I actually stumbled upon this place because I had turned down a street to look at an interesting building, but when I saw the sign that said 'Antique Maps', I sort of got sidetracked.

This place is AMAZING!!! It is full of antique maps, model ships, scrimshaw (images carved onto ivory, usually by sailors), Inuit bone carvings, beautiful display cases, old paintings, globes, books, compasses, telescopes, prints, and other similar things. It is sort of like a museum. It must be seen-it is hard to describe it with words alone.

It is called 'Exploration House', and is run by a couple, Neil and Liana Sneyd. I haven't met Neil, but Liana is so sweet. She took the time to show me dozens of maps, and I'm sure she could tell that I would never be able to afford any of them. (It is somewhat expensive, I must warn you).

They have maps from all over the world, dating back hundreds of years. They are all very beautiful and the smell! Oh, it's wonderful (if you're into that sort of thing, lol).

The address is:

18 Birch Avenue,
Toronto, ON
416-922-5153
(near the Summerhill subway station).

They are open from 11:00am to 5:30pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

Here is a MAP

http://maps.google...11&z=16&iwloc=addr