This past weekend I had a childhood friend visit from Asia who is here for work. The hotel that she was put in was in the middle of Nowheresville, the industrial part of Mississauga-Brampton. As I picked her up, I assured her that Toronto is nothing like what she'd seen so far.

The dilemma for me was that I only had two days to show her my Toronto. Believe it or not, deciding on where to go was harder than even I thought it would be.

I decided to concentrate on the various neighbourhoods in the city. I wanted her to see that despite it being a big city, there were pockets of places that made you feel like you were part of a small community. I wanted her to get a sense of where and how we Torontonians live.

This is where we went - St. Lawrence Market & Front Street, The Distillery District, Danforth Avenue, West Queen West, Cabbagetown and Riverdale Farm, the Beaches (yes, I know it's supposed to be called "The Beach") and Chinatown. There were so many other places that I would have loved to explore but I think she was reeling from sensory overload anyway.

Where would you take a friend if you only had two days?