I am proud to call Toronto home, there’s so much to see and do all year round.

Recently, Fairmont ran a contest to make a video about your favourite city, so I decided I would submit an entry highlighting all of the fun things Toronto has to offer. There are so many amazing things you can discover in Toronto including the typical tourist attractions like the CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum, Ripley’s Aquarium, Hockey Hall of Fame, just to name a few.  However, for my video I decided to showcase some of the more “off the beaten path” attractions.  We had a weekend and this was our adventure…

Video Highlights:

• – Afternoon tea at the Fairmont Royal York including exploring the rooftop bee hive – The Royal York was originally built by the Canadian Pacific Railway as part of a plan to promote train tourism.  When it was completed in 1929, it was the tallest building in the British Empire.  The rooftop beehives produce around 450 pounds of honey each year!
• – Picnic and canoeing at Centre Island – The island is a beautiful oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  You can take the ferry or water taxi there, but the most exhilarating way to get there is to canoe or kayak.  You can then reward yourself with a nice picnic in the grassy areas on the island.
• – Exploring the many neighbourhoods of the city – Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world and this is reflected in the different neighbourhoods.  There are 140 different neighbourhoods, each with its own unique character and feel.  We started in the Church Wellesley gay village where we live, went to Little Italy for a gelato, Yorkville for some shopping, the Danforth for some delicious Loukoumades (Greek honey donuts) and Chinatown for some bubble tea and dim sum. Although we didn’t show many food shots – Toronto is known for having top notch restaurants and authentic cuisine from all around the world!
• – CNE – The Canadian National Exhibition (known as “The Ex”) is an annual fair that takes place for 2 weeks at the end of summer every year.  It’s the 5^th largest fair in North America and is a fun place for a date.  There are rides, shows and lots of food… what more can you ask for!
• – Skyline – The Toronto skyline is beautiful, we enjoyed a sunset on our condo’s rooftop garden.  It was the perfect way to end the weekend.

In the end, we had a great time making the video.  We only had a few fights… like when we were at the Ex and Brian ate the corndog before I finished filming the shot. We never made a video before, so we also learned a lot from editing it and putting all of the clips together.  Ultimately, we had our video selected as a winner during the first phase of the contest which was very satisfying…as a result we won a trip to visit Fairmont Manoir Richlieu in Quebec.  But that’s a whole other story….