Andrew Yin

Small but fun place to visit during Doors Open Toronto 2023! You could have your photo taken while sitting at a desk, or even at the teacher's chair at the front of the classroom. There was also a working piano. In particular, there was one male Toronto History Museums staff/volunteer when we visited Saturday morning, who was really fun and enthusiastic, knew a lot about the schoolhouse and allowed us to pick and see textbooks from the small bookshelf near the door. Nice to see the historic site being taken care of!

Usually not open to the public as it is actually an office space. However, I got a chance to visit during Doors Open Toronto 2023. The house looks nice from the outside with a pretty small garden. The first floor has been beautifully restored, and one can see the dining room and the study. However, all of the rooms on the upper floors and the basement are either empty or used as office spaces. It would have been nice if they preserved a greater part of the interiors and opened it as a museum. Nevertheless, I am glad to see the house overall being preserved and actively used.

It's actually a great museum with very interesting and well-designed exhibits! Most of the exhibits are on the second floor. I especially enjoyed the main exhibit on culture québécoise. It is a colourful, highly engaging and interactive, and yet also very informative exhibit where people of all ages could have fun and learn something about the fascinating culture of Québec, all in a space that is very well laid-out. It is an exemplar for exhibition design! You could really tell that they put thought into the space.

I also enjoyed the historic vs. modern furniture exhibit, and there was a fun little exhibition about a superhero's quest to protect Trois-Rivières, which is aimed at kids. Overall, I would recommend spending about 1.5 hours here for a not-too-rushed stroll through the various exhibits. However, note that (as is the case in many areas outside of the biggest/most visited cities in Québec), many of the labellings/descriptions are in French only, and some level of French skills would help you understand the exhibits/have a more enjoyable experience.

Great Persian restaurant! They have many kebab options at reasonable prices. I had the kebab torsh, which is more expensive, but man was it delicious! I loved the pomegranate sauce (which is why I decided on that dish) and the tender meat, as well as the grilled tomato. The portion was large and the meal was served in an elegant silver/copper plate. There was also complimentary soup served before the meal, which was much appreciated.

The restaurant is tastefully decorated, with tiles, rugs, artworks and other elements of Persian culture, and the owner/servers were friendly. However, I'm taking one star off because one of my friends ordered an appetizer and a main and they forgot to serve the appetizer while still including it in the final bill, and they included butter for the main dishes of two of us but not myself and one other friend. While both issues were promptly resolved after we pointed them out, it indicates that there is room for improvement. Hopefully it would be better the next time I visit!

From Memorial Dr, you'd need to walk up a long flight of stairs conveniently located at a confusing intersection in order to get to and cross the bridge -- points deducted for accessibility. However, once you're up there, you'd be treated with stunning views of the skyline with Calgary Tower visible in the background. The lions are also impressive. A great place to come at night to view the skyline and take some long exposure shots.