This weekend, May 23-24, is Doors Open Toronto. It's a day when Toronto fans can overdose seeing the insides of the more notable sites in the city.
I won't be running any walking tours this weekend because, well, I'm a Doors Open addict. There. I admit it.
I've been going since the very first one in 2000 and I've saved all the guides to the annual event. I'm just that crazed about it.
Usually I set my sights on getting to 5 or 6 buildings each of the days and find I hit the target on Saturday but not Sunday. Why? Partly exhaustion, and partly the TTC. It seems there's always something slowing up the transit on the Sunday -- be it a charity walk or construction -- so a 90 minute slot I set to visit one venue becomes 2.5 hours and at least one site must get scratched from the list.
This year, I'm purposely cutting my Sunday short to do my bit for Doors Open. I'll be volunteering with Heritage Toronto at the TD Centre on Sunday afternoon.
Anyway, having been to all of the Doors Opens, I have come up with a few tips.
1. Each festival often highlights buildings in a particular area of town. So usually there are several venues close together and I try to hit that group on the Saturday to get my tally up on day 1.
2. Highlight opening and closing times that are outside the norm.
For example, often the theatres that participate are only open from 9AM to noon, usually on the Saturday. This is because of prep time they need for the shows they're hosting. The great thing is they usually do open at 9AM, so you can start your day early at a theatre. I noticed the Canon is open this year. Well worth the visit.
I use different colours for short hours versus long hours. Yellow if it's just 3 hours or only on one of the days. Green if a building is open an hour later than the others. Most buildings this year are open 10-5 on each day.
3. Accept that Sunday traffic will usually keep you stuck in one place for a while and don't sweat it.
4. Accept too that the energy level for seeing more buildings can die around 2PM on the Sunday, if you've been out both days.
5. And let your schedule go if you luck into a free tour or special event at one venue. Take time to enjoy it.
So those are my tips for enjoying Doors Open.
The Toronto Star publishes its guide to the event this Thursday. But to see the list of buildings now, you can go to the Doors Open site or download the quick PDF list.
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