The Beaches is an old residential neighborhood that runsd down to Lake Ontario. PArking is usually difficult, so the best way for you to get there is to walk one block north from the hotel, and take an eastbound Queen Street streetcar, with the words Neville Park on the front. Fare is $2 cash, per person, each way, ifyouhave not already bought subway tokens for othr travel. Tokens work on the streetcars. Stay on all the way to the loop at the end of the line, and you'll see an art deco water treatment plant. Walk tothe end of the block, and then yo'll be at the lake. Walk,or run, back west (toward downtown) untilyou decide to go back up to Queen Street and visit the shops and restaurants you saw from the streetcar. There's a boardwalk, running trails, parks, roller blading paths, bike paths, several public washrooms, and, on a weekend, hundreds of happy Torontonians. Houses in the beaches neighborhood cost 50% more than in areas away from the water; you'll see lots of kids, too. Many different styles of restaurants.My favorite is the very downmarket Sunset Grill, near the Kew Gardens park, on Queen Street. Try any sandwich that involves peameal bacon. Depending onhow serious you are about running,you can follow a running path called the martin Goodman Trail all the way back to downtown. I think a visit to the beaches is worthwhile. I've spent vast amounts of time there. If you are early enough, you'll see lots of dogs out for morning runs, but they tend to get put back on leashes around 9 a.m. <BR>BAK

Lynn - another suggested thing to do - if you're here on a Saturday check out the St. Lawrence Market (corner of Jarvis and Front Street - about a 7 minute walk east from your hotel). The 'north side' building is home to farmer's stalls and the south side is permanent merchant stalls. If you like cheese (my passion) on the south wall of the south side is Alex's Farm Products. Here you'll find many raw milk cheeses from Europe that are generally unavailable in the U.S. (I believe they're illegal in the States, but millions of French have survived eating unpasteurized cheese!). <BR> <BR>Another fun market is Kensington - one block west of Spadina north of Dundas Street. It's an international delight - African, Latin American, European - you name it it's there. It's open daily but Saturday is the best day to go as the streets are full of shoppers/merchants/etc. <BR> <BR>

Thanks again, Eliz and Brian. I've printed out your info and put in my "toronto file". Really excited about the trip (yes, we will be there over a Saturday, so will have to check out the markets!)

Lynn - re: St. Lawrence Market - should have mentioned that you want to get there early - by noon many of the merchants are packing up (the north side/farmer's market) If you're really early birds it opens at 5:00am!