Queenie

My husband & I loved Toronto!
There is so much to do, however since we are both foodies, we concentrated on eating.

Friday: We had a quick flight from Chicago, and then took a cab from the airport to Yorkville ($50). Our hotel was well located at Bloor and Avenue, across from the Royal Ontario Museum.

For lunch, we tried Café Nervosa in Yorkville. Good homemade pizzas, flavorful salads. Seemed very popular.

My husband had a business meeting on Friday afternoon, and then we had a sushi dinner. The food there was not remarkable, however based on the large Asian population in Toronto I am sure there are great sushi places.

Saturday we took the subway to the St Lawrence Market. It was a great atmosphere; I felt like I was in Europe with all the cheeses and bakery goods. We had our first pea meal bacon sandwich (wonderful). Very flavorful.
We walked to Union station and enjoyed the architecture there, then took the skywalk to the CN tower.
Toronto has a web of underground and protected walkways throughout the city. This was great as our weekend was cold and rainy.
In the afternoon, we explored the Beaches neighborhood, and then explored the shops along Queen West.

Saturday night we had reservations at Sen5es in the Soho Metropolitan hotel. It was quite the experience. We had the 14 course-tasting menu with wine pairing. Not cheap ($149 pp), but quite a memory.
The 14 courses were small: all about the size of a walnut. The flavors were so unusual and exotic we were well satisfied. We have traveled all over the world, driven by eating, and this was the most sensual experience. Sample courses included:
- Lobster cerviche and roe with spicy mayonnaise and wasabi foam served in a block of ice
- Sugar candy globe containing a whole hazelnut and olive oil
- Artichoke pod with crème fraiche on a bed of peppercorn
- Fork with a slice of granny smith apple, ginger toffee, and bees wax panna cotta

OK, I know that all sounds weird. Definitely chic food. But we really enjoyed it. The experience took about 3 hours.

On Sunday, my husband worked out at the hotel, and I joined a running group at a local running store. We ran a 12 k loop around Casa Loma, Forest Hill road, Mt. Pleasant cemetery. It’s a great way to see neighborhoods, which were amazing. And there are so many pedestrian friendly parks and paths.
Later on Sunday, I had scheduled a helicopter tour of the city. Getting to the airport was about as interesting as the ride: the helicopter took off from City Airport. You take the subway, to a streetcar, to a ferry. The ferry is the shortest scheduled ferry ride in the world – just across a channel to the airport. What fun.

After the helicopter, we had wanted to poke around Kensington Market, but it was so rainy and cold we gave up.
Sunday night we had reservations at Sotto Sotto on Avenue Rd. It is a small Italian restaurant in the basement of a house. The décor was romantic. I had grilled vegetables to start with grilled sea bass and spinach as a main. My husband had a salad of field greens, pears and walnuts to start, then a main of lasagna. Good food in a lovely atmosphere.

Pros: The international flavor of the city. The city is green with trees and parks. There are many great restaurants. Public transport is good and easy to use.
Cons: We were surprised at the amount of begging. The downtown was full of middle-aged seemingly normal, well-dressed men asking for money. Couldn't figure that out. And brace yourself for 15% sales tax on everything. Yikes!

We will definitely be back.

SallyCanuck

Hi Queenie, Thanks for your report. Good for you for going running in that rotten weather we had on the weekend - it is warming up now.

Thanks for the comments on the begging - I've forwarded that part to the Mayor who doesn't seem to understand that these beggars aren't a plus in the tourism sector. I'm looking forward to his response but I'm sure his staff will make it seem as if the problem is mine!

SusanInToronto

Queenie, I'm thinking you might be from the US? Most Canadians are used to the taxes - the only province without PST is Alberta, and GST is throughout Canada.

But the begging is something else. I don't understand why it's so prevalent. We've often commented that we see less begging in places like Mexico City.

Kate_W

About the begging/homeless in Toronto: Someone who worked in the mental health advocacy field in Toronto once told me that the relatively high number of homeless/begging people you see on the streets of Toronto is partly attributable (and I emphasise the word "partly) to the fact that Ontario's mental health and vagrancy laws are more protective of individual rights than in some countries. It is harder to lock someone up against their will and keep them locked up, and it's harder to sweep people off the street without regard to their rights, than in some other countries.

I used to live in a large city where, every day for months, I would observe the activities of a huge "tent city" of people living beside the guardrail of a highway that cut through the city. Except every few months, the city would come along and wipe out the shelters and shoo the people away. The poverty and terrible conditions were still there; it's just that the people had been forcibly relocated.

Of course, the reason given above doesn't explain why there is so much poverty in Toronto, or why there aren't better non-coercive care arrangements for people who need help.

I'm not sure if this person's information was accurate (then or now). But it does raise the possibility that "number of people on the street" isn't precisely correlated with the level of poverty or protection of human rights/interests in a country or city.

catsmom317

What Kate says, according to my son who lives in Toronto, is accurate, most of those on the streets are mentally ill.

And the streets are where they want to be.


The first time I visited Toronto after my son moved there was winter and a cold one, it was -25C most days which is cold for Toronto and still the homeless sleep over subway vents and in boxes. I was horrified. Where were the shelters, why were these people on the streets in this horribly cold climate? My son told me that is where they want to be mom, there are shelters, there are places to go, but the street is where they want to be and they will not leave their established place of residence, over a duct above a subway, in a box.

After a good many trips to that city, I no longer am horrified. It is just the way it is with the many homeless in Toronto and the way they want to live.

It is sad that we have so many whose mental illness causes them to live this way. But I think for the most part, they are kind of content.

It is hard for those of us who don't have their problems to understand yet, we have to respect their decision to live the way they do. I think that New York has a similar "congregation" of people.

Queenie

This is an interesting discussion.

I have worked and lived in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago and have seen begging, but this seemed different.

The men (and, strangely, they were all men) were fairly clean, in decent clothing, and could speak coherently. Many had set up a milk carton or similar to sit on, many told us to have a nice day. It seemed like a business enterprise with no product.

The mentally ill homeless I have seen are typically unclean with wild hair, in tattered clothing, often talking to themselves, with bags of 'treasures' in a shopping cart.
That is why I found Torontos begging so different. It was too sanitized.

Anyway, that was just our impression during our short stay. Everything else was lovely!

SallyCanuck

I dispute that most are mentally ill. Most are bone lazy and addicted to drugs or alcohol.

I volunteered for several winters at Out of the Cold, which provides meals and shelter in church halls from November till April. Some had cell phones, one was always able to discuss the latest movies. We provided them with clothing and a few of them invented a scam to get the best stuff which they were then selling to second hand stores.

They all had hard luck stories where it was ALWAYS someone else's fault that they were living like they were. Some would disappear while guests of Her Majesty and be quite happy to tell you that when released.

One new volunteer tried to get some of them jobs - after a few weeks he said "they don't want to work".

Many of these men and women (the women were scarier than the men especially when they fought and boy did they fight - I recognized one really pretty little girl's photo in the paper one day - she'd tried to cheat a drug dealer and he killed her, she was about 18 - a runaway from a decent home) also don't want to live by any rules - they wanted their drug, smokes or drink of choice when they wanted it and shelters do not allow that so they choose to stay outside.

There are men down here at King and Bay each morning by 8 am begging or in the concourse holding doors open - it's their job. One of them takes the bus home from the same subway stop I use - he's very neatly dressed usually including a smart suede jacket.

Queenie, in Toronto, you get welfare without a fixed address. The Salvation Army and other charities provide meals and clothing all year round but not money for the "extras".

The city (i.e., the taxpayers) spends millions on the "homeless industry" but won't take a stand and pass a by-law stopping begging or living on the streets. The policy is that they have to want to leave the streets.

One fellow asked me with a pleading look for bus fare a few weeks ago - he had a cigarette in one hand and was drinking some horrible-looking concoction - when I said no, he paid for his own bus. I guess he figured I'll ask her and if I'm successful I'm up $2.75 and, if not, so what.

I've not heard back from the Mayor - he's too busy glad-handing getting ready for the next election.

JJ5

Kate W, your explanation was one of the best I've ever read and closest to the most accurate.

You would not believe how the reality of big city begging is discussed within other cities' contexts. It's always someone "fault" or some politico's lack of empathy, or oppression of one group by another, when the answer is very close to what you state. And you stated it in an eloquent style, and yet with clarity and sensitivity.

In most cases, person by person, the individual WANTS to be where he/she is.

The elderly without family, as well, most would rather be homeless on the streets than in institutions or medical facilities, as an alternative. And also many do not want to be responsible for property etc. when they know they can not really be capable.

And it isn't just in Toronto at all. If they are not scruffy in Toronto, well, that's a good fact.

I'm off to Toronto this weekend, so I'll post a trip report myself upon my return.

SallyCanuck

JJ5: This weekend is Doors Open - www.doorsopen.org - you may wish to look at the website and see if there are any buildings you'd like to tour.