Toronto certainly wasn’t on our near-term bucket list of travel destinations. But as I told Mr GeoK when he mentioned the opportunity, if the company you co-founded is invited to a TSX closing bell celebration to mark 20 years as a publicly-traded entity, you go! When else in your lifetime are you likely to have that opportunity? And since the only sights I’d ever seen in Toronto = YYZ (Toronto Pearson Airport), I asked to tag along.

Day 1 Solo Sightseeing

Our flight from Calgary arrived late in the afternoon. By the time we checked into our downtown hotel, it was time to head out for supper. So our first opportunity for sightseeing was the next morning. Mr GeoK was tied up with work-related meetings pretty much all day. I left the hotel carrying a list of planned stops, listed in logical visiting order based on my pre-trip research. I considered it my rough plan for the day and planned to add stops if other attractions caught my attention.

Stop 1 – Spiral Fountain

The main reason this bronze sculpture / fountain was my first stop? It’s about a five minute walk from our hotel. With 4.3/5 and a couple of good photos on Google Reviews I figured why not? It’s by Canadian artist Judith Schwarz and was installed on the hotel terrace deck at Rogers Centre in 1990. I came away seriously underwhelmed. Two reasons: 1) no flowing water; and 2) it’s overgrown by closely planted shrubs that quite overwhelm the art.

It’s developed a nice patina over the 25+ years it’s been installed. And I can imagine how it’d be a a cool oasis in the heart of Toronto with flowing water. But for me, its only redeeming feature was its location…

Stop 2 -The Audience

…right outside Rogers Centre. BTW, it’s confession time. Despite becoming a bandwagon Toronto Blue Jays fan during their 2025 World Series run, I was somehow oblivious to the fact that our hotel was 5 minutes from Rogers Centre. And what first caught my attention wasn’t the SkyDome. It was Part 1 of The Audience by Canadian artist Michael Snow, dating back to1989.

Installed 15 meters above street level, it’s 6 meters wide and depicts 7 Blue Jays’ fan archetypes. These are Waver, Man and Boy, Nose Thumber, Camera Man, “V” for Victory, Oh No!, and Pointer. According to this 2025 article in Foyer, the gold-painted figures are made of steel, foam and fibreglass.

I did not, at the time, realize I was photographing Part 1 of 2. A little later, after circling the entirety of Rogers Centre, I discovered Part 2. The archetypes here are Binoculars, Muscle Man, Thumbs Down, Fatso, Clapper, Ear Wagger and Lady Pointer.

I imagine if Michael Snow were alive and working on The Audience today, it’d include Kiss Cam. And I think he missed a possible Easter egg – Pointer and Lady Pointer pointing at each other. But who knows, maybe there are other Easter eggs I missed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Stop 3 – CN Tower

This was a “walk past with a pause for a photo” stop, mainly because we’d be visiting as part of a planned half-day guided tour of Toronto. And the main reason I stopped for the photo = a virtual geocache.

I offered to take a photos for a tourist couple. After I composed a few different frames with them at the CN Tower, they asked me to pose with her while he took a photo of the two of us. So now I’m in some random strangers’ camera roll!

Also, the CN Tower celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The Royal Canadian Mint produced special CN Tower 50th Anniversary Toonies ($2 coins). I picked up on this far enough in advance of the trip to purchase one roll of each version. We loaded them in protective holders and handed them out to everyone attending the closing bell celebration. A small, easily transportable keepsake of our trip, and spendable if keepsakes aren’t your thing. 😉

Canadian illustrator Carl Wiens designed the 50th Anniversary side. It depicts the CN Tower overlooking Lake Ontario, upsized to dominate the contemporary downtown Toronto skyline. The obverse features His Majesty King Charles III by Canadian artist Steven Rosati. As of the date of writing, there are 72 coins by the Royal Canadian Mint that feature His Majesty King Charles III.

Stop 4 – Rogers Centre

We did look into whether we could take in a Blue Jays game during our visit. No. Unfortunately, we didn’t take the next logical step of investigating whether we could take a tour of Rogers Centre. We assumed that tours are only available pre-game, the way Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena limits tours to pre-Kraken games. But Rogers Centre tours are available almost daily. It’d be great to take a tour during a home stretch, to maybe even catch a Jays practice. Next time!

Stop 5 – Matching

After circling Rogers Centre, I picked up the pace and headed west towards Canoe Landing Park. My objective was to photograph Douglas Coupland’s Bobber Plaza. Along the way I got distracted by Matching. It’s a temporary art installation by the Toronto-based artist duo Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster. The multi-coloured strips of reused plastic(?) fluttering in the breeze reminded me of all the FIFA-inspired national flags affixed to condo and apartment balconies. I took the chance to practice longer-exposure and intentional camera movement photography.

Stop 6 – Approaching Red

While photographing Matching, I noticed another sculpture at the end of the street. Installed between two condo buildings, it was funded by the developer, Concord Adex Inc. I watched a video about the sculpture’s unveiling but I can’t articulate the artist’s vision for this piece. At various points, Iraq-born Maha Mustafa describes how it’s about life, particularly life in the city; about how no one can feel an emotion without also being capable of feeling the opposite emotion; and there’s a reference to how the curving sheets of steel were shaped to resemble delicate sheets of curled paper arranged in a dance.

This 2013 piece invites viewers to walk around and through, noticing reflections of themselves and their surroundings. Crouching between the two brilliant red panels, I discovered they beautifully frame the two condo towers and their connecting bridge.

Stop 7 – Canoe Landing Park

I finally got back to my plan, with a stop at Bobber Plaza (Canadian artist Douglas Coupland, 2009). This group of oversized fishing bobbers remind me of the TRIO sculpture at Calgary’s central library (2018).

I struggled a bit to come up with pleasing photo compositions of Bobber Plaza. Then I discovered a shiny push button that caused random water spouts to go off. Of course I pushed it! Then I had fun with puddles of water and reflection compositions!

The adjacent Douglas Coupland Beaver Dam fountain was not operating, so I have no idea what that’s like when the water is running.

Douglas Coupland also created Tom Thomson’s Canoe, installed at the southern tip of Canoe Landing Park. At least it used to be installed there. After arson/vandalism in 2025, the sculpture was removed and is being redone in more durable materials. Meanwhile, I got to see a pop-up FIFA World Cup-related “sculpture.”

In fact, Douglas Coupland created all of the public art in Canoe Landing Park. He conceived them as a playful way to evoke Canada’s cottage country in the heart of Toronto.

Also in Canoe Landing Park is the Terry Fox Miracle Mile. It’s a loop of 10 photo installations that – when traveled twice – is 1 mile. I missed all of it, except for the replica of a football-sized, heart-shaped rock that Terry’s brother retrieved from the spot near Thunder Bay where Terry ended his run on September 1, 1980. (Note – other internet sources say Coupland retrieved the rock, or maybe that was the granite erratic on which the Love stone sits? Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile various websites.)

Stop 8 – Toronto Music Garden

I opted to include Toronto Music Garden on my list of stops because I loved the photos of all the spring flowers I saw online while trip planning. It wasn’t until I arrived on site that I learned it has six distinct sections, each corresponding to a movement in Bach’s Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello.

It wasn’t until I was back home that I learned Yo-Yo Ma worked with landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy to interpret, in nature, the music of Bach’s suite for a film – The Music Garden. As a result of the film project, they teamed up with Rhombus Media Incorporated and approached the city of Boston about creating an actual garden. The Boston site fell through. Toronto ultimately became home of The Music Garden. Two Canadian artists created special features – the Music Pavilion (Tom Tollefson, architectural blacksmith) and the Maypole (Anne Roberts).

I had a couple of bird encounters at Toronto Music Garden. First, I sat and watched an American Robin bathing. Then I had a Red-Winged Blackbird fly by and grab at the top of my head. I guess I walked too close to it’s nest!

Also in the Toronto Music Garden, I sat down beside a sculpture of Terry Fox. That was the second reminder of his “Marathon of Hope” I’d seen in Toronto.

Terry Fox

Then a few minutes later, a third public installation honouring Terry Fox, this time a three part sculpture called “We Are Shaped by the Obstacles We Face.” It’s a citizen-led public space initiative and the work is a collaboration between the artist, Jon Sasaki, and the landscape architects DTAH. If you stand in a certain spot, the three pieces of the sculpture form the familiar silhouette of Terry during his long run across Canada.

Seeing so many memorials to Terry Fox in Toronto got me wondering whether there’s anything similar in Calgary. The short answer is no. There is an exhibit about his run at the Canada Sports Hall of Fame at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park. There is also a Terry Fox School in Calgary, and a Terry Fox Memorial Park in Cochrane. But there are no Terry Fox sculptures or other public art installations in Alberta, according to the Wikipedia page.

Stop 9 – Ireland Park

My next stop = Ireland Park, a short walk from Toronto Music Garden. One regret I have about our most recent trip to New York City is that we didn’t make it to the Irish Hunger Memorial. My interest in this chapter of history sprang from our hike up Suilven in Scotland, where there’s a famine wall. And I remain interested, in part because we have an upcoming trip to Ireland.

Toronto’s Ireland Park is dedicated to Irish Famine emigrants to Toronto between 1846 and 1849. In 1847 alone, approximately 38,500 Irish men, women and children landed in Toronto, then a city of just 20,000.

About 20% of those who embarked in Dublin perished at sea or soon after arrival in Canada, including at the quarantine station at Grosse Île, Quebec. Within months of the migrants reaching Toronto, the city recorded 1,186 fatalities. Some of their names are inscribed on Ireland Park’s sculptural memorial columns, composed of limestone from Kilkenny, Ireland.

Also in the park are 5 sculptures by artist Rowan Gillespie, which tie back to a larger group of 7 similar statues in Dublin. The full story of the statues can be read here.

Stop 10 – Little Norway Park

I found Little Norway Park just across the entrance to the Billy Bishop Airport ferry terminal from Ireland Park. The park’s name commemorates Little Norway, the training base on this site during World War II that was used by the exiled Royal Norwegian Air Force.

The only thing remaining from Little Norway is the base of a flag pole. In 1976, a 3,000 pound boulder from Norway was transported to the park as a permanent monument to Little Norway. Crown Prince Harald of Norway unveiled the boulder in 1976.

The battery in my big camera died as I photographed Little Norway Park. That’s when I discovered my back up battery was also dead. Fortunately, one of those batteries can charge directly via a USB-C port, so I plugged it into my power bank and put my big camera away for awhile. I’d be phone camera only for an hour or so.

Stop 11 – Monument to the War of 1812

After three parks, I again switched gears and headed off in search of yet more public art. I headed roughly north from Little Norway park to another Douglas Coupland sculpture, “Monument to the War of 1812.”

Stop 12 – Waveside

Like my first stop of the morning, I found this sculpture to be less impressive than the photos I’d seen during my trip planning. Nonetheless, I came away with photos capturing the artists’ intentions of creating something that looks like a giant breaker hitting the side of a ship. This stainless steel sculpture was designed by Toronto-based collaborative artists Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins.

Stop 13 – SOMA Chocolatemaker

My route to SOMA Chocolatemaker on King St W included Sir Isaac Brock Bridge. Then I went part way along Puente de Luz. Both cross over the Union Station Rail Corridor, which includes lines for GO Transit, VIA Rail and the Union Pearson Express.

By the time I reached SOMA Chocolatemaker it was about 12:30. And since I’d left the hotel without eating, my tummy was starting to grumble. Not good, given all the tasty bean-to-bar chocolate on display. I ended up giving in to the gelato bar. And I enjoyed the best gelato I’ve had since our trip to Italy in 1995. I also left with more than a dozen bean-to-bar chocolate bars to take back to Alberta!!

By the time I left SOMA, I had enough charge on my big camera battery that it would last for the rest of my planned sightseeing.

Stop 14 – Uniform, Measure, Stack

At this unplanned stop, I found a giant thimble atop a stack of giant buttons. On my walk back to the hotel, I noticed there are also a couple of button-shaped planters that are part of the 1997 installation by Canadian artist Stephen Cruise. And I completely missed the “measure” part of the installation – a tape measure wrapping around the north-west corner of Richmond Street West and Spadina Avenue.

The Toronto Fashion Industry Liason Committee and the Toronto Transit Comimission Art Progarm for the Spadina LRT cosponsored the piece. It recognizes the contribution of garment workers who worked in the old garment district along Spadina. As textile production moved out of Toronto, the old factory spaces were repurposed as artist studios. More recently, the neighbourhood has transformed again. Condo developments dominate the area.

Stop 15 – Graffiti Alley

Google Maps has pins for Graffiti Alley, Graffiti Lane, Graffiti House and – a few blocks away – Graffiti Alley West. I’m not sure I made it to all of those spots, but I definitely wandered for several blocks, taking WAY too many photographs. At one point I interrupted my own photography to take a photo of another tourist in front of the hummingbird using his camera. Such a simple thing to do, yet he thanked me profusely.

Graffiti Alley is in the Fashion District and runs parallel to Queen Street West. Continuously evolving as new art is painted over old, it’s along a one km stretch of Rush Lane (3 city blocks). In 2011, the Queen Street West BIA succeeded in having Graffiti Alley designated an area of municipal significance, so the street art here is legally sanctioned.

It’s a popular area for photo shoots, and to see street art from the likes of Duro the Third, uber5000 and ELICSER. The area has been used as a backdrop for “rants” segments of CBC’s “Rick Mercer Report.”

Two things stood out for me. First, the couple of pieces of street art that incorporated broken china and purpose-made ceramics. Most notably, one of these is a tribute to the Blue Jays’ 2025 World Series run.

Second, in a few places street artists incorporated the architecture or other hard goods into their art. Examples include the ceiling of a parking area, an old school phone box, a natural gas fitting and broken skateboard decks.

As with the extensive street art in Valparieso, Chile, there’s an unfortunate amount of tagging here that obscures the actual street art.

Return to Hotel

With my step total climbing towards 25,000 and the start time for the TSX closing ceremony approaching, I headed back to the hotel to shower and change. I also wanted to get my chocolate bar purchases into an air conditioned space.

Enroute to the hotel, I spotted the front entrance for the offices of CPA Canada. Since Mr GeoK and I have both earned the designation, I snapped a quick pic.

Closing Ceremony at the TSX

I was a guest at Mr GeoKs’ company’s ringing of the closing bell ceremony at the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stars of the event were a handful of board members and senior officers and managers of the corporation. One TSX vice president attended, and some other TSX staff, too.

Before the main event I chatted with people. And I watched the photographer take a bunch of individual, group and “all hands” photos. About ten minutes before closing there were two speeches. Then it was time for the big countdown. I thought the countdown with confetti was fun. Everyone was so busy clapping and cheering they were almost late pushing the bell to close Canada’s main stock market for the day!!

Note – I asked – they don’t reuse the confetti. They use a leaf blower to blow it against one wall where it’s easy to vacuum up!

I left the company’s team to continue celebrating and to enjoy the snacks and chat about the experience. Meanwhile, I headed outside to take in a few more public art installations.

Dreaming

This 8.5 meter (three-story) tall, 2.5 tonne sculpture by Jaume Plensa was installed in 2020. “Lucia,” as she’s also known, is yet another Jaume Plensa optical illusion. When viewed from the side, the face seems incredibly flat. But from the front, it looks like a “normal” 3D face. It sits in the heart of Toronto’s Financial District, right outside the TSX offices.

Pyramid Fields

This temporary installation was part of Toronto’s 2026 Luminato Festival. Artist Cyril Lancelin created two geometric installations. They are based on the shape of a pyramid and transform what’s been a long-standing symbol of stability and balance into something soft, temporary and immersive.

2026 is the 20th year running for the Luminato Festival, which seeks to transform the city with extraordinary art experiences. These range from performance arts to visual arts to film and even speaker series. Events range from one-time, ticketed (pay) experiences to open all the time free activities.

Group Dinner at Estiatorio Milos

I had the pleasure of tagging along to the celebratory dinner at Estiatorio Milos. This highly acclaimed Greek seafood restaurant opened in 2024, with the space designed to resemble a Greek market. We ate from a set menu in a private room. The menu included Milos Special, a towering appetizer of fried zucchini and eggplant. I don’t understand why this restaurant is rated only 4.4 on Google. The food and service were excellent.

Half-Day Guided Tour

Professional tour guide Mike Carter brought his historian, storyteller and entertainer skills to our half-day guided tour of Toronto.

CN Tower

We started at the CN Tower, pretty much the same place I’d started my solo sightseeing the previous morning. But this time we went up the main elevator to the main observation deck (346 meters or 114 storeys above ground level). Mike gave us ample time to walk all the way around, taking as many photos as we wanted. We struggled with reflections off the glass and should have brought our flexible lens hoods for situations like this.

Next we ducked into OverView, included with a general admission ticket. Here, we had the chance to step up and lean out for a unique vantage.

Finally, we went 33 storeys higher, to “The Top” – the highest observation platform in the Western hemisphere. The way the windows angled out on this level made it possible to take some top down perspective photos. One window framed the roof of the main observation deck, the closed roof of Rogers Centre and the Roundhouse train museum.

Back down the ear-popping elevator ride I noticed an epi-pen first aid station. First one I’ve ever seen in the wild! You see defibrillators everywhere, but not epi-pens.

Outside, Mike pointed out the entrance to the Blue Jays shop and then we piled into our van for a short drive to our water taxi to Toronto Island.

Toronto Island

More specifically, our water taxi delivered us to Ward’s Island, one of 15 small islands interconnected by bridges, boardwalks and walking trails. Ward’s Island is on the eastern end and is primarily residential. Roughly 650 people live in the 262 homes on the island, many of them seniors.

Attractions on Ward’s Island include a beach, a canoe club, a cafe and a disc golf course. For us, the main attraction was the Toronto skyline view across the harbour. We saw a pair of mallard ducks and a kayaker paddling along the shoreline.

Taken together, the Toronto Islands are about 5 km (3 miles) long. In addition to water taxis, you can reach the islands from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal. Swimming beaches include a clothing optional beach on Hanlan’s Point. There are restaurants, playgrounds, a lighthouse and even a public grade school.

The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is located on Hanlan’s Island and is accessible via a 121-metre pedestrian tunnel or the airport’s dedicated 24/7 ferry. The airport is a point of contention, with the Ontario government wanting to expand the airport to allow modern jet aircraft to land. This would meet travel demand and reduce pressure on Pearson International Airport. It would require acquiring city-owned lands at fair market value, including a large portion of Little Norway Park.

The plan faces pushback from municipal leaders, waterfront residents and environmentalists. Public consultation is currently underway under the oversight of Transport Canada.

Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square

The next stop on our guided tour was Nathan Phillips Square and Toronto City Hall. Nathan Phillips Square was all decked out for FIFA World Cup 2026. A double mini-pitch is set up instead of the usual fountain. The archways are covered in bright banners. And somehow, windows in one of the two towers of Toronto City Hall have been changed to FIFA colours. Select live events will be broadcast at Nathan Phillips Square (including Round of 16 Canada vs Morocco which, sadly, Canada lost. But hey, it’s the first time Canada’s men’s team has made it past game their game one at the World Cup).

Toronto City Hall was designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell, who won the first architectural competition in Ontario to allow international architects. The two boomerang-shaped towers and central meeting chamber combine to make a fine example of Neo-Expressionist Modern architecture. It opened in 1965. The Toronto logo and city flag both have stylized versions of the building.

In the atrium, we admired David Partridge’s 1965 “Metropolis” sculpture, made of 100,000 nails. Outside, we noticed Three-Way Piece No. 2 (aka “The Archer”) by Henry Moore, installed in 1966.

I walked the long way around the square as we headed back to the van so that I could get one photo of Toronto’s Old City Hall. It housed municipal government operations beginning in 1899. Designed by prominent Toronto architect Edward James Lennox, it is a Romanesque-style building with a distinctive clock tower. In 1984, Old City Hall was designated a National Historic Site.

St. Lawrence Market

The present day St. Lawrence Market building was constructed in 1845 as Toronto City Hall. It’s been rebuilt twice, but still incorporates a section of the original building. But the history of the site as a market dates back to 1803, when a proclamation established the area as a public market. National Geographic named St. Lawrence Market the world’s best food market in 2012. Today it houses 120 permanent, family-owned specialty vendors over 2 levels, including butchers, bakers and fishmongers.

At our first stop in the Market, Mark introduced us to Toronto’s signature peameal bacon sandwich, which led to the city’s nickname “Hogtown.” What is peameal bacon? It’s pork loin cured in brine and rolled in cornmeal. But its name comes from the fact that it used to be rolled in crushed yellow peas to extend its shelf life.

Our second stop was for dessert – our choice of raisin, pecan or plain butter tarts.

Finally, we headed to the basement for hot beverages, if desired. I enjoyed a very nice London Fog.

Our bellies full, our guided tour came to an end…right in front of the restaurant where we had lunch reservations! (✿◠‿◠) Fortunately, the menu included pizza, so we could share. Even then, we couldn’t finish.

Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Tasting

Mid-afternoon, back at the hotel, we enjoyed a very special experience. Ry, the owner of chachalate, led us in a chocolate tasting. We learned about cacao producing regions and the process that converts cacao pods to delicious dark or milk chocolate. Our lesson ended with the opportunity to taste 3 bean-to-bar samples – from Tanzania, Vietnam and India. We also peeled and cracked some roasted cacao beans and sprinkled them on a delicious homemade chocolate mousse – a new product that Ry is testing.

We’d been in email contact with Ry the week before, so he came with a box of stock, ready to fill our order. As at SOMA the day before, we selected more than a dozen bars to bring back to Alberta. Our bean-to-bar inventory has been replenished – at least for a few months!

Casual Sightseeing

We needed to burn off some of those chocolate calories, so we headed out for more sightseeing, beginning with a walk past the CBC building. This 13-storey building opened in 1991, centralizing 22 previous locations. Of interest, the broadcasting studios are insulated from any subway disturbances by 3,000 massive rubber pads.

Next, we headed for the Blue Jays shop, where Mr GeoK treated himself.

We returned to our hotel to leave his souvenirs and freshen up for supper and then headed back out, taking a long and convoluted route to dinner.

Berczy Park

Stops included Berczy Park, with its whimsical dog fountain and a view of the trompe l’oiel on one side of the Flatiron building. Beginning in 2015, triangle-shaped Berczy Park gained all new plantings and hardscaping. Its centerpiece is a new, two-tiered dog-themed fountain with a golden bone atop. A nearby pair of bird sculptures and a couple of cat statues add to the playfulness.

The Flatiron Mural, by Calgary artist Derek Michael Besant, is visible from Berczy Park. The Flatiron building itself is not much to see at this time. Two sides are surrounded by scaffolding due to an ongoing project to convert the heritage building into condos. Of note, Toronto’s Flatiron building is 10-years older than the taller and more famous Flatiron building in New York City.

The mural is notable because it’s one of the first pieces of public art commissioned by the City of Toronto. They paid the artist $8000 to create the trompe l’oeil mural in 1980. Careful viewers will note it looks like a piece of canvas or cloth tacked to the red brick back wall of the Flatiron Building. On the “canvas” is a partial depiction of the F&G Perkins building across the street, at 41 Front Street. The mural has been refurbished twice since 1980, first in 1997 and again in 2008. It’s made of 51 individual panels.

Hockey Hall of Fame

From Berczy Park we headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame. We arrived past closing time, so had to make do with admiring some of the exterior sculptures. The Royal Canadian Mint sponsored the Team Canada ’72 Millennium Tribute, honoring the historic Canada vs Soviet tournament that resulted in Team Canada being named “Team of the Century” in a 1999 poll conducted by Canadian Press.

Our Game depicts excited young hockey players climbing over the boards ready for action. The Hockey Hall of Fame commissioned this bronze piece from Ontario artist Edie Parker.

Inside Brookfield Place, just outside the Hockey Hall of Fame’s admission area, is a nearly nine-foot tall statue of Gordie Howe, aka Mr. Hockey, along with some other hockey memorabilia and displays. The Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 1943 and originally planned for Kington, ON (birthplace of hockey). But the NHL preferred Toronto, where it has gone through several iterations. The current location opened in 1993 and houses the world’s largest collection of hockey memorabilia. This is another stop on our “must see next time we’re in Toronto” list.

Lots of Colour

Also inside Brookfield Place, we ducked inside the Allen Lambert Galleria where we spotted another temporary art installation thanks to the Luminato Festival. This time we enjoyed Gridded Echo, by Liz West, one of three pieces making up her 3-part Anthems to Colour, installed in three buildings across central Toronto. Gridded Echo was the only one we saw during our trip.

Back outside, we walked past the Pride 2026 rainbow heart hands sculpture. During our three days exploring the city, we noted many businesses were colourfully decorated in support of Pride month. During our half-day guided tour with Mark, we learned that Toronto has a long Pride history, beginning with the first recognized precursor to Canadian Pride in 1971 – a “Gay Day Picnic” on Toronto Islands. The 1972 “Pride Week” is considered to be the first true Pride, and featured a march through the city streets.

Tembo, Mother of Elephants

As we began to aim for the restaurant where we’d be having dinner, we stopped for a visit with Tembo, Mother of Elephants. This three part cast bronze sculpture consists of a mother elephant and two calves. Tembo (Swahili for elephant) is tucked away between Commerce Court West and Commerce Court North. The piece is by Derrick Hudson, born in the UK, grew up in Canada. Tembo is one of the largest bronze elephants in the world, with the mother standing approx. 3 meters tall and weighing more than 80 people. The two calves are unusual. Elephants have exceptionally long pregnancies (22 months) and giving birth two two calves is extremely rare. Calves nurse for about four years.

capsules

Finally, we entered the Berczy Square building to take in “capsules” – a digital media display. Just inside the revolving door to recently renovated Berczy Square lobby, we spotted one of the FIFA beaver sculptures, this one from Norway. The medium for “capsules” is a 30-meter high / two-meter wide LED screen. Its generative content responds to a flow of data that includes the time, the weather, the seasons and sporting events in Toronto, causing the images to morph in real time. There are four “capsule” themes including Living Architecture, a tree that grows by the hour and transforms with the seasons. Other themes include Time, Weather and Sports.The installation was created by Montreal-based creative multimedia studio Gentilhomme.

Then it was time to join Mr GeoKs’ business associates for dinner at Sammarco. Again, the food and service were outstanding, the best of our short time in Toronto. Back here at home, it would certainly garner more than 4.6/5 on Google Reviews. In addition to the outstanding meal, I liked the Lego mosaic in one of the hallways – a nice touch!

Queen’s Park

Our plan for our final full day in Toronto included a walk through Queen’s Park and two to three hours at each of the Royal Ontario Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario. We were away from our hotel for about 8.5 hours, covering 8.4 km on foot (approx. 18,000 steps for me and > 20,000 steps for Mr GeoK).

Queen’s Park is an early example of the public park movement in Canada, officially opened by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) during the Royal Tour of 1860. We approached it from the south, where a statue of Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first prime minister, towered over us. Tucked behind the statue are more than 50 pairs of children’s’ shoes, a silent and poignant memorial to the Indigenous children who died in the Canadian Indian residential school system.

As we approached the Ontario Legislative Building to take a look at the backdrop for the cover of Moving Pictures, the most successful album of Canadian rock band Rush, we learned the first guided tour of the Ontario Legislative Building would begin in about 5 minutes. Did we want to join? Sure!

Ontario Legislative Building

Ontario because a province on July 1, 1867 when it joined Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to create the Dominion of Canada (Confederation Day). Designed by New York architect Richard A. Waite, the Romanesque-style Ontario Legislative Building took six years to build, officially opening in 1893.

The exterior walls are made of Ontario pink sandstone. Inside, the original parts of the building feature cast iron columns and detailing and oak floors and paneling. The Legislative Chamber is lined with beautiful wood carvings and the walls and ceiling feature murals by artist Gustav Hahn. The east wing is original, while the west wing was reconstructed under the direction of Toronto architect EJ Lennox after a major fire in 1909. The Italian marble interior of the Neoclassical west wing contrasts markedly with the older east wing. A new north wing was also constructed in the early 1900s, housing the Legislative Library.

Our 30-minute tour included a walk down the main hallway of the east wing, where we got a refresher in the respective duties of the three levels of government that exist in Canada. We also had time to study several display cases featuring current and past MPPs who had sports careers (not something we expected to see, TBH). We also walked past the Premier’s office, other MPP offices, the hall of former Premiers and the legislative assembly hall.

Royal Ontario Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum is Canada’s largest and most visited museum, attracting more than one million visitors each year. Open since 1914, the museum has a close relationship with the University of Toronto, often sharing expertise and other resources. The original building is in the Beaux-Arts style. A modern 2007 addition was designed by Michael Lee-Chin. At least the ground floor portion of the new space was undergoing repairs or upgrades during our visit.

ROM is so big that it’s impossible to see everything in one visit. We planned our visit to take in a few of the temporary exhibitions and the “Dawn of Life” section which includes fossils from the Rocky Mountains’ Burgess Shale beds.

Bees: A Story of Survival

This visiting exhibition was created by the National Museums Liverpool, in partnership with award-winning artist and sculptor Wolfgang Buttress. The installation highlights 120-million years of bee adaptation, relaying the tale of these essential creatures and their relationship to the natural world with interactive environments, fossils, film, soundscapes and more. The extra admission fee for this special exhibition was well worth the outlay. I came away more determined than ever to keep practicing wildlife and pollinator-friendly gardening.

Also, I learned some very interesting facts about the life cycle of bees and about their sense of sight. For example:

• Bees see via 5,000 to 8,000 light-guiding tubes called ammatidia; together they piece together a mosaic-like view of the world.
• Bees see blue, green and ultra-violight lightwaves.
• The are extremely near-sighted.
• Bees prefer to visit cool flowers when it’s hot out and warm flowers when it’s cool out. This is because bees are cold-blooded, so they rely on their environment and their own muscular vibrations to warm up their flight muscles. Many flowers can moderate their temperature to better attract bees!

Shokkan

This is a ROM-original exhibition that explores the connection between Japanese objects and the human sense of touch – shokkan – a vital element in the creation, appreciation and circulation of Japanese art. There are a few pieces that visitors can actually touch, but it’s an otherwise “imagined touch” experience. I was particularly stricken by the Archive of Rememory by Canadian artist Emma Nishimura. It’s comprised of a series of bundles made with paper, using a Japanese folding technique called furoshiki. The paper is printed with photos of the artist’s grandparents and other Japanese Canadians incarcerated in internment camps during World War II.

Crawford Lake

Crawford Lake is a short run temporary exhibition detailing research findings from taking core samples from the sediment at the bottom of Lake Crawford, a short distance from Toronto. The sediment layers are a remarkable record of humanity’s impact on the planet. Researchers have learned about the effects on the land and waters from when Indigenous communities started growing food here in the 13th century up to the present day.

Dawn of Time and Dinosaurs

We finished our visit on the second floor, perusing the permanent displays in the Dawn of Life Gallery and then walking through the Dinosaurs section.

One of the wall paintings in the Dawn of Time caught my eye. Surrounded by ancient sea creature fossils was a Pablo Neruda quote: “I need the sea because it teaches me…” Before traveling to Patagonia earlier this year, I probably would not have noticed this. But because we visited the Nobel-prize winning poet’s home in Santiago, my brain made the connection. And isn’t that one of the joys of life…noticing connections and feeling connected?

Art Gallery of Ontario

We walked past the AGO to eat lunch at a highly-rated (4.7/5 on Google Maps) Korean BBQ restaurant. The Korean fried chicken was passable. The rest of our meal not so much. The Google restaurant ratings in Toronto made no sense to us. How could this place be rated higher than Milos and Sammarco? The only possible explanation we could come up with = the $19.95 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet and its proximity to U of T.

Architecture

Established in 1900 as the Art Museum of Toronto, the museum acquired its current location in 1911, moving into The Grange, a Georgian manor. Since then, it’s undergone at least seven expansions, most recently a major expansion from 2004 to 2008 by Frank Gehry. Interestingly, although Frank Gehry born in Toronto, the AGO expansion was his first Canadian commission. Hallmarks of the design include warm wood, extensive use of glass and a dramatic sculptural staircase which I seen referred to as the “Baroque Staircase” because of it echoes the ornate sweeping curves, dramatic movement and experiential focus of the Baroque period. It’s partly inside the building and partly outside the building, visible from Grange Park, behind AGO.

Another major architectural feature of the AGO from Frank Gehry’s project is the Galleria Italia. The length of a Canadian football field, the warm Douglas fir timbers and curving glass are elevated above Dundas Street. The space has been described as everything from “Toronto’s living room” to “the skeleton of a ship’s hull or the ribs of a corset” to “the great belly of the whale.”

From our hotel room we could see Canada’s other Frank Gehry project, Forma Towers, under construction. And writing this reminds me that someday we want to go see his Guggenheim Museum design in Bilbao, Spain.

Group of Seven

The AGO hosted the inaugural exhibition of the Group of Seven in 1920. We walked through the Thomson Collection of Canadian Art on Level 2. Ken Thomson gifted his art collection – the most significant private art collection in Canada – to the AGO. The more than 2,000 works include some 300 works from the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson and signature works from many other 19th to mid-20th century Canadian artists as well as more than 900 European art objects and much more.

For context, Ken Thomson was the son of the founder of the Thomson part of Thomson Reuters Corporation, a multinational Canadian-based content-driven technology conglomerate.

Henry Moore

The AGO houses the world’s largest public collection of Henry Moore’s art, more than 900 pieces. The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre can be accessed from Galleria Italia and features rotating selections of his prints, drawings, plaster works and examples of his bronze casts and carvings (stone and wood).

I wondered why an Ontario museum would be the repository for the world’s largest public collection of a UK artist’s works. From what I’ve been able to find, Henry Moore donated hundreds of works to the AGO as a gesture of gratitude to the city. Apparently, when Moore was commissioned to create The Archer for the new City Hall back in the 1960s, a massive controversy erupted over the abstract art. Then mayor Philip Givens championed the piece and raised private funds to secure the commission. Moore was so moved by this loyalty he made the donation in 1974. It was also a win for him – a way to ensure his working plasters were placed in a climate-controlled, permanent home where they would be properly preserved.

Kazuo Nakamura

Nakamura was interned with his family during World War II. They resettled in Ontario, where Nakamura spent the rest of his life. Over the course of his four-decades-long career, he achieved critical success unprecedented for any Japanese Canadian artist up to that time. He was a member of Painters Eleven, a group of Canadian artists associated with the Abstract Expressionist Movement. The15 paintings in the temporary exhibition come from the AGO collection.

Yayoi Kusama

Over the past three decades (the back half of her 70+ year career), Japanese experimental artist Yayoi Kusama has invited people to participate in her unique visions of infinity. INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM – LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER is installed in a temporary room in AGO, complete with controlled access: leave any bags outside, don’t touch anything, maximum four people at a time, limited to 60 seconds. Lucky us, the day we visited it was very quiet so we lined up four times. It was only on the fourth visit that we discovered the “infinity” aspect to the mirrored room.

Back home, I realized this is the third Yayoi Kusama installation we’ve seen. The first was at the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo in 2025: Narcissus Garden. The second was at Kistefos, also in Norway, a couple of days later: Shine of Life.

I just learned there’s a Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo, which admits a fixed number of visitors per day, based on timed tickets. One day…

David Blackwood

David Blackwood may be one of Canada’s best-known printmakers, but until we took in this temporary exhibition I hadn’t heard of him. AGO is home to Blackwood’s archives and the largest collection of his work in the world. This exhibition demonstrates how his skill as a printmaker developed over his career and shows the multi-step and painstaking process he would go through to create a sort of luminescence in his images of seascapes, dreamscapes and childhood memories.

Ranbir Sidhu

Canadian artist Ranbir Sidhu merges Sikh traditions with precise metal manufacturing to create unique outsized pieces. This exhibit is his museum debut. It was a joy to view and fun to photograph.

Final Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed our full 3 days in Toronto. Highlights included the many parks/green spaces, Art Gallery of Ontario and Royal Ontario Museum. I learned that downtown Toronto is very walkable and that Google Review restaurant ratings in Toronto should be taken with a big dose of skepticism (both on the upside and downside). We’d do our best to schedule any return visit around a Blue Jays home game and would plan to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame. If you live in Toronto or have spent time there, please drop your top recommendations for a future trip in a comment.