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CA087

Toronto, Canada

Gold

Member since

2001


Open for exchange

The member has not specified any exchange dates

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House in Central Toronto, Ontario

We live in a spacious house in the very heart of Toronto - Canada's largest city with a population of more than 2.5 million, and 6 million including surrounding suburbs.  Our house is located close to everything: public transport (5 min walk to bus and metro), great restaurants (hundreds) fine theatres (many), museums, cinemas, walks, amusement parks and zoos, universities, sports complexes, concerts, shopping etc. etc., yet it is situated in a very pleasant and extremely quiet neighbourhood.  Our street is a cul-de-sac with a very pleasant park/playground/school at the end, yet we're only minutes from the downtown core of the city.

A new east-west subway line (with a station less than a 5 min walk (1/2km) from our house) is due to open in 2024. This line connects with the maim north south subways in Toronto and will provide rapid access to the downtown core.

Our home is large and very comfortable. Centrally air-conditioned, the house is well furnished and sleeps 6 easily (actually 8 now as we have added a bunk bed in my office - see below.) The main floor comprises a living room (with wood-burning fireplace); dining room (seating 8 expanding to 14); a fully-equipped, custom, eat-in kitchen with all the usual appliances including dishwasher, gas stove, microwave, Nespresso machine; a den/tv room (also with a wood-burning fireplace) and a two-piece powder room.  The kitchen and den look out onto the garden with 6 large oak trees and lots of wonderful flowers.  In summer and autumn we often eat both breakfast and dinner on the back deck and use the BarBQ almost daily.

The second floor has four bedrooms and two full bathrooms.  The master bedroom has a king-size bed and a large ensuite bathroom.  The two other bedrooms have queen beds.  There is a second full bathroom on this floor. I use the fourth bedroom as an office, and have recently added bunk beds good for two children. The basement is finished with my wife's art studio with a couch, a workout room and another full (though smaller) bathroom plus a full garage. 

There are a multitude of tv's (4), a stereo set with turntable and Bose speakers as well as smaller bluetooth speakers. In the basement there's a Nordic Track treadmill, a Peleton spin cycle and a workout centre (weight machine) plus free weights. There are also three bicycles - a road bike and two hybrids - male and female versions. We have one car: a 2020 BMW 530xi which seats five, is air-conditioned and has automatic gear shift.

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Our Family

  • 2 Adults
  • 2 Children
  • 9 Exchanges made

Occupation

  • Sr. Executive & Artist

Our Home

  • House Type: House
  • Environment: In the city
  • Bedrooms: 4
  • Bathrooms: 4
  • Sleeping Capacity: 8
  • Living Area: 2600 sq ft
  • Total Area: 3600 sq ft

In my house

  • Pets - Not allowed
  • Small children - Allowed

Exchange Types

  • Home exchange

Indoor

  • Free internet access
  • Computer available
  • Air conditioning
  • Central heating
  • Fireplace
  • Baby equipment
  • Toys and games
  • Washing machine
  • Dishwasher
  • Clothes dryer
  • Television

Outdoor

  • Garden
  • Terrace or deck
  • Park / playground
  • BBQ
  • Garage
  • Bicycles: 3

Facilities

  • Non-smoking house
  • Use/Exchange of car
  • Seclusion/Privacy

Our Destination Wish List

  • Southern France, France

Spoken Languages

  • English
  • Français

Our Neighbourhood

Nearest Airport: Toronto Pearson - 10 miles

Toronto is wonderful and exciting -- yet very safe and clean -- and is consistently ranked as one of North America's top cities to live in.  By European standards it is also wonderfully inexpensive!  Very well located, Toronto is only 1.5 hours by car from Niagara Falls, 2 hours from Buffalo, 3.5 from Detroit; 4 from Ottawa (the capital city of Canada), 5 from Montreal; 8 from New York City and 9 from Boston and Chicago!

Four public tennis courts are readily available less than a five-minute walk from our home.  Golf is easily accessed with more than 50 great courses within 30 to 45 minutes drive.  Toronto is also very "bicycle friendly".  You can rent additional bikes at many locations and the city has an abundance of bike routes.  We have had several "biking guests" here and they were amazed at how accessible the city is on bicycles.

The countryside is gorgeous and very accessible.  Within 2 -3 hours one can be in true Canadian wilderness, canoeing, camping and hiking among the moose, beaver, geese and loons.  It is very easy to rent lake-side cottages for a week, or to lease a boat for amazing sailing or yachting in the Georgian Bay area of Lake Huron.  There are literally thousands of lakes north of Toronto for swimming, boating fishing etc., and if you want to arrange for a wilderness experience you can be outfitted completely and enjoy the isolation and splendor of either Algonquin or Killarney provincial park (see www.algonquinoutfitters.com) .  Several families have done this and have found the experience to be the highlight of their visit!

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Occupation

  • Sr. Executive & Artist

Children

  • Boy - Age: 43
  • Boy - Age: 41

Pets

  • We do not have pets.

About Our Family

Our family comprises my wife Eileen and two boys - David (41) who lives in upstate NY and Adam (39) who lives in New Jersey with his wife Jaclyn plus their 4 1/2 year old daughter and 1 1/4 year old son.  I am an International Executive Mentor and Business Coach as well as an International Commercial Arbitrator. My wife is an artist.  The boys (and family) may be joining us for part of this exchange.

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