Picaso Travel

This page contains a large selection of Toronto photos, city views, monuments, churchs, streeets, attractions, etc.

Click on the images below to enlarge them.

Bata Shoe Museum
Created by Sonja Bata, wife of the founder of the Bata Shoe Company, this collection contains 10,000 varieties of foot coverings and, through the changing fashions.

Campbell House
Built in 1822 in another part of town, the Campbell House was moved to this site in 1972. It has been tastefully restored with elegant early-19th-century furniture. Costumed guides detail the social life of the upper class.

Chinatown
Lovely sake sets, Chinese herbs, and fresh-caught fish in Toronto's Chinatown, you can start a walk through this lively, interesting area on Elizabeth Street, just north of City Hall, and walk north to Dundas Street, then either east toward Bay Street or west to Spadina Avenue.

Fort York
Fort York's defensive walls surround Canada's largest collection of original War of 1812 buildings. Exhibits include restored barracks, kitchens, and gunpowder magazines, plus changing museum displays.

CN Tower
In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The following year, the Guinness Book of World Records officially changed the CN Tower's classification to "World's Tallest Building and Free-Standing Structure".

Rogers Centre
The Rogers Centre was the first major team sports arena in North America to sport a fully retractable roof. It is also well known for its enormous Jumbotron scoreboard, at 10 by 35 metres the largest scoreboard in the world.

Toronto City Hall
The City Hall of Toronto, Canada is one of the most distinctive landmarks of the city; its modernist architecture still impresses today. It was built to replace the Old City Hall that had been built in 1899.

Dundas Square
Dundas Square is a public square in downtown Toronto, Ontario, on the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Dundas Street. It was opened to the public in November of 2002, and a "grand opening" concert was held on May 30, 2003.

Queen's Park, Toronto
Queen's Park is an historic green space in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This scenic park is also home to the Ontario Legislative Assembly and seat of the Government of Ontario.

Royal Ontario Museum
It is located next to Queen's Park and the University of Toronto. It has notable collections of dinosaurs, Near Eastern and African art, East Asian art, European history, Canadian history, culture, and biodiversity.

St. James' Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto is the oldest congregation in the city. The church is listed as an Ontario Heritage Property and a National Historic Site and is the seat of the Anglican Church of Canada's diocese in Toronto.

Toronto's climate is moderated by Lake Ontario; its climate is among the mildest in Canada. It receives significantly less snowfall during the winter than most other Canadian cities, and winters tend to be quite mild in comparison. However, recent years have shown a trend towards varying winter weather. During the winter months, daytime high temperatures average just a few degrees below freezing (although residents usually endure two or three cold snaps each year). Ironically, sunny days in Toronto during the winter tend to be the coldest. A typical snowfall during the winter will be no more than 10 cm (4 inches).

Summer high temperatures typically range from 25-30°C (77-86°F), though temperatures as high as 32°C (90°F), and sometimes higher, are not unexpected. Such "heat waves" generally last no more than a couple of days, and are usually coupled with high humidity and smog. On June 14, 2005, at the start of the summer, Toronto recorded it's 21st "smog warning" of the year, surpassing the previous annual record of 20, set in 2001.

Situated on the slab of land separating Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay, Toronto was on one of the three early portage routes to the northwest, its name taken from the Huron for "place of meeting". The first European to visit the district was the French explorer Étienne Brûlé in 1615, but it wasn't until the middle of the eighteenth century that the French made a serious effort to control the area with the development of a simple settlement and stockade, Fort Rouillé . The British pushed the French from the northern shore of Lake Ontario in 1759, but then chose to ignore the site for almost forty years until the arrival of hundreds of Loyalist settlers in the aftermath of the American Revolution.

Specifically the town, then known as York, was built inland from the Toronto Islands, a chain of small islands leading into a marsh(long since drained away) at their eastern end, with an opening at the western end. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, York was attacked and partially burned. It was in retaliation for this that British forces attacked Washington, DC, the next year. Fort York was lightly manned at the time, and realizing that a defence was impossible, the troops retreated and set fire to the magazine. It exploded as the US forces were entering the fort, leaving a big crater in the ground (that no longer exists), and many US soldiers were killed in the explosion. After the US forces left a new and much stronger fort was constructed several hundred yards to the west of the original position. Another American attack in 1814 was defeated with ease, the landing force never being able to approach the shoreline.

By the end of the nineteenth century Toronto had become a major manufacturing centre dominated by a conservative mercantile elite who were exceedingly loyal to British interests and maintained a strong Protestant tradition. This elite was sustained by the working-class Orange Lodges , whose reactionary influence was a key feature of municipal politics - no wonder Charles Dickens had been offended by the city's "rabid Toryism". That said, these same Protestants were enthusiastic about public education, just like the Methodist-leaning middle classes, who also spearheaded social reform movements, principally Suffrage and Temperance.

According to a United Nations report, Toronto has the second-highest proportion of immigrants in the world, after Miami, Florida. Almost half of Toronto's residents were born outside Canada. The resulting cultural diversity is reflected in the numerous ethnic neighbourhoods of the city; and the proliferation of authentic shops and restaurants derived from cultures around the world makes the city one of the most exciting places in the world to visit. Moreover, the relative tranquility that mediates between such diverse populations is a testament to the tolerant character of Canadian society.

By Air

Toronto's primary airport is Lester B. Pearson International Airport (LBPIA), located just outside the city's borders in neighbouring Mississauga. It is the fourth-largest international airport in North America and is the world's largest originator of air traffic into the United States.

The city also has a smaller commercial airport, the Toronto City Centre Airport. Situated on the Toronto Islands, the City Centre Airport is primarily a short-haul airport, providing commercial flights to Ottawa and Montreal. It is connected to the mainland by a short ferry. The Hamilton International Airport is an alternate, relief airport to Pearson. Situated in Hamilton, 85 km (53 miles) west of Toronto, it is also a terminus for low-cost carrier, charter airline, and courier traffic.

By Bus

Forming part of Toronto's municipal expressway system, the Don Valley Parkway (or colloquially, the DVP) connects the city's eastern and northern suburbs to downtown, while the Gardiner Expressway (or colloquially, "the Gardiner") connects its western suburbs to the downtown core. Extending northward from the Don Valley Parkway is Highway 404, towards Markham, Richmond Hill, Aurora, and Newmarket. Extending westward from the Gardiner Expressway is the Queen Elizabeth Way (often called the QEW), which heads towards Hamilton, Niagara, and Buffalo, New York.

By Train

Toronto is served by intercity VIA Rail, Ontario Northland, and Amtrak trains through Union Station, a grand neoclassical structure in the heart of the city's downtown, which is shared with GO Transit's commuter trains.

Toronto is Canada's largest city and the provincial capital of Ontario. Toronto's population is 2,518,772, residents of Toronto are termed Torontonians.

The city is a port of entry and an important commercial, financial, and industrial hub as well as Canada's banking and stock-exchange center and chief wholesale-distribution point. Its importance as a port and transshipment point has increased since the opening (1959) of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Ontario's wealth of raw materials and hydroelectric power make Toronto an industrial powerhouse. The city and surrounding area produces more than half of Canada's manufactured goods.

Toronto's downtown core is sandwiched between Front Street to the south, Bloor to the north, Spadina to the west and Jarvis to the east. Yonge Street is the main north-south artery: principal street numbers start and names change from "West" to "East" from here. Note, therefore, that 1000 Queen Street W is a long way from 1000 Queen Street E. To appreciate the transition between the different downtown neighbourhoods, it's best to walk around the centre - Front to Bloor is about 2km, Spadina to Jarvis 1km. In an attempt to protect shoppers from Ontario's climate, there's also an enormous sequence of pedestrianized shopping arcades called the PATH Walkway , which begins beneath Union Station, twisting up to the Eaton Centre shopping mall and beyond. Both visitor centres issue free PATH maps.

Street signs in Toronto are mostly in English. Weekly and daily newspapers are published in myriad languages, and the city hosts a successful international film festival each September. It is also the second-largest live-theater venue on the continent (after New York), and is home to a popular baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Simply put, Toronto has something for everyone.
When to go to Toronto?
Summer and fall are popular because of the mild weather, however, Toronto receives plenty of visitors for various festivals throughout the year: the International Film Festival in September, the Jazz Festival in June, and the Royal Agricultural Fair in November. In February there are two weekends of Winterfest.

Toronto city

Toronto city