Photo of the day (7.30.10)

by Alex Robertson Textor on

This grainy, black-and-white image of the Toronto City Hall by roxie88 makes Viljo Revell’s triumphant mid-1960s building look downright sultry, even mysterious. It’s easy to imagine well-trained double agents wandering the halls of this building with pilfered files in their briefcases. In real life, it’s more likely that city officials sit in these offices, hiding nothing more than their inappropriate browser histories.

Got an image that provides a new or suggestible context for an everyday object, place, or person? Upload it to Gadling’s Flickr pool. If you’re lucky, we’ll use it for our Photo of the Day.

Neighborhood watch: Inglewood, Calgary

by Alex Robertson Textor on


Inglewood street scene.

A little neighborhood adjacent to downtown, Inglewood has emerged over the last several years as one of Calgary’s most dynamic ‘hoods. Inglewood is the oldest neighborhood in a city full of new builds financed by oil revenue. Happily, the neighborhood carefully safeguards its buildings, and the façades of Ninth Avenue SE, its main strip, are in no danger of being smashed by a wrecking ball. Inglewood’s old-fashioned core is a world apart from Calgary’s go-go downtown skyline.

Inglewood is also an important neighborhood in Calgary’s cultural calculus. It is home to the Calgary Sunfest and the Calgary Fringe Festival, and sits adjacent to the Calgary Stampede, the enormous rodeo and exhibition that takes place every July. It’s also close to the Calgary Zoo and the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

Inglewood’s contemporary retail profile is a fascinating tangle of old-school antiques stores, new upscale home furnishings shops, and quirky outlier businesses. The area has gentrified slowly and unevenly. Many locals cite the most recent oil boom and the migration of street prostitution away from the ‘hood as essential to Inglewood’s more recent transformations.

Inglewood is home to Rouge (1240 Eighth Avenue SE), which came in at Number 60 this year in the S. Pellegrino World’s 100 Best Restaurants List. That I did not have time to have lunch at Rouge on Wednesday will haunt me for quite some time. Rouge ranked higher than any other Canadian restaurant on the 2010 Best Restaurants List.

There are other culinary delights in Inglewood. There’s the simple, organic-minded WilderNest Dream Café (1209 Ninth Avenue SE), which serves delicious breakfasts of farm fresh eggs and drip coffee delivered in little French presses. There’s also Choklat (1327A Ninth Avenue), which does a thrilling trade in chocolate and other cocoa products. The one-stop shop does everything in house, from bean to final product. The caramel and chocolate shortbread is ridiculous, as is its line of exquisite chocolate bars.


There are anarchists in Calgary, too.
Savour (1331 Ninth Avenue SE) is a lovingly curated kitchenware and food shop, opened in 2008. The kitchenware products are all of very high quality, with a handful of whimsical objects, though the shop really sets itself apart with its carefully selected edibles. The food selection prioritizes Canadian provenance, and includes a line of Alberta-based Brassica mustards.

Moonstone Creation (1416 Ninth Avenue SE) is a lovely Native art gallery and gift shop, with a range of art and practical objects created in an in-house workshop as well as by artists in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon Territory, and the US. Like many of the fresher shops in the neighborhood, Moonstone Creation is a recent addition to the Ninth Avenue scene. It opened in 2009.

Inglewood’s old-school antiques legacy can be sighted at Inglewood Antiques (1221B Ninth Avenue SE), with its eclectic hodgepodge of classic decorative items, pop culture objects, and fresh, dried, and silk flowers. Inglewood Antiques, founded in 1987, sources much of its inventory from individual sellers.

Across the street there’s Circa (1226A Ninth Avenue SE), a top-notch art glass shop with vintage and contemporary offerings. Opened in 2004 by Brian Imeson, it contains mostly European mid-century glassware, originating in the Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, and Belgium, among other places. Whether or not the astounding price tags are within your budget, this is a great place to engage in home furnishing fantasies.

Lastly, Pro Line Shooters II (1426 Ninth Avenue) is a gun shop and barbershop. Such an enterprise might appear in the abstract to be out of place on a street increasingly lined with stylish shops, yet Pro Line Shooters feels as though it fully belongs on funky Ninth Avenue. During my recent visit, the resident barber had his hands full.

Accommodations tip: Inglewood Bed & Breakfast, 1006 Eighth Avenue SE. A grand Victorian replica of house sits just a block from Inglewood’s main artery. Rooms are spic-and-span, the owners are chattily personable, and the décor is comfy with a bit of Mitteleuropa flair. On this last count, it may be no surprise that co-proprietor Helmut Schoderbock hails from Austria.

Read the entire road trip series here.

Some media support for this visit was provided by Travel Alberta. All opinions belong to the author.

Ritz-Carlton Toronto set to open Fall 2010

by Melanie Nayer on

The Ritz-Carlton’s first foray into Great White North will take place this fall with the opening of its Toronto hotel. The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto was slightly delayed last month thanks to weather-related issue, but the building seems to be back on schedule and the new open date is set for sometime in the late summer or early fall. So, what can Toronto guests expect?

Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto will be within walking distance to entertainment, shopping areas, sports venues, and the city’s business districts. The hotel is surrounded by two parks and all of the 267 rooms will have views of either the city or Lake Ontario. Rooms include floor-to-ceiling windows, Frette linens and luxurious bathroom amenities.

A 23,000 square foot, 16 treatment room spa, referred to by the hotel as the “Urban Sanctuary” will offer an extensive menu of spa services. A fully cardio-equipped fitness center is located on the same floor and features a kinesis center, indoor pool and hot tub.
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The Canada hotel will feature a 120-seat restaurant on the mezzanine level that focuses on “contemporary Canadian cuisine”. Diners will find a glass encased cheese cave, wine display, walk-in wine cellar, open pastry kitchen and a Chef’s table in the kitchen. If the restaurant is too formal, you’ll have the option of lounging in the lobby bar or at the outdoor patio, where a pizza oven and fire pit await.

As part of Ritz-Carlton’s ongoing efforts to support a greener economy, the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto will feature a Deep Lake Water Cooling System, which provides an alternative to conventional air-conditioning. According to the hotel’s website:

The system uses the cool energy in cold water to air-condition our building, reducing the energy consumption by up to 90% compared to conventional chillers.

For those of you eager to track the progress of this hotel, you can keep up with the construction here.
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Ten Reasons to Travel to Canada

by Andrew Evans on

Happy Canada Day! Bonne Fête du Canada! Today’s the day that we celebrate that time when the Canadians defeated the British, uh, declared their independence, uh, were made the subject of a British parliamentary act (?). Whatever the celebration is for, dedicated travelers all love Canada simply because it’s an awesome place to travel. If you haven’t ever been, why not? As they say in Canadian, vous have absolument no excuse. Here’s why:

1. It’s close. So close you can drive there. Getting to Canada is simpler than driving to Disneyworld and a heckuva lot more interesting. Also, did you know that 75% of all Canadians (that’s around 400 people, haha, JUST KIDDING!) live within 200 miles of the US border? Well they do. So you don’t actually have to go THAT far if you don’t want to (although a lot of the most interesting and beautiful spots are far, far away).

2. Food. Canadian cuisine is quite different and most delectable. The fact is, Canadians were all local, organic foodies long before the trend took off on Bravo TV. If you like to eat, go eat in Canada. Try the lobster in Nova Scotia, wild blueberries or poutine in northern Québec, buffalo tenderloin in Alberta, the Chinese food in Vancouver, real maple syrup in Ontario, and Tim Horton’s just about everywhere else.

3. It’s clean. You’ve heard the cliché and it’s so true. Canada is super squeaky clean. The air even tastes cleaner. It’s about time you were reminded the real color of water and the smell of a pine forest. Canada’s so clean it will make you feel dirty.4. We Lost. Remember how they creamed us in hockey? What’s worse, it’s not even Canada’s national sport. Oh no, hockey is not the national sport of Canada. Any guesses? (Clue, it’s not baseball either). Anyhoo, Americans need to travel to Canada to understand this strange sport and learn how to beat ’em at their own game. We shall overcome.

5. They’re multi-cultural. Remember how in America we’re this big old melting pot and we’re all middle class? In Canada, they don’t put up with such illusions. Everyone gets to be hyphenated (e.g. French-Canadian, Croatian-Canadian, etc.) or capitalized (e.g. First Nations) and everyone gets to have multiple identities. In fact, Canada is probably the most post-modern destination on the planet, although that’s relative.

6. History. Canada and the USA have a huge and fascinating shared history. Head across the front lines to find out all about the other side in those touching 18th century wars. Visit some of the of forts in the Great Lakes and find out how much of Canada used to be America and vice versa. It’s mind-boggling.

7. Nature. It’s hard to give the nod to another country’s natural wonders when our own country is filled with such rapacious national parks that make us feel so patriotic. Just know that Canada has some fairly amazing sites as well, starting with the Canadian Rockies (Oh My!), the coast of Newfoundland, the Arctic, about (ABOOT) five million lakes, and a few national parks that are bigger than the state you live in. If you like being the only one with nature and the only person for several hundred miles, Canada does that.

8. I forgot what 8 was for. Oh, yeah. MUSIC! All of our greatest singers are Canadian. It’s true. The independent music scene (and the film scene and art scene and theatre scene) are all so vibrant and healthy, just like a rosy-cheeked Canadian child. You’ll be surprised by some of the bands and music festivals you find among Canada’s big cities (Winnipeg, anyone?)

9. It’s foreign. So many of us dream of visiting a different country, going beyond our border to new exotic climes. Canada is one of the places. You might not think it because their dialect is so similar to that of Minnesota and so on, but Canada actually is another country with lots of exotic, different, foreign things to enjoy. Parts of Canada feel like old-time Europe, and other parts of Canada feel like Jurassic Park, so before you wait your whole life saving up to go on safari to Africa, go on safari in Canada. Grizzly bear and beluga whales may not be what you had in mind, but it’s a lot different than what you have living in your backyard.

10. Eh. Yes, “EH” is totally a reason to go to Canada. What are you waiting for, a personalized invitation with your name in calligraphy? It’s Canada Day, so, like, Go to Canada, eh?

Top five weekend travel media stories

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Here are some of the best travel stories from this weekend’s English-speaking newspaper travel media.

1. In the New York Times, Stephen Heyman profiles six moderately-priced New York City boutique hotels. One of the boutique hotels reviewed even has nightly rates under $200!

2. In the Globe and Mail, Heather Zorzini writes about her night in the apparently quite beautiful Dildo, Newfoundland. (How beautiful is Dildo? Look above.)

3. Tom Neal Tacker dives with sharks in Fiji, survives, and writes about it for Melbourne’s The Age.

4. In the Guardian, Tim Bryan bypasses Prague for Brno, giving the Czech Republic’s second-biggest city the weekender treatment. He eats and drinks like a champ, all for 2000 Czech crowns (under $100).

5. In the Sunday Times, Martin Symington lists seven great spots across the UK (in Cornwall, Cumbria, Isle of Lewis, the Lake District, Orkney Oxfordshire, and Wiltshire) for observing the summer solstice.

(Image: Flickr/joannapoe)