Forever Bicycles

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is Toronto, Canada’s transformative celebration of contemporary art. In 2013 a major part of this celebration was Forever Bicycles by  international artist Ai Weiwei from Beijing, China. This impressive art installation in Nathan Phillips Square was formed by joining together 3,144 bicycles! Yong Jiu a major bicycle brand in China translates from Chinese to…

Snapshots of Toronto

Toronto is located in the province of Ontario. This is big city Canada. I rolled into town for a few days in September 2013 to see some bands and take in the sights. This was my third time in Toronto, a fantastic multicultural city with lots to see and do along with great food!

These Boots Were Made For Rockin’ 2013

In regards to live music, 2013 was a great year for me. The year started out with some gigs in Australia then when I came back to America I saw shows all over the country and even popped up to Toronto in Canada to catch some shows. The following are the major acts I saw…

Happy New Year!

So this year I didn’t add any new countries to my travels but I still managed to visit 5 countries – Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico and Canada. During 2013 I was mostly preoccupied with attempting to get to all 50 states in the USA (I thought 50 countries, why not 50 states too?). As the…

Casa Loma – Toronto’s Camelot

Just north of bustling downtown Toronto in Ontario, Canada is Casa Loma, a quite amazing gothic revival style mansion. It is known as Toronto’s very own Camelot and is a beautiful place to see. The home was built by Sir Henry Pellatt (1859-1939) a wealthy Toronto businessman who owned a stock brokerage firm and an electricity company…

Canadian War Museum – Part II: LeBreton Gallery

The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Canada is a must see for anyone interested in military history. The displays of equipment and vehicles is impressive and covers the entire scope of Canada’s military history from the First Nations and Colonial times to the modern age. My previous blog covered the majority of the display halls, but my favourite part of the…

Canadian War Museum – Part I

When visiting Ottawa in Ontario, Canada if you have any interest in military history you must not miss the world-class Canadian War Museum. The impressive looking museum covers every period in which Canadians have been involved in some form of conflict and the main galleries are in historical chronological order. The galleries start out with Battleground which covers…

Star Wars Identities

Since 1977 I have been somewhat obsessed with something that captured my imagination like nothing else before or since. I was just a kid when my Uncle Ed took me to see the then new release science fiction movie by George Lucas: Star Wars (at the time the full title was confusingly Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope – what happened…

Stately Ottawa – Canada’s Capital

Ottawa in Ontario is the capital of Canada. The city was founded in 1826 as Bytown and in 1855 became a city and changed its name to Ottawa which is also the name of the river that runs beside it. The word Ottawa is derived from the language of the first nations tribe of the Algonquin. In their…

Spending a Night in Jail – Willingly!

OK, first of all, no I didn’t get drunk and locked up for the night, not did I have any outstanding fines that imprisoned me! While in Ottawa the national capital of Canada I did decide to stay in the Hostelling International Hostel there on Nicholas Street that is an old jail formerly known as the Carleton County Gaol. It…

Metal swarms on Toronto \m/(>.<)\m/

Now I know in my last blog I said Ottawa was next on my travels in Canada and it was, but wow what a week for heavy metal music I have just had in Toronto, Ontario Canada! From New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) legends Raven to German power metallers Helloween and a swag of local…

Montreal Revisited

Ah Montreal such an interesting melting pot of French and English Canadian history and culture.  This was my second visit to Montreal in the province of Quebec, Canada and although there is lots to see and do in the city, this trip was mainly about catching up with a local friend, eating Poutine and Montreal smoked meat (combining the two is…