Five More Good Reasons to Visit Ontario for WorldPride Toronto
From June 20-29, 2014, Pride Toronto will host the first WorldPride event ever held in North America in an effort to raise awareness of inequality and, consequently, to effect positive change through education and outreach.
As Pride Toronto Co-Chair Francisco Alvarez states, “Our vision for WorldPride is that all of the city is hosting,” which means that from June 20-29, 2014, Toronto will be celebrating the largest Pride in the world.
Consider this a head’s up – and an opportunity to start planning now for your WorldPride Toronto vacation in Ontario. Think about it: LGBT people from around the globe, all celebrating in the name of planetary Pride. What could be closer to life on our home planet?
Here are five more good reasons why you should rise up – and show your Pride at WorldPride Toronto.
Gladstone Hotel: It’s way more than a hotel. In fact, it’s almost an entire neighborhood – and, in truth, the Gladstone Hotel has been instrumental in putting Toronto’s Queen West neighborhood on the lips of hipsters everywhere.
As idiosyncratic as an Allen Ginsberg poem and defiantly iconoclastic, the Gladstone Hotel represents a philosophy built around the “social alchemy” that happens when you integrate one of the most vibrant arts and design communities in Canada with guests and artists from around the world.
At the Gladstone Hotel, art is pervasive, with 37 artist-designed hotel rooms, exhibition spaces, artists’ studios, and a ballroom that hosts everything from readings and lectures to burlesque shows. Gladstone guests have access to two green roof terraces and complimentary Gallant Bicycles. There are also weekly drawing classes, trivia nights, and neighborhood walking tours.
The two restaurants at the Gladstone, the Melody Bar and the Café, helmed by Chef Michael G. Smith, are reason enough to hang around what is also Toronto’s oldest continuously operating hotel – and once you witness the creativity that buzzes throughout the Gladstone‘s historic walls, you’ll want to be a part of it, night after night.
As the Gladstone tagline asserts, “Where the he[art] is” – and ever since the hotel’s regeneration in 2005, the hotel has worn its LGBTQ DNA on its sleeve loud and proud. “Pride at the Gladstone” is a ten-day celebration that coincides with the hotel’s annual art exhibition, “That’s So Gay.”
Plus there’s killer banana bread French toast.
Smith Restaurant: Now there’s one more very good reason to head to Church Wellesley (aka the Village) in Toronto. Located in a townhouse that once housed the popular club Straight, Smith is a three-level restaurant cum lounge-bar, with a backyard patio and a top-floor dance club.
Owned and managed by the same team behind Toronto hotspots, Wish and Black Skirt, Smith has a design aesthetic that evokes a sleek rustic country house. Mismatched china and chairs commingle with dark wood antiques and iron implements. Upstairs, a profusion of gilded mirrors and frames hang on painted brick walls.
The atmosphere at Smith is often equivalent to a large house party at someone’s weekend house. With a focus on comfort food and regional fare, the menu includes country club favorites such as Cobb salad, shrimp cocktail, steak frites, and a bread pudding that is reason enough to book a table.
For brunch, consider parking yourself for the afternoon with a punch bowl for the entire table. Hit up Smith on Sundays for their “Local 4-10 Beats, Barbeque & Beers” party on their backyard patio from 4 -10 pm.
And for an old-school throwback, Smith offers their own matchboxes – to ignite whatever post-prandial delight you desire.
Niagara-on-the-Lake: After a weekend spent wandering the quaint colonial towns, award-winning restaurants, and elegant inns, it’s not surprising to learn that, according to TripAdvisor, Niagara-on-the-Lake is Canada’s number one food and wine destination.
Ontario’s most renowned wine region is notable for acclaimed vintners and rising culinary stars. With more than 80 wineries and numerous celebrated chefs who frequent the region’s farmers’ markets and roadside stands for their terroir-focused menus, Niagara-on-the-Lake is an oenophile’s feast.
Culture mavens flock to Niagara-on-the-Lake for “great theatre in the heart of Niagara Wine Country” at the Shaw Festival Theatre while golfers play a round at North America’s oldest golf course. The Niagara Icewine Festival in January is an annual pilgrimage for lovers of the region’s lusciously sweet Icewine.
No matter where you wander over the gently rolling landscape of Niagara-on-the-Lake, there’s such an abundance of pastoral vineyards, farms, and fruit orchards that you almost feel as if you’ve landed happily in Arcadia.
Trius Winery and Restaurant, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario: If you think Canadian wines begin and end with icewine, then you might consider that Wine Country Ontario is situated at the same latitude as Burgundy in France. Sip on that fact.
For more than 30 years, Trius Winery has been perfecting fine wines from 100% Ontario-grown grapes. The winery’s 2010 Red Shale Cabernet Franc recently captured the Gold Medal for “Best Red Wine of the Year” at the Canadian Wine Championships.
Savor a lazy afternoon at Trius Winery at Hillebrand with a wine tasting and a twilight winery tour before dining al fresco at Trius Winery Restaurant, the region’s first winery restaurant.
After stints at The Savoy Hotel in London, as well as Cliveden, Chef Frank Dodd arrived at Trius Winery Restaurant in 2006. Dodd utilizes local farmers and purveyors for a menu that features seasonal and sustainable fare.
A peaches-and-cream corn soup, accompanied by crab and corn salad epitomized summer’s bounty, as did Ontario asparagus with a smoked bacon dressing. A dessert of Niagara strawberry shortcake with white chocolate cream was as redolent of an idyllic childhood summer as was Proust’s madeleine.
Nestled in a picturesque setting between the Niagara escarpment and Lake Ontario, Trius Winery at Hillebrand is the sort of bucolic venue that produces romantic reveries of marriage vows exchanged in the vineyard. You’ll want to say “I do.”
Porter Airlines: Just when you’re about to lose all hope for the glamour of flying, you find yourself aboard Porter Airlines – and suddenly, you feel as if you’ve stepped into a time warp where service and professionalism is paramount and flying is fun again.
“Flying refined” is the tag line for Porter Airlines, which has become the airline of choice for the discerning short-haul traveler. As soon as you enter one of Porter Airlines‘ Canadian-built Bombardier turboprop aircraft, you’re greeted by uniformed staff that look as comely as the fabled Pan Am staff from yesteryear. Impeccably coiffed and perfectly suited, Porter’s staff is there to serve it up.
Based in Toronto, Porter Airlines‘ headquarters is Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, the island airport in Toronto Harbor that was originally opened in 1939 and which is connected to the mainland by the world’s shortest scheduled ferry run. With 26 planes serving 19 destinations, Porter Airlines is the only four-star Canadian airline, as ranked by Skytrax.
Free of charge, Porter Airlines‘ lounges are open to all passengers and feature an array of free amenities. Onboard, the two-by-two seating configuration allows more legroom than typical economy class seating – and the leather seating is downright deluxe. Snack and beverage service is included, with complimentary soft drinks, wine, and beer. The aircraft also features a noise suppression system, which makes the flight one of the most relaxing you’re likely to take.
Perhaps best of all (at least for fashionistas and retail queens), Porter Airlines offers what might be the most beautifully curated boutique in any airport. Located at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, WANT Passport is stocked with some of the most luxurious travel accessories from WANT Les Essentials de la Vie, as well as iconic products from designers from around the globe.
Imagine arriving at your destination completely relaxed and happy – and bearing good gift. This is 21st-century travel as you’d dreamed it could be. “Flying refined” – at long last.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Click here for MRNY slideshow of Ontario.
Editor’s Note: This feature was originally published in Frontiers LA in a slightly altered form.
