ALONG THE FRENCH RIVER IN ONTARIO – “Alex is picking some people up at Five Fingers Rapids, you should take a boat ride with him.” I had just settled in for some serious note taking on the screened in porch of my fabulous cottage at the Lodge at Pine Cove, overlooking the French River west of North Bay, near the town of Noelville. I’d only been on the property an hour or so but when the owner of a lodge suggests I take a boat ride I usually find there’s a reason. And who doesn’t love riding a boat on Read more
food
Here are a couple of blog posts from British Columbia… VANCOUVER – Downtown Vancouver’s Art Gallery is a great spot, with a big patio out front and big steps and a feel, to me, anyway, of a public square in London. The best part? Food trucks. Food trucks all over the damned place. It’s not bad enough we don’t have a public square in Toronto as nice as the one in front of the Art Gallery of Vancouver (not in my mind, anyway). No, they have to lord it over us with trucks selling the most wonderful of foods; a Read more
LOS ANGELES – It’s impossible to encapsulate a city of such diverse neighbourhoods into one, so I’ll keep this focused on Hollywood and downtown L.A., which has seen an incredible resurgence – resurrection, even – since the bad old days when this correspondent toiled nightly in what was then a wasteland at Fifth and Figueroa. SLEEPING The Roosevelt, a Thompson property, was home to the first Academy Awards ceremony, which lasted only minutes (if only). Marilyn Monroe used to do photo shoots at the palm-surrounded pool and used to sleep there regularly, amongst other things. There’s a cool, old-fashioned, two-lane Read more
Here’s a post from one of my favourite cities in the late fall of 2010… SYDNEY – Still pretty rainy here in Sydney. Unusual for this time of year, but we can probably blame El Nina. Or El Nino. Or some kind of weird climactic situation. It was close to 30 degrees here a week ago, and it’s usually in the mid-20’s by now as Sydney approaches the summer. This would be the equivalent of early May for them, so it’s usually a brilliant time of year. Instead, it’s gone from beautiful to bizarre, with daytime temperatures in the teens Read more
BERMUDA – You probably know about the golf. But there’s lots more to do on this beautiful island, where the weather is about to get close to perfect. Here are a few. SLEEPING Southampton has some wonderful properties, including the Fairmont Southampton, a pink beauty on a hill overlooking the south shore. There’s a great beach and it’s adjacent to marvelous Horseshoe Bay. Rooms in October from about $330. I stayed at a casual but adorable spot in the village of St. George’s called the Crooked Elbow, close to a couple of very nice beaches and only a short walk Read more
