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| Graffiti Alley |
When we checked into the hotel we got a few recommendations on some points of interest we might want to check out. On a previous visit years ago we went up the CN Tower and to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which are two of Toronto's most famous attractions. They were both excellent, but not something that we were interested in repeating. So we made a plan that would take us to a couple of other Toronto attractions. They were on opposite ends of the "downtown" area, which would give us the opportunity to take in plenty of the city. Our game plan was to go south to the lake, turn right heading west along the waterfront for a while, before heading north to Graffiti Alley, then east to the historic Distillery District and finally south back to waterfront and hotel. We had all day so there was no rush, giving us plenty of time for breakfast, lunch, people watching and an occasional detour if we saw something interesting.
The waterfront was already busy with runners, walkers and bikers. The very colorful, flower filled Toronto Music Garden was a perfect place to "sit and stare" for a while. We enjoyed watching boaters prepping and heading out on their sailboats for a day out on Lake Ontario Throughout the summer there is live music several nights a week in the appropriately named Music Garden. There is a concert on Thursday, so there's a good chance we'll be back to enjoy the garden and boats while taking in a little classical music.
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| Toronto Music Gardens |
From the Music Garden we headed inland toward Graffiti Alley. As the name implies, Graffiti Alley is a 5-6 block long alley between King and Queen Streets where graffiti artists have turned the backs of the buildings into art. It was quite popular with people of all ages strolling the length of the alleys stopping to admire and sometimes trying to interpret the artwork. It's worth a visit, but keep in mind that it is a real alley, so you'll be sharing your walk with an occasional car as well as a bunch of garbage cans. Unfortunately, in a few places some less talented artists had come along and painted over the work of the talented artists.
King and Queen Streets are two parallel main streets running east/west through downtown. We walked along the very busy Queen Street which is full of shops and cafes before giving way to the business district and municipal buildings. We made a detour up Yonge Street, which until 1999 was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest street in the world. It was listed as 1,178 miles long because it connected with a highway. I guess they ruled that didn't count, which sounds like the correct ruling to me.
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| Queen Street |
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| Yonge Street |
The Distillery District is a pedestrian only area where there are wonderful old buildings from the 1800's. They originally housed the Gooderham & Worts Distillery and have now been repurposed into shops, restaurants and a place where you can still sample some of the locally produced whiskies.
Not being big fans of whiskey, especially at 2:00 in the afternoon we opted for something more palatable to our taste, ice cream.
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| Distillery District |
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| The heart and letters are made out of locks |
We made our way back toward our starting point along The Esplanade which took us by the St. Lawrence Market. This city market was established in 1803 and was full of farm fresh produce and small food kiosks. National Geographic once proclaimed it as the best food market in the world.
After resting for a while back at the hotel, we finished off the day with a casual sunset stroll along the waterfront. A nice way to wrap up a day of looping around downtown Toronto.
