Monday 2 June 2008

Toronto, Ontario - My Town Monday


I first learned about My Town Monday on Travis Erwin's blog and have been invited to join in.

Being a person who enjoys nature and wide open spaces, I like going to High Park where if you stand in certain places it seems as if you have entered another existence. There are no telephone poles, telephone or electrical wires, houses or rooftops to be seen. High Park is situated in the west end of Toronto on approximately 400 acres of wilderness and groomed landscape within an urban area. There are woods, meadows with linking trails, ponds and a teahouse.

At this time of year you are in a lush green area where birds twitter and soar, squirrels and chipmunks scamper, swans, ducks, geese and storks congregate in the various ponds in the park. There are probably other animals, like possums and racoons which frequent my neightbourhood area to the west of this park.

According to the park information site at Toronto.ca there are “oak savannahs in the park which are the remnants of the sand prairie system that once covered much of the Ontario landscape”.

John Howard, an early architect and philanthropist of Toronto, founded High Park. (A future post will be written about him).

Within High Park there is a zoo, first built in 1890, when deer were kept. Now there are a variety of domestic and exotic species: bison, llamas, peacocks, deer, highland cattle and sheep. The animals kept at High Park have large paddocks to roam in and they appear content to be there. It is one of the features that draws children to the park, and its enjoyable to seeing their faces light up when they see the animals as they approach.

Photo Credit: wikipedia.

9 comments:

debra said...

I've wanted to visit Toronto for a long time. Now I have a place to plan on seeing! Welcome to MTM.

Linda McLaughlin said...

It sounds lovely, Barbara. How nice to have a view without electrical or telephone wires and poles. Those are rare around here. (Southern California)

I haven't been to Toronto in a long time, but I've enjoyed several trips there.

Linda

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Barbara,

Thanks for a lovely post. It is so important for we city dwellers to get our bit of nature now and again.

Terrie

pattinase (abbott) said...

Hi Barbara-Nice to see you here. Toronto is one of my favorite places.
And we go to Stratford every year. Be interested to hear what you say.

Debbielou said...

Hi Barbara - Thanks for visiting my Blog - Welcome to My Town Monday !
The park sounds a beautiful place to visit - I'd love to sit and have a cup of tea whilst watching the world go by in such a tranquil setting

Travis Erwin said...

So High Park is kind of Toronto's equivalent to Central park in NYC? Sounds interesting. I really hope to visit Canada one of these days.

Barbara Martin said...

Debra: Now you can look forward to future MTMs on the other places in Toronto.

Linda: I prefer areas without civilization as we know it. I could go back to the horse and buggy day tomorrow.

Terrie: Parks are remnants of nature to soothe the tortured soul.

Pattinase: Stratford will be on my list of MTMs.

DebbieLou: You will like the other parks I write about, too.

Travis: Yes, kind of...except the Toronto Island Park is approximately 700 acres as is the Toronto Zoo. I have been to neither in the 18 years I have been in Toronto. The former because I have a loathing of ferries and the latter, for putting it off too long.

Lyzzydee said...

Another place on my 'to visit' list!!!

Barbara Martin said...

Lyzzydee: Welcome. Toronto does have many attractions for visitors, and hopefully I will be able to cover the interesting ones.