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Toronto Vacation 2004

Here are some pictures from our vacation to Toronto in June 2004.

Because this page gets by far the most hits from search engine visitors (must not be a lot of Toronto Vacation pages out there...) I figured I would give some of the details on our trip.
 
We booked the flights ourselves and the hotel+car via Hotwire.  6 nights at the Intercontinental Toronto Centre + 7 days of car for $796.  Yes that is for both people.  Less than $400 each.  A year later, the cost on hotwire is $620 per person.  The Intercontinental is a nice hotel and has a great location.  It is walking distance to the subway+Union Station, Skydome, Princes of Wales and Royal Alexandra theaters, Hockey Hall of Fame, CN Tower, and Air Canada Centre.  We prefer to walk the city and the Intercontinental has a great location.   The underground PATH system is right accross the street too.  If you book a car with your hotel, Hotwire will show you the hotel name for you to choose.  And the price includes taxes and stuff... no add-on fees (except wherever you park your rental car).  The train does run on the harbor side of the hotel so try to get a room high enough where you don't get too much train noise.  Other hotels I considered to have a good location and reasonable price were the Royal York and Royal Meridien King Edward.
 
Things to do:
  • Mamma Mia at Royal Alexandra was awesome.  I think the shows run is over now.  Check out mirvish.com for what is there now.
  • Hockey HOF was very good.  I was a little disappointed at how each HOF'er only gets a plaque.  I was hoping for more Rod Langway items..
  • Day trip to Niagara falls - must do... even 2 days would be good
  • CN Tower - excellent especially the glass floor
  • Gretzky's restaurant - very cool for the hockey fan (great jerseys!) and the food was good too. 
  •  Casa Loma - ok.  Its nice but no Hearst Castle.
  • Royal Ontario Museum - boring.  Typical museum fare. 
  • Bata Shoe Museum - Cathy liked it a lot. 
  • Art Gallery of Ontario - good.  Some good stuff and some "why is this here?" stuff
  • Eaton Centre - cool mall. 
  • Skydome - We saw a BlueJays game.  They also have CFL games in the summer (it was set up for football when we ate at the Hard Rock).
  • Maple Leaf Gardens - not.  I found it hard to believe that a hockey icon was boarded up and falling into disrepair.  I think it is going to be converted into a grocery store. 
  • CBC Museum - Good.  right accross the street from the hotel and free too.  A perfect filler for an hour or two.
  • Stratford festival - So-So or Excellent.  I guess it depends if you are an English major or not...  Driving to Stratford is another day trip.
Hopefully some of this helps would-be Toronto travellers...

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The first night we ended up getting dinner at the Hard Rock at the Skydome.  How adventurous.   Travelling 3000 miles and getting a burger.  LOL!   Hard Rock is kind of a vacation staple, though; we are now 3 for 3-- Sydney, Maui, and Toronto.

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Mike with the Stanley Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Or as Cathy likes to say, the closest that anything Capitals will ever come to the Cup.

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Cathy with the Stanley Cup

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The view from the Maid of the Mist as we head out to the falls.  These are the American falls.

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This is the view of our hotel, the Intercontinental Toronto Centre, from the CN tower.  I'd say the hotel was very good quality (not Maui Prince or Sydney Four Seasons level) but had an excellent location.  You could walk to the theaters, Hockey Hall of Fame, and Skydome.  And it was close to the train station for longer distance sightseeing.   Mike booked a smoking deal on the hotel + car rental through hotwire.com.  Hint: If you book a hotel + car, they show you the hotel name as well as the cost.

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The view through the glass floor at the CN tower.   Cathy bounded right out onto the glass floor and had a great time.  Mike had to psyche himself up for about 15 minutes before he went out onto it (and then jumped up and down on it like a 5-year old).   There is just something odd about standing on a clear glass floor about a bazillion feet from the ground.

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Niagara Falls.  Pretty self explanatory...

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The view from the Maid of the Mist as we get to the end of the trip.  Cathy in front of the Canadian falls.  At this point you are really getting soaked.

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This is a view of the Toronto city from the CN tower.  This picture really should be clicked for a better (more pixels) view.