SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA – Beautiful views. Fabulous food. Colourful culture. And a great, chic hotel. This has always been one of my favourite towns, with truly iconic sights and just about anything you could ask for in a vacation spot. We started our weekend with a visit to the unbelievable farmers market on Arizona Ave. There were organic vegetable of just about type and size; leeks and limes, Japanese turnips, ripe orange persimmons, giant bush-sized bunches of romaine lettuce, crisp apples and strawberries as red as a shiny fire truck. They put a lot of pride on organic products in Read more
hotels
MONTREAL – You’ve cruised Crescent St. You’ve paraded through the Plateau. And you’ve wandered the streets of Westmount. Looking for something new in Montreal? Check out Griffintown, Little Burgundy and the burgeoning Saint-Henri neighbourhoods for some fun shops and tasty treats. Our tour guide, the delightful Rene Lemieux, drove us through Griffintown, which feels a bit like the Distillery District with old warehouses and factories converted to condos and a forest of construction cranes building new condos and a new ALT Hotel, part of the lovely Le Germain group. We also toured Little Burgundy, which used to be home to Read more
LONDON – I don’t know this city as well as I’d like, but I found a great new spot in the eastern-central part of town. The Montcalm at Brewery City is a fun, polished and unique property near the Barbican and Moorgate tube stops. It’s in what functioned as the Whitbread Brewery for more than 200 years, and it’s got a lot of charm. You walk into the facility through a giant archway that once formed the entrance to the brewery, past iron gates with a polished gold sign. The lobby isn’t large but there are beautiful, fresh flowers (they’ve Read more
Newfoundland’s Fogo Island Inn nabs prestigious Mr. and Mrs. Smith hotel award Nice to see some Canadian content in the inuagural Mr. and Mrs. Smith Hotel Awards! Newfoundland’s Fogo Island Inn, a high-end property that works with artists in a pretty remote part of the province, was this week named “Best Newcomer” in an awards ceremony held in London. Nearly 50,000 people from around the world voted for their favourite boutique properties in the Mr. and Mrs. Smith Awards, after which a shortlist of 10 hotels in each of the categories was put to a panel of 36 specialist judges. Read more
SORRENTO, ITALY – I love this part of Italy. We pulled into Sorrento on our last full day of our remarkable Silversea Cruise in the Mediterranean. A lot of folks headed to Capri or Positano for day excursions. But I’ve had the pleasure of visiting both on nicer days in summer so opted to stay close to the boat to get packed and visit the town of Sorrento, which sits high on a dark bluff of rocky land high above the water, facing Naples. It’s nowhere near as pretty as Positano, which clings to a cliff as if for dear Read more
