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Toronto: it's not as bad as you think
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To hear Vancouver's morning DJs tell it, Toronto is a bad place full of bad, stupid people who think they're better than everyone else. That's right; the city I grew up in, where friends and family lead pretty good and interesting lives, has become a punchline for misogynist asshats with microphones, who's only purpose in life seems to be to make people grumpier on their morning commutes.

Bitter? You bet. I've lived in B.C. for 12 years now after coming to the realization that I'm a mountain guy at heart, but the truth is that I'll never really leave Toronto. Too many people are there that I miss, and I have too many reasons to go back year after year.

And while I'll acknowledge that it's on the flat side (I prefer to think of it as "rolling"), it's really not such a bad place to visit. In fact, I encourage all British Columbians who believe they were born in the only worthwhile place in Canada to travel east sometime. You need to go to the Maritimes. You must visit Quebec and the awesome cities of Quebec and Montreal. And, without a doubt, you have to face up to the urban leviathan that is Toronto, even if the idea of so many snooty people packed into one place makes you slightly nauseous - if only so you can say you came by your hatred of Toronto honestly, instead of basing your opinions on hearsay from the Dirty Dan and Marty McFartpants Morning Drive radio show.

If you do heed this advice and decide to take on the beast that is Hogtown someday, you really have to do more than visit the Eaton Centre to get a sense of the place (although you should definitely go there and get a milkshake at Mr. Greenjeans while you're there).

Toronto - partly through sheer numbers, and partly because it was built that way - is the arts, culture and music centre of Canada, and you really have to experience it to understand why so many people love to live there despite the 401 traffic and the fact that none of their sports teams ever seem to win anything.

On the arts front you can visit the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Gallery (little bit of a drive) or any one of dozens of other art galleries that can be found in and around the city. Or just go for a walk, because in Toronto the art is as much on the streets as it is strung up on walls.

For high culture, there's the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum - which has dinosaur bones out the ying-ying- and live theatre that's second only to Broadway. At any time of year you can find performances going on at venues like Massey Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, the new Four Seasons Centre, Princess of Wales Theatre, Royal Alexandra Theatre, Scotiabank Theatre... the list is long. If you're on a budget, Dream in High Park - one of two big Shakespeare festivals in the region, including the Stratford Festival just outside of Toronto - is by donation.

For music, there's so much going on any given weekend that you literally have to choose between big acts, but for small venues and live music there are a few dozen stages on Queen Street West, College Street West, King Street West that host music four or five nights a week. I went to the Horseshoe Tavern to see a band one night, then the Tragically Hip came on to practice their new album. Only in T.O.

I'm serious when I say that Toronto really is a great place to party with lots of great pubs, clubs and bars for every specific taste.

And the restaurants are unbelievable. I love eating out in multicultural Toronto, with every type of food you could possibly want at all hours of the day. And it's relatively cheap - I bought Thai food for five, with drinks and dessert, for under $100.

For me, a night out in Toronto would usually start with a drink somewhere, then dinner somewhere else, progressing on to a pool hall or rooftop patio (depending on the season) for a little while longer while deciding what you want to do with the rest of your night. I'm not into dancing so much, but usually there's a pretty good live band you can get into by paying $10 at the door. If it's a big night you go to an after-hours club, and there are lots of those. If not, you go and eat somewhere - Greek, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, and all of it open late, late, late. I'd recommend visiting a Fran's, friend to all insomniacs and people who will soon be battling hangovers, or Mars if you're uptown or Sneaky D's if you're in the west end.

For daytime entertainment there's a lot to do. The Toronto Zoo is recognized as one of the five best zoos in the world, so big it would be a challenge for anyone to see it all in a day - my daughter could have spent two hours at the penguin exhibit alone. Canada's Wonderland is Canada's biggest and best amusement park with the biggest roller coasters and attractions in the country - including The Behemoth, currently the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada until 2012 when The Leviathan is opened on the other side of the park. There's the Hockey Hall of Fame, which is in an incredible building and takes several hours to properly enjoy. There's Ontario Place. There's the CNE (similar to the PNE but probably three times larger). There's the Ontario Science Centre. There's Toronto Island with its incredible south-facing beaches (including Toronto's answer to Wreck Beach), kids'-sized amusement park and biking. There's the Toronto Harbourfront area with the CN Tower, Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), entertainment district, Roundhouse, Queen's Quay. There's the white sand Toronto Beaches on Queen Street West and Lake Ontario, which you can actually swim in these days (as long as it's not right after a big rain storm - and there are a lot of those, usually with some incredible lightning).

If you're into shopping, then you have your choice - Bloor Street and Yorkville are at the high end, and a trip down Yonge or Queen streets will get you everything else. Dundas and Spadina is the start of Chinatown, and nestled in behind Spadina is the Kensington Market - a street full of two-century-old townhouses selling everything under the sun.

Speaking of the sun, it's warm there - at night as well as during the day. Some people bitch about the humidity, but honestly there's something great about putting on shorts and a T-shirt in the morning and not worrying about what happens when the sun goes down. After the summer we've had I enjoyed every percentage of humidity Toronto had to offer me.

If you think you'd miss mountain biking too much to go to Toronto, then you should know that the city is filled with deep, green ravines that are lined with trails. The Don Valley/Crothers Woods trails network features a nine-kilometre out-and-back route with wood bridges, steeps and some good technical terrain. The city is surrounded by trail networks, many of them on the rocky Niagara escarpment or in the ski areas to the north of the city. There's also an indoor park - 90,000 square feet, in Markham.

And the best part about Toronto? Getting out of it. The city is surrounded by cottage country, from the Thousand Islands to the Kawarthas, to Haliburton, to Muskoka, to Lake Simcoe, to Georgian Bay, to Lake Huron, to the region surrounding Ottawa.

Yep, Toronto - It really is a great place to visit, even if you wouldn't want to live there.