| Like a needle jabbing into the sky, the CN Tower dominates Toronto’s cityscape and is its most famous attraction. Since its completion in 1976, the tower has attracted company – at its foot stands the SkyDome (the world’s first retractable dome stadium), while further east is the Air Canada Centre (a brand-new, state-of-the-art hockey and basketball arena). Immediately to the north is the dense cluster of office towers that comprise the Financial District, including some architectural wonders by Mies van de Rohe (Toronto-Dominion Centre) and Santiago Calatrava (the galleria at BCE Place). Interspersed between these – and even underlying many of the buildings – are some of the city’s main shopping areas, with the theatres and nightclubs of the Entertainment District to the west, and some of Toronto’s chief tourist attractions just to the north. The latter include Toronto City Hall, a gem of modern architecture, the nearby Art Gallery of Ontario, the vast collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, and the medieval-inspired 20th-century castle, Casa Loma, which stands a bit further to the north. In the city’s west end, the enormous, sweeping patch of green known as High Park unfurls, while along the waterfront Ontario Place and the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds provide fun days out for families with children. Beyond the trail-laced ravine of the Don Valley to the east of the centre, is The Beaches, with chic boutiques and a waterfront promenade. |