It was a long flight from San Francisco to Toronto - about 5 hours. It cost about $30 for the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel in downtown Toronto. I'd made reservations for my mother and I at the Cambridge Suites Hotel on Younge Street (which is reputedly the longest street in the world). I really enjoyed staying at the Cambridge Suites. All rooms, of course, are suites, and ours had one bedroom with a king bed, writing desk and TV, as well as a sofabed in the small sitting area with another TV. The bathroom had two doors - one from the bedroom, and one from the main sitting area, which we shared. Furnishings and wall art were very tasteful. A wet bar, microwave and dining table were also part of the room. There's no pool, but there was a health club with jacuzzi and various exercise equipment, free for guests' use. The hotel boasted a very nice continental restaurant featuring wonderful salads, steaks and seafood at reasonable prices. Service was excellent everywhere in the hotel, which was centrally located in downtown Toronto. We paid about $100 Canadian per night. I would recommend the Cambridge Suites Hotel to anyone travelling to Toronto.

Trip highlights included a visit to the Pantages Theatre to see Phantom of the Opera. The Pantages has been restored to its original roccoco design, and is worth a visit just to see the restoration. The Phantom of the Opera production was incredible - a $7 million production - and was quite a treat. We paid about $90 American for each 10th row ticket which I'd purchased in advance while in the States.

We also enjoyed walking along the harborfront, poking around the antique shops there, and relishing the beautiful view of the beach and harbor.

I especially enjoyed the Ontario Museum of Art which featured an entire wing of Henry Moore sculpture, and a wonderful museum shop. This is a relatively small museum, and we completed our tour in about half a day. While we were in the Yorkville area, we stopped in at many small art galleries, and saw some very creative and unusual pieces. Highly recommended.

We sampled some good restaurants, too. Probably the best was Grano on Younge Street, specializing in Italian/Mediterranean cuisine. Their pasta was wonderful, and we got to choose the items for our antipasto platter from the deli case.

Marche Movenpick, also on Younge Street (only at the opposite end from Grano) was a lot of fun. This is a chain of restaurants, and the one on Younge Street is supposed to be the best. It was arranged a bit like an outdoor market ("marche" is market in French), with various food stations scattered throughout, which you can visit, picking and choosing the items that look good. An extensive variety of food was offered - from poached salmon to crepes to pasta to stirfry to desserts. The quality of the food was good, but not exceptional. Prices are very reasonable though, and I'd recommend Marche Movenpick if only for the experience. It's fun!

Another night we ate at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown which I can't remember the name of - probably because the food while good, was nothing to write home about. I've since heard that the best Chinese restaurants are located in the suburbs of Toronto, where the wealthier folks live.