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…
Although originally settled by the Germans, a good chunk of the city’s residents speak French, and many are bilingual. It’s not just home to Atlantic Canada’s only French-language university, the University of Moncton, it’s also host to Acadian food. The city was named after Colonel Robert Monckton, but the ‘K’ Read more…
The landscape of Grand Pré was created by 17th century Acadians who built dykes, drained the seawater, and let the rain wash the salt away to create fertile farmland. Although the infrastructure holding the sea back has been replaced, visitors are still standing on the same tract of land cleared Read more…
Little Wolfsville on Nova Scotia western shore has a French-language university that mainly teaches at the undergraduate level. Established in 1838, it is one of Canada’s older universities and follows Nova Scotia’s religious affiliations for higher education. King’s College was Anglican, Dalhousie was controlled by the Church of Scotland, and Read more…
I imagine myself being Mayberry as I walked through the small town of Wolfville where everyone knows everyone else and there are no secrets beyond the first day of telling them. The two main banks in the town are still in their original 19th century buildings and the commercial area Read more…
Dartmouth is the opposite of Halifax. It’s on the opposite shore of Halifax, the architecture makes no sense, it’s inconvenient to live on the schedule of a half-hourly ferry, and it’s expensive to cross on the two toll bridges to Halifax. If they put Province House in Dartmouth, it would Read more…
The last remaining blockhouse in Nova Scotia is in Windsor, NS at Fort Edward National Historic Site. New Brunswick also has its own last blockhouse at St. Andrews, so there are very few of these left. Major Charles Lawrence ordered it built in 1750. In 1779, Flora MacDonald spent a Read more…
Pier 21 in Halifax is what Staten Island was to New York—the first port of entry for many migrants in the 19th and early 20th century. The special exhibition on German-Canadian relations was told through a series of photographs depicting German immigrants to eastern Canada and Canadians occupying West Germany Read more…
Instead of being a giant Greek Revival building full of dead exhibits, Halifax‘s Museum of Natural History comes alive with staff introducing visitors to live specimens of non-native animals. I also appreciated the prehistoric exhibit told through the lens of Nova Scotia’s indigenous people. Reptiles are cheap to buy and Read more…
There are two lounges in Winnipeg and there is only a main terminal area. There’s no separate terminal space for transborder flights. Plaza Premium Lounge Eligible Priority Pass and Dragon Pass members and some credit card have the $59 access fee waived. There is a full service bar where basic Read more…
The Lehigh Valley Heritage Center is the history museum and artifact archive of the coal mining, steel smelting, and war loving region in the Great Appalachian Valley. The coal was used to power ships, the steel used to build ships, and men sent to operate the ships. The ships were Read more…