Toronto Daily Photo

The Royal York Hotel, or Fairmont Royal York as it is now known, is a historic up-scale hotel and landmark in Toronto. The builiding, erected on the site of an even older hotel, opened in 1929 and at the time was the largest building in the British Empire. The hotel still exudes a distinctly colonail feel – much like its cousins the Empress Hotel in Victoria, or the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa.

You can’t see it from this picture, but the Royal York is directly across the street from the main Toronto train and subway stations at Union Station, and the contrast between the quiet, orderly scene in front of the hotel, and the mayhem of pedistrians and taxi stands in front of the station makes for an interesting urban scene – especially around afternoon rush hour.