Toronto, capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario, is an art enthusiast’s dream.  The city, the fifth largest in North America, is home to several major galleries and museums.

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is the largest in Canada with more than 40 galleries.  The museum displays both art works and natural history items and has the largest collection of avian and mammalian skeletons in the world.  The museum’s Far East Collection, the largest collection of far eastern artifacts outside of China, is anchored by the Ming Tomb, a complete seventeenth century warriors tomb and the only complete Chinese tomb in the West.

The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art was, at one time affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum.  This specialized museum is home to more than 2,000 pieces of ceramic art.  Their collection features everything from pre-Columbian pottery to classic European porcelains of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Art Gallery of Toronto has strong collections of European and Canadian art.  One of the main attractions of the Gallery is its collection of Henry Moore sculptures, one of the largest in the world.  Henry Moore personally designed the exhibit space for this collection in 1974.

For more than thirty years the Textile Museum of Canada has celebrated international fiber art. Their permanent collection contains more than 12,000 textiles, from pieces as much as 2000 years old to modern designs, with samples from more than 200 regions of the world.

The Bata Shoe Museum is housed in a whimsical, shoebox-shaped building designed by architect Raymond Moriyama.  The museum is home to a 4,500-piece, semi-permanent “History of Shoes” exhibit that highlights examples of footwear spanning time and the globe, from ancient Egyptian sandals to the sleekly sexy stilettos of 1990s.  The Bata also has three additional galleries that display special exhibits throughout the year.

The tides in the Bay of Fundy, the waterway between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, are the highest in the world, with an estimated 100 billion tons of water rolling in and out of the bay twice daily.

One of the best places to see this phenomenon in action is Hopewell Rocks Park.  These “flowerpot” rocks are tree-topped rocks only partially visible at high tide.  Low tide reveals their delicate, sculpted bases.  During low tide it is possible to actually walk on the revealed sea floor.  As the tide comes in, footprints left on the flats literally disappear before people’s eyes as the water rises six to eight feet per hour.  In some parts of the bay the difference between high and low tide can be as much as 46 feet (14 m).

Whale enthusiasts will appreciate the bay area for the variety of marine mammals attracted to its krill-rich waters during the summer months.  Up to fifteen different species of toothed and baleen whales make their summer home in the waters just outside the bay.  Whale-watching tours depart daily from June to October each year.

For a glimpse into the planetary past, make a trip up the bay to the Joggins Fossil Cliffs.  These sandstone cliffs are rich with 300 million year-old fossils of everything from invertebrates to lizards and the trees of the primordial forest they lived in.  The powerful tides in the Bay of Fundy are constantly eroding the cliffs, constantly revealing more fossils.

No visit to the Bay of Fundy would be complete without seeing the Reversing Falls of St. John.  The St. John River flows into the bay through a series of rapids.  When the bay’s legendary high tide occurs, the flow of sea water forces the river water back up its course, reversing the direction of the falls.

The first Stampede was held in 1912 and attracted almost 40.000 visitors its first year, far more than anyone expected.  Attendance at the 2006 Stampede was a record-breaking 1.26 million people.  Stampede organizers recommend that anyone who wants to attend the event make reservations well in advance.

The Stampede is famous for its chuck-wagon race, reminiscent of the races cowhands would have in celebration at the end of long trail rides.  Other rodeo events include pro and novice bareback competitions, bull riding, saddle bronco riding, both pro and novice, barrel racing, wild pony racing, and several roping events.

Not even nightfall slows down the Stampede.  When the sun sets, visitors enjoy the nightly Grandstand Show, a pageant that features Canadian performers and changes every year.  Each evening, stages all over Calgary light up with performances from country music stars, comedians, dancers, and more.

The Stampede’s Midway keeps growing, too, and now averages over 30 adult rides and 20 kids-only rides each year.  Midway guests can test their skill in one of 20 or more games.  When they get hungry, attendees can find refreshment at one of the dozens of food and beverage vendors—and that is just on the Midway!

Agricultural events have been part of the Stampede since it merged with the Calgary (Agricultural) Exhibition in 1932.  Aggie Days is a family-friendly look at how milk gets from cow to table and wool from sheep to sweater plus other fun activities for kids.

One of the Stampede’s best-known events is the Caravan Breakfast.  Each morning of the Stampede, a group of dedicated volunteers puts out a free breakfast for Stampede attendees, a tradition going back over 80 years.

Bernard Callebaut grew up in Belgium next door to the factory where his family had been making chocolate for the previous four generations.  In 1980, when the family decided to sell the Belgian chocolate business to Swiss chocolate giant Suchard Toblerone (they still owned, among other things, a brewery), Bernard decided to emigrate.

We wanted to bring truly excellent, gourmet chocolate to the Americas.  After touring cities throughout America and Canada, he fell in love with the mountains and culture of Calgary.   There he began anew with Bernard Callebaut chocolates.

His family was convinced he had gone mad, making high-quality chocolates for a people who, generally, would not know the difference between that and paper-wrapped bar from the gas station.  They were wrong. The first day his chocolate shop was open he made $700 and by the end of his first year in business he had made $200,000.  He doubled that the following year.

What is his secret, the thing that will get North Americans to pay more for his delectable treats?  There is no secret.  Callebaut is happy to tell people how to make his chocolates and even occasionally teaches courses at his Calgary factory and world headquarters. 

The trick is to use fresh, organic ingredients with no additives.  His chocolates do not contain preservatives or vegetable oils.  He is so open about his methods he even has recipes for some of the things they sell in the shop posted on his website at www.bernardcallebaut.com.

At Bernard Callebaut they are happy to give visitors a tour of the factory as long as it is arranged in advance.  The tour is great and the best part is, of course, the free samples.