My wife and I like to take vacations abroad. We have been to places around the world such as Jerusalem, New York City, Tokyo, Sydney and Mexico City. As we were discussing our summer vacation plans, we were stumped. We were not sure where to go until a co-worker of mine suggested that we go to Canada for Canada Day. Honestly, we did not know very much about the holiday, but were interested in going to a different country and joining in their festivities.
There are many great places to visit in Canada and I had always wanted to go to Toronto. I think the reason was since I liked the professional baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays. Anyway, we boarded the plane and flew to Toronto a few days before Canada Day was celebrated. We purchased a few books and informational guides about the history of the celebration. We learned that the celebration began on July 1, 1867 with the colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada becoming the country of Canada. Although it became a country, it was under the umbrella of the British Empire until 1982, when it officially became entirely independent. Many businesses close on July 1 in honor of the celebration.
My wife and I discussed where we wanted to stay. Toronto has plenty of places to lodge such as international hotel chains, bed and breakfasts, local motels and much more, like Hotel Le Germain Maple Leaf Square, One King West Hotel & Residence, The King Edward Hotel and Jare’s Place Bed & Breakfast. Eventually, we agreed upon a hotel and reserved our room a few months before Canada Day. It was a good thing we did, since many rooms were already booked. It excited me since there would be many people in the city and I liked being where events and action are.
Getting to Toronto was easy, as we booked our non-stop flight to Toronto through Air Transat. After we landed and passed through customs, we decided to take a taxicab to our hotel. As we traveled, we visited with the cabbie about our excitement about exploring the city during Canada Day. He told us that this celebration was not exclusive to the city, but it was all over the country. In fact, one of the biggest celebrations is in the capital of Ottawa. At Parliament Hill, there is an amazing fireworks displays as well as live music, sports activities and much more. In addition to this, he stated that many cities and towns have festivals and parades to celebrate the Day.
We were glad to get to Toronto a few days early since we could visit various festivities. My wife and I found ourselves going to Harbourfront Centre a few times while we were in the city. There was plenty of activities and live music for everyone to enjoy for a number of days. Although we had never heard of any of the musical groups, we enjoyed the music and made it a point to purchase some songs online. In addition to this, there were plenty of street vendors who sold wares such as clothing, flags and works of art. My wife in particular was thrilled with the large amount of shops who sold merchandise at Lake View Market. We found great items for ourselves and merchandise for our family as well. Shopping and sightseeing made us hungry and there were plenty of dining options for us to visit such as local vendors who sold fried foods and local dishes. A special fireworks show was presented at the Harbourfront Centre one evening that was incredible. I am pleased to state that there was plenty of space for everyone, including children, to see the amazing display.
We wanted to go to a parade that truly gave us a taste of the true celebration of Canada Day. Therefore, we went to East York. East York is a district in the city, which has plenty of things to see and do. One of the biggest reasons that we chose to visit East York was the parade that it held each year for Canada Day. There were many floats, politicians, marching bands and other people who were in the parade. We took plenty of pictures on our digital camera as we saw entertainers and people who highlighted this special occasion. When the parade was over, we visited vendors who sold food as well as merchandise. Something that really came across to us was the wide variety of activities for children to do. There were many rides to go on, mascots to say hello to and crafts to create.
Before we went home, we stopped at Black Creek Pioneer Village, which holds a citizenship ceremony each year. There was a fee to get in, but it was worth it. I had never seen a ceremony like this one and it was wondrous to see people of many different ethnicities become Canadian citizens. It was something I will never forget. While we were in Pioneer Village, we visited the museum, walked around various gardens and said hello to friendly animals.
Our trip to Toronto to experience Canada Day was fascinating. The people were fantastic and quite friendly. There were plenty of things for us to see and do. Those and other experiences made our trip amazing. We are planning to visit Toronto again and hope to visit another city in Canada to get a new experience of Canada Day.
