There are only five places in the world where a member of public can touch a piece of the moon recovered from one of the Apollo missions, not just from lunar meteorites. There’s one in the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Smithsonian Air and Space Read more
The Welland Canal only refers to the one that is currently in service, there were three built before it. The First Welland Canal was completed in 1833 with 40 wooden locks at 110 feet long each. The Old Welland Canal was completed in 1853 with 28 stone locks at 150 Read more
In the heart of the eastern townships of Quebec, Sherbrooke reminds me of Lausanne in Switzerland. It’s not quite as beautiful, but the St. Micheal’s Cathedral on the top of a hill can be seen from Rue Dufferin like how the Lausanne Cathedral can be seen from Post Charles Bessières. Read more
With fortifications stretching back to the 17th century Slubice has a complicated history of sovereignty going back to the Holy Roman Empire. However, all is good nowadays with Slubice and neighbouring Frankfurt (Oder) sharing waste management systems, open borderless bridges, cross-border taxis, public transit, and schools mandating both German and Read more
Like how the German border town of Frankfurt an der Oder is frequently mistaken for Frankfurt am Main, the Polish border town Kostrzyn nad Odra is sometimes confused with the smaller Kostrzyn near Poznan. The name is a mouthful for anyone who can’t speak Eastern European languages so I know Read more
The St. Lawrence river runs from Kingston past Brockville and Montreal to Quebec City then out to the Atlantic. It’s an important waterway that helped build Canada with trade and transportation. What is less well-known are the churches along the river between Montreal and Quebec City. Four of the ten Read more
Arthabaska has been amalgamated with Victoriaville, but it was inhabited as early as 1830 while Victoriaville was only named after Queen Victoria in 1861. More famously, Arthabaska is known to be the summer home of Sir Wilfred Laurier, the first Prime Minister of Canada who spoke French as a first Read more
Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister of Canada for a decade between 1993 and 2003. He was born and raised in Shawinigan, Quebec, where a museum is dedicated to his role in integrating Canada with the wider world. Although fire department maps name the gallery space as a “temporary exhibition” space Read more
La Cité d’Énergie is the main tourist attraction in the otherwise sleepy post-industrial Shawinigan. It’s one way the town is trying to reinvent itself as its population is declining for better opportunities in larger cities. The science centre is easily distinguishable by its 115-metre-tall pylon that has been converted into Read more
Like other industrial towns of Quebec, Shawinigan used to be ruled by an anglophone elite on Rue des Érables. The land was owned by the Shawinigan Water and Power Company and the town was centrally planned as company land. The Olmstead Brothers Agency planted the trees in Shawinigan in the Read more