From a new centre celebrating Stompin’ Tom Connors (“The Good Old Hockey Game”) to the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto and on to a fab new gallery in Whistler, there’s no shortage of excellent events, happenings and openings across Canada in 2016, our nation’s 149th birthday. Here are some things you might want to catch in the New Year. ALBERTA Things are booming in Calgary’s East Village, where the new national music centre is set to open next year. It’s a booming area already just east of downtown, with cool restaurants like Charbar. Calgary’s Pigeonhole (http://pigeonholeyyc.ca/#modal) was named the country’s Read more
Calgary
Hungry Canadians should head for Halifax if they want to save. A new study by hotels.com and hotels.ca looked at the price of a days’ worth of food at hotels around the world and came up with some fun findings. In the past they looked at the cost of a club sandwich on the road, which I always enjoyed (the study, I mean, not the sandwich. Although a good club sandwich is a wonderful thing as long as you leave out the lettuce, mayo and tomato and skip the extra layer of bread). Now they’ve taken it further and figured Read more
CALGARY – The greatest outdoor show on earth? It just might be. Hard to believe, but I’d never made it to the Calgary Stampede prior to last week. I know, I know. It makes no sense. But at least I made up for it with a rollicking good time involving pancakes and champagne at 9 a.m., a great Stampede parade, mini-hot dogs, a new pair of cowboy boots and a wonderful afternoon watching cowboys ride buckin’ broncos and little kids chasing ponies in the dirt and the famous Chuckwagon races. My wife and I decided (mostly her to be fair) Read more
CALGARY – From old school to new age, and from Brazilian coffee to Chinese statues, Kensington is one cool shopping destination. I didn’t know a lot about the area prior to a visit I made to the wonderful Kensington Riverside Inn a few months ago (more on that later in this blog). But I had an awesome time checking out a very urban – and urbane – part of a city that doesn’t get enough credit for its hip neighborhoods. I started my walk around Kensington Ave. and 10 th St. NW, checking out the tattoo shops (I didn’t indulge, Read more
Welcome Rewards, the Hotels.com loyalty program, has just reached 10 million members and has redeemed more than one million free nights since its launch in 2008. In the program, customers can earn a free night at more than 100,000 hotels across the world for every 10 nights stayed, with no blackout dates. They issued a list today of where Canadians are using their points. And it’s mostly to stay close to home. Here’s the list of the top 10 redeemed destinations for Canadians in 2013: 1. Toronto, 2. Montreal, 3. Niagara Falls, 4. Edmonton, 5. Calgary, 6. New York City, Read more
