the Fairmont Royal York, the Eaton Centre Marriott (if you work at getting there), and the Sheraton Centre.

There might ber another one I can't think of. But there are lots of hotels close by. A block to the King Edward, across the steet to the Strathcona, half a block to Le Germain, a block to the Holiday Inn on King, half a block to the Intercontinental on Front Street, a block and a half to The Metropolitan and to the Soho Metropolitan (two different hotels)

The 2 other hotels on the PATH are the Toronto Hilton and the Cambridge Suites.

Well, now I'm curious. How do I get to the Hilton by PATH? Hmmmm.. I'll see if I can figure this out tomorrow, but my prediction is that I get to the next door (south) office building, and then continue from there.

Fine hotel, and if worst comes to worst, (or depending on how roundabout the route is) it's only a few steps from the Sheraton, which leads to The Bay, which leads to the Eaton Centre.

And maybe I'll walk byu Cambridge Suites.

And if tourists go from PATH to subway, they can get to the Yorkville Marriott underground, and a half block walk to the Four Seasons, and half block walk to Windsor Arms, and one block walk to the Hyatt from either one of two subway stations, but be careful crossing the road.

And, come to think of it, about a block to Journey's End on Bloor at St. George.

And half a block from the Old Mill Station to the Old Mill Hotel.

You could, now that I think of it, spend a whole holiday here with no overcoat, walking no more than one cold block, and still get CN Tower, SkyDome, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Bata Shoe Museum and the Hockey Hall of Fame and a lot of great restaurants, and the King Street West antique centre, and Holt Renfrew and Eddie Bauer and Ashley's and several Birks stores and Betty Hemmings and Mont Blanc and the main Chapters and Indigo book stores,...

PATH to steaks -- Ruth's Chris in the Hilton and Le Bifteque in the Sheraton, and Hy's in the Richmond Adelaide Centre.

Smoked Meat sandwiches -- Cross the street to Shopsy's at Yonge and Front or Dunn's on King Street West, or stay indoors and go to the Pickle Barrel at Dundas and Yonge.

Not a bad town for those who don't like the cold. And no need to buy an expensive heavy coat to come here and visit.

BAK

You can also take the subway to the Yorkdale Shopping Centre without stepping outside if you are staying at a hotel on the Path system.

I would recommend filling your agenda with brunching, shopping, relaxing in a cafe, walking about, experiencing new cuisine for dinner followed by clubbing/movie/play/live entertainment.

Lois, personally I hate the path. I really don't like all that underground walking - I never have a good sense of where I am, and to be honest, I don't think most of the shopping is all that interesting. You may be lucky - it may not be very cold, you never know.

I've found the Hilton tunnel -- well, I went to the Hilton, and then took the tunnel from there. The trick is to go to the office building next to the Hilton on ground level, and then descend from the office building. Anyway, it works, but depending on the destination (i.e. Eaton Centre) it's easier to walk outside from Hilton to Sheraton, and catch the PATH system there.

And, IMPORTANT -- since Lois seems to be in Toronto on a weekend, most of the PATH stores are closed Saturday and Sunday. Tunnels almost empty, but safe enough -- security cameras are common.

YorkDALE and YorkVILLE.

Yorkdale is a giant indoor shopping mall on the subway route, as Jim pointed out, and it has a strong fashion orientation.

Yorkville is a neighborhood, also on the subway route (St. George, Museum, Yonge and Bay subway stations) with several smaller indoor malls (Hazelton Lanes, Cumberland Terrace, Manulife Center) and lots of outdoor stores, very high end -- Cartier, Versace, Tiffany's, etc. Easy enough to visit some of these and then jump indoors to warm up.

I'm on my way to Yorkville now -- always fun to visit even if not to buy.

BAK

Things to do and places to eat:

- Go to the Bata Shoe museum (St George subway station, about a block's walk from there). It's unique, it's interesting (the exhibitions focus on the role of shoes in society, so you get exhibits like "footbinding in Japan", footwear of the aboriginal peoples in Canada), fun (see Elton John's shoes) and it has a great gift shop (for shoe-themed cards and other gifts).

- Go to a restaurant or two in one of the ethnic neighbourhoods. Try one of your favourites, and then try something new - e.g. Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Ethiopian, etc. (Actually, one of my favourite inexpensive Vietnamese cafes (Pho Hung) is located on Bloor St a few blocks East of the Bata Shoe Museum and a block or two West of Yorkville. So you could go to the museum, have lunch and then go shopping in Yorkville.

- One of my other favourite restaurants is Le Select Bistro on Queen Street West (near Spadina). They have a great, moderately priced prix fixe menu. You could shop your way from the Sheraton along Queen St (don't miss Price Roman, which has beautiful dressy clothes at moderate prices, created by a Toronto designer).

- BAK is right. Shopping along most of the PATH system won't work on a Saturday, but the PATH does connect to the Eaton Centre (a very large shopping centre downtown), and to the subway system.

- You could indulge yourselves in a spa treatment at the Elmwood Spa (on Elm Street, just east of Bay St) and then go to Bangkok Garden for lunch or dinner (it's a high-end Thai restaurant with a very innovative menu).