james t kirk

I think a trip would be a way to start.

You could select a few cities to visit and go from there.

I could see Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Vacouver as interesting places to start - obviously, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal being large cities.

Quebec City is interesting to visit, but you'd better speak fluent French.

After that, take your pick.

I am biased towards Toronto as I live here, though I grew up in Hamilton (Canada's Pittsburgh). I moved to Toronto in the mid 90's and I couldn't see living anywhere else now. Unlike Percy, I find the people very friendly, though no-one bugs you so sometimes people mistake that for being cold. Toronto is a collection of neighbourhoods each with distinct feels to them. That's the beauty of the place in a lot of ways. You can be walking down the sidestreets in my neighbourhood and perfect strangers will say hi if you make eye contact with them.

The secret to Toronto is to live IN the city, and in the old part of the city on top of that. Not out in the burbs (it's awful out there). If you live in the 905 belt (the suburb area surrounding the city) you are making a HUGE mistake. (Sounds like Percy was commuting from Mississauga, or maybe Markham, or some other godforsaken suburb.)

For me, you need to live in the following areas in Toronto:

1. Annex
2. High Park
3. Riverdale
4. South Riverdale (reasonable cost)
5. Beaches
6. Forrest Hill (very expensive)
7. Rosedale (even more expensive)
8. Bloor West (where I live)
9. Parkdale / Roncessvailles (certain areas - less expensive, artist community)
10 North Toronto (Yonge and Lawrence) (expensive)
11. Parts of Cabbagetown
12. Parts of Leslieville / Queen Broadview village

Outside of those areas, there is little appeal for me. I'd sooner move back to Hamilton. Those areas probably make up about a quarter of the city, so that gives you an indication.

As to the weather, the weather in Toronto would probably be EXACTLY like the weather in Pa.