Toronto is a record-breaking place - the CN Tower is the world's tallest complete structure, Yonge Street is the world's longest at 1,896km and PATH is the world's largest underground shopping centre at 371,000 square metres.

This clean and welcoming city of 2.7 million people is also the world's most culturally diverse, so you can not only sample maple syrup, but a whole range of fantastic restaurants showcasing the world's menus.

For example, the CN Tower is home to the 360 Restaurant with the world's highest wine cellar and in the Distillery District you will enjoy eating at The Pure Spirits Oyster House and Grill.

Visit the Royal Ontario Museum and the CN Tower, and enjoy the contrasts between state of the art modern blocks and older architecture dating back to the first British settlers in 1793.

Well-informed tour guides will show you both the modern and traditional in this city of many nationalities before you return to your hotel. Recommended places to stay include the Novotel Toronto, situated in an attractive area once below the surface of Lake Ontario, until it was filled in here to extend the city, and the Sheraton on the Falls.

A couple of hours south of Toronto are must-see Niagara Falls, where you can witness the 53m high falls for yourself by helicopter, or get drenched by the spray in the Maid of the Mist boat.

Not far from Niagara, wine lovers will love Ontario's wineries, which offer tastings. Taste the country's famous ice wine, made from crushing frozen grapes.

Or you can travel three hours north to the Algonquin National Park, which is jaw-droppingly beautiful and one of the last true wildernesses of our planet. Outdoor enthusiasts can canoe or kayak on Opeongo Lake, or take an explorers tour and view the amazing wildlife, including moose and birds of prey.

With its good exchange rates and cheaper living costs than many other countries, Canada offers superb value and an experience you will want to relive over and over again.

Check these out for more information

• Ontario: Yours to Discover
  
• Niagara Helicopters
• Maid of the Mist

The Shaw Festival is a world class performing arts company that brings the best plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries to life on three stages. This entertainment spectacle nicely compliments every antique collector's annual pilgrimage to Virgil and Jordan and the shops along Stone Rd in the old town of Niagara on the Lake.

Shopping for Antiques?

Niagara on the Lake, Virgil and Jordan are terrific places to shop for antique furniture, vintage kitchenware, stain glass windows and lamps. Although military collectibles are surprisingly scarce, there exists an extraordinary amount of sheet music, lace, dolls and of course doll houses, vintage bar supplies and nostalgia pieces from the 1920s and 30s. The area is also rich in antique toys, primitive iron tools, and collectible fruit sealer jars.

Niagara Falls History

Etienne Brûlé was the first European to see Niagara Falls in 1633. The first eyewitness account of the falls in written text was by Father Louis Hennepin in 1683 wherein he described it as, "the most beautiful and altogether the most terrifying waterfall in the universe".

The first European settlers were primarily British Loyalists fleeing America in 1778. At the end of the American Revolution, these Loyalists were given land grants, and the town of Niagara was laid out on the west bank of the Niagara River. As the first farms were being cut from the wilderness, the first orchards were planted and they included apple trees from Quebec and the Maritimes, and red cherries from the east coast of the United States. The whole settlement prospered under the leadership of John Butler, who had led a regiment of rangers during the revolution.

Handcrafted Wood Furniture

Known for good handcrafted wood furniture, the entire Niagara region is rich with handmade primitives that sometimes incorporate fruitwoods. Inside Europa-Antiques, shoppers will no doubt admire handmade wooden chests, side tables and wardrobes, pine dressers and bookshelf units all being sold for less than $350. The proprietors of this business, located at 1523 Niagara Stone Road, inside a

'dear old red brick church', have an interesting attitude toward recycling furniture as part of their contribution to reducing climate change - Josh points to the green Reduce, Reuse, Recycle triangle on his hemp shopping bags. This business is here to sell good furniture cheap, and keep the inventory moving by offering very low prices. And BEST OF ALL, if you buy over four hundred dollars worth of furniture they will deliver it for free as far away as Toronto!

Pottery, Porcelain, and Fine China

Lakeshore Antiques and Treasures is located at 855 Lakeshore Road in the center of Niagara on the Lake. This is a well stocked 7000 square foot building wherein 15 separate merchants offer up their wares. Overall there are good prices here on painted pine furniture and English china. The shop is filled with tables and chairs and early Canadian pottery, porcelain, and English fine china and American kitchenware from the 1940s and 50s. Antique chandeliers hang from the rafters over many merchant holdings.

Bakelite is a Good Buy in Niagara

The area is becoming known for unusual bakelite items like radios and picnic vessels, tableware and all manner of period Art Deco objects. These gorgeous early wood plastic luxury items were imported by retailers to accommodate Niagara Falls tourists in the booming1950's. Today vintage bakelite is very sheik, and these antiques are cool to collect and relatively inexpensive here because of their availability.

Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian Antiques

Creighton House Antiques is a family business located on the main street of Jordan since 1982, but Joe and Pauline Creighton have been in the area, selling antiques for thirty years. Their large shop is located in the carriage house next to their 1850s Georgian home. They have lots of Canadiana, Victorian, and Edwardian furniture pieces, turn-of-the-century oak wardrobes, and quality mahogany and walnut furniture of the 1920s. The antiques are in “as found condition”, and range from fair to good condition. Joe does the buying and prides himself of the selection - there's something for everyone here.

Jordan Antiques is found at 3836 Main Street in the village of Jordan and boasts 6000 square feet of shopping; there are a lot of antiques here and it's not crowded. The prices are good on pine furniture, fine china and figurines. There's an abundance of Art Deco ashtrays, cranberry coloured carnival glass, vintage Christmas decorations, antique fishing lures, wooden tackle boxes, and handmade quilts. This is the perfect place to outfit a cottage with classic furnishings.

The Shaw Festival plays punctuate the cerebral excitement of this historic destination. Look around this old town and you can see, touch and breathe in the history; the scenery includes thundering black powder cannons in the walls of Fort George, and quaint horse and buggy tours that parade under canopied streets. As most of the buildings in town have historic plaques chronicling their existence, it's quite enlightening to just saunter around town for an afternoon.