The Art Gallery of Ontario completed our self-assigned 'High Five' tour of attractions, courtesy of City PASS Toronto The AGO is the little gallery that grew from a cute 1817 Georgian house called 'The Grange' into it's current international gallery and architectural status. Thank a Frank Gehry 2008 makeover for the latter label. A film clip of Monet at Giverny is part of an exhibit currently on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art, tracing the evolution of Impressionism and P

It's a deep dive from the view of Ripley's through next door CN Tower's glass floor. And a coy marketing move to paint the roof of the aquarium. Time to get down with our CityPASS! Looking at Ripley's through the glass floor of the CN Tower OurCityPASS tickets parachuted us through Ripley's front door into an expansive atrium packed to the gills (ahem) with visitors. Dangerous Lagoon's moving walkway carried us through a football-field-length underwater acrylic tunnel with

This time our complimentary CityPASS took us above the city — waaay above: 553.33 meters / 1,815 ft, 5 in, to be exact. OK, not quite, since we weren't on the antennae, but high enough for a spectacular view of Toronto in all directions. Panoramic view of downtown Toronto at sunset, from the outside section of the CN Tower observation deck. We found ourselves swept up in an international student group as a long conga line wound around the CN Tower gift shop on the ground flo

A small aircraft glides past the Toronto skyline while coming in for a landing at Billy Bishop island airport. City Cruises was our second CityPASS sampling. All cruises depart from Queen's Quay Terminal, Harbourfront at the bottom (not underwater) of Bay Street in downtown Toronto. Queen's Quay itself is a building with residences restaurants, bars and an upscale Farm Boy supermarket to wet your whistle and tame runaway appetites. We enjoyed an indoor picnic lunch from the f

Lis and I used a complimentary CityPASS app this summer to experience 5 major Toronto visitor attractions. The PASS saves money as a discounted 5-item package and let's you skip the line with advance reservations. Reservations can be made on a computer, but the app is best used with a phone or tablet. First up was the R.O.M. (Royal Ontario Museum) 'Canada's leading museum, home to 18 million artworks, artifacts, and specimens from around the world and across the ages.' At a f

The parade begins to form — a few hours late, but who cares? Toronto's annual Caribana parade. Relevant factoids: * August 1, 1834 was Emancipation Day when slavery was abolished in most of the British empire, including Canada. * Hennessey has just launched its second Limited Edition bottle celebrating carnival culture. The company is a major sponsor, as you can see in the video on my other FB post. © 2026 Gary Crallé

My new desk is a minimalist workhorse. An update was long overdue for my office. Though still functional, the sturdy desk I've used for over 20 years was tired. I also wanted to avoid sitting immobile for long periods. That's unhealthy. A sit/stand desk was the solution. First, I refreshed the wall paint. Grey is recommended for colour accuracy all round, but I opted for Tuscan red and Hermitage green, or at least thought so until discovering that even computer matching doesn

Our day began with a pancake and sausage breakfast in the 100-year old hamlet of Glen Williams (a Georgetown neighbourhood) where parade participants were already preparing their vehicles. We met and shared a picnic table with Georgetown newcomers Tara and Brent, then dove into factual lore on a tour led by expert regional historian Mark Rowe. Like a mother hen leading a brood, Mark brought past mercantile ambitions and religious rivalries to life. The town hall (left) was bu

Breakfast at the Reflecting Pool, Washington DC, USA Photo © The Washington Post 1974 This might be the best story behind a picture that I've ever read. My apologies for any confusion; since posting this I have found out the story is accessible only to subscribers of the Washington Post. If you leave your email I'll forward a WORD copy. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/national-mall-breakfast-1974-photo-recreation/ The headline: This photo on the Nat

A 360 degree view of the original Route 66 terminus in Los Angeles We're in California, L.A. to be exact, standing on the corner of 7th and Broadway. A small sign up a street lamp post celebrates this spot as the original terminus of Route 66. Back in the day (1926 - 1939) it was, but those were the glitter days when the Jewellery District sparkled and Theatre District was, well, theatrical. Motorists arrived at the center of it all. Then the route was extended to the Pacific

Fort Lauderdale has shed its reputation as a college spring break playground and moved upscale. One facet of this shift is giving Miami a run for its culinary. Although my awareness is just a few plates deep, I was impressed after experiencing 3 fine dining restaurants within walking distance of each other on Las Olas (beach) Boulevard and 2 near the redeveloped downtown Huizenga Park area. For this visitor, the scope and quality of development, including the concern for publ

Each year the IPW travel convention reception is a lively welcome, with themed performances, food and drink plus more food and drink. Did I mention food and drink? This year's host, (Fort) Lauderdale served up cultural and culinary samples using its lauditory 3,122 hours of annual sunshine as a backdrop. Let the show begin! A local artist painted an intriguing body of work to fit the landscape

White boy dancing, by Susan Webb, at the opening night beach party of IPW (travel convention) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Go Gary!

It's cute as a biscuit. This 400 square foot community-refurbished 1915 gas station proudly takes its place on the National Register of Historic Places. My friend Steve and I popped in while exploring some old Route 66 touch points not far from Los Angeles, California. The spunky little gem in all its 1930s canary yellow glory is now a free museum, open Thur. - Fri. 10-4. Designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style popular at the time, its restoration won a California Pres

If Route 66 begins in Chicago, Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles is where it ends 2,448 miles west as measured along the original highway. The initial terminus is actually in downtown Los Angeles, but the pier has glam. Executive Director and official Pier historian James Harris took me on a tour one typically busy day, from the 1916 Loof Hippodrome with its third generation carrousel to the mural at the end of 'America's last great pleasure pier.' Santa Monica Pier Rote 66 End

Neon signs are as much a part of Route 66 as cars and peculiar motels. If you’ve ever wanted to know what goes on behind those signs, here’s a unique experience. The ACE Sign Company provides free guided tours M-F 10-2 at their Springfield, Illinois headquarters museum. It's all part of 'Route 66ing.' Get my full 5-day trip through Illinois https://www.travelingmitch.com/mostrecent/illinois-route-66-attractions Scanning some neon in the ACE Sign Company museum.

Looking back at Day 3 of my Route 66 tour through Illinois. Roll out the carpet! The American Giants (open air) Museum in Atlanta (Illinois!) is a quirky stop. We arrived as a jumbo viking was being hoisted into place. Bill Thomas of the Atlanta Betterment Fund gave me a backgrounder on the viking. Texaco also had 300 giants manufactured in the 1960s, then ordered them destroyed due to fallout from both the dealers and public. Dealers were required to move them from station t

A new roadside mural by Robert Ryan celebrates the 100th birthday of Route 66

Images © Gary Crallé 2026

I couldn't decide whether the name Gozo was more Lord of the Rings or Harry Potterish. Curiosity made me go. Gozo is the second largest island in the Maltese archipelago. Being isolated from Malta itself by a ribbon of water, it moves to a more relaxing pace. To get there from Sliema in the south of Malta we hopped aboard bus 222 for the 1-hour ride northward along the coast. A 25-minute ferry ride deposited us on Gozo, and from the harbour a bus took us to the town of Victor