Cool top 10 Toronto sights

Hard to pick a top 10 of Toronto's many sights and obviously not everyone will agree (some will inevitably point out that this list scandalously omits both the Art Gallery and ROM but here's an admiring visitor's personal favourites):

1. Toronto Dominion Collection of Inuit Art - inaugurated in 1965, it comprises the world's best public collection of traditional sculpture. Open daily for free - thanks TD.

2. CN Tower, Toronto's symbol, is now begrudgingly admired by inhabitants as indicative of the progress on which Toronto's business community prides itself. From the galleries at 346m, look down through reinforced Perspex floors (vertigo sufferers - look away now).

3. Share a local passion - pop to the SkyDome ticket booths to catch the Blue Jays. Worth a ticket to soak up the atmosphere.

4. Docks renovated and warehouses converted, the Harbourfront houses an antique/flea markets, shops, museums, galleries, cinemas.

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5. Avoid chilly shopping expeditions - explore miles of interconnected subterranean shopping streets.

6. For an idea of Canada's administrative history and modern governance, the Legislative Assembly building guided tour is interesting and humorously informative.

7. Bata Shoe Museum - a museum dedicated to shoes?! You'd have to go if only for the curiosity value but it's a lot more than that and worth the trip. Founded by a family who knew a thing or two about footwear and housed in a giant shoebox - splendid.

8. THE Canadian sport is celebrated at the Hockey Hall of Fame - interesting stuff for even the hockey neophyte.

9. Spadina House/Casa Loma (slight cheat combining them) - Spadina, dating from 1866, is a grand example of gracious Victorian life; Casa Loma a fantastical towering monument whose extravagance eventually bankrupted its owner.

10. It has to be really - the falls at Niagara, despite too much surrounding neon and tourist kitsch, are pretty impressive. Close your eyes to the hot-tub motels signs and kiss-me-quick postcards and just listen to the purr of the water. Amazing.

Best Way To Get Around:

An added bonus of such a friendly place is that the urban transport system runs on time, is pretty safe, clean and doesn't cost the earth. The underground is the mainstay but seemingly every stop has a corresponding bus service to take you wherever you want to go. Toronto is not so enormous that you can't explore on foot and the pavements afford an excellent view of the architecture, old and new, and curiosities of the city which you might otherwise miss.

A museum housed in a gigantic shoebox and dedicated to shoes may not sound all that catchy but it's been established by the Bata family, who know a thing or know about footwear. It features some diverse permanent collections such as North American, Circumpolar, Western Fashion.

A personal highlight (although not necessarily "fun" as such) is the compellingly repellent exhibition of (and background explanation to) the Chinese "art" of footbinding and the tiny little shoes which were the badges of the crippled Chinese ladies who qualified to wear them (and none could expect to make an eligible match without). Though the slippers are beautifully stitched and undeniably dainty at about 3 inches long, the practice of footbinding, which lasted into the 1900s, was as cruel a torture as you can imagine. Before a girl could even walk (and certainly before the foot bones hardened), her toes were systematically bent and bound under and into the ball of her foot and, in order to straighten the foot and flatten the instep, a stone was put on top to break the it. Take another look at those tiny shoes - still think they're cute?

For kids of all ages, lighter diversions are to be found in the rock and pop exhibition - with examples from the shoecloset of Elvis, Elton John, Marilyn - and sportsmen such a McEnroe and Johnson. There was a rumour from the staff that they were taking receipt of a moon boot but there's been no sign of it since.

The exhibits are generally well laid out and marked with humorous and informative detail, and you can learn all sorts of details about the history and praticality of shoes plus a biology lesson of the anatomy beneath your knees.

For kids, there is sometimes a quiz to complete as you wander round the museum, and for grown ups there is a gratifyingly regular number of rest chairs (as you'd expect from a place dedicated to your feet).

Closed Mondays (and admission is free on the first Tuesday of the month) - take care that there are often school parties midweek so that a weekend visit can be actually be quieter than you'd expect. For more, see www.batashoemuseum.ca.

In 1965 as a project for Canada's centennial year, TD formed an expert committee to put together a definitive collection of contemporary Inuit art. The aim was to focus attention on the emerging Northern frontier and preserve for Canadians their finest post-WW2 sculpture. Visit TD's Collection of Inuit Art (8-6 Mon-Fri/10-4 Sat/Sun).

It's believed that the Inuit have been creating distinctive works of art for over 3,000 years but, until the 1940s, the people and their culture were relatively isolated for obvious, geographic reasons. A 1948 Montreal exhibition of carvings sparked intense interest and, during the 50s and 60s, a new marketing co-operative caused the artform to become increasingly better known, hence TD's collection.

Traditional carvings use localised materials such as whalebone, walrus tusks and teeth, antlers and stone, and still reflect the world surrounding the Inuit, focussing on natural imagery and animism (bears, seals, birds), sledding and family-oriented scenes and liberal references to Arctic mythology. The mystery, power and ferocity is portrayed in quizzical birds and bloodied bears with gnashing teeth - no sentiment or cuteness here. Similarly, the respect given to life-affirming scenes (birth is celebrated, nay venerated - mother and infant being especially common in older works) shows the importance of regeneration given the difficulties of surviving in a harsh climate. Lastly, a mythological favourite, echoed in many pieces available in galleries throughout Toronto, is that of a goddess, Sedna, a village girl who went with her lover to live on an island. The legend goes that she regretted it when he revealed that he was no mere hunter but a shaman and, shocked by his dissembling and scared by his power, she called across the waters to her father to rescue her. He rowed across to the island but, on the return trip, terrified of the shaman's wrath, appeased him by throwing Sedna into the water. As she hauled herself back into the boat, her father cut off first her fingertips, her fingers, her hands and finally her arms until she lost her grip and drowned - her fingertips became fishes, her fingers seals, her hands walruses and her arms whales, populating the oceans. Sedna herself was reincarnated as half-woman, half-seal - goddess of the waters.

Whether or not the Inuit still interact with bears and their prey or genuinely believe these days in gods such as Sedna is ultimately unimportant - in the long cold hours of yesterday, they whittled at ivory to create a representation of their environment and beliefs which is both beautiful and enduring.

As well as the dedicated TD Collection, there are good pieces in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Highway 400 Rutherford) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Dundas St W). There are numerous shop-galleries throughout Toronto which you can wander round whether you plan to buy or not (Algonquin on Queen Street, Maslak-Macleod on Price Arthur Avenue). Or a fine Sedna sits on my mantelpiece in London...

Both around a century old and located within streets of each other, their history could barely be more different.

Spadina - in 1866, James Austin, Irish-immigrant-turned-businessman, began renovating an 1836 summerhouse into a home. The original decor and continuity of the family''s occupation (3 generations lived there) means that it genuinely reflects artistic preoccupations from 1890 onwards. James Austin co-founded Toronto Dominion Bank and, on his death in 1897, left his gracious home to his son who kept up the family traditions by collecting art and artefacts and extending the house (commissioning the impressive billiards room). He left the house to his daughters, the last of whom died in 1984, leaving it to the city. Informative guided tours are run by knowledgeable volunteers every hour, or informative pamphlets are available if you prefer to wander. Look out for the billiard room, the ceramics and the original gas chandeliers. The charming gardens are also well worth a stroll. Admission $5. Open Tues-Sun. spadina@toronto.ca

Casa Loma - "Pellatt the plunger" - Toronto industrialist and military man, Sir Henry Pellatt was born to British parents in Ontario and worked for the family stockbrokerage. He travelled in Europe, sparking a romantic notion of a fairytale castle (curious given his life-long obsession with service in the Queen''s Own Rifles, for which he was knighted in 1905).

Sir Henry, a visionary businessman, saw in Edison''s steam-generated electricity potential profits and founded the Toronto Electric Light Company, enjoying a monopoly on the supply of city street lighting, success which culminated with the first hydro-electric plant at Niagara. By 1911, he had amassed a $17m fortune and turned his attention to his castle, employing Canadian architect E. J. Lennox to build on a piece of land called Casa Loma ("house on the hill"). Construction of his "medieval" fantasy took $3.5m, and 300 men nearly 3 years to complete, and was then crammed with art treasures.

A social whirl blended with philanthropy but he eventually couldn''t sustain Casa Loma''s expense which drew him into debt. When his Midas touch failed him, bankruptcy followed (hence his sobriquet) and Sir Henry had no option but to sell castle and contents - Casa Loma was picked up by the city for unpaid taxes.

Various proposals were considered and shelved until, in 1936, the Kiwanis Club of West Toronto proposed to re-cast it as a tourist attraction, opening to the public in 1937. (Despite his ignominious end, his philanthropy was not forgotten and, on his 1939 death, 1000s lined the streets for his funeral and he was buried with full military honours.)

Having marvelled at the exterior and wandered through the peaceful gardens, hire multilingual audio-cassettes and tour brochures. Tours start in a gothic-style baronial Great Hall flanked by suits of armour, standards and rather oppressive furniture, through the lighter, brighter conservatory with glorious Tiffany domed ceiling, up to the bedrooms and ultra-modern (for 1914) bathrooms and loos. Admission $8. Daily May-Oct

The SkyDome is the home ground of the Blue Jays and CFL's Argonauts, and hosts other sporting events and concerts. The home crowd are an enthusiatic bunch and going along for a game is worthwhile (even if, as a Brit like me, you haven't the faintest idea what happening on the pitch or why) just for the sometimes orchestrated but generally spontaneous sing-along, chanting, boo-ing and "star turn" by an unsuspecting spectator when s/he features of the big screen. Seats are priced according to proximity to the pitch but, for the spectacle alone, you can happily pay to be in the gods and spend the rest on popcorn. Capacity is around 53,000 although allegedly 67,678 people crowded in to watch "Wrestlemania VI".

Built between 1986 and 1989 at a cost of CN$500m, the SkyDome's claim to fame is that it was the first to have a fully retractable roof. Whilst, these days, retractable roof stadia are becoming more common, the design is unusual in that, whilst it has the usual two pieces that move on a linear track, the end cap rotates through 180 degrees to tuck in under the other panels and gives an unobstructed view from three sides of the stadium (a patented design so you won't see it anywhere else for a few years). The seats are on tracks to be moved around when needed so the space can be turned from baseball field to concert venue overnight. It takes 20 minutes to retract the 11,000 tons roof (71 feet per minute), exposing 91% of the seats and 100% of the field to the sky (and, when the roof is open, you can get quite a fair view of the pitch from the top of the CN Tower).

The friendly hotdogs sellers have some interesting statistics with which to regale foreign visitors - my favourites are : since opening, the number of hot dogs served at the SkyDome would stretch 500 miles (Toronto to Ottawa and back) and there are 1,280 toilets in the SkyDome. I have no idea whether either of these is true!