Sounds like the author doesn't know much about neighbourhoods in Toronto. Calling Wexford Maryvale n

After over a decade in this city, I feel pretty comfortable thrifty rent car coupons getting around. In that time I've lived on Queen West, Little Portugal, the Danforth, and in Bloordale. I've worked everywhere from Bay Street to Downsview and I've bicycled from the Etobicoke to Scarborough. But despite, or perhaps because of that familiarity, thrifty rent car coupons it's easy to let the form of the city fade into a list of tasks, deadlines and impending social engagements.
I know in my head that it's so much more than that, but it's so easy to get stuck in the kind of rut where you realize you don't remember the last time you even looked up. That's one of the greatest perks of being a tourist you spend a lot of time looking up.
I was in New York City back in June and I swear I had my neck craned back so much I'm surprised I didn't get hit by a car. There's a Zen-like element to relinquishing all sense of duty for a great view. It's something that's easy to do when in foreign lands, but something equally as rewarding at home, but it often requires a little nudging.
That's where this tour bus comes in it's tasked with the responsibility of offering new perspective, at least for a local who hops on for a tour of his own city. It feels a little phoney getting on one of these things after such an extended stay, but perhaps sometimes you need to fake it, as they say, to make it.
I hop on the bright red City Sightseeing double decker thrifty rent car coupons bus just down the street from the Harbourfront Centre at stop number three. There are 25 stops along the route for passengers to hop on or off as they see fit. The route may be short from a local's perspective, focusing strictly on the downtown core it stretches as far north as Casa Loma, East to The Distillery District and West to Spadina but actually has a larger footprint than BIXI (frowny face, BIXI).
The tour begins with a little boasting about skyscrapers, particularly the bling heavy Royal Bank Tower (there thrifty rent car coupons be 24 karats in those windows!) and the startling admission that had we taken this tour 13,000 years ago, we'd all be under 100 metres of water right now. It seems Lake Ontario (the smallest and coldest of the Great Lakes) is but a puddle compared to the glory of the ancient Lake Iroquois that stretched thrifty rent car coupons all the way up to Davenport Road.
Next we zoom over to the Distillery District, our tour guide giving us the gist of the area (a former distillery [duh!], now pedestrian mall with no big box stores or chains). I don't know how much of his spiel is scripted and how much is improvised, but he's good. He speaks comfortably and confidently and manages to inflect his narrative with just enough humour to keep things light and entertaining.
Next it's north, up Yonge Street, through Yorkville and towards Casa Loma. Once into Yorkville we learn about the $50 cup of coffee at Pusateri's, the crazy expensive condos going up at the Four Season's Private thrifty rent car coupons Residences ($28 million for the penthouse!), and are treated to a little celeb-bragging, a bad habit in Toronto that reeks of civic insecurity.
At Casa Loma we learn of the heartbreaking story of Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, a man who at one time controlled all the electricity in the city, but was ruined in part by the City of Toronto who seized first his business, taking control of the electricity in Toronto in exchange for nothing, thrifty rent car coupons and then his castle for a paltry $27,000 in back taxes he owed after he had been robbed of his business. He ultimately died penniless, living above his former chauffeurs garage.
To be honest, the two hours fly by. A lot of what is covered is rudimentary Toronto history, thrifty rent car coupons and most of it will probably sound familiar. But it's still nice to hear, and there's thrifty rent car coupons sure to be pieces of new information to be picked out. The biggest discovery for me came at the University of Toronto. Apparently Robarts Library thrifty rent car coupons was not, in fact, designed to look like an evil fortress or futuristic space-prison, but a peacock the bird of wisdom.
The whole ordeal thrifty rent car coupons has a bit of a meditative quality. It's amazing to sit down and focus on the things around you, not on a destination, but on the places you see every day, but rarely pay much attention to. And being elevated just that little bit leads to discoveries of things you won't believe you never noticed before, like the remnants thrifty rent car coupons of Toronto's first fire station perched above a sushi restaurant on Yonge Street.
After the tour is complete you're encouraged to take a free boat tour along the harbour. This has an even greater meditative quality. As the boat cruises thrifty rent car coupons through the inner islands, the guide stays silent the view speaks for itself.
We did one here in Toronto a couple years ago and mostly what we learned was where the guide went to school and where she got hammered. When we asked questions about historical stuff (like when we passed by George Brown's house), she was useless.
Teena, as a former guide on one of these buses, I can tell you that nothing irks me more than standing under one of these diesel-spewing beasts thrifty rent car coupons stuck at a light and hearing the guide blather on about anything other than interesting sites around them.
If it weren't for poor city planning way back in the day. Toronto would have been a great city with a river and boats running right through thrifty rent car coupons it. Instead they ran a highway right beside it, up on a higher grade. All of the run off from the highway, the pollution and the litter runs off into the river, that's why its so contaminated. Boats would be awesome!!
Great story. I have taken those City Sightseeing tours in other places when I'm travelling (Glasgow was one, and I think I did one in Wales somewhere too) and they are pretty good. The fact that you get a boat ride thrown in for that price is cool too.
As a visitor to Toronto we were very disappointed in the hop on hop off bus tour. We have spent many days on sightseeing tours in cities recently in Canada and USA we have visited and Toronto was appalling. The buses were sub standard and wouldn't pass safety inspections in some countries. The commentary was grating and I am not sure what the tour guides have been instructed but their training needs leave a lot to be desired and their information thrifty rent car coupons is not always correct. The boat tour was substandard by international standards. It wasn't worth the time and went thru the most boring parts of the island according to the locals on the bus. A drive past Casa Loma on the top road [Austin Tce] would have been more informative for visitors. Not everyone has the time to stop at each highlight thrifty rent car coupons for further exploring.
Sounds thrifty rent car coupons like the author doesn't know much about neighbourhoods in Toronto. Calling Wexford Maryvale not the most desirable shows your stupidity and ignorance. Its is a very highly ranked neighbourhood...