The Underground Underground
Or
"How to keep your hair dry".
This page complements "The Parks of Yonge Street" and The Underground Guide to the Underground PATH .
Toronto's PATH system
Is almost excellent.
I disagree with the official map, and recognize the system as a maze for consumers.
On the other hand, it's an excellent place to chat up lost tourists.
Try, for example, traveling from the City Hall library to the Dundas street coach terminal.
By PATH the journey is about 25 minutes through the busy Hudson's bay store and the Eaton centre. Above ground, 5 minutes tops.
That said, when the weather is truly miserable - baking heat or horizontal gales of sleet - the PATH beats having your new umbrella blown inside out.
Covered vs. Sheltered
I make a distinction between fully covered, such as a shopping mall or a parking garage, and sheltered such as a narrow alley between two tall buildings, or a large overhang of a building at street level.
Hassle-free
These routes are free of regular pedestrian hassles.
The sidewalks are blocked with people moving slower than you want to, people with wheeled vehicles (strollers, bicycles, wheelchairs; all nice enough folk, but a hassle); people who walk blindly behind their lowered umbrellas and at the last minute spot your feet and try to stab out your eyes with an umbrella spoke.
In short, people.
The sheltered routes tend to be free of people and populated only by slow-moving cars.
BayCollege.doc to Elm Street and back again.
KingchurchstJamesCathedralToPath.doc (St James Cathedral) to PATH