I am back from Toronto

[doormanpoet]

Well after a week of being in Canada, I am glad to be home. I visited Niagra, St. Catharines, Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Missassagua, and Toronto. I flew into Buffalo, NY and I drove to Oakville and stayed there. Toronto was only 20 miles away.

Toronto is very American except there are no billboards, tin can gas stations, and the city is very clean, (except for the train tracks). We took the train into Toronto each time. Ahhh, mass transit. It is wonderful.

I went up in the CN Tower at 1815 feet! There are two observation decks. One at 1200 feet and one at 1400 feet. The view is amazing. I went to the one at 1200 feet.

The skyscrapers are utterly amazing. Its an architects dream to see this city. They have 5 million people with 2.5 million in the city at any given time. Over 40,000 commute daily to the city.

The tallest is the BOM Tower at right about 1000 feet followed by the Scotia Bank at 985 feet. The CIBO Tower is about 900 and the new condo tower at 51 stories is 29 feet wide and 850 feet tall! It is the thinnest skyscraper in the world.

Toronto has about 2050 buildings over 10 stories! This includes the cities I mentioned above. From Niagra to Toronto is about 70 miles, so the MSA involves 50-75 miles in any direction.

The total population for Canada is 30 million, so because of a smaller tax base, Canada is VERY expensive. The USA is pushing 300 million so that is why it is so inexpensive to live in the USA unless you live in NYC, Chi Town, L.A. and Atlanta etc...

Buffalo is in bad disrepair. When we drove through to and from the airport, it looked old and delapidated.

[Rural King]

Sounds like you had a great time. Any pics forth coming?

Glad your back safe and sound though. Glad you had a fun vacation.

[ricky_the_great]

I went to Toronto in 2000. The most distinct memory i have is in the CN tower. parts of the floor are glass. so when you stand on them you can litterally see the ground 1200 feet under you. Im not scared of heights, but this my friends, was enough to make my knees shake. but then again i was a freshman in high school

[it's just dave]

Welcome home, Poet. We've missed you. Glad you had a great time and look forward to hearing more. A friend was visiting Toronto at the same time and she had similar things to say. I've yet to visit.

The CN Tower sounds remarkable. The last time I was up that high was being outside on top of the World Trade Center, Sept. 2, 2001. Nine days later....well, we know about that. Another height experience was Kings Island's Drop Zone, not so high, but same category for little old me up oh so high. 7 days later, cardiac event. So, in following the 3rd time's charm tale, I think twice about really tall stuff. lol.

Heights generally don't bother me unless I'm dangling somewhere, so I guess that means the coaster in Vegas will have to do without me.

Look forward to more wise words (blog entries included) from the Poet.

[doormanpoet]

I'll post pics soon. Mywife is going to put them on the internet on a webpage. The file is too large to email.

One of the great things about Toronto is the public art! They have a beautification law which requires developers who build the towers to also place public art outside their buildings. The Toronto website has pics of these art displays. I guess I can't put the website on here, but go ahead and google Toronto to get the link...Can I say Google?