Toronto in January
 

Hello fellow Fodorites - I'd like some info about Toronto, we will be there for long weekend Jan. 21-23, staying at the Crowne Plaza Don Valley (we won the stay).

We want to go to the International Boat Show, hit a couple of jazz clubs in the evening; check out Sam the Record Man store; walk around the underground shops.

Q. Would it be better to drive our car to the boat show and downtown or take a taxi?

Thanks for info - and if you all have any ideas for restuarants - please don't hestitate to suggest.

Thanks!

Taking a taxi would be fairly expensive, I would think. It's quite far from donwtown. Are you used to driving in big city traffic? If so, I'd suggest driving quite near downtown somewhere, perhaps at a subway station parking lot and then taking the subway and street car. It would be cheaper to park further out from downtown. I'm sorry , but I'm not too sure which subway staions in the east end have parking lots. I'm sure others will chime in with information.

Another thought...you could drive downtown and park at city hall in the underground. Then the underground shops are right there. But I don't know how expensive it would be.

Given that this is a weekend trip there is no particular reason not to just drive to where you are going. Parking costs are generally lower on the weekend. If you want to check out bus / subway options go to www.ttc.ca I trust that you realize that the boat show is not really walking distance from the downtown core.

Thanks for the info - will definitely check into the city hall parking and yes, the boat show is near the waterfront which we will prob hit on friday, and leave the shopping and exploring for saturday.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The Crowne Plaza is on Eglington and the Don Valley Parkway.

There is a parkade at Church and Front (entrance on Church street east side below a Dominion store) which costs only $6.00. It is leasurly stroll west on Front over to the convention centre if that is where the show is or you could take a cab. The walk to Eaton Centre is under 10 minutes.

Take the DVP southbound to the Richmond St. exit and travel westbound to Church. Turn south (left), cross King and watch for the parkade on your left.

The Top of the Senator and the Montreal Jazz Club are two long time Jazz clubs. Check www.toronto.com, www.nowtoronto.com and www.ticketmaster.ca for events.

Getting downtown by the TTC is straigtforward. Take the Eglington east bound bus to Yonge and Eglington station and the subway downtown. This way, you can drink as many pints of Stella Artois to your hearts content. To get back to the hotel, reverse your path.

An alternative is to take a cab to Eglington Station and back. This is what I would likely do.

Ahoy and have fun!

Correction:

Take the Eglington east bound bus to Yonge and Eglington

should read:

Take the Eglington westbound bus to Yonge and Eglington
(west goes under the DVP. Get on the side of Eglington facing the hotel)

As for restaurants, there is a huge choice. Springrolls on Front between Church and Jarvis and Spinello on Colburne at Church (between Front and King) are good bets. For Indian cuisine, try Dhaba on King across from the Holiday Inn.

Thanks Hogtown Jim for the advice - hopefully it'll be a balmy day (30 degrees f) or a 10 minute leisurely stroll will turn into a 5 minute run!

Greatlakes: The street is spelled Eglinton, but is pronounced "Eglington" by most Torontonians (and even ex-Torontonians like myself).

The Toronto International Boat Show is in the National Trade Center at Exhibition Place. It's sort of stretching a definition to say this is near the waterfront. Yeah, sort of, maybe, but not the part of the waterfront where anyone is in January.

You're better off to just accept that parking costs money, and do some driving.

Would you go to the boat show before you check into the hotel?

That way, drive to Toronto from wherever, go to Exhibition Place, pay to park (probably $15, maybe more) enjoy the show, buy mediocre food there to keep from starving, then get back into the car in the evening, go to the hotel, and check in.

Depending on how late it is, you might ber happy to spend the rest of the evening at the hotel. It's a nice place.

Now, in regard to the underground tunnel stores. Most are closed on Saturday and Sunday, so there's no point in going to see the few that will be open.

But all is not lost.

If you want to spend $8 on bus tickets instad of, perhaps, $10-15 on parking, and want to spend an hour and a half in buses and subway ars insrtead of being comfortable in your own car, you can take public transit.

Or just get in your car and drive downtown.

Shopping areas all have their own fans, but to go to Sam's, and HMV next door, you want to get to the Eaton Center area, near Yonge and Dundas, Yonge and Queen, etc.

That gets you two excellent musicstores, the giant Eaton Center, the Bay and Sears department stores, and a short walk to Queen Street West, with all kinds of other itneresting shops. Plus, on Queen St. West, five minutes or so from the EAton Center, is the Rex tavern, which often has jazz on Saturday afternoons. (Queen W, near Simcoe and St. Patrick)

There's more jazz at the Senator, on Victoria Street, parallel to Yonge and east of Yonge, and more Jazz at the Montreal Bistro, a few blocks east and south of there.

Use cabs to move from club to club, and then come back and fetch your car. perhaps the easiest place t park is in the undergound garage beneath Toronto City Hall, next door to Eaton Center and across from the Sheraton Centre Hotel.

I spend a lot of time riding the Toronto buses and subway, but life is a lot easier with a car when the boat show is at one end of the drive and the Holiday Inn Don Valley is at the otehr end./

Well, it is WEdnesday morning in Toronto, and it is awful.

It's slightly below freezing, and it is raining. The sidewalks are covgeed with a thin layer of ice, and you cannot walk without slipping.

Ice forms on your eyebrows, and the rain soaks throughyou.


The sky is grey, and while I'm usually within sight of the CN Tower, I'm not downtown today -- not sure we'll even try to drive in this mess, but anticipte thawing by 11 a.m. -- but I'm willing to bet the lookouts on the CN Tower are buried in the clouds.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer, and then it will get cold over the weekend.

With this said, Greatlakes is getting to experience Toronto like a native, slush over the top of shoes, stomping boots when entering a restaurant, and live goes on.

BAK

BAK, I think Greatlakes isn't coming until the 21st. Heaven only knows what loveliness the weather gods will have dreamed up for us by then. I've just driven to work, skated across the parking lot, and sloshed my way into the office, where my coat and gloves are gradually drying out. Ugh.

lol - born and raised in Michigan - one day it's 45, raining, sloshy, dismal, foggy, gray, etc. Then the next it can be below freezing but the sun will be shining the sidewalks clear and a gorgeous day to be outside - walking briskly tho. :)

Thanks BAK for your info - I've read past threads about Toronto and was hoping you'd respond.

I'd like your advice about switching from the boat show on Friday and go shopping underground instead.

BTW - I want to try out Le Select Bistro for dinner - do I need reservations for either Friday or Saturday night? (Jan 21, 22).

Thanks again,
Greatlakes

I got my Toronto visitors mixed up. someone's going to the CN Tower today, I think.

About Le Select -- it is an excellent restaurant in a city where people love restaurants, so I'd advise making a reservation.

More about the underground stores -- maybe I'm missing something, but I do not see anything special about these stores, compared to the stores in the Eaton Center, except for several high end mens tailor shops aimed at millionaires.

The reasonably--accesible fashion oriented shopping center, again indoors and warm and dry, is Yorkdale, with a big free parking lot. It's south of Highway 401 and north of Lawrence, near Dufferin Street. Maybe 20 minutes drive from the Holiday Inn Don Valley.

TV news today had a boat show preview. Looks like a great show. There's an indoor lake, with boats floating in it, this year.

BAK

Thanks BAK for clearing up the underground shopping - it just sounded interesting to see. Checked out Eaton Centre on the web - will have to put that on the "to see" list.

Depending on the weather we'd like to hit the CN Tower too.

Thanks for all your help.

Greatlakes