1. Big Nickel, Sudbury
A site too grand to fathom. It must be experienced! Larger-than-life, larger than the city of Sudbury . Made to greet visitors and represent their main industry, it has become so much more. It is a holy object along the lines of the Black Monolith in 2001, producing a religious ecstasy. Jerusalem has the Wailing Wall; Ontario has the Big Nickel.
Expect a future article about other big things of Ontario such as the Big Goose of Wawa, Big Polar Bear of Cochrane, and the World's Biggest Tomato of Leamington.
2. Toronto International Film Festival
One of the world's premier festivals for film premieres. This is where Toronto lives up to its reputation of Hollywood North. Tons of films are shot here, in fact Paramount Studios contacted us to do a shoot for the film "Lady's Man" due to our apartment's apparent resemblance to Chicago .
Some of the best in Canadian, international and independent American films have been premiered here. Two years ago Farrah Fawcett was the talk of the town in one of her now-frequent bouts of drugged-out incoherence. September 9-18 at locations around the city.
3. Tacky Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls is the capital city of Canada 's tackydom! It's our Las Vegas , except with only one casino. After fending your way through the hordes of tourists for your obligatory 5 minute view, the real tackiness begins. To simply see the Falls is not enough, you must see it from every conceivable and inconceivable angle. Have fun trying to find the most absurd vantage point, eg. Spanish cable car, caves, helicopter, towers, etc.
The real tackydom treasures are the "museums" along Clifton Hill: Ripley's Believe It or Not , Guinness World of Records, Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum (son of the London 's Madame Tussaud), Houdini's, Criminal Hall of Fame. There's the spook houses such Frankenstein's and Dracula. And miles and miles of glorious plastic souvenirs!
4. Boating the Great Lakes
Lots of places have lakes, but we have the Great Lakes ! Granted, we have to share them with several US states (only because of an unjust, unfavourable border dispute years ago) but we have 4/5 of them, and have all to ourselves the unofficial (and best) 6th Great Lake, Georgian Bay.
If you don't happen to be affluent enough to afford your own sailboat or yacht there are other ways to enjoy a good boat trip. Every town on the lakes has tour boats. Toronto has many.
But I highly recommend the 30,000 Islands Tour out of Parry Sound. I know it's "touristy", but it is a way to see rugged and picturesque scenery otherwise unavailable to landlubbers like me. The islands themselves are part of the Precambrian (aka Canadian) shield, among the oldest rocks in the world.
5. Monarch butterfly migration,
Point Pelee National Park
We've all seen birds migrating. Maybe the site of Canadian Geese migrating in their perfect "V" formation might make one pause. But picture millions of monarch butterflies waiting in the trees for the perfect wind to help carry them over the Great Lakes on their way to Mexico . Now this is a site that is truly amazing. I have not seen it yet, but people come from all over the world to see it. Point Pelee park also has many other sites to marvel at. |