We Blog The World

Below are a few interviews and takes from last week's Golden Glass Slow Food event in San Francisco.

Also check out my blog post from the event, which is full of photos of the best in slow food and wine, and includes entertaining sommeliers and chefs, largely from northern California.

David Royston-Lee will be at Waterstone’s in Dorking, England on Thursday July 2, 2009 at 5pm for the launch of his new book: BRAND YOU. He will be speaking for 40 minutes before answering questions and signing books.

It’s almost 10 pm and I’m not kidding you, the sun is shining so bright that we had to draw the shades in the living room.  My internal clock is completely bonkers, however I feel that this awesome natural occurrence (and other ones, of course) is what fascinates me about life in the North.

For me, being up here is about re-educating the senses and re-discovering what Mother Nature is all about.  What an adventure!

After my morning jog and a few minutes of our version of an “editorial meeting,” we decided to rent bicycles and tour Sylvia Grinnell Park.  We rode for about 10 minutes along the river route, passing children playing on parts of the river that were still frozen over.  The tundra was serene, some patches covered in snow, and the sky was painted grey with smudges of blue surrounding it.

At first, you’d think the park is flat and just plushy-and-moist earth.  But it’s filled with frequent ups-and-downs, rocky mounts and the rugged terrain is only apparent when you get deep into the park.  You can see where the heavy ice leaves depressions in the landscape.

As for the hiking?  The routes are challenging, so make sure to stretch, wear good shoes and be careful.

We stopped at the first scenic point we could find, locked up our bikes and hiked into an area that was covered with large chunks of ice.  The Sylvia Grinnell River separates the park in two, and we were at the spot where it meets and forms a waterfall.  (This is also where many locals come to fish for arctic char, so it’s not hard to find.)  The sound of the rushing water was intense AND quiet at the same time. I think this park is a treat for nature lovers around the world and it’s one of those locals-know spots that I hope you get to see for yourself oneday.

Leaving Nunavut tomorrow, I feel so lucky to have had this experience.  I’m still here, yet I’m already planning my return.  But then, that’s just part of my nature…

PS: Tavvauvutit means hello and aksunai means good-bye in Inuktitut.

While I’m a contributor to We Blog the World, the below blog post  is the copyright of the Canadian Tourism Commission.  Please link back and credit all content used to Canada is a Big Place.  You can also check us out on Flickr and @biglaceblog.

Whenever I’m in a new place, the first piece of advice I ask the locals for has to do with coffee.  Where do I get a great espresso and where do they go to drink their coffee of choice? In my opinion, coffee houses are indicative of that city’s social DNA.  Interesting characters and great thinkers have always appointed the coffee house as a place to congregate.

So, it’s no surprise that many people here recommended for us to visit the Grind & Brew, a coffee shop that not only locals favour, but as we found out, hockey-stars, world leaders and Hollywood-types also like to visit.

From the outside, the dust coloured wooden house stands no taller than 6 feet, if that.  The door was ajar and the room was dimly lit.  No Starbucks jazz music playing here, but only the blurry sounds of the CBC entertain those wishing to sit down for a while.

The square-shaped room had kitsch:  The canary yellow paint on the walls added a nice accent to the  dozens of pieces of memorabilia on the shelves: hockey-jerseys, ground-coffee displayed in brown lunch bags, and foreign license plates. The most famous one?  The license plate from one of the cars that the motorcade used for the 1969 Inauguration of Richard Nixon.

(NOTE: It was sent to the owners, Brian Twerdin and Mayor Elisape Sheutipik, by someone who visited Iqaluit and heard about their passion for collecting license plates.)

Sipping a cup of Columbian, we got to chat with Brian and the former Minister of Education and Health, Ed Picco, who just happened to be there for some coffee.  He said that because many private jets and commercial transatlantic flights refuel in Iqaluit (the airport is also known as a “cold weather testing facility”), many famous people have a few hours to spend in town, so they go to the Grind & Brew.

Who has been to the brew you ask?  How about Nelson Mandela, Madonna, JFK Jr., Jordin Tootoo, Rick Mercer, Salma Hayek and Sir Richard Branson, to name just a few.

As a locals-know recommendation, you can feel the heartbeat of the city in the Grind & Brew after talking to Brian and Ed.  Not only does the shop make delicious breakfast items, sells coffee and offers a place for locals to come together and discuss issues, Brian also makes a point to help the local youth get inspired: He buys signed hockey jerseys from Ebay, brings them into town and sells them to locals at an affordable price.  He says otherwise some people might never get the chance to buy one.  Now that’s something to talk about.

So what’s your favourite local “black-watering” hole? Any recommendations for us to grab a nice hot cup of coffee in Ottawa or Ontario?

While I’m a contributor to We Blog the World, the below blog post  is the copyright of the Canadian Tourism Commission.  Please link back and credit all content used to Canada is a Big Place.  You can also check us out on Flickr and @biglaceblog.

Client Voyij.com, the most comprehensive site on the web for travel deals and sales, has now added European destinations. For the first time, travelers now have one central location where they can discover the widest variety and largest number of European travel deals and specials under one roof.' The concept behind Voyij is simple. Voyij fills a void on the web that people want: “what travel destination is on sale today?” With Voyij, you can explore and discover travel sales and deals you never knew existed independent of origin, destination or dates. Other travel sites concentrate on real-time inventory and the few that do focus on deals have substantially less offerings, focus on one aspect of travel but not another, i.e., hotels, or do not include filters so you can narrow down what you want. Travelers simply enter the city they are leaving from and Voyij does the rest. You can choose to review the deals and specials that are on sale that day, which is a compelling part of the discovery experience Voyij offers. Because the site grabs deals from hundreds of travel suppliers, you often learn about destinations and deals you never knew existed and from sites you never heard of. Additionally, Voyij goes one step further. If you choose to narrow down your scope, a second step allows you to filter by region, time of year, popular destinations, hotel star ratings, beach hot spots and more. These features are particularly useful for European destinations where popular hot spots are often more expensive and booked up months in advance during the summer months.

Yet more responsive advertising by Nandos (the chicken people). This one picking up on the USA’s 3-2 loss to Brazil in the Fifa Confederations Cup. Nandos must have one of the most responsive marketing departments around. It churns these clever little ads out quickly. No tags for this post. Potentially related posts No related posts.

Click on headline link to visit matthewbuckland.com for full article

In spite of a dismal looking record in the Confederation Cup (One win in the whole tournament), Bafana Bafana under the leadership of Joel Santana proved that they have what it takes to stand up to the top football nations in the world and give them stick.

And stick is exactly what Spain and Brazil received (Spain twice).

Sadly Bafana was not rewarded with a victory in the final stages of the tournament and managed to finish 4th in the tournament behind Brazil, USA and Spain.

However I am still proud to say that it took 3 miracle goals to beat bafana in the 3rd/4th play-off and one of the best freekicks I’ve seen by Brazil to take us out of the semi-final.

Mphela played a magical game in the 3rd/4th play-off and put through one of the best freekicks under pressure in the final movement of a football match to take the game in to extra time (which we then lost).

Bafana has a good platform to start working from for the 2010 world cup coming our way next year. We are in a great position to look at how we played against 2 of the top 5 teams in the world of football. Joel Santana deserved a win, but let’s be honest he’s finally made South Africa look like a team, play like a team and become supported like a national team by a nation.

Well done to them all. Similar Posts:

• Bafana Bafana makes me a proud South African
• Boks win, Bafana through and Proteas… they still lost.
• Bafana Bafana wash the All-Whites
• New Bafana Bafana jersey unveiled
• Bafana take down Cameroon

In an absolutely nail-biting finish the Springboks took on and defeated the British & Irish Lions to take home a series victory. 2 matches, 2 wins. That’s good odds.

The Bokke played an absolutely terrible match in the first half with the likes of Schalk Burger being sent off within the first minute of play for gauging someones eye. I expect more of a player of Burger’s capability (I struggle to say class as that was most definitely not classy Schalk).

But the heroes of the evening were Peter de Villiers’ replacements, Morne Steyn and Heinrik Brussouw played the games of their lives to make it very difficult for Mr Burger and Ruaan Pienaar to get back in to the starting line-up. And rightfully so. It’s time that players learned that it is not their right to play in the starting line-up, it is earned.

Nevertheless with no time on the clock and South Africa behind, Morne Steyn, the drop-kick master stood up and slotted a 52 metre penalty to secure the game.

Nice one Bokke. Similar Posts:

• Boks win, Bafana through and Proteas… they still lost.
• SA crowned IRB World Sevens Series Champions
• Vodacom Blue Bulls win Super 14
• Should the Springbok emblem stay or go?

About nine months ago I did a tour of Greenpoint Stadium, which will be hosting one of the semi-finals for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Now, about 9 months later, I toured the stadium again with Chris Rawlinson and Gabby Rosario, thanks to a competition on Twitter. And, judging by the pics, there is progress. [...]

Click on headline link to visit matthewbuckland.com for full article

It’s Sunday morning in Iqaluit, overcast and it’d be an understatement if I said the weather was crisp.  But you know, I really don’t care that it’s not a balmy 82 degrees. I’m ready to discover the Iqaluit on foot, as I head on the Road to Nowhere, with my new best friend, the loaner parka.  (We met a lady last night at the circus, Janet, who graciously offered to lend me her daughter’s jacket.)

It’s funny.  I just read an article about popular tourist attractions in Canada.  It said that many compelling places in Canada don’t make any of the “best-of” lists, because they’re in remote locations, yet often, it’s those locations that offer the most sense of discovery.

I would agree, wouldn’t you?  I keep finding myself asking the locals where the off-the-beaten-path gem experiences are in the cities we visit. Isn’t a memorable travel experience is about discovery?  For me, it’s finding the “heartbeat” of the city, those pockets of arteries that display authenticity and raw emotion.  And I think I discovered that last night at Artcirq.

Artcirq is a circus masterpiece that blends elements of circus acts with traditional pieces of Inuit culture: juggling, acrobatics, clown and music. Guillaume Ittukssarjuat Saladin is part of the cast and the Co-founder, Co-Artistic Director and trainer of the “organism.” He helped start the Artcirq project in 1998, while being at the National Circus School of Montreal.

Although the production stems from a darker place to remedy a local crisis, what really captivated me about the performance was the positive spiritual energy that permeated the room. Although rehearsed, there was almost sense of improvisation and innocence that I’ve never seen before. The throat-singers for example would entertain us, but then break into laughter, causing a ripple effect, making the audience laugh.  I’m not sure if it was intentional, but it worked.

The physical collaboration of older performers with the younger generation was also spectacular. One act included a family of three strength balancers, one of them being a toddler.  There were also several women in the act carrying their toddlers on their backs during the entire performance.

In particular, last night’s performance was special, as Productions Kalabante, an African-Quebecois circus troupe featuring Yamoussa Bangoura was also part of the act.  The mix of cultures, colours and beats garnered a “standing-o” at the end of the show.  More than anything what I took away from the performance was a strong sense of cultural pride and just genuine happiness.

See the live performance on Isuma TV and tell me what you think.  What’s you favourite Big Top experience and why?

While I’m a contributor to We Blog the World, the below blog post  is the copyright of the Canadian Tourism Commission.  Please link back and credit all content used to Canada is a Big Place.  You can also check us out on Flickr and @biglaceblog.