I'll be there Saturday for sure, possibly Friday and Sunday. I can be the nominal 'leader' of the little mob on Saturday, if need be.

I vote for 518. Seems lucky.

Thanks, Andrew, the mantle is yours for Saturday. Maybe I can catch up with you one day this week and give you the GO JAYS GO boards?

Well, you'll need them Thursday, a game I'm unlikely to come to. And we should try to have them there Friday as well. Let's see who's going when, and then we'll figure it out.

Incidentally, are there lockers at the Skydome? Pitching in for a locker with a combination lock to store Cheer Club paraphenilia would be a helluva idea.

I've never seen any lockers there that were accessable to the public.

Most (if not all) of the lockers have been removed from Union. They weren't for overnight use anyways, though.

While I won't be able to make the 500 or so mile hike up there this weekend, I am planning on taking a road excursion to Toronto this August for the Sox series.

I have never been to Toronto, and I have a few questions about lodgings/games/etc. First, what is the best hotel that is close to the park? Secondly, is the hotel at the park outrageously expensive? Third, what can a Bostonian do for fun in Toronto?

Tom, I don't know how old you are or how much money you want to spend, but you might want to look into hostels. They can be a good time, and there will be other strangers to the city looking for something to do.
How long are you going to be in town for?

what can a Bostonian do for fun in Toronto?

DEMOGRAPHICS

The first thing to get your head around, if you haven't yet, is that Toronto is a fairly large city (CMA about 5,000,000, IIRC. Boston, checking quickly, is a little over 6,000,000, assuming that "CSMA" maps roughly to the same thing as "CMA"). It is, however, spread over a larger area, and has far, far, worse public transit.

Boston is 54% white, Toronto is similar. However in Boston about a quarter of the population in black. In Toronto, it's more like 10%. You will notice a highly multicultural city, one in which all kinds of different ethnic groups intermingle more than you see in a lot of American cities.

Your dollar is worth one and a half of ours.

UNDERSTANDING THE CITY

When you go to New York, you can walk around the Bronx, Brooklym, Manhattan, whereever, and while each neighbourhood has its own character, you'll never lose the sense that you're in NEW YORK. There is an intangible something that gels the city together, a common character or sense of self.

Toronto has no such thing.

The core fact you need to "get" to appreciate Toronto is that it's broken up into dozens of little neighbourhoods, each of which has an entirely distinct character to it. Some of those neighbourhoods are broken along ethnic lines, some among cultural lines, some among class lines. The benefit of Toronto is that everyone will have at least one, probably several, neighbourhoods where they feel completely alive, welcome, and bei sich. So the secret to loving this city is exploring the neighbourhoods, and finding ones you're personally at home in.

The one exception I would make to this rule is that if you'r ein town on a warm Saturday night, you'd be insane not to head over to College Street west of Bathurst starting around 11 or 11:30 at night. Insane. It's the most fun, cool, delicious, night club / cafe/ bistro scene around.

Here's a summary of a few neighbourhoods I know:

Kensington: Bohemian Heaven is found West of Spadina, South of College. Get your vitage suede overcoat here.
College St West: Little Italy buy day, see above by night.
Chinatown: like most Chinatowns you know. Get some Lotus paste Golden Balls from Kim Moon Bakery on Dundas, west of Spadina.
The Village: Has a few names, this is mine. Toronto has a pretty vibrant gay scene, if you're interested. Church Street around Wellesley.
Queen West: The formally 'cool' area of the city. Nice place to spend an afternoon shopping for just the right Capri pants.
The Annex: Students, Professors, Former Students, Writers. Near the University - Bloor West of Spadina. Try to find the Green Room for TO's best dive.
The Danforth: Follow Bloor far enough East, and it turns into The Danforth. Plus it turns Greek and Delicious.

I'm sure the rest of Da Box will pitch in from here...

Tom,

If I remember correctly we were discussing Neko Case in April. Check the band listings but a night out watching a band at the Horse Shoe Tavern is a good bet. Right in the heart of the action at Queen and Spadina, about a 10 minute walk from the Dome. The 'Shoe is one of the best spots for bands and despite the name is not in anyway a country bar. Mix of people from 19 to 50 years old. Also, a couple of bars like the Rivoli are right there.

The best advice I can give to anyone visiting the city is to leave the core. That would range from Bloor in the north, University in the west and if Toronto has a dodgy area it's Jarvis to the East. There is nothing but a mall, office space and business restaurants. I explore every lunch and still find it crap. Though the St. Lawrence Market at bottom of Jarvis and Front is a great place for lunch.

Hotels are city expensive, I don’t think that the Dome hotel is any different. I think that there is a Travelodge on Queen, near Ossington. That’s the only place I can think of that might be slightly cheaper and though it is not close to the dome it is a short walk to Little Italy and Toronto’s newest ‘it’ place the Drake Hotel, which also has rooms but will be expensive.

Toronto does not have any must see attractions, it’s just a nice place to live. Walk around some neighborhoods, catch some bands, eat out all the time. Urban paradise.

This info is really useful for me as well, I just moved here from Vancouver less than two weeks ago and don't really "get" Toronto yet, though I have already seen the Jays at SkyDome twice with two more dates this week. After the Sunday win against the White Sox I was surprised that the downtown core is absolutely vacant on Sundays.

what can a Bostonian do for fun in Toronto?

Well, the traditional tourist spot is the CN Tower.

The Hockey Hall of Fame is right in the city and worth going to even if you don't like hockey that much.

If you're in town the night of a night game take a SkyDome tour during the day.

There's plenty to do on Younge St.

I'm sure the locals here can tell you about the hidden gems of the city.

Check the band listings but a night out watching a band at the Horse Shoe Tavern is a good bet.

I agree. Good venue, good sound.

Hey, Keith, you coming out to the Cheer Club event any of the four days?

Wow, I would definitely not recommend the Hockey Hall of fame. I think you have to be a pretty hard core hockey fan to get anything out of it.
To each his own I guess.

You might consider a day trip to Niagara Falls while you're here.

You can look into what musicals are playing when you're here, and how much they cost.

Queen Street is a fun area to hang out in, and I hear Toronto Island can be nice.

I like Toronto Island. And the Toronto Zoo is world-class, it's really great.

Cool idea Andrew. We should probably capture this info and place it into a visitors guide on the 'Box front page.

More neighborhoods:

Bloor West Village:: The strip of Bloor St. between the High Park and Jane Subway stations. Yuppie central, but a very nice area to wander around (as is the big park right next door).
The Beaches: Another yuppie spot, this one is located between Coxwell and Victoria Park on Queen St. Tons of street level shops and restaurants. And the eastern beaches are a quick walk south. You can get there by taking the Queen Streetcar.
Esplanade/Front Street East:Very close to the dome. If you're a beer fan, you need to pay a visit to the Bier Markt and/or Fionn McCools.

If you're adventurous enough to try a hostel, the best one is supposed to be Candiana Backpackers. Theres a whole bunch listed at:

http://www.hostels.com/en/ca.on.to.html

Also agree on checking out the live music scene. If you want to check out listings ahead of time, you can get them at:

http://www.nowtoronto.com
http://www.eye.net

Try to find the Green Room for TO's best dive.

Is their service still slow? Be warned!
There's also the Red Room (Spadina south of College, I think); it's run by the same people, and has the same ambience.

The nightclub district is bounded roughly by University, Queen, Spadina, and King/Front, if you're looking for that sort of thing.

If you're looking to get away from it all during the day, Toronto has an extensive system of ravineland parks. You can bicycle or walk for miles without seeing a pavement, traffic light, or building (though you will still be able to hear the city - it's not perfect :-)).

We should probably capture this info and place it into a visitors guide on the 'Box front page.

Only if we correct for my superhuman attempts to mistype every word in the mini-essay above.

Try to find the Green Room for TO's best dive.

Is their service still slow? Be warned!

I think 'benign neglect' is the formal service policy there. Bad if you're grabbing a quick lunch, good if you want to spend 6 hours reading without buying anything more than a lattê.

Only if we correct for my superhuman attempts to mistype every word in the mini-essay above.

I was wondering exactly what a "vitage suede" overcoat looked like :)

Hotels are city expensive, I don’t think that the Dome hotel is any different.

I'm not sure what you mean by this alsiem. Toronto is hotel expensive compared to the rest of Canada but dirt cheap for Americans and Europeans.

A $120 Cdn room is about equivalent to a $120 US room in most American cities and probably equivalent to about a є150 room in most major European cities.

Toronto is hotel expensive compared to the rest of Canada but dirt cheap for Americans and Europeans.

True, just meant that $150 room at Hyatt/Merriot/Holiday Inn etc. is a $150 in Toronto too. Not budget accomadation.

Also, no one has mentioned the distillery district at front/parliament.

Try Priceline for hotels. Last September, I visited Toronto for one day and I stayed at a hotel near Pearson Airport (about 20-30 minutes out of downtown) for like US $30/night (like $40 with taxes).

You can check out biddingfortravel.com to see how to bid on hotels and which hotels are in Toronto.

I'd like to chime in on this one...

Every friday night at pauper's which is just a tad east of bathurst on bloor... there is this absolutely sick funk band whose vast amount of talent goes completely under the radar of the toronto music scene.

they play in this tiny bar... everyone gets into how amazing the band really is (during a jam the guitarist broke out a riff of 'the inspector gadget theme' the last time I was there... and they do so for free... for FREE

The singer's voice is like aretha franklin... the drummer, while at the age of 19, is recognized by most of my musician friends and acquiantances as having the best raw stuff out of anyone they've ever seen (the velocity he commands is ridiculous!!!)... and there is really not a week link in the group...

I try to make it out to see them as much as possible... Great way to spend a friday... it really is... never a disappointment...

Another sweet sweet spot is the Madison... the piano man there is killer and will play absolutely anything requested. The Madie is two mansions converted into several 'bars' and patios. You can basically roam from room to room and have something different going on in each of them. Totally cool.

If you want a Skydome tour, I'll give ya free one if you show up for batting practice during a game day.

Thanks for all the great info, it's going to help me alot, but I guess the real question is...

Will you guys be at the park making fun of me and my Red Sox brethren?

The Madison is very cool - big Uni crowd, but I've been there a few times (I'm over 40) and don't feel like a child molestor :)

For beer fans, I'm a stone fan of Smokeless Joe (ask for Eddie or Rob) - John and Adelaide - across from Hooter's. Over 250 bottled beers and tons of knowledge. A little pricey and small, but it's my "Cheers" bar. Five minute walk from the north entrance of SkyDome.

BeerBistro (north side of King, east of Yonge) is a great place - a few too many suits for my taste, but great selections of bottled and draught beer, and tremendous beer-based food. My wife absolutely loves this place.

As for hotels, the Strathcona is pretty close to the Dome and somewhat cheaper than the Marriott, the Sheraton, the Holiday Inn King Street. The Delta is close to the Eaton Center and transit, and also slightly cheaper.

I'm a huge blues fan, if you are too, check out:
- Healey's (Bathurst and Queen - owned by THE Jeff Healey and he plays in a house band most weeks)
- Chicago's - live blues and some funk most nights, west of John on Queen Street - my friend Dylan Wickens has a regular gig Tuesdays.
- The Silver Dollar - a bit of a dive, but cheap beer and an authentic blues club, Spadina north of College (they also have a lot of alternative music in there many nights)
- Grossman's - definitely a dive, but tons of atmosphere - west side of Spadina south of College

Bring your roller blades - the Martin Goodman trail and Toronto Island are fantastic skating and/or biking.

And don't forget to go to a Tim Horton's at least once while you're here (donut/coffee/bagel shop) - you haven't experienced Canada until you've lined up for 5 minutes at a Tim Horton's!

Hey, I can't speak for everyone at the Dome, but if you say a few nasty things about the Yankees, you're already my brother!

Wear all the Sox paraphenalia you can carry - we're notorious for being polite up heah!

Just make sure you guys finish ahead of New York.

And I'm not sure I'll be at the Dome because there's a rumour going around that some dude's bringing a huge bloody drum to whack on ... I like a nice, quiet time at Ye Olde Yarde. Kinda like a tea party, or a cricket match, only quieter.

Make ALL the noise you want, New Englanders --- we need it, apparently. Me, I'll be nibbling crumpets and stuffing my ears with cotton batting.

I will definatly be there on Sunday, Friday im going to probably be there, and Thursday I'm going to try but it doesn't look good. Naturaly the HAMMER OF WISDOM will accompany me, and im considering buying one of those plastic batting helments. For 10 bucks, it seems like the only quasi-reasonably priced merchandise at the carts.

I vote 518, as I have a season's pass and it seems easier than 103. If this gets going, doing a couple of games in the 100s would be cool.

Keith is going to the game on Sunday, with Mrs. Keith. We already bought our field-level seats but will certainly join the cheer club in future series. It sounds as though I'll need five or so beers to attain your anti-zen-level.

Looks like 518 is the winner so far, and that Thursday and Saturday are going to be the big days.

On the Toronto front, if you like Thai food I would heartily recommend Spring Rolls, which has two locations: one is on Front Street near Union Station and the other is on Yonge near Bloor Station.

What to cheer? I think a version of this would be cool:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/29/
It's got a great drum beat.

"Where can you see Blue Jays? Only in Toronto ..." Everybody sing!