My husband and I went on a northern climes driving trip to Michigan, Toronto, and Letchworth State Park in November - the reason for the trip was to see a friend who was being treated for cancer in Ann Arbor - and it was the first time we had been to the state, whose motto is 'Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice' (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you). Michigan is also known as the "Wolverine State" though its more common nickname is the "Great Lakes State," due to the fact it's the only state in the U.S. that borders four of the five Great Lakes. Here are some brief highlights:
This show is also traveling to New York, Texas, North Carolina, and California in 2026.
After three nights in Detroit we drove to Toronto, where I had been once many years ago (on a high school trip to Spain, I met a young woman from Toronto who invited me and another friend on our trip to visit her. She also took us to Manitoulin Island - the largest freshwater island in the world - where her parents lived). Toronto then was not the happening city it is now, and while it may be more appealing to visit in warmer weather (not unlike Detroit), there are plenty of indoor things to do and see. We stayed at The Anndore House, a property of the JdV by Hyatt brand, defined as "A community for the spirited, the light-hearted and the young-at-heart." Anndore House is in a good location for walking to a lot of places one wants to see in the city. Our large room was comfortable and windows were along an entire side so we had good views out over Yonge Street, Toronto's best known thoroughfare. The hotel's cafe, the Scarlet Door, serves good coffees and a few morning pastries; next to it is the hotel's bar; and Constantine restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had a great lunch with our friend Doug, who is a Toronto native, at Manita in the Rosedale neighborhood; good Thai food at Bangkok Garden; great coffee and Italian cornetti at the fantastic Terroni Sud Forno (Yonge Street; La Cucina di Terroni was published in 2025 by Simon & Schuster Canada); great cocktails on the 17th floor outdoor terrace of the Writers Room Bar at the Park Hyatt hotel (views of the city are wonderful - see below - and there are heat lamps!); a good bowl of ramen at Kinton Ramen, a Canadian chain with more than 40 locations; and an excellent dinner at Amal, a Michelin-recommended restaurant (it does not currently have a star).
View from the rooftop bar at the Park Hyatt
Our best activity in Toronto, one that I highly recommend, is the 'Kensington Market International Food Tour' offered by Chopsticks + Forks, a culinary walking tour company founded by Jusep Sim. Kensington Market refers to the name of the neighborhood that dates back to 1815. It began with Irish and Scottish immigrants, followed by Italian and Eastern European Jewish immigrants - the Jewish families converted the Victorian houses into small family-run stores by adding ground-floor shops, and the area was then known as the Jewish Market (Kiever synagogue, founded by Jews from Kiever Gubernia in Ukraine, is still on the corner of Bellevue Avenue and is a Modern Orthodox congregation). In the 1950s, Portuguese immigrants from the Azores arrived, and they were followed by Caribbean and East Asian immigrants. Kensington is a true melting pot and it was named a National Historic Site of Canada in 2005. There are still a lot of specialty food shops and unique retailers, and it is mostly free of chain stores (the few that have managed to open are of concern to the independent businesses there). Jusep, who is among the most personable, kind, funny, and knowledgeable humans anywhere (he's also incredibly passionate about food, history, and his hometown), pointed out the statue of Al Waxman in Bellevue Park, in the center of Kensington. We were unfamiliar with Waxman (1935-2001), but he was a real fixture of the neighborhood and even starred in a Canadian tv show, 'King of Kensington,' that aired in 1975 (the show is often compared to 'All in the Family' and Waxman played the character of Larry King, who was as liberal as Archie Bunker was conservative). There were 6 stops on our tour, which managed to cover eight countries across five continents under one mile of walking (and yes, we were full by the end!) and Jusep revealed all kinds of interesting details at each one (a new discovery for us was pocket sushi - delicious!). As always with a culinary tour (we've been on many), one learns about far more than food, and Jusep is a stellar guide you will not soon forget.
The Art Gallery of Ontario, which is 125 years old, is celebrating by spotlighting 29 of its most beloved works (visitors scan a QR code on the museum's complimentary map). The museum is the first building in Canada designed by Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry. DO NOT MISS Yayoi Kusama's 'Infinity Mirrored Room - Let's Survive Forever,' which is up until 25 October, 2026. No photograph does it justice and it's difficult to describe. It positively has to be experienced in person and is a-m-a-z-i-n-g! AGO has an impressive collection of Canadian art - with an emphasis on artists from Toronto and Ontario - as well as Indigenous, European, Modern and Contemporary, photography, and prints and drawings collections. My favorite part of the museum is its Galleria Italia, an incredible room above Dundas Street that is the length of a Canadian football field. The light-filled, wood and glass Galleria has been described as "the underside of a cedar strip canoe" and Lisa Rochon, a Canadian architecture critic and urban planner, referred to it as "Toronto's Living Room." It was made possible by 26 Toronto families of Italian descent who each contributed $5000,000. Next to the Galleria is the fantastic Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, with more than 900 works.
I was unprepared for how wonderful the Gardiner Museum is, even though I'd heard it was special. This museum of ceramic art was founded in 1984 to house the personal collection of George and Helen Gardiner. There is an active calendar of temporary exhibits but to my mind it's the permanent collection that really "wows." There are more than 5,000 objects in the museum's collection, including a gallery of Indigenous ceramics, and the second-floor European Porcelain Galleries are incredible. As a walk through the galleries relate, porcelain from China and Japan was both expensive and highly desirable, but no one knew how to make it in Europe until the 1700s, with the introduction of Meissen porcelain in Germany. The story is one of "intrigue and greed, of espionage and bribery, as well as of remarkable technical accomplishments that involved kings and their mistresses, alchemists, and rogues." No one had more passion for porcelain than Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), elector of Saxony and king of Poland - it was during a visit to Berlin in 1709 when he saw the porcelain room at Charlottenburg Palace, and he was obsessed ("I have porcelain fever...It is the same with porcelain as it is with oranges: if you have a longing for one or the other, you will never have enough"). The most brilliant display here is the Late Eighteenth-Century Dessert Table, set with plates made at the Derby porcelain manufactory in England and figures from the French manufactory of Sévres. The recollections of a dinner with the Bishop of Norwich in September 1783 by diarist James Woodforde was the inspiration for this table:
Dessert at a grand 18th century dinner was both a banquet of confections and fruit and a spectacle to amaze the guests. Most porcelain figures were made for dessert tables, and figures from the commedia dell'arte, which began in Italy in the 16th century, were popular for over 200 years. They likely were used at dinners before Mardi Gras celebrations or fashionable masquerades, and the ensemble here is one of the Gardiner's signature collections. In the same room as this magnificent table is a Monteith, made in England, which was used to chill wine glasses. They were usually placed on the buffet and filled with chipped ice and water. Rinsed glassed would be suspended upside-down and chilled between servings of wine. According to a report of 1683, the name Monteith was inspired by a "fantastical Scot" named "Monsieur Monteith" whose coat was notched with U U U shapes.
Accompanying this excellent display are some comments from an essay, 'Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities' by Dr. Stuart Hall (1932-2014), a Jamaican-born British scholar and pioneer in the field of cultural studies. He is best known for his work on multiculturalism, race, and identities:
While my husband went to the Hockey Hall of Fame (where the Stanley Cup lives), I walked a short distance away to the St. Lawrence Market, one of Toronto's most famous food markets. It was named 'Best Food Market in the World' in 2012 by National Geographic, and while it may have been surpassed by another market by now, it's still very much worth a visit. The market complex consists of North Market (home to the Saturday farmer's market and Sunday antiques market), South Market (its main and lower levels feature over 120 vendors), and St. Lawrence Hall. While the food stalls in South Market are naturally of interest, the architecture of this huge, brick building is worth noting: its cast-iron ceiling was inspired by London's St. Pancras train station. Kozlik's mustard, an excellent brand that I like, has a stand in the market (Canada grows a very large percentage of the world's mustard), and I also picked up a few items at Chris's Cheesemongers. At one of the bakery vendors on the main level (I can't now remember which one), I bought a jar of tahini from Parallel Brothers, a Near Eastern restaurant/take-out/store that unfortunately we just couldn't fit into our few days in the city (they are serious about tahini at Parallel). Very near the market is Berczy Park with this cool trompe l'oeil mural and this fountain devoted to dogs (note the bone at the very top!).
The Allan Gardens Conservatory was recently renovated and is a pretty place to be in the center of the city. The various gardens housed within the Conservatory are all enclosed and are open year-round - don't miss the turtles in Palm House! The outdoor arboretum features 55 species of trees.
We didn't take advantage of any Lake Ontario waterfront areas, but according to Destination Toronto they're open year-round. Additionally, Lake Ontario Park is an ongoing project that seems like it will be a wonderful addition to the city.
We'd heard of Letchworth State Park only a few years ago - I can't really explain how a park referred to as the 'Grand Canyon of the East' escaped our notice - and as it's just under a three-hour drive from Toronto, we made it our last stop before heading home. The Genesee River flows through a gorge over three major waterfalls to create this spectacularly scenic park.
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