Toronto, the city of... what, exactly?

I am a commuter. I am one of the stereotypical 9 to 5ers who get on the GO Train in the morning and pile out of it at 8:30. I know my way around PATH, and I know that above ground, you can never get lost if you see the CN tower. I know that Toronto has ethnic food restaurants from everywhere, even if I haven't been to them (yet). I know that it's a young city, that its government takes decades to accomplish anything, and that it's so unremarkable, it has stood in for other cities in countless movies and films.

So what's so special about Toronto? Let's examine.

Statistics:

It's the largest city in Canada. True. It's got the third largest public transportation system in North America, after New York and Mexico City. So it's big.

According to City Mayors' Statistics, it's the 47th most expensive city to live in internationally. Which isn't bad. Comparatively, it's the 48th most populous city. Its 2006 stats show it as the 15th highest city for Quality of Living, well above metropoli like Berlin, Tokyo, Barcelona and New York. So what if Vancouver is third?

For some multicultural facts, check out Wikipedia's page on Toronto Demographics. It states that the UN put Toronto as the second most multicultural city in the world - after Miami. Based on the number of foreign-born citizens. But also thanks to Wikipedia, we know that it's near impossible to actually quantify multiculturalism.

Statistics are just numbers. What I'm trying to discover with this blog is the odd attraction this city radiates - it certainly isn't the most historic, or the prettiest, or the most technologically advanced city in the world. You can't put your finger on any one thing that makes it unique, that gives it panache. Instead the sum of all its parts creates an enigma, a normal-seeming quilt of neighbourhoods that draws you in even as it fails to impress passerbys.