The USA and Canada are almost magical; like Hong Kong, it was built by immigrants and refugees who arrived with nothing and faced with an uncertain future. With determination and grit, they resolved to make this a meritocracy where anyone can make it in life – or so they believed. Read more
Moose Jaw is to Saskatchewan what Red Deer is to Alberta—the province’s third largest city just by virtue of transportation. There’s not much to do other than a spa and a casino. While the railway station used to take passengers directly to Minneapolis and Chicago, now all it does is Read more
If you’ve already bought your ticket from the Mets Cloisters location, you can walk right in and skip the line. This is everything I’ve been looking for in terms of a good mix of Roman mosaics, Greek bronze, European modern art, and seeing my French friends Seurat, Degas, Pissarro, and Read more
The beautiful building on top of the hill is a bit of a hike if you get off the wrong subway stop. I recommend alighting the New York subway’s A train at 190th Street for the elevator to the top. Better to walk a little further horizontally than to suffer Read more
Its like a non-state-operated arts and culture version of the New York State Museum in Albany. This museum charges an admission fee, but shows you what you actually want to see. Instead of talking about boring rocks and ancient plants, there are pods with episodes of New York history such Read more
During the first quarter of the 20th century, 30,000 men worked to dig the New York Subway. The work was dangerous and collapses were frequent with many of those who died unnamed Italian and Irish immigrants, back then seen as less than desirable. All this work was undertaken when trams Read more
There are no good airports serving New York City, Trump’s helicopter service failed and the traffic is atrocious. Turns out, the right way to get to the Big Apple is by pulling into Pen Station on the Maple Leaf Amtrak service from Toronto in business class. The premium service with Read more
Muhammed Ali stayed here after he lost to Joe Frazier across the street at Madison Square Garden, Nikola Tesla invented alternating current on the 33rd floor, and CBS recorded music to broadcast to troops overseas during the Second World War. This hundred-year-old art Deco monolith in New York City is Read more
I know of presidential libraries that have a primary function of generating political dialogue and act as a depository of information from the executive branch, but given the reputation of late President John F. Kennedy, his presidential library is a tribute to the work of his life. The museum houses Read more
The fortress-like prison in Philadelphia have 30-foot walls that go underground. Built in 1830, it was the world’s first purpose-built prison meant to deprive people of freedom as a form of punishment. Jails before this were just holding pens for people waiting for their sentences which might be flogging, hanging, Read more
Jewish Americans landed in New Netherlands before it became New York and built their first synagogue in the country there in 1730. So, logically, New York should have been the home to this museum rather than Philadelphia. Early Jewish settlers included Portuguese Jews who were persecuted and forced to convert Read more