My Home, Toronto

[Michael]

Just a thread for pictures of Toronto.

Btw, it is bloody difficult to find good photos of Toronto that don't feature the CN Tower skyline! :lol:

This one is a great photo - taken from the parklands of the Toronto Island looking across the harbor towards the city.
http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~mmfuller/WebDocs/images/toronto.jpg

Here is Toronto's City Hall (aka "new" city hall because it is right next door to "old" city hall!)
http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_images/images/cityhalloutside_001.jpg

Here is a shot of the interior of the Eaton Centre which is right in the heart of the city. Interestingly enough, although the Eaton Centre isn't the largest or the first shopping mall out there, it is arguably the 'model' afterwhich the vast majority of shopping malls the world over have been patterned after. It really is a quite beautiful place for a shopping mall!
http://z.about.com/d/gocanada/1/0/J/1/-/-/TorontoEatonCentre2_Courtesy_TorontoTourism.JPG

Here is the Goderham & Worts building (aka Toronto's 'Flat Iron' building) - it is very photogenic building. All the other sides of the building are painted with murals.
http://www.yorku.ca/dakc/TORONTO/toronto2.jpg

Last one is a shot of the modern city from the vantage point of the oldest original part of the city. And yes, that's the same 'Flat Iron' building in the picture. This picture is just outside the St. Lawrence Market, only a few yards away from where the first Parliament of Upper Canada stood.
http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/toronto-bikes-uu-001.jpg

[The Drunk Girl]

Here are some lovely pictures of the city I grew up in: Somerset, KY

The first one being...you guessed it! Downtown.

Kind of depressing after looking at pictures of Toronto :lol:

[Michael]

Here are some lovely pictures of the city I grew up in: Somerset, KY
I was going to say you should create your own thread, but then again, maybe not. ;)

The first one being...you guessed it! Downtown.

Where's the church? :ummm:

Kind of depressing after looking at pictures of Toronto :lol:
To each his own. Some people hate big bustling cities and prefer smaller rural towns. :shrug:

(I'm not one of them!)

[MeMyselfAndI]

Very nice city. Modern.

[Michael]

Inspired by the Moscow traffic pictures, here is Toronto's infamous Highway 401.

This highway is credited with being the busiest highway in the world (moves more vehicles per hour per mile than any other). The highway runs from Detroit to Montreal and cuts across the north half of Toronto, running east-west. It is only around Toronto that the highway becomes so massive with 9 lanes running in each direction.

This picture is quite close to the Toronto airport (aka Pearson International - named after the Nobel Prize winning Canadian PM, Lester B. Pearson).

http://sites4us.tripod.com/images/401by%20pearson.jpg

[evanescence]

At some point in the future, my family and I want to move to Canada. It looks very clean. Serious question: how easy would it be for us to immigrate to Canada? What sort of "red tape" and bureaucracy would we be facing? I've already done some research into it and it seems that Canada is a little more "picky" about its immigrants than I had originally imagined. (not that I want to turn this thread into an immigration debate).
also, what are the demographics and which parts of Canada has legalized or decriminalized Marijuana?

[Michael]

At some point in the future, my family and I want to move to Canada. It looks very clean. Serious question: how easy would it be for us to immigrate to Canada? What sort of "red tape" and bureaucracy would we be facing? I've already done some research into it and it seems that Canada is a little more "picky" about its immigrants than I had originally imagined. (not that I want to turn this thread into an immigration debate).
also, what are the demographics and which parts of Canada has legalized or decriminalized Marijuana?
Yes, Canada is generally fairly clean, polite and peaceful compared to most of the USA, but it is no paradise. We do share many of the same cultural problems as the USA, though usually without the same level of extremism.

And yes, Canada is a bit picky about immigrants and won't let just anyone in. But if you have some job skills and/or decent education, you stand a pretty good chance. I'm not overly familiar with the present requirements, but I have heard that most Americans usually can get in fairly easily - far easier than for Canadians to immigrate to the USA.

Most major US cities have a Canadian Consulate. That's the place you want to go. They will help you and explain the process.

As for marijuana laws, Canada has not been able to actually decriminalize or legalize marijuana primarily due to extreme US political opposition. As it stands, marijuana is 'defacto' decriminalized in most major cities, but primarily in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. This means the police usually can't be bothered to arrest pot smokers unless you are doing something else illegal or obnoxious. Police still seek to arrest major dealers and commercial growing operations, but don't put any effort into arresting pot smokers/buyers or bothering home-growers.

Put it this way, one of the major advertisers on my favorite radio stations (one of the largest and most successful independent radio stations in the country) is a company called "Homegrown Hydroponics" and they sell everything you need to "grow your own". They advertise pretty heavily and the police don't harrass them at all, though they legally could.