• America,  Blog,  Canada,  Travelogue

    The Red Dress Run

    There is something exciting about discovering a city for the first time. You never know what to expect on the next corner. Strange sights. Beautiful freeze frames. Or just plain hilarious moments. Yup, downtown Montreal didn’t disappoint in that respect. Something I don’t see too often. A horse waiting patiently at a traffic signal. It’s not every day that one gets to see a horse wait patiently at a traffic signal. Wedding guests dressed in their brightest and best, willing and more than happy to pose for you. Or men walking and running around in red dresses like it was the current fashion rage. Everybody in their finest, all set…

  • Traditional welcome dance native to Huron-Wendat Nation
    Blog,  Canada,  Travelogue

    Kwe!

    A short drive from Québec City into Wendake and you reach Onhoüa Chetek8e, a reconstruction of a Huron-Wendat Nation village. The welcome center at Onhoüa Chetek8e Onhoüa Chetek8e literally means ‘from yesterday to today’. And just in case you are wondering what a digit is doing in its name, it is pronounced as ‘oua’, like in ‘wh’ in ‘what’. This village model was built to raise awareness and show the ways of their ancestors, who moved into, and have lived on these lands since 1697. Today, there are little over 3,000 people who call Huron-Wendat Nation home. Roughly around half of them live in Wendake. They have their own school…

  • America,  Blog,  Travelogue,  USA

    Of show stoppers and other characters

    For most first-time visitors to New York, their first stop is Times Square. It was no different for me when I landed there for the first time in 2009. Since then it’s stopped being just a place to pass through, to either head uptown or further downtown. It’s a convenient place to hook up with friends, and then progress elsewhere (if you’ll ignore the mass of tourists and locals). In fact, I’ve more reasons to avoid it now, since Toys “R” Us decided to close their flagship store a few years ago, and eventually file for bankruptcy. But that’s another story. One of the things that caught my eyes then,…