Huffington Post Travel columnist Margie Goldsmith gushes over Toronto after a recent weekend visit. Goldsmith praises, among other things, the city's culinary diversity, interesting art spaces, and unique neighbourhoods.
"Because I'd never been to Toronto before and only had a weekend, I decided I'd see and learn the most by hiring private guides. Art historian/artist Betty Ann Jordan of Artin Site was waiting at the Gladstone Hotel to lead me on a tour of Toronto's Art + Design neighborhood. We began at the historic Gladstone and nearby Drake Hotels, both with full-time art curators, and each filled with original art. We continued down West Queen West Street to visit some trendy boutiques. When we passed a hotel, The Cameron House Betty pointed out carpenter ant sculptures the size of giant snowshoes crawling up the wall. "There are ten ants," she says. "Get it? Tenants!".
"A little over two hours later, I headed back to the brand new Ritz-Carlton, to drop my purchases in my room overlooking the CN Tower and Lake Ontario, and headed to TOCA restaurant for a Sparkling Ginger "Temperance Cocktail" (ginseng, lemon juice, ginger beer, pink peppercorn syrup, and candied ginger). I was told that Chef Tom Brodi makes a great "fish and chips" with lobster, but I'd already become a Peameal Bacon addict, so I opted for the Toca LBLT: Yarmouth lobster and Peameal bacon on a pretzel bun."
"It was time to walk off all that food. Historian/author Bruce Bell was waiting in the lobby to take me on a tour emphasizing Toronto's past. He showed me how you can walk underground and in malls practically anywhere in the city, and then we went back outside so I could see one the city's first skyscrapers, where the idea for Superman was conceived. I had no idea that Superman was created by a Canadian author. Our last stop was the Bata Shoe Museum in Yorkville, where more than 1,000 pars of shoes -- everything from sabatons to Chinese binding shoes for women were on display. Celebrating the fact that I never had to bind my feet, I walked over to nearby chocolatier MoRoCo for a liquid caramel truffle and dark sipping chocolate."
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