Toronto – It’s not THAT bad
Well, this is it. Three months gone by in a flash. As a generalization, people from Vancouver like to turn their noses at anything Toronto. Toronto is too hot, cold, smoggy. Toronto thinks it’s the centre of the universe. They don’t have mountains like we do. The criticisms are true, but it’s not all that bad. Here’s a short list of things I like about Toronto (the summers anyway):
1. Cheap produce and food in general. I don’t know what it is but there’s a lot of cheap food to be had in this city. 2 chicken shawarmas for $7.99? Check. Smokies for $3.00? Check. Vietnamese sub for $1.75? Oh yes, check.
2. There’s always something to do for free. In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve checked out the Pride Parade, Caribana, Feast of India, Taste of the Danforth, free concerts at Queen’s Park, Afrofest and other random events in and around the city all for free.
3. Things stay open later. I walked home at 1030pm on a Sunday and there were still tons of people out and about. I biked home around 2am on a Friday and people were on the street like it was 8pm. There are 24h diners and grocery stores, bakeries open til 11pm, people milling around all day and all night long.
4. It’s truly multicultural. Vancouver likes to think of itself as multicultural. But we’re really not in comparison. Sure we have restaurants serving different kinds of foods and fusions, have “multicultural” events, and like to talk about how multicultural we are but we just don’t have the same kind of diversity as Toronto because we simply don’t have as many people.
5. A bicycle is a mode of transportation, not a fashion accessory. Not that a bike can’t be a fashion accessory but in Toronto I feel like there’s no in-crowd, out-crowd associated with cycling. Most people have crappy mountain bikes here, they go at whatever pace, they wear whatever they want, and “coolness” is just not a factor. One complaint – people don’t wear helmets and I don’t know why.
Well, that’s it. Not to say that there’s nothing bad about Toronto. I just thought that I’d defend it a little 
Next stop, Varanasi.
