• Going to Canada. What should I know?
    78 replies, posted
There are some sweet wax museums in Niagra Falls if you're into that sorta thing. Also, order poutine whenever you get the chance because it is without a doubt the greatest food ever.
Check out the ROM and the AGO. Hyde Park, Queen's Park and Kensington Market are also really nice. Eaton Centre has great shopping, but is pricey. If you're heading out to the Greater Toronto Area, try Pacific Mall for the authentic asian mall experience and Vaughan Mills for a huge outlet mall. Be sure to drop by Canada's Wonderland if you have a day free. The TTC will get you where you need to go - the transit in the GTA is much more expensive. Treat people exactly like you would in the UK, we're a part of the commonwealth and the queen is our head of state, after all.
[QUOTE=WolvesSoulZ;39034329]Home of the heaviest drinkers. [/QUOTE] Newfoundland is part of Canada if you didn't know..
All of this is good advice so far. But come to Ottawa! The city that is constantly under construction, roads suck, public transportation is expensive and slow, and with surprisingly little to do for a city of 1.5 million! Actually, I love Ottawa. If you visit, try some of the Lebanese food - seriously. This shit is to die for. The place to look for is "Shawarma Palace" on Rideau Street. Also the Parliament Buildings are very nice, tours I think are free and offered in English or French. The Byward Market, The Ottawa 67's (Junior A OHL hockey every Friday during the season, tickets are super cheap), check the bars downtown for good punk or rock shows. I guess if you promise not to want to hang out you can PM me and I can show you the places to look for good entertainment. Chinatown and Little Italy are small but nice (Somerset & Preston Streets, respectively). There's nothing to do in Gatineau (on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, north of Ottawa), unless you're exactly 18, in which it's legal to drink there and not in Ottawa. Have a nice time while you're here, but even Canadians like me, who have seen 8/10 provinces know they haven't seen it all.
I'd suggest going to the maritimes, like Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Don't live there personally but it's probably the most beautiful, laid-back part of Canada.
[img]http://www.cs.uleth.ca/~holzmann/photos/BC_other/HelmckenFalls.jpg[/img] Interior BC is great for a week-long trip in the summer too!
Just want to say thanks to everyone for passing all the advice. It is really helpful to planning the trip. I'll pass all the suggestions onto my friend. He mainly handles the traveling since his good at budgeting and has traveled outside the country many times before. But I'm hyped and can't wait to come to Canada. I'm sure I'll enjoy my stay. :smile:
[QUOTE=Oneperson;39034804]Check out the ROM and the AGO. Hyde Park, Queen's Park and Kensington Market are also really nice. Eaton Centre has great shopping, but is pricey. If you're heading out to the Greater Toronto Area, try Pacific Mall for the authentic asian mall experience and Vaughan Mills for a huge outlet mall. Be sure to drop by Canada's Wonderland if you have a day free. The TTC will get you where you need to go - the transit in the GTA is much more expensive. Treat people exactly like you would in the UK, we're a part of the commonwealth and the queen is our head of state, after all.[/QUOTE] Nah man don't go to Vaughan Mills or Wonderland, no one likes Woodbridge, not even us Woodbridge people :v: Also don't know why you didn't suggest Yorkdale.
[QUOTE=Sixer;39036680]All of this is good advice so far. But come to Ottawa! The city that is constantly under construction, roads suck, public transportation is expensive and slow, and with surprisingly little to do for a city of 1.5 million! Actually, I love Ottawa. If you visit, try some of the Lebanese food - seriously. This shit is to die for. The place to look for is "Shawarma Palace" on Rideau Street. Also the Parliament Buildings are very nice, tours I think are free and offered in English or French. The Byward Market, The Ottawa 67's (Junior A OHL hockey every Friday during the season, tickets are super cheap), check the bars downtown for good punk or rock shows. I guess if you promise not to want to hang out you can PM me and I can show you the places to look for good entertainment. Chinatown and Little Italy are small but nice (Somerset & Preston Streets, respectively). There's nothing to do in Gatineau (on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, north of Ottawa), unless you're exactly 18, in which it's legal to drink there and not in Ottawa. Have a nice time while you're here, but even Canadians like me, who have seen 8/10 provinces know they haven't seen it all.[/QUOTE] Thanks for the info. If I have internet access while I'm their I'll see if things can be arranged. But I won't know till I'm their. But I know I want to get a photo of Downtown Toronto at night. Looks amazing.
[QUOTE=d_cover;39037800]Thanks for the info. If I have internet access while I'm their I'll see if things can be arranged. But I won't know till I'm their. But I know I want to get a photo of Downtown Toronto at night. Looks amazing.[/QUOTE] If you're in Ottawa, any Starbucks, Second Cup (A Canadian chain of nice coffee shops), or Bridgehead (a local Ottawan chain of coffee shops; hipsters and nouveau riche frequent here) will have free wifi. Remember to buy an adapter to charge your electronics in North American outlets.
If you're expecting to watch an NHL game, the season is locked out so you're going to have to check out a minor league game.
Most of the Toronto touristy stuff has already been said, but I'd like to correct an earlier thing about shooting ranges, a friend of mine from the States came up and we went to one about an hour's drive from Toronto called Target Sports. Their range is mostly handguns, but they have some rifles and shotguns. They advertise letting people shoot without needing a license on their website, and as long as you have valid photo ID with address, doesn't really matter where you're from, like I said, I had a friend from out of country shoot there. If all you're looking to do is shoot clays with a shotgun, there's TITS, Toronto International Trap and Skeet, and the Oshawa Gun Club in the area, again both about an hour's drive from the city. I've never been to either of thee places, mostly because I suck at sporting clays. Another place is a bit farther out, near Niagara Falls, it's called Silverdale. They'll let you try shooting without a license on weekends, but you have to call and make an appointment and schedule a day to go down. They have handgun, rifle, and shotgun including slugs and sporting clays trap. As for near Vancouver I have no idea. [editline]31st December 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=bobsynergy;39037202]Nah man don't go to Vaughan Mills or Wonderland, no one likes Woodbridge, not even us Woodbridge people :v: Also don't know why you didn't suggest Yorkdale.[/QUOTE] Maybe because Yorkdale is a shitty, overpriced mall? The only good things there are the theatre and the Rainforest Cafe. Besides, Vaughan Mills has go-kart tracks.
[QUOTE=DaCommie1;39038743]Most of the Toronto touristy stuff has already been said, but I'd like to correct an earlier thing about shooting ranges, a friend of mine from the States came up and we went to one about an hour's drive from Toronto called Target Sports. Their range is mostly handguns, but they have some rifles and shotguns. They advertise letting people shoot without needing a license on their website, and as long as you have valid photo ID with address, doesn't really matter where you're from, like I said, I had a friend from out of country shoot there. If all you're looking to do is shoot clays with a shotgun, there's TITS, Toronto International Trap and Skeet, and the Oshawa Gun Club in the area, again both about an Hoyt's drive from the city. I've never been to either of thee places. Another place is a bit farther out, near Niagara Falls, it's called Silverdale. They'll let you try shooting without a license on weekends, but you have to call and make an appointment and schedule a day to go down. They have handgun, rifle, and shotgun including slugs and sporting clays trap. As for near Vancouver I have no idea. [editline]31st December 2012[/editline] Maybe because Yorkdale is a shitty, overpriced mall? The only good things there are the theatre and the Rainforest Cafe. Besides, Vaughan Mills has go-kart tracks.[/QUOTE] We're staying in Downtown Toronto. So if you have any info about shooting ranges their where being a tourist won't be an issue I'll take any advice you have. Always been interested in giving it a go since the UK is very tight on fire arms it will probably be my only chance to try it.
There are only 2 ranges within city limits due to the last mayor being an idiot and shutting the rest down, then banning more from opening, and both are very secretive and annoying. Your best bet for trying a myriad of things would probably be trying to get an appointment for Silverdale since they have nearly every kind of Canada-legal shooting there, and failing that Target Sports doesn't need an appointment, but to get to basically all of the ranges I listed you need a car, transit doesn't run to any of them. Possible remedies for this include renting a car for the day or trying to befriend a Torontonian with a car and having them drive you. Unless, of course, you want to head to one of the city's various ghettos, I'm sure you could easily find guns there, and probably be given a place to shoot them, and if you can't run fast enough from the sirens you'll even make the news! I'm joking, of course.
[QUOTE=DaCommie1;39038835]There are only 2 ranges within city limits due to the last mayor being an idiot and shutting the rest down, then banning more from opening, and both are very secretive and annoying. Your best bet for trying a myriad of things would probably be trying to get an appointment for Silverdale since they have nearly every kind of Canada-legal shooting there, and failing that Target Sports doesn't need an appointment, but to get to basically all of the ranges I listed you need a car, transit doesn't run to any of them. Possible remedies for this include renting a car for the day or trying to befriend a Torontonian with a car and having them drive you. Unless, of course, you want to head to one of the city's various ghettos, I'm sure you could easily find guns there, and probably be given a place to shoot them, and if you can't run fast enough from the sirens you'll even make the news! I'm joking, of course.[/QUOTE] Looks like I may have to leave it since we will be using taxi's and public transit to get around but we did plan on seeing Niagara Falls. So I'll look up Silverdale and see if we can get to that one. Thanks for the info. :smile:
You could probably take a taxi to Target Sports, it would just cost a fairly large sum of money, likely in excess of $50. The cost would, of course, go down the closer to the central-north-eastern end of the city you got by TTC, but it's still liable to be pretty high. I've never tried taking a taxi in Toronto since if I don't have my car with me I'm always somewhere that's serviced by the TTC in some way. If you can find the time, money, or car I'd definitely recommend going, shooting is a really fun experience.
[QUOTE=DaCommie1;39038935]You could probably take a taxi to Target Sports, it would just cost a fairly large sum of money, likely in excess of $50. The cost would, of course, go down the closer to the central-north-eastern end of the city you got by TTC, but it's still liable to be pretty high. I've never tried taking a taxi in Toronto since if I don't have my car with me I'm always somewhere that's serviced by the TTC in some way. If you can find the time, money, or car I'd definitely recommend going, shooting is a really fun experience.[/QUOTE] I would love to give it a try. More interested in just shooting at targets and seeing what it is like to use a gun. I doubt I have the skill to hit a moving target. But we are going with a large amount about over $3,000 I think it adds up to converting the currency. So if we have the time I'll make sure we cease the moment.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kheG0k83G0o[/media] Video to get you hyped
I wish we had cities we could walk around in here... Our cities tend to be wide and not very tall. That's like... Greenville has like a small fraction of the population of Jackson, but I think it's actually bigger than Jackson. [QUOTE=Faz;39020601]Don't be surprised when people you've never seen in your life smile at you and say good morning or something[/QUOTE] And this is odd how?
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