Category ArchiveEverywhere Once |

Casa Loma

by Brian on September 7, 2011 in Canada, Ontario, Travel

At the peak of his power it is said that Sir Henry Pellatt controlled as much as 25% of the Canadian economy. To showcase his great wealth he built what was at the time the largest residence in North America: Casa Loma, a 98-room Gothic revival style castle set on a hill in midtown Toronto. By the end of his life, Sir Henry had lost everything and his great castle almost came to ruin. Saved and restored by the Kiwanis Club in 1937, the great residence is now open to visitors. It is also one of the few houses which permit interior photography . . . Read More…

A Short Note on Canadian Wine

by Brian on September 5, 2011 in Canada, Food & Drink, Ontario, Travel

Ice Wine "Slushies" at Ice House Winery, Ontario, Canada

We love wine; perhaps too much. We love it at least as much as we love beer, which gets much more frequent attention here at EverywhereOnce. Certainly wine has reason to feel slighted. It shouldn’t. The East coast brews some world-class beers, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the embarrassment of brewery riches at our disposal. Our East coast winery experiences have been an embarrassment of a different sort. The “terroir” here just isn’t as well suited to the task, I’m afraid. So we’ve spent less time visiting, and therefore writing about, wineries.

One might naturally think that the cold weather conditions in Canada are positively dreadful for vinting wine. They’d be wrong.

A peculiar thing happens when grapes freeze on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved grape solids do not freeze, allowing for a more concentrated ‘must’ to be pressed from the frozen grapes. From this must, a fantastically sweet “ice wine” is made. Canada is the world’s largest producer of these delicious dessert wines, with Ontario accounting for 75% of Canadian output. If you’re in the area checking out Niagara Falls, Toronto, or other nearby destinations, you owe it to yourself to sample some of these awesome and truly unique wines.

Summer Rocks

by Brian on September 2, 2011 in Travel

Labor Day is here again, marking the unofficial end of summer. We’ll follow the sun south, all the way to Guatemala if our plans hold, to avoid missing out on warm weather. Something we will miss, though, are summer celebrations.

All across the continent – from the Deep South of the Louisiana Bayou to the Northern reaches of Toronto, Canada, as far west as Rapid City, South Dakota, and everywhere in between – we found large cities and small towns cordoning off a couple blocks of downtown real estate in weekly celebration. It didn’t matter where we were, the festivities all had a familiar feel: street food, beer in plastic cups, bands on stage, and a crush of locals looking to blow off a little steam. Same theme, different venue, always a good time.

So hoist a glass and bid this summer a fond adieu. It’s a long way to Memorial Day.

Have a good weekend everybody!

In Bloom

by Brian on August 31, 2011 in Canada, Ontario, Travel

Our paths routinely cross quaint little downtown neighborhoods, where clever little shops in historic structures ever bid the traveler to enter. Of those we’ve had the pleasure to frequent, Niagara on the Lake in Ontario, Canada, is the prettiest we’ve seen.

Timing is everything, and our time here couldn’t have been better. The entire town seemed in bloom. It’s possible we wouldn’t have found the area quite as fetching during a different season, but I’m guessing the impeccable landscaping we witnessed is a year-round feature. Certainly the picturesque Victorian architecture, moderately high-end shops, and close proximity to the Lake Ontario shoreline are worthy attributes for all seasons.

Travel advice from an unexpected source

by Brian on August 30, 2011 in Travel

A Souk in Marrakech, Morocco

New York Times celebrity opinion maker and columnist David Brooks discovers the benefits of simple travel in today’s column:

“Recently I did a little reporting from Kenya and Tanzania before taking a safari with my family. We stayed in seven camps. Some were relatively simple, without electricity or running water. Some were relatively luxurious, with regular showers and even pools.

The simple camps were friendly, warm and familial. . . . The more elegant camps felt colder…”

Brooks goes on to coin a phrase, the ‘Haimish Line,’ referring to the “warmth, domesticity and unpretentious conviviality” found in some places and not others. He decides that more often than not, the extra dollars we spend on luxury isolate us and puts us on the wrong side of the ‘Haimish Line.’

We found this to be true in Morocco. For simplicity, ease and efficiency we took a group tour of the African nation. The tour whisked us through many of the country’s great sites. We covered far more ground in our single week of vacation than we ever would have been able to as independent travelers. But we paid a price for the convenience.

Break free from the culture bubble and enjoy the local hookah, like Shannon here at Djemma el Fna square

We stayed in large western hotels at the cities’ edge. We traveled in air conditioned buses. Most everyone we spoke to spoke English. It was all safe, comfortable, familiar and totally apart from the place we were visiting. The tour was like traveling through an exotic location in a giant bubble of western culture. We took so much of home with us that we didn’t really get to experience the place we traveled so far to visit. We were on the wrong side of Brooks’ Haimish Line.

Brooks proceeds to make broader points about how money is often unwisely spent to isolate us. He eventually concludes with a thought that is a bit of theme here at EverywhereOnce:

Surveying the vast literature of happiness research, prominent scholars suggest: Buy experiences instead of things; buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones; pay now for things you can look forward to and enjoy later.

Cheers to that.