A small art gallery in St. Petersburg, Anna Nova is well
hidden but it's well worth
the trek to find this diamond in the desert. Here's how to find it:
walk some two blocks from metro-station Mayakovskaja, then
walk down a grey path that winds through yellowish backyards, then
turn left, and there it is! The way is certainly Peter-pan-ish:
"second to the right, straight on 'till morning, that's where I'll
be waiting" - with
the only one amendment – there won't be Peter Pan himself to welcome you,
but Pasha, the gallery-keeper (Barry's famous character doesn't bear any
comparison with this real-life personage)...
Read the rest of: "Anna Nova Gallery"»  Thanks to Sex in the City, Magnolia Bakery in the
West Village
has a permanent line around the block. I'm not joking.
The first time I attempted to go there, I assumed because
of the line they had table service. Nope. Just a line to
get cupcakes! $3.50 cupcakes. Beautiful, big, amazing cupcakes!
But seriously, what local would wait in an hour line for a
sugar fix? OK, probably me, until I decided to seek out other
sources to satisfy my sweet tooth in this town....
Read the rest of: "Cupcake Quest"» 
You've seen it if you go to the movies. It's the backdrop for most of Chicago and parts of Cinderella Man. Walking the cobblestoned laneways of Toronto's Historic Distillery District is like a journey back in time.
Established in 1832, the Gooderham and Worts distillery grew to become the largest in the British Empire. Known as the most well-preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America, the Distillery District covers 13 acres and is made up of over 40 buildings...
One of the biggest complaints about the neighbourhood was the dearth of good restaurants. Balzac's coffeehouse offered sandwiches and crepes, but the other two restaurants onsite, run by the same management company that runs the entire complex, were overpriced and more than a little pretentious...
Read the rest of: "Mill Street Brew Pub"» 
Forget the Alamo.
San Antonio
is about Mexican food. Specifically: Tex-Mex.
More specifically: the indulgent bliss of the #3 lunch plate special for $4.99 – two cheese enchiladas, one beef taco, refried beans, rice, two flour tortillas and iced tea. Chips and salsa come free.
When friends come to visit
San Antonio, the proud epicenter of Tex-Mex food, it is usually their wish and certainly my duty to introduce them to the local flavors. I promptly direct them away from the River Walk and into one of the older neighborhoods of San Antonio, where the best restaurants are – the ones that serve handmade tortillas with that perfect fluffiness-dusted-with-flour texture.
Read the rest of: "Tex-Mex - Food of the Manteca Gods"» 
Probably one of the most famous bridges in the world, The Brooklyn Bridge totally lives up to its reputation. Many of my friends who have lived in New York for years have never journeyed over it. Tourists from around the world come and walk it, why don't we? So I decided it was my time to do the deed. I took the E to the first stop in Brooklyn, High Street, which is literally next to the entrance to the bridge. In no time, I was approaching the famous lines of cables that support the suspension. Unlike other Manhattan bridges, the pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge is in the center, rather than on the sides, providing an expansive view of the city in front of you...
Read the rest of: "Walking Over the Brooklyn Bridge"» 
After spending days lounging around in the sun and surfing on deserted beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks (OBX if you're nasty), it was time for a change. Luckily, NC is a state that allows you to go from one extreme to the other pretty easily, so long as you manage, unlike me, not to get lost in Dismal Swamp. From the flat expanses of the Outer Banks, and without only a brief pit stop dedicated to the aforementioned getting lost (extended somewhat by the fact that I got caught in the middle of a massive frog migration, which is weird enough on its own and made a whole lot weirder by the fact that this is actually the second time I've been halted in my vehicle by a massive frog migration), I shot due west and straight into the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains to meet up with an old friend and put a feather in my knit cap by hiking the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi: 6,648 foot tall Mount Mitchell.
It was also a grand chance to make one of the most beautiful drives in all of the Americas: the Blue Ridge Parkway in autumn...
Read the rest of: "Mount Mitchell and the Blue Ridge Parkway"» 
In New York City, you're more likely to see a butterfly tattoo than you are an actual butterfly. You'll probably see more flower-selling than flowers growing. Bombarded as New Yorkers are by honking horns, flashing lights, jackhammers, sirens and psychoses, it's important to find some places where you can get away. Where the noise dies down a bit, and the flow of people slows to a comfortable trickle.
Conservatory Garden in Central Park is just that kind of place...
Read the rest of: "Conservatory Garden"»  The plaster dust from recent renovations has finally settled at Holt Renfrew, arguably the finest department store in Montreal. The store is shinier than ever, and designer clothing and fine perfumes await your every glance. However, if like me your idea of a good time doesn't usually include shopping, then you are in luck - Holt Renfrew is also home to unarguably some of the best in-store dining in the city. In fact, the basement Cafe Holt is a destination in itself, and not just for weary shoppers as I imagined.
Cafe Holt's modern decor is accompanied by a thoroughly modern gourmet menu, which is in turn centered around a very traditional bread....
Read the rest of: "Café Holt"»
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