I visited Vancouver in January of 2024 and met up with my old secondary school principal from when I was in Hong Kong. We went on a school trip to Yangshuo and Nanchang, China in 2008 and 2009 respectively. He left for another head of school job in Vancouver and Read more…
Kingston was an important defensive position on the St. Lawrence River facing rebellious America. Fort Henry is the largest fortification along the St. Lawrence waterway west of Quebec City. It was built.in response to the War of 1812 and the limestone citadel was built in the 1830s. It was never Read more…
Location: ScotlandDate: 17 Sep, 2023Distance: 110km Up front: The portrait touch screen in useful for navigation with built-in Google Maps, but it really annoying that all the features are built into the screen. For example, it’s impossible to see the map while changing the climate control settings. The screen also Read more…
The telephone was conceived and invented in this house in Brantford, Ontario. Alexander Graham Bell lived here with his parents after they moved over from Edinburgh. Bell had a handwritten note detailing where he was during each stage of development to allay any future concerns about where the telephone was Read more…
The largest maritime museum on the Great Lakes isn’t the museum in Toledo, it’s in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Valley Camp is a 550-foot long Great Lakes freighter. Although modern ships of the Great Lakes are twice as long, this was one of the largest of its time when it Read more…
The River of History Museum in the Michigan side of Sault Ste. Marie is a history museum on the St. Mary’s River. It shows how Natives lived before European arrival and their interactions with Europeans in the centuries that followed. Its interpretation of the violent history between the US and Read more…
I’ve been to the Canadian side of Sault Ste. Marie before I visited the American side because COVID-19 meant that the borders were closed. The Soo Locks on the American side are more difficult to access, so head up the Tower of History to see it after visiting the largest Read more…
This small city in Ontario has a surprisingly large three-story museum. There’s an exhibition on the contributions people in the region have made to war efforts, but I didn’t get to see it because it was being rearranged. Upstairs on the second floor, there’s a gallery on the history of Read more…
Parliament Hill in Ottawa has been under renovation since 2019 and there’s about a decade of work left. While the Senate was moved to the old Union Station, the House of Commons stayed in the same building. It moved its chamber from inside the building to the courtyard and covered Read more…
Right below the more iconic Neuschwanstein Castle, this little brother is never jealous because it’s got a storied history of its own. Sitting next to the border with modern day Austria this was the home where King Ludwig II grew up, who later built the more architecturally majestic Neuschwanstein Castle. Hochenschwangau Read more…