High style at the Bata Shoe Museum
Time for ArtSmart Roundtable, a group of travel bloggers sharing a passion for art and cultural destinations. This month’s topic is the Best Museum You’ve Never Heard Of. For me that would be the delightful Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. I came of age in Bata shoes. Indigo suede ankle boots with rust stars on the ankles […]
The Staffordshire Potteries, England
One of my favorite art and travel experiences was to the Staffordshire Potteries in the UK. The Staffordshire Potteries are centered around Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Once the industrial heart of England, much of the area now has a rural feel with over 30 pottery-related sites snugged in a pretty landscape. Though I was there in February, my memories are warm: […]
A ghostly tour of the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto
Step up to the birdcage, buy a ticket for a tour of the last operating double-decker Edwardian theatre in the world. It’s cool and dark inside. The Elgin below, all red velvet with leering gilt satyrs, the Winter Garden a fairylit birch forest above. But if you think something beckoned from behind an old backdrop, […]
ArtSmart Roundtable: The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The former gallery guide in me couldn’t resist a regular appointment to chat about art so I’ve joined the ArtSmart Roundtable, a group of travel bloggers with a contagious passion for art. On the first Monday of every month, each member of the Roundtable publishes a piece on a chosen topic. This month’s topic is […]
Santa Fe for culture trippers
There’s a kind of hush over Santa Fe, New Mexico, a hush quite remarkable for a UNESCO Creative City and the third-largest art market in the U.S. (after New York and Los Angeles). Located at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at an elevation of 7,000 feet, the color and beauty of New Mexico’s […]
On a carousel in North Tonawanda, New York
“Sure!” she replied and pointed to one of the larger and wilder-looking outer horses. “Climb onto Big Billy there.” The crazed-looking stallion creaked as I swung my leg over his saddle and I instantly regretted the second beef on weck—a Buffalo area specialty—I’d polished off at lunch. But no time to reconsider. The attendant hit […]
Buffalo’s electric cultural scene
There’s something Gotham-esque about Buffalo, New York, at night. The moon rises through cold crisp darkness over monuments to its past wealth and importance: the ghost-white Electric Tower, the floodlit ladies atop the Liberty Building, the magnificent Art Deco pile of its City Hall. In dark streets below, the city’s legendary nightlife carries on until a […]
On towels, Kabuki and the Japan Foundation Toronto
All aitch might have broken loose downtown during the G20 summit but inside the Japan Foundation Toronto (on Bloor Street just west of Bay), life went on as serenely as ever. In fact, attendance was up for their exhibit Tenugui Towels: Design Excellence in Japanese Daily Life. I went back Thursday night, not just to […]
Oh, Ottawa!
Four days in Ottawa last week – which I almost backed out of for fear I’d be bored – wasn’t enough as I ran out of days before I ran out of things to do. Toronto Mayor Miller recently asked: who would want to live in Ottawa? Well, I wouldn’t mind. Perhaps it takes a Torontonian […]
A perfect fall weekend in Montreal
Montreal was wonderful. Pat and I caught the pre-dawn train from Guildwood; he did some work while I snuggled into my seat, watching the sun rise over the trees we flew past, waiting for drinks and brunch to arrive. Via Rail Business Class truly rocks. A few hours later, we were settling into the Pierre […]