I am flying to TO for my son's 30th birthday and staying the days mentioned above. I have booked the Toronto downtown bed and breakfast for that time period at a very reasonable rate. As I am staying downtown, I wonder if anyone could offer suggestions for what I can do to fill my time? (I am not a big shopper but love museums, folk music, theatre)

My son is in graduate school, we will have a day or so at best and after that....well....I love the theatre...has anyone seen Mama Mia? Is it worth it to book the premier seats at $100/us or what about Second City?? I can book that for two with dinner for $95/us.

All suggestions welcome, as it is my first and probably last trip to Toronto, I am in the dark but I don't want to be stumbling about or get ripped off.

Hi 2jacks,
I saw MamaMia twice. Once from the upper balcony and once from the orchestra. It was a fantastic show, and the orchestra seats were well worth the extra cash. If you like museums you should go to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). It is easy to get there by subway. Torontotourism.com and toronto.com are both good sites for attractions and package deals. Use the calendar to see what is happening while you are there. Also check out Toronto Life Magazine on line.

Thanks for the great advice, lolly

Hi there,
The Art Gallery of Ontario is also a very good gallery. It's right downtown and easily accessible by transit. There's also the Bata Shoe Musuem for those interested in the history of footwear. Regarding theatre in the Toronto or other events occuring while you're here, try the following website:

http://www.nowtoronto.com

It's a weekly print/online magazine with a complete listing of theatre, dance, music, art etc.

http://www.nowtoronto.com

Hi - I have a word file of sights/restaurants I put together for a friend - email me and I'll send it to you --
[email protected]

Hi 2Jacks! We are certainly looking forard to your vist at TDBAB, and encourage you - any anyone else coming to Toronto - to look over some of the pages we have especially designed to cover the many many activities, concerts, attractions, live theatre performances and sights in this exciting city. Start from our main page (www.TDBAB.com) and click on the "Toronto events" link at the side and/or bottom of each page. You'll find separte pages for each type of activity, and we try very hard to keep them up to date.

January is a great time to visit, by the way.

See you soon! - Rog & Jim, Toronto Downtown Bed and Breakfast

Hey guys, really looking forward to my visit.

Have that feather bed ready!! LOL

It will be your first time but hopefully not your last time. I am biased but Toronto is great city.

It is winter (as it is in say New York, Chicago, etc), so dress appropriately so you walk some of Toronto's neighbourhoods (Queens West, Distillery District, Chinatown/Kensington) even though you are not shopper. Winter can produce great views ffrom the CN Tower. Although it is getting dated in some spots, the Ontario Science Centre is still a very good interactive "museum" if you like science; it s subway and bus ride away from downtown.

Second City show is usually good. Not sure what your preferences are but the sinner portion of Second City is decent, good value but not gourmet.

Toronto live theatre is pretty good. One option is to buy same day half price tickets at T.O. Tix which is located at Dundas Square (Yonge and Dundas). If you like big shows, Producers has just opened.

As other poster has noted, NOW is the source for entertainment schedules.

Enjoy!

Museums to visit might include, in addition to the Art Gallery of Ontario: (1) the Bata Shoe Museum (which has cool shoes, as well as exhibits about shoes tell us about culture - eg. footbinding, aboriginal shoe design for example); (2) I think the Royal Ontario Museum's exhibit on Art Deco will still be there; (3) the Gardiner Museum (Ceramics) - across the street from the ROM. If you like classical music, try to find a copy of WholeNote magazine (I think it is "thewholenote.com" online) - it has exceptionally comprehensive listings.

Now that you're very close to your travel dates, you might shop around a bit for a hotel - you might get a better deal than the b&b you have already booked.

There may be a typo in this sentence from an earlier message: "Second City show is usually good. Not sure what your preferences are but the sinner portion of Second City is decent, good value but not gourmet."

Not sure, though. Could be fun.

BAK

Apologies as "sinner" s/b "dinner" portion of dinner-theatre package.

Thanks everyone for all of your help, especially the "sinners" dinner advice, lol.

I really appreciate all of you taking the time to reply with such great suggestions.

The museums sound wonderful. And the suggestions for half price tickets to the theatre. I will be a walking to as many museums as my little legs will carry me to.

I am Canadian so I am not worried about dressing warmly but.....is it considered inappropriate to wear a fur? I do have one that is sooooo warm, I can seldom wear it out here in Alberta as we get the chinooks and it is often not cold enough but when it is cold, it is the best.

Hate to come across as politically incorrect but I guess I am.

One more question, one type of shop I do love to browse are antique shops, I know when I was in Victoria they had an antique district in the downtown area, is there such a thing in the downtown area of Toronto?

Thanks again.

I personally don't think it gets cold enough to wear a fur here and lately it's been warm, about 7 degrees. Generally speaking, winters in Calgary (where I lived for several years) are colder than in Toronto. Mind you, last winter was really cold, so who knows? Have a fun time in Toronto!

Lots of fine people wear fur in Toronto, so there's nothing to be concerned about, as far as politically-correct goes.

We seem to be in Chinook mode in Toronto. It's seven as I type. Yesterday I was outside walking around a park talking to dogs while wearing (me,not all but some of, the dogs) a sweater but no coat.

ANTIQUES: There's a big antique center at the corner of King Street West and Duncan Street, half way between the Princess of Wales and Royal Alexandra theatres. It's mostly dealers from the now-closed harbourfront Angiques market.

And, an easy street car ride ... there are a dozen antique stores in the blocks immediately east of Queen Street West and Roncessvales. Get on a westbound Queen street streetcar ($2.25 cash) and get off at Roncessevales, (ask the driver, but you'll have already seen the stores from the window) and work your way back until you run out of stores. Some are really secondhand stores, but some, to my untrained eye, are serious antique stores. Good clock shop, for sure.

For high-end antiques, there's a store across from the main entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel, under the portico where the limos stop to disgorge the rich folks. And from there, go to Yorkville Avenue, walk east to haxzelton, and north on Hazelton one block.

The streetcar ride, by the way, takes you through a real cross-section of Toronto, and is very interesting.

BAK