3 Museums this Toronto Trip

Last summer in July 2021, after not being on a plane in 18 months, I was desperate to travel again.  A friend and I decided on a trip within our country and decided on Toronto.  I have previously visited in 2009 and 2016 and have already seen a lot of Toronto’s main attractions and wanted to do new things for this trip.  We managed to visit 3 museums that both of us have never been to before.  Here is a recap of where we went:

using an aisle chair to get on/off the airplane seat

The Bata Shoe Museum

elevator is just around the corner

The Bata Shoe Museum was founded by Sonja Bata in 1979 and opened to the public in a big 40,000 square feet shoe box looking building.  With 2 underground floors, this 5 storey museum is home to over 13,000 pairs of shoes with some dating back over 4,500 years.  This museum has the largest collection of footwear in the world.

face coverings are required

This museum offers free admission to support workers accompanying visitors.  We thought it was really cool how the outside of the building looks exactly like a shoebox with its lid slightly open.  It was also quite nice on the inside too.  It was interesting to see so many types of shoes from boots to slippers to ancient footwear to modern flashy name branded shoes.

really old shoes

Who would have thought there was so much to see from just footwear.  There was an elevator that took us to all the floors as we spent over an hour looking at everything.  I do like Adidas shoes and own a bunch of pairs and was really impressed to see a pair of fashion designer Jeremy Scott gold Adidas shoes.

Jeremy Scott gold Adidas shoes

Gardiner Museum

the outside of Gardiner Museum

The Gardiner Museum was founded by George and Helen Gardiner in March 1984.  It is a ceramics museum and is in a large 46,000 square building in downtown Toronto.  It is literally across the street from ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) which I already visited back in 2016.

Earthenware

We also chose to visit the Gardiner Museum because it just reopened the day before, after being closed from covid so they were offering free admission all summer.  The shape of the building from the outside was actually very unique and looked quite cool being different shapes for the 3 floors.

lots of ceramics

The permanent collection has over 4,000 pieces from 2 types of ceramics: earthenware and porcelain.  The elevator and the wall facing out had a see through window which gave us views of ROM across the street.  It was interesting to see all the historic ceramic pieces from 3500 BC to some of the fancy porcelain plates from modern times.  We saw everything in just over an hour.

fancy porcelain

Museum of Illusions

have to ask for assistance with portable ramp

Museum of Illusions are fun, it is a place where nothing is at it seems, and where the unbelievable is truly a reality.  There are locations around the world and the Toronto location has over 80 illusions, holograms, installations and exhibits.  Read about my previous experiences in Hollywood and in Orlando.

on a slant

There is a small step to get into the front entrance so my friend went inside to ask about accessibility.  An employee came out with a foldable portable ramp and helped me wheel inside.  This museum does allow free companion tickets for those accompanying disabled guests.

picture illusions

We start off going into the illusion rooms where one of us appear small and the other looks huge.  The upside down room was probably my favorite and they have at least one of these rooms at every illusion museum.  There were lots of smaller framed illusion pictures as we spent time looking at everything.

clone table

Staff were really nice and helpful as they helped guests take photos and explained how some of the illusions worked if we asked them.  One guy even brought out a portable ramp so I could visit the spinning Vortex Tunnel.  We easily spent over an hour learning and enjoying this museum.  Of the 3 museums I listed here, this one was my favorite.

staff brought out portable ramp for the Vortex Tunnel

Final Thoughts

Museums are always fun and I try to visit at least one or two on every city I visit.  I like all types of art and culture and am willing to give any type of museum a try.  They are usually quite affordable and does give us a break from the outside weather to do something quieter and relaxing.  I was glad to visit these 3 museums for the very first time and would probably visit again if ever coming back to Toronto.