The first thing to do is forget the myth that Toronto shuts after 6pm and all-day on Sunday. This is a city that buzzes.
The CN Tower is every visitor's first port of call, at 1,815 feet nobody has ever built anything taller. The view is, of course, amazing. Test your nerve by walking across the glass floor over 1100 feet above the ground. Then travel another 343 feet up to the Sky Pod, preferably as the sun sets. Further down there are rides, a marketplace, café and an award-winning restaurant, more of which later.
Cruises in the harbor offer completely the opposite perspective of Toronto's stunning skyline. Head down to the Harbor front and you'll find a stunning selection of vessels offering trips on anything from cruisers to a Mississippi paddleboat and the latest attraction, the tall ship Kajama. The restored 165 foot, three-masted schooner plied the waters of Europe from Russia to northern Africa for more than 60 years, now it tours the harbor.
At Black Creek Pioneer Village more than 35 restored homes, workshops, public buildings and farms recreate life in a rural Ontario community of the 1860s. People in period costumes demonstrate skills such as open-hearth cooking, bread making, weaving, milling, blacksmithing and printing. During the holiday period from November to December you can get an idea of what a Victorian Christmas was like.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is a great place to introduce kids to art. It's the city's largest gallery and the place that gets most of the big traveling shows. At weekends kids can sculpt with plastic foam, make puzzles out of large blocks of wood, dress like paintings and take part in a whole raft of themed events under the title 'Off the Wall'.
The Casa Loma must surely be Toronto's most bizarre landmark. The 'castle on a hill' was described by one critic as "part 17th Century Scotland, part 20th Century Fox." It was actually built by financier Sir Henry Pellatt between 1911 and 1914 at a cost of $3.5 million. He went bust a few years later and the building lay empty for a number of years until it was taken over by the Kiwanis Club of West Toronto who still operate it. Since then its secret passageways, awe-inspiring towers, sweeping staircase, 800-foot tunnel and five-acre gardens have continued to amaze and amuse visitors.
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