Category: Travel
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Tokyo Diaries: Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (in the Pouring Rain)
To say it was raining the the day I chose to visit the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is an understatement. I lived in Vancouver for 20 years: this wasn’t rain, it was a torrential downpour. It didn’t help that I didn’t pack an umbrella. There are a large number of gardens such as this in…
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Tokyo Diaries: A City for Bikes
Not just in Ontario, but all across North America there seems to be a bit of a backlash emerging against bike lanes and urban cycling. It’s not terribly rational–bicycles have 2% of the road space in Toronto, and yet our wonderful premier is convinced that roads are clogged because of the bike lanes. This made…
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Tokyo Diaries: Neighbourhood Mailboxes
One of the lovlier things about travelling is fresh eyes: mundane scenes from everyday life become interesting. This is particularly true if you’re a little bit off the tourist path. My hotel was in the Ryugoku area of Sumida. This isn’t a neighbourhood you’ll hear a lot about (Shibuya, Ginza and Shinjuku have the good…
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Tokyo Diaries: Bistro Ryumilu
Food and travel inevitably go together: whether you’re cooking for yourself or staying in a hotel and eating out travel takes you out of your normal routine. The grocery store is different, the restaurants are new and the culture of the food can be completely different. So, even a travel diary that starts late can…
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Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh and the Future of Canada
Somewhat by fluke and on very short notice, I wound up on Parliament Hill on Sunday January 5th of 2025. The next morning, it was a very different place the next morning when Justin Trudeau resigned. It’s a bad situation–the Liberal Party of Canada has never done succession very well, and Justin has left us…
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Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France
Today marks the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral. I’ve never been inside–both of my Paris visits came after the fire–but I figured it might be worth looking back on some photos taken both before and after the spire was restored. One of these days I’ll get inside.