When I announced my plans to visit Door County, I was asked two questions. Where, then, why? To answer the first – Door County is situated at the northern tip of Wisconsin’s mid-state peninsula jutting northward and is bordered by the waters of Green Bay to the west and Lake … Read more
Standing on the terrace of the Stift Goettweig monastery complex, you see the entire Wachau Valley unfolding beneath you. The Danube River wends its way through the valley where lush forests and vibrant fields lead to the river’s edge with the prized wine producing hills beyond. Just an hour’s … Read more
Getting from Point A to Point B on a road trip through Norway may end up taking much more time than you expected. Why? Because you’ll want to pull the car over so many times to take pictures and gawk at the spectacular natural beauty lurking around every bend and … Read more
Northern Finland is one of only a few places to catch the famous Northern Lights, which earns our vote as perhaps the best natural light show on Earth. If you can’t trek above the Arctic Circle to experience this mystical phenomenon, don’t fret. Just park yourself in Helsinki for a … Read more
I think I have a good reason to be proud … I’m an honorary Calgarian. That’s what I became after reciting the oath and receiving my “White Hat.” The hat is not only an enduring symbol of the Wild West and the cowboy but also of the Calgary Stampede which … Read more
Centuries of history, celebrated French cuisine, a towering cathedral on the river … Paris? No, I’m talking about Lyon, a city steeped in history and the home of Paul Bocuse, a culinary legend who changed French cooking forever. Compact and eminently walkable – you’ll need to burn off the calories … Read more
Japan remains for me “the trip of a lifetime” and even though I am there frequently, its magic makes each visit memorable and instructive. I learn something new every time. On a personal level, my time there has led me to think more about the group than myself; to be … Read more
If you’re one of those folks who tunes in regularly to the Food Channel and gets excited at the thought of attending one of the many Food & Wine Festivals held regularly across the USA and Canada, take my advice and head for Calgary, Western Canada’s latest destination food city … Read more
Whether or not Niagara-on-the-Lake is the prettiest town in North America is up for debate, but if you ask Marian Markarian, trip advisor at Niagara Wine Tours International, you’ll get a resounding “Absolutely.” With its stately homes, pristine lawns and manicured gardens, a Main Street to rival any quaint New … Read more
Canada’s largest city, Toronto, is home to a diverse population of nearly three million people which includes virtually all of the world’s culture groups, reflected in the more than 100 languages and dialects spoken. As a result of this diversity, Toronto is known for its tolerance, open-mindedness, and acceptance. Multiculturalism … Read more
If there’s anything that Canadians – at least the ones we’re hanging out with – know for sure, it’s that we own winter. The coldest season of the year is in our blood and in our bones. It’s a lifelong love affair born during childhood when, after the first major … Read more
The first time I visited Nova Scotia, I stayed three weeks, the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place in all my travels. It wasn’t just the natural splendor of this Canadian maritime province—an idyllic landscape of wide sandy beaches, towering bluffs, lush forests, and rolling green meadows lapped by … Read more
It isn’t easy to match a single word with every hotel you’ve experienced in your travels but word association comes easy when it comes to the Windsor Arms in Toronto – discreet. You realize this at check-in when you’re introduced to your butler. Don’t think starched collar and white gloves, … Read more
A black bear flips over giant beach boulders as though they were mere rubber balls then paws at rock crabs hiding underneath – a bountiful seafood feast at the water’s edge. We watch transfixed for a good ten minutes, before motoring slowly out of Ucluelet. Ucluelet and its more gentrified … Read more
What’s the first thing you notice when summer turns to fall in Canada? It’s the color … especially in Southern Alberta, our neck of the woods, where autumn hits early and the low hanging, late afternoon sun lights up the landscape like a movie screen. This is peak hiking season, … Read more