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
The city of yesterday still exists today. Dusty roads are flanked by empty industrial buildings and warehouses built in the mid-20th century with old dusty cars parked haphazardly on the broken sidewalk. The old Sears building with the 1-800-26-SEARS phone number emblazoned on the wall and a former Lowe’s box Read more
The best way to describe it would be an indoor Main Street from Disneyland in Saskatoon, but you actually get to see educational displays instead of being forced to spend money in gift shops. the fully-furnished interiors are informative, the push-button operated conversations between fictitious characters are educational, and the Read more
The second largest city in Saskatchewan is connected to the provincial capital Regina via the Louis Riel Trail, named after the Manitoba politician that was executed for treason after his defeat in the North-West Rebellion. The native prairie people have lived here for over 6,000 years and the federal government Read more
It’s a fun place to visit and is open even during public holidays. There are three tours available, the iconic prohibition tour, a Cold War-era bunker tour, and early Chinese immigration. Each tour lasts about an hour and there are discounts for doing multiple tours. I recommend only doing the 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