AMSTERDAM – Sometimes it’s good to listen to the tourism folks. Okay, it’s almost ALWAYS good to listen to the tourism folks. In this case, I have to give credit to the lovely Henny Groenendijk, who represents Visit Holland . I’d been promising to go for years, but somehow never got around to it. This time, I made Holland the focus of my trip to Europe. I’ve written in the past few days about surprising Rotterdam and about my great bike ride in Holland. But I want to give Henny a special shout-out for booking me a room at the Read more
Architecture
ROTTERDAM – I have to give the people of this city credit. After World War II, after they sifted through the ruins of a city mercilessly bombed by the Nazis, they made a bold decision. Rather than try to make everything the way it was, they opted instead to take their clean slate and rebuild a modern city. The decision has had mixed reviews, but there’s no doubt Rotterdam today stands out with a very different style than Amsterdam. If you ask tour guide and local artist Willem Besselink, that’s a good thing. “Before the war, the city looked much Read more
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND – Sometimes in this job it’s easy to over-research a story. I don’t want to invest my working time on a hotel or a destination I won’t like, so it’s important for me to check things out in advance before I take a trip on behalf of the Star. But the tourist or “normal” traveller in me doesn’t want to over-do it and analyze a million photos, many of them doubtless professional pics that make a place look better than it really is. Because if I do that I won’t be surprised or have the feeling I did Read more
JIM BYERS PHOTO 104th St. in downtown Edmonton is filled with hip spots. EDMONTON – This might be the next great Canadian city. Or at least the next cool one. Lots of folks in Toronto pooh-pooh Edmonton. Yeah, it’s a city that’s still rough around the edges. And, yeah, it’s a tad chilly in winter. But there’s a very sizable gentrification going on, not unlike what has happened in Winnipeg and Calgary and St. John’s, and I get the feeling that folks won’t recognize this Alberta city’s downtown five years from now. Not that it’s turning into Toronto or Montreal or Read more
NEW YORK – What a great treat. Somehow, having visited New York City perhaps eight or ten times over the years, I’d never strolled across the Brooklyn Bridge. Until last Sunday. It wasn’t as warm as the day before, and there was a brisk wind. But what a huge treat. One of the great things about the walk is the accessibility by subway. I walked out of the City Hall subway station and it was maybe 10 metres to the start of the bridge walk going east to Brooklyn. It’s an absolutely glorious walk, maybe a couple of miles but Read more
