Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

milliemillie - I haven't been, but my husband's older children live there and love it. They weren't too keen when they went, but now a few years on, think it's fantastic and wouldn't live anywhere else. Don't ever stop asking questions, it's the only way you get a glimmer of finding an answer. Are YOU looking forward to going, or do you have mixed feelings?

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

Thankyou :-)
Yes, I am really looking forward to going, I am looking forward to the change, but also worried as I am going with my mum, step dad and two sisters, however I will be leaving my dad, step mum and other sister and brother back in England.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

If possible try to ensure you and your English family are setup with SKYPE. That way you can talk to and see them whenever you want and, of course, it's free.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

"World class" can mean many things but many things in Toronto are among the best in the world:

- University of Toronto: one of the top universities in the world
- World class hospitals: The Hospital for Sick Children is one of the best children's hospitals in the world and some would say THE best. There are other world class hospitals such as Princess Margaret, Shouldice, etc.
- Toronto Zoo: one of the best and largest zoos in the world
- World class entertainment: e.g. theatre, concerts, etc.
- Toronto ranks third in film and television production in North America
- Truly multicultural: I can't think of a more multicultural city in the world. You can find restaurants serving the cuisine of almost every country on the planet.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

By languages spoken, Los Angeles and New York City. By percentage of population foreign born, Miami. Not that I dispute that Toronto has a diverse population but so do lots of other places, they bang on about it in Toronto because it's the city's only claim to fame.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

My mums side of the family moved to Dubai for a year, whilst i stayed with my dad, so skype is of course set up :-)

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

Please come up with some other suggestions as to why TO is so great. It's OK. It's not wonderland.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

Hardly it's only claim to fame. There are other great things about Toronto - some of which I included in my list above (which is by no means exhaustive).

Miami's "diversity" is mostly Hispanic (and probably mostly Cuban) - it is certainly not as diverse as Toronto. I regard Toronto as more "multicultural" simply because the different cultures get on better with each other and intermingle more than they do in other cities who consider themselves multicultural.

I've never understood the Toronto haters in Canada. I lived there 7 years and in all that time I never met anyone who had a superiority complex regarding the rest of Canada. Everyone I met was very proud of Toronto but also very proud of Canada. And I met a lot of people who were born in Toronto or somewhere else in Canada - not just people who were born abroad.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

milliemillie, that's super. The world really is just so much smaller with Skype now. All of our family are scattered, but never really apart. We hope to move to New Brunswick, but I know that once our, now ten year old, son gets bigger he's going to be off like a shot at every opportunity to Toronto for the weekend with his step sisters and brother, and ditch mum and dad and go an be cool! Well done for getting on here, and finding out as much as you can about where you are going to, before you get there and canvas opinons. Would that many forty somethings would do the same thing.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

Toronto may be lacking in abstract things, theatre, defensible architecture, good weather, but it's relatively cheap to live and so one is able to enjoy the things it does have to the full. It's no good London offering more and better of everything if you're going to be broke from living there.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

I think that's hype. How do you measure it? Are there, for example, more mixed race children in Toronto than London or New York?

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

Then you don't understand what U of T is. Many Torontonians benefit from U of T research and the world class healthcare providing by U of T teaching hospitals. U of T is also the largest university in North America and makes a major contribution to the city's economy.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

About 65,000 students, innit?

http://www.utoronto.ca/about-uoft/quickfacts.htm

A lot but not a winner by that measure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._by_enrollment

Again, Toronto's quite nice, and you can get 'most any kind of food. It's alright.

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

I'm not knocking TO per se, although I don't have much care for the place because it's ugly. The OP bigged up TO on criteria that are wholly irrelevant to most people. I lived in London for 16 years. Most of that time I was in the burbs and central London was of little significance to me. It was only in the last couple of years when I lived in Sloane Square that I lived in "London".

Re: What to do in Toronto?
 

should I be worried that I agree almost completely with dbd's opinion of Toronto as expressed in this post? I must be going soft in my old age.

Toronto's a reasonable second-tier world city. World class it is not, IMO; however, it's got a bit of everything from everywhere - the multicultural thing is much more overt here than I have found in other cities, for example. It's got a couple of theatres that put on pre-Broadway or post-Broadway hits, and actually a pretty good and lively theatre scene away from the mainstream stuff. Most of the architecture, true enough, is bland at best or pastiche at worst (Casa Loma? Really?). There are over-supported, under-performing sports teams in hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer and CFL football, and lacrosse. There's a crappy subway system, a streetcar network that could be good if the city invested in it, and a bigoted mayor who can't see that he needs to to anything with either. Just about par for the course for most second-tier cities in North America, really.

In short, there's enough to keep any but the most curmudgeonly entertained, and I don't think milliemillie will have too much difficulty occupying her time.