Winter
Ah, the fabled Canadian winter! Traffic stalls as drivers navigate ice- rain storms, floors are slushy with pedestrians’ snow-trailing footprints and the city hibernates. But if you can’t beat it, you may as well join it. Ice hockey epitomises the Canadian winter and the long cold months provide ample practice time. Wrap up warm and head to one of Toronto’s 17 free public ice rinks. Nathan Phillips Square is perfect for beginners with skates for hire and a slower, family- friendly vibe where the occasional slip is no cause for embarrassment. Other rinks have dedicated hockey sessions where anyone can join a neighbourhood shinny game, although this is not for the faint hearted – players skate hard and fast, sticks cracking and the puck a blur.
When you can’t feel your fingers anymore, defrost in a cosy bar or cafe. For such retreats Toronto’s ‘board game cafes’, like Castle Board Game or Snakes & Lattes, are ideal. Here friends cluster around tables playing long-time favourites or obscure new titles with helpful ‘wizards’ on hand to explain the rules and provide coffee, beer and chocolate brownies. What better way to spend a winter’s evening than with a competitive game of Scrabble over a few pints?
Spring
Eventually the snow melts, the icicles drip away and hanging baskets of flowers adorn every corner store. Torontonians emerge from their dens as bars throw open their gardens and people lap up the first rays of warming sun. Try the hip microbrewery Bellwoods, with its ever-rotating range of beers, where a white picket fence surrounds homely picnic tables to create a relaxing spring-time ambience. Or, grab some take-away bottles and a Frisbee and head to a nearby park. Just down the road Union’s tiny back patio is delightfully shaded and, come dusk, enchantingly illuminated by criss-crossing strings of lights. The delicious, locally-sourced food doesn’t go amiss either.
As the temperature climbs, Kensington Market is another neighbourhood that’s best explored in fine weather. An enigmatic vibe surrounding a few laneways rather than a specific building, it’s an eclectic mish-mash of vintage clothing shops, family-owned butchers, fresh juice stands, tattoo parlours and an organic supermarket. The fiercely protective residents have resisted large corporations and what remains is a fascinating and unique melting pot of ages and cultures.
Toronto’s growth shows no signs of slowing down; thousands make the move from across Canada and the world every year, certain to find somewhere to call home in this sprawling, pulsating city. The people, creativity and joie de vivre ensure that visitors who make the effort to truly embrace this city will be richly rewarded.