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Toronto

Canada, Ontario

About Toronto

Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe.

Nature

The city is intersected by two rivers and numerous tributaries: the Humber River in the west end and the Don River east of downtown at opposite ends of the Toronto Harbour. The harbour was naturally created by sediment build-up from lake currents that created the Toronto Islands. The many creeks and rivers cutting from north toward the lake created large tracts of densely forested ravines, and provide ideal sites for parks and recreational trails. However, the ravines also interfere with the city's grid plan, and this results in major thoroughfares such as Finch Avenue, Leslie Street, Lawrence Avenue, and St. Clair Avenue terminating on one side of ravines and continuing on the other side. Other thoroughfares such as the Prince Edward Viaduct are required to span above the ravines. These deep ravines prove useful for draining the city's vast storm sewer system during heavy rains, but some sections, particularly near the Don River are prone to sudden, heavy floods. Storage tanks at waste treatment facilities will often receive too much river discharge causing them to overflow, allowing untreated sewage to escape into Lake Ontario closing local beaches for swimming.
During the last ice age, the lower part of Toronto was beneath Glacial Lake Iroquois. Today, a series of escarpments mark the lake's former boundary, known as the Iroquois Shoreline. The escarpments are most prominent from Victoria Park Avenue to the mouth of Highland Creek, where they form the Scarborough Bluffs. Other observable sections include the area near St. Clair Avenue West between Bathurst Street and the Don River, and north of Davenport Road from Caledonia to Spadina Road; the Casa Loma grounds sit above this escarpment. Despite its deep ravines, Toronto is not remarkably hilly, but elevation differences range from 75 metres (246 ft) above-sea-level at the Lake Ontario shore to 209 m (686 ft) ASL near the York University grounds in the city's north end at the intersection of Keele Street and Steeles Avenue.

Infrastructure

Toronto is the large international cultural centre where stop during their tours many leading world actors. In Toronto there is a considerable quantity of theatres and concert halls. Also one of the sights is covered stadium with a unique sliding roof (Rogers Center, ex- SkyDome) where play Toronto Argonavts and Toronto Blu-Gace. Great concerts of pop stars take place usually in covered stadium — a house platform of basketball team Toronto Raptors and hockey Toronto Maple Leafs, under name Air Canada Centre. Two times a year the Canadian Fashion week L’Oréal Fashion Week is held in Toronto at Nathan Phillips Square.
Toronto is also known for a wide choice of museums (AGO — Art gallery of Ontario, ROM — the Royal museum of Ontario, etc.), unique parks and recreations.
Recently Opera and Ballet theatre Four Seasons Centre which is famous for the acoustics has been opened in Toronto. Two troupes (Canadian opera and national ballet) by turns use this theatre building.
It is interesting both original architecture, and good acoustics - Roy Thomson Hall — a concert hall opened in 1982 and reconstructed in 2002. Here are took place not only concerts of a symphonic orchestra of Toronto, but also the main actions of Toronto Film festival.
Among numerous sights of the centre of Toronto it is necessary to specify:
* CN Tower — the highest (since 1991 to 2007) television tower in the world (height 553,33 m) with rotating restaurant and high-speed lifts.
* Court building the Osgud-hall (1829—59, architect F.Kamberlend, etc.).
* Castle Casa Loma (1911—14, architect E.Lennoks) — eclectic imitation of a medieval castle.
* Municipality Building (1965, the architect V.Revell, etc.).
* RATN — an underground heated city under the centre of Toronto. Almost all skyscrapers in the centre have some underground floors in which shops, restaurants, small parks and fountains, various offices etc. are located. All of them are connected by underground transitions (the general extent more than 27 km.) and to five stations of underground, and also with all large underground parkings. The business people goes down in winter in RATN for a dinner and after work, here it is possible to meet bankers and employees, students and tourists, people of all nationalities and colours, and also to hear almost all languages of the world. Often workers of the central offices lodge in flat complexes directly over metro stations, then not only the car is not necessary to reach the work, but also winter clothes in a cold season — RATN allows to avoid an exit on outside
*Hockey Hall of Fame — gallery of development of Canadian and European ice hockey.