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Lesley Peterson is a Toronto-based blogger tripping on travel, art, culture, museums, cities and legendary landscapes. Catch her on Twitter as @culturetripper or contact her at lesley@culturetripper.com. All content by Lesley Peterson copyright © 2009 - Until the Present. All photos by Lesley Peterson except where other credit noted.
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MexFest 2014, Toronto
It’s here! I’m excited about MexFest, a ten-day Toronto festival celebrating Mexican culture, music, art and cuisine. MexFest 2014 runs from August 7 to 17. Guests at the MexFest Gala, held August 7, enjoyed live music, tequila-based cocktails and a screening of Flight of the Butterflies 3D, the acclaimed documentary film by Director Mike Slee about […]
Tianguis Turistico 2013, Puebla, Mexico
The colour and diversity of Mexico was on fabulous display during Tianguis Turistico 2013 held in Puebla, Mexico, March 17-20. It was the first time Mexico’s principal tourism marketplace has ever been held in a colonial city. Famous for its culinary heritage and UNESCO World Heritage colonial core, the city of Puebla was a gracious host, […]
The delight of Miami’s Art Deco architecture
Surrounded by curving white lines, steel balustrades and porthole-shaped windows, I could easily imagine I’m aboard an ocean liner steaming out to sea. After all, I’m in Miami, the world’s largest cruise port. Instead, I’m on the roof-top Spire Bar of The Hotel of South Beach surrounded by the best in Tropical Art Deco. With […]
01.10.2012 · Filled under: Architecture, Festivals & Events, Florida, United States · Tags: Beaches, CITIES, Florida, HISTORY
International Couscous Festival, San Vito lo Capo, Sicily
Sicilian food, like its history, is a stew of cultural influences. Closer to Africa than Rome, and under Arab rule for 200 years during the Middle Ages, it’s not surprising to find couscous on menus in Sicily, especially in the western end of this Mediterranean island. Each September, the beach resort of San Vito lo […]
Life lessons from the Papas: Hemingway Days, Key West
It’s a sea of red berets outside Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, Florida, headquarters of the Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Society and their annual running of the bulls. A bwip-wip from a motorcycle escort parts the crowd and, to the tune of Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), the fist-pumping Papas roll out. Earlier that day, […]
Taking the 506 streetcar to little India
Toronto’s 506 Carlton streetcar is one of the best sightseeing bargains in the city, rambling past many of Toronto’s most colourful neighborhoods – Cabbagetown, Kensington Market, the original Little Italy and two separate ‘Chinatowns’ – on its way to and from its western terminus at High Park. A few days ago I hopped on the […]
Cherry blossoms in Toronto
Of all the beautiful things that grow better with age, the magnificent Somei-Yoshino cherry trees in Toronto’s High Park are some of the best. The donation of blossoming cherry trees, or sakura, has been a project of the Japanese Consulate in Toronto for years. With the support of private donors, the consulate’s Sakura Project has planted […]
Toronto Christmas Market magic
Toronto’s historic Distillery District glows each December with the lights and flavours of a European-style Christmas Market. From traditional German sausage and schnitzel to Canadian favorites like pure maple taffy and poutine, there’s lots to munch on as you stroll the Distillery District’s frosty brick lanes. The atmosphere is even more convivial as the Market’s liquor […]
Al fresco art: Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition
I always meet the most interesting people at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Fewer exhibitors this year, surprising since it’s the event’s 50th anniversary but half of Nathan Phillips Square being fenced off for construction may have had something to do with that. As always, though, quality at this juried show was high. The TOAE […]
Investing in beauty: The European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, Netherlands
If TEFAF Maastricht is the mother of all commercial art fairs, she is a gracious hostess with a salon full of fresh flowers and the best-informed minds of the international art world. Often described as an incredible once-a-year museum in which everything is for sale, TEFAF this year hosted 260 of the world’s top art and antiques dealers showing everything from classical antiquities to crave-worthy jewellery by Lalique and […]
05.04.2011 · Filled under: Art, ArtSmart Roundtable, Europe, Festivals & Events, Netherlands · Tags: Antiquity, Holland