Leg 11—Ottawa to Toronto: May 8, 2006

In four and one-half hours, VIA Rail’s Train 45 takes me though the route called, the Corridor, from Ottawa to Toronto through the following cities in Ontario: Ottawa, Kingston, Napanee, Belleville, Trenton Jct., Cobourg, Port Hope, Oshawa, Guildwood and Toronto. I arrive in Toronto at 5:00 p.m. or as they tell time in Canada, 17:00. There is still about five hours of daylight left so I have time go to Eaton Centre, which is only four block from Les Amis B&B.. Canada gets dark around 21:30 or 22:00.

GO Transit is Canada's first, and Ontario's only, interregional public transit system, linking Toronto with the surrounding regions of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).The system carries 47 million passengers per year in an extensive network of train and bus services that is one of North America’s premier transportation systems. Officially known as the Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GTTA), GO Transit provides transportation to the communities of the Toronto area.

Les Amis B&B is advertised as a “Vegetarian Bed & Breakfast”. The hosts are Paul-Antoine & Michelle Buer, a French Parisian couple. Not far from the B&B, are the following: Eaton Centre, theatres, restaurants, art galleries and museums, University of Toronto, Ryerson, and only one minute to the College Subway Station.

The B&B has maps near the front entrance. I recognize Dundas Street East and Yonge Street, where Eaton Centre is located. I walked on Church Street toward Dundas and turned west toward Yonge Street. I walk past the Bond Place Hotel where Bob and I stayed on our vacation in 2005. I drink a couple of Bud Lights across the street from the hotel at The Imperial Pub. I then walk to the Eaton Centre

The pub is one block from the Eaton Centre. The Toronto Eaton Centre is a large shopping mall and office complex in downtown Toronto, Ontario Canada. In terms of the number of visitors, the shopping mall is Toronto's top tourist attraction, attracting over one million patrons each week.

One of the most prominent sights in the shopping mall is the group of fiber glass Canada Geese hanging from the ceiling. This sculpture, named Flight Stop, is the work of artist Michael Snow. There are now about 330 stores in the retail complex, which encompasses about 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m²), making it possibly the largest downtown shopping center in North America. With the Eaton’s chain succumbing to bankruptcy in 1999, the department store space at the north end of the mall is now occupied by Sears Canada. Nonetheless, the complex retains the Eaton Centre name, representing an ongoing tribute to Timothy Eaton and the small shop he once opened at this location.

I eat my dinner at McDonald’s in the food court at the Eaton Centre. After walking around the center, I walk down Yonge Street to the B&B, stopping on the way for a few post cards. When I arrive at Les Amis B&B, I realize I don’t have the key to my room. Fortunately, the hosts, who do not live on property, left their telephone number in the hallway. After waiting in the hallway for about thirty minutes, the host, Paul, comes with a new key. We talk for awhile.

I tell Paul that I would be leaving early the next morning to catch my train. He offers me a bag lunch, but I decline because I put him out by losing my key and his having to come back to the B&B. Although the train leaves at 9:00 a.m., I prefer to arrive at the station one to two hours early, especially on trip from Toronto to Edmonton. The train runs the route only tree times each week.

I sleep well, awake early in the morning, walk gingerly on the creaky floors and take a shower. In the hallway was a telephone with a cab number listed on a directory.

Toronto is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario, and is the provincial capital of Ontario. Toronto is a global city with regional, national, and international influence, and is multicultural and ethnically diverse. It is Canada's financial centre and economic engine, as well as one of the country's most important cultural, artistic, and health sciences centres. Toronto was named the world's most livable city in 1994 by The Economist. It was displaced in 2005 by Vancouver, but is still ranked among the top ten.

The city of Toronto proper has a population of 2,481,494 inhabitants (2001 census) and is the most populous city in Canada. The population of the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is estimated at 5,304,100 inhabitants in 2005. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA), slightly larger than the Toronto CMA, is defined by provincial authorities for urban planning purposes. Toronto is at the centre of the Golden Horseshoe, a densely populated region in Ontario which is home to roughly eight million people, or one quarter of the Canadian population.