Toronto, Ontario, has become Canada's best-known city. Once

saddled with a reputation stodginess, it has been reborn and

revitalized and now stands as one of North America's leaders at

the arts, entertainment, and business.

Toronto boats a vast multicultural mix, with large groups of

Italians, Germans, Portuguese, Ukrainians, Asians, and West

Indians, each contributing to the city's mosaic. The cosmopoli-

tian blend offers visitors fine dining from a seemingly endless

range of the cultures. Shoppers can browse through funky

boutiques on Queen Street West, admire the best of designer

fashions in the renovated district of Yorkville, or visit Eaton

Centre, a four-level $25-million retail complex. For people-

watching and plenty of culinary delights, there's Kensington

Market, which features fresh produce, fish, and plenty of

friendly conversation. The city was designed and, since,

renovated to make the most of its settings on the store of Lake

Ontario. The best view is from the CN Tower, a 553-metre spire

that is considered the world's tallest free-standing structure.

Nearby is Harbourfron, a lakeside shopping, dinning and

entertainment area whose restored warehouse is a centre for flea

markets, art studios, and crafts shops. Much of the appeal of

Toronto lies in its sence of history, which dates back to 1749

when French fur traders from Quebec established a ford on the

site. The residents have worked to ensure the survival and

revitalization of such areas as St. Lawrence Market (the place to

be on a Saturday when the farmers bring in their wares) and a

booming Chinatown, chock-full of restaurants and grocery stores.

Toronto is a cultural bastion, with the ultra-modern O'Keefe

Centre, which is home to the Canadian Opera Company and the

National Ballet of Canada; the Art Gallry of Ontario, with more

than 15,000 works - from Old Masters to contemporary art - in

its permanent collection; and the Royal Ontario Museum with its

vast array of art and artifacts from cultures the world over.

business and finance from another important element of the city,

and Toronto's skyline is dominated by the high-rise towers of

financial institutions. Among the most notable is the Royal Bank

Tower, with its distinctive gold-embedded windowpanels.

CN Tower

At 553.33 meters the CN Tower is considered the world's

tallest free-standing structure. Construction took 40 months,

cost $57 million, employed 1,573 workers, and was completed in

June 1976. A slender column resembling a giant needle, it

weight 132,080 metric tons - the equivalent of roughly 23,214

large elephants.

Visitors can step inside one of four glass-faced elevators

and be whisked to the Skypod Observation level in under a

minute. In all, there are three observation decks, at 342,

346, and 447 meters aboveground, the world's highest

public observation galery. Each of these offers panoramic

views of greater Toronto, Toroto Islands, and, on a clear day,

Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New york. Spectacular views are

also to be had from Top Of Toronto, a restaurant at the

350-metre level that makes a full revolution once every 72

minutes, and Sparkles, a nightclub at the 346-metre level.

Those who prefer to dine on the ground level can enjoy a

snack in the family-style restaurant. The tower is a stroll

away from the lakefront and a walking tour of Harbourfront

parks and marinas.

As any famous structure might, the CN Tower has inspired

legions of would-be record setters. It has the longest metal

staircase in the world (2,570 steps), which is made available to

the public each year for a charity stair climb. Stuntman Dar

Robinson has jumped from the top of the tower twice - once with

a parachute for the filming of the movie HIGHPOINT (1979) and

once using a wire cable for the TV show "That's Incredible." On

the tower's tenth anniversary, "Spider Man" Goodwin completed

two free-style climbs outside the glass elevator-shaft window.

SkyDome

SkyDome is the world's greatest entertainment center. It's

a home to the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Argonauts as well as

host to wide variety of other sporting spectaculars, concerts,

family shows and consumeers shows.

Just how big is Toronto,s SkyDome? Well, you could put

eight Boeing 747s on the playing field. Or all of Eaton

Centre. Or a 32-home subdivision. Or the Roman Colosseum.

Even with the retractable roof closed, a 31-stoerey buildings

could fit inside the structure.

The $500-million buildings opened on June 3, 1989, after

32 months of construction. On that day, inclement weather

forced the developers to prove that the multi-panelled roof

could be closed in just 20 minutes. The roof runs on a series

of steel track and bogies, weighs 11,000 tons - the

equivalent, roughly, of 3,734 automobiles - and is made up of

steel tresses covered by corrugated steel cladding.

The eight-acre stadium offers sports fans five levels

of seating and the world's largest video replay screen. More

than 50,000 people at a time can watch a football or a baseball

game, and there,s also a 350-room hotel built into the north

end of facilty, with 70 rooms offering a view of the playing

field.

But the building is much more than a place to wach sporting

events under an open roof. There are 23 fast-food stands, 48

beverage outlets, a 430-seat restaurant for quick-service

dining, a 300-foot-long bar overlooking the field, the largest

McDonald's in North America, the Hard Rock Cafe, and a 120-seat

movie theatre where tours of the building begin. The CN Tower is

a stroll away from the stadium.

Royal Ontario Museum

Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, knows affectionately as the

ROM, is Canada's Lagest Public Museum, made even grander by a

recent $55 million renovation and expansion project, covering

the permanent galleries. Founded in 1912 and opened two years

later, the ROM today attracts more than one million visitos a

year. Amoung its impressive holdings, which number more than six

million objects and speciments, are a Roman galery, housing the

country's most extensive collection of antiquities; the famous

Dinosaur galery, with a mastadon, stegosaurus, and other

prehistoric creatures "at home" in jungle settings; a world-

class textile collection, with colorfol walhangings, peiod

costumes, and richly patterned fabrics on display thoughout the

museum; and the renowned Chinese colection, with 800 pieces

displayed in traditional room settings and special gallery

areas. Of particular note are the giant stone camels and

guardian figures of the Ming Tomb, the only Chinese tomb in the

Western world. There are also galleries devoted to artifacts of

Ontario and Canadiana.

Next door is the McLaughlin Planetarium where the Theatre of

the Stars uses 85 slideand video projectors to create planets,

exploding stars, and other galactic phenomena. The Sigmund

Samuel Building, a fiew blocks south of the main ROM building,

focuses on Canada's rich cultural heritage with displays of

antique toys, coocking utensils, oil paintings, pottery and

sculpture. The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramc Art, directly

across from the main ROM building, is the only museum specia-

lizing in ceramic in North America.

Niagara Falls

Every year more than 12 million people flock to Ontario to

see the breathtacking natural phenomenon knows as Niagara Falls.

Many are honeymooners, although no one is quite sure how that

tradition got started. They come to see the combined cascading

power of the 54-metre Canadian Falls - knows as Horseshoe Falls

- and the American Falls, which soars to 56 metres. Together,

these thundering cataracts rush over the brink at the rate of

39.1 million Imperial gallons of water per minute.

Statistic don't do justice to the majesty, the danger, or

the romance of the Falls. They have to be seen in person, and

there are a variety of ways to view the spectacle once your get

there: four Maid-of-Mist boats enter the Horseshoe Basin and

pass directly in front of cataracts; the Niagara Spanish Aerocar

spans mightly whirlpool where the river takes a 90-degree turn;

the Great Gorge Adventure provides a close view of the waters

from half a continent plunging through the gorge at the river's

narrowest point; and three Table Rock Scenic Tunnels allow

visitors to walk behind the Falls. To view the sights from

above, opt for a 10-minute helicopter ride, rise to the top of

the Skylon Tower observation deck via the external glass-fronted

elevators, or visit the viewing platform at the Minolta Tower

and Marine Aquarium.

If the real thing isn't enough, there's always IMAX

Theatre's Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic, shown on a six-

storey screen in the village of Niagara Falls. While you're in

town, you might consider stopping in at any of a number of

places designed to entertain, including the Ripley's Belive It

Or Not Museum, the Elvis Presley Museum, Louis Tusaud's Museum,

or the Daredevils Exhibit.