Happy Birthday, Toronto!

175 years young as of today. Mother Nature is celebrating by giving all of us Torontonians the gift of +16 degree weather. Not too sunny and gusty 40 km winds, meaning we can't be out on the patios for the festivities, but we'll take what we can get!!

I found this cool map from 1834 on the City of Toronto website (http://www.toronto.ca/175/1834.htm):

If you click on the picture on their website (not the one above), you can zoom in on some of the details, which are quite fascinating. I especially like the two really big trees on the island which are labelled "patches of forest trees on this edge of the ridge" and the loons, wild geese and swans that get honourable mention in the pond to the right of the trees.

There seem to be a lot of pubs and breweries marked on the map as well. Wonder why that is?? I guess our reputation as a hospitable city has been well established over all these years.