Life in downtown Toronto

In the two hundred years since a British military party first established a fort here, the City of Toronto has grown to a population of nearly three million. The largest city in Canada, it is the country. s financial and business centre, and a focus for cultural and artistic activities. It was founded as the Town of York in 1793 by Governor John Graves Simcoe, who discouragingly described the city's site as "better calculated for a frog pond or beaver meadow than for the residence of human beings." The Americans captured York in the War of 1812, and burned down its Parliament Building. (In retaliation for this, British troops invaded and burned down Washington, D.C., the following year.) The local Indian name meaning meeting place was adopted in 1834 when the town became Toronto, in what some charged was part of a plot to raise taxes. The city's clean downtown city streets, laid out in the simple grid system used by British surveyors, run conveniently either north-south or east-west with few exceptions, and the city boasts one of the best and safest public transit systems in North America. As actor Peter Ustinov quipped, "Toronto is New York run by the Swiss."

Much of the excitement of life in Toronto results from the transformation that occurred when Canada opened its borders to immigration from around the world. A visitor to Toronto in the 1960s who returned today would not recognize the city, because of vast changes not only in urban landscape, but also in style and spirit. More than 70 ethnic groups are now represented in the city; the downtown's Chinatown and Greek-town display street signs in both English and the first language of their communities. The provincial town that was Toronto at mid-century has been broadened by new cultures, new languages, new religions, and, perhaps most noticeably, new cuisines. What for years was the standard Torontonian dish "roast beef and potatoes" has been replaced by the offerings of perhaps the most multicultural restaurant community in the world. From Thai sate to Greek souvlaki to West Indian spicy beef roti to the latest French cuisine, you can find it here!

There is a host of sites to visit both in the downtown core and in the local area. The Art Gallery of Ontario, which boasts the highest per-capita membership in North America, is known for its permanent collection and its Henry Moore Sculpture Centre. The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (nearby at Kleinburg) houses outstanding works by Canada's famous landscape painters, the Group of Seven, as well as a collection of Inuit and contemporary Indian art and sculpture in a woodland setting. The Royal Ontario Museum offers the possibility of touring a Jamaican bat cave, a Ming tomb, and an Iroquois longhouse all on one visit, as well as the chance to stare down a mastodon or the rare crested parasaurolophus. More contemporary beasts can be inspected at the Metro Toronto Zoo, which contains over 4000 animals and a hugh botanical collection, all organized in zoogeographic regions to recreate native ecological environments. For hands-on experiences try the Ontario Science Centre. Participation is the rule, and the exhibits on display cover topics as diverse as black holes, papermaking, and holograms and lasers.

Participation in the diverse life of the city and its communities is also part of the excitement of being a graduate student at the University of Toronto. Close to the campus are a flourishing Chinatown and the hectic Kensington Market, where foods from around the world can be purchased at bargain prices. Just south of the campus is the College Street area, with its restaurants, patios, and lounges, and just north is Bloor Street, with its shops and street scene. On campus, graduate students have access to both the university's Athletic Centre and the athletic and cultural facilities at Hart House, the student centre. The sport of "elbow bending" is practiced at the Graduate Student Union (GSU) pub, where discussions among graduate students in all departments of the university give an overview of the wide range of activities, academic and otherwise, going on here.

For a different kind of overview try taking the CN Tower elevator ride; a 58 second rush up the world's tallest free-standing structure to get to the observation level that offers the best view of the city. On a clear day you can spot the mist rising above Niagara Falls (about an hour and a half drive from Toronto). When viewing the city from this perspective, most visitors are struck by the amount of "green space." Indeed, Toronto is veritably littered with parks, from the hundreds of tiny parks officially labeled "parkettes" to High Park, downtown Toronto's largest park of 400 acres. And the Toronto Islands are just a ferry ride away from downtown. Yet the most interesting parks may be the ravines that snake through the city and provide opportunities for walking, cycling, jogging, watching the leaves change, and cross-country skiing. Access to the Bruce Trail is nearby, as well as interesting hikes along the Scarborough escarpment; some of our students frequent the "climbing gyms" in the city that allow for rock climbing even in the dead of winter!

More sedentary activities include spectator sports. Playing at the SkyDome, Toronto's high-tech stadium with its retractable roof, are both the Toronto Argonauts football team, and the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. The Toronto Maple Leafs, our hockey team, play at Maple Leaf Gardens, but will soon move to a new stadium being built for them and the basketball team, the Toronto Raptors. Every Maple Leafs game is sold out, which is somewhat surprising: The Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967. There are things about Toronto that are mysteries even to some of us who live here!

Theatre and music abound in and around Toronto, as one might expect in a city with a reasonably long winter. (Our average temperature is about the same as that of New York City.)

In fact, Toronto is North America's third-largest producer of live theatre after New York and Chicago. A host of small theatres dot the city, and the large ones, such as the Hummingbird Centre (home to the National Ballet of Canada and the Canadian Opera Company, for both of which student tickets are available!), and the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts, present larger Canadian productions and popular touring shows. In the summer, of course, there's Shakespeare in the Park just a short subway ride from the university! Within a two-hour drive, bus ride, or train ride are the Stratford Shakespearean and Niagara-on-the-Lake Shaw theatre fest-ivals, offering excellent productions in quaint little towns worth a visit. Classical music is performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and a number of smaller groups including the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, world-famous for its tours and recordings of baroque music on original instruments.

As well, Toronto is the unofficial "movie capital" of Canada, with showings of films from not only Hollywood but from around the world. Regular and revue cinemas compete for your attendance, and the yearly Toronto Film Festival is an opportunity to immerse yourself in new films that is unparallelled anywhere in the world. Other yearly celebrations, such as the Jazz Festival, Caribana, and Pride Day add to the mix of activities in the city. You can rely on weekly entertainment papers, such as Now and Eye, to keep you in touch with the opportunities for a (short!) break from physics now and then. Both the world of entertainment and the larger world are covered by the four daily newspapers available in Toronto, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, and the National Post .

Both in its cultural life and in its neighborhoods, Toronto is a community of communities. Hockey enthusiasts and opera enthusiasts manage to live side by side, usually peacefully, as do immigrant communities from around the world and those who were born in the city (there are some!) And rather than the proverbial melting pot, the city is a multicultural mulligan stew, with a striking and stylish mixture of backgrounds, viewpoints, and interests. What has been said about another world-famous city can also truly be said about what became of Governor Simcoe. s "frog pond": If you are tired of Toronto, you are tired of life.