Toronto Things to Do Tips by Wendy67

Chinatown is a great place to spend some time shopping, people watching, and fine tuning your maneuvering-in-a-crowd skills. Sunday afternoons are wall-to-wall shoppers, browsers, and vendors. Be prepared.

The smells and sounds of Chinatown are, in my opinion, what make it what it is. Roasted pig, fresh/cooked/dried/salted seafood, coconut drinks, produce I've never seen in my life but would love to try. All this amongst local vendors haggling over the sounds of music coming out of restaurants and store fronts. It's definitely energizing.

The Toronto area has six Chinatowns, the largest being the one in downtown Toronto. It boasts as the second largest Chinatown in North America. My guess would be that the largest is in San Francisco, but don't hold me to that. If you know what is it, email me.

Leave a Comment

Address: Corner of Spadina and Dundas St. West
Directions: Catch the Spadina/Harbour trolley and get off at the Dundas Street stop.

In researching which markets to visit in Toronto, I found that most people prefered the St. Lawrence Market. On Sunday we found the usual antique market. Personally, we thought it was a bunch of junk, but junk to us is probably someone else's treasure. You'll have to decide.

Apparently Saturday is food market of some sort. See www.toronto.com for more details on what the market offers during the week.

If you can, use public transportation. While there is abundant parking, getting around is difficult in a car.

Leave a Comment

Address: 92 Front St. E. (at Jarvis)
Website: www.toronto.com

Kensington Market is in the same area as Chinatown, so you can easily spend a day browsing through both places. My first impression was that it was a bit run down, but you'll find some real deals if you dare to venture inside some of the stores. There's the usual t-shirt shops and souvenir stuff shops as well as some great spice stores, butchers, and foodstuffs.

The great thing about Kensington Market is the diversity of cultures you'll find. It's sort of a world market - you'll find imports from Mexico, the Middle-East, the Caribbean, Italy, China among others.

Definitely leave your car at home. There's no room for a car on the streets of Kensington Market, but don't be surprised when someone attempts to drive through anyway.

Leave a Comment

Address: Between Dundas and College, west of Spadina Ave
Website: www.toronto.com

Located in the Distillery District, Soma is a place not to be missed if you're a chocolate fan. They specialize in Venezuelan dark chocolate and make everything from truffles to gelato with it. There's also a "chocolate laboratory" onsite where you can sit and enjoy your treat and watch the chocolate being made. Yummy stuff!

Leave a Comment

Address: 55 Mill Street (between Parliament/Cherry St)
Directions: Distillery District
Website: www.thedistillerydistrict.com