Category: Travel

• Fruktkiosk

  I’m a big proponent of urban kiosks for two reasons: 1) they can animate and anchor public life without a big footprint (see Lisbon) and 2) they can offer a low-cost option for small entrepreneurs to start something up. It can be a form of fast, low-friction real estate in an industry where most interventions are anything but fast and low-friction.

  For example, when we were in Paris last month, we were walking back to our hotel one evening after dinner and I naturally thought to myself, “We need crêpes.” So, I checked what was on our route home and I found a little kiosk aptly called Le Kiosque. They had crêpes, and the place was busy with lots of people speaking French.

  

  

  It’s located between the Grand Palais and a park on the Champs-Élysées, so if it were not for this kiosk, there wouldn’t have been anything available to us in this area, and we would have risked returning crêpe-less!

  These kiosks, as we have seen in Lisbon and other places, can also be downright beautiful. Here’s a fruit stand in Stockholm designed by DinellJohansson architects. It’s green, it has an awning and lights, and a nice yellow sign on the top. I’d share a photo here, but I don’t want the photographer to get mad at me, which sometimes happens. So click the link.

  Stockholm, like Toronto, also experiences snow and winter. It shows you that these urban interventions are weather-agnostic. Cities are missing a big opportunity by not allowing and/or encouraging more urban kiosks.

  2026.10.04

• À la prochaine, Nice

  

  Our week in Nice has ended. We took an early morning flight out today, connected in DC, and arrived back in Toronto in the evening.

  I love Nice. It’s urban, but it also has great beaches and rocky swimming coves. It shares some of the exact qualities I love about Rio de Janeiro, albeit on a smaller scale.

  It also has a robust road biking culture. And I aspire to one day be able to keep up with the pros on those mountain climbs. Until then, look for me in the bike lanes of Toronto.

  Regularly scheduled programming resumes tomorrow on the blog.

  2026.09.14

• La Promenade des Anglais needs a Canadian flag

  

  

  I have a suggestion.

  La promenade des Anglais is Nice’s most globally recognizable street. It’s a 7-kilometre waterfront promenade that curves along the Baie des Anges. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it’s home to many of the city’s events, such as the Ironman competition that took place this week.

  (Congratulations once again to my brother from another mother Austin for showing us how it’s done today!)

  In addition to a beautiful promenade, beach, and shimmering blue waters, you’ll also find lots of flags. Naturally, there’s the French flag. There’s the Union Jack. The promenade was originally funded and built by the British aristocracy who used to winter in Nice.

  You’ll find the flag of Monaco given its proximity (~20 km). The Italian flag also features. Nice belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia until 1860, and the border is ~30 km away.

  You’ll find the American flag, which presumably reflects the city’s long military and cultural connection with the US. More recently, you might also find Ukrainian flags, reflecting French solidarity with and support for the country.

  But one flag that I have yet to find is the Canadian flag. That is, other than the one this yahoo was waving around during the Ironman competition. I think that needs to change. Canada is widely considered to be the second most important country, after France, within La Francophonie.

  Plus, with Canada looking to aggressively deepen its economic ties with the EU and with Air Canada announcing direct flights from Toronto to Nice starting next summer, I think Nice should expect greater Canadian influence going forward.

  I have put out a formal request to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney, and the Ville de Nice. I’ll let you know how they respond.

  2026.09.13

• The Venice syndrome — or is it?

  We were walking through Old Nice today and we stumbled on a fresh pasta shop called Clé aux Pâtes (highly recommend). I went in to grab supplies for dinner and then started chatting with the friendly lady behind the counter. She explained to me that all of the pasta is made on-site every morning and that the shop has been there since 1932.

  I then made a comment that their customer base must have changed considerably over the decades. Underlying this statement was an assumption that it is now mostly tourists. But she corrected me and said that lots of locals also shop there. I then turned to look at the line behind me and, for what it’s worth, there was French being spoken.

  But I left thinking about the composition of the neighbourhood. Old Nice is made up of several statistical areas. The oldest and densest is called Vieux Nice-Sainte-Réparate. It’s just under 50,000 square metres, which is about the size of the Distillery District in Toronto. As of 2022, it had a total full-time population of 1,187 people. This works out to a respectable figure of 23,912 people per km2.

  However, the area’s population has been in decline since at least 2007, when it had 1,798 people. The obvious culprit is more hotels, short-term rentals, and secondary homes. I had Gemini review the area’s census data, and it estimates that only somewhere between 35-45% of the area’s housing serves as primary residences.

  This data would suggest that Old Nice is another example of what has been called the “Venice syndrome.” Tourism is now the trade, leading to a decline in population. But it’s interesting to think about the extent to which the area may also serve as an open-air mall for locals. That’s a more resilient place to be. Of course, all I have to go on is a pasta anecdote.

  2026.09.11

• Le col de Vence — testing the Ironman cycling course in Nice

  So, it turns out that if you want to do the 92-kilometre Ironman World Championship bike course in Nice, it’s a good idea to practice a little beforehand. At the very least, you probably want to get on your bike more than a handful of times. I tried it today and came up short.

  The circuit includes le col de Vence at its summit, which is a 9.7-kilometre stretch with a 963-metre peak elevation and an average pitch of 6.6%. I was within 6 kilometres of the top, but my quads completely seized up and I turned back towards Vence, then continued south back to the water.

  I really wanted to get there and reward myself with a sugary crêpe, but my legs were saying otherwise. I’ll be back, col de Vence.

  Shoutout to Guinness World Record holder Austin Kjorven, who will be representing Canada at the Ironman this weekend and has no problem climbing le col de Vence. He was also super patient as I attempted the climb. Follow him here.

  The course:

  

  What I did:

  

  The ride:

  

  

  

  

  

  Some of the local cycling infrastructure:

  2026.09.09

• Gone ridin’

  

  

  2026.09.08

• Travel isn’t always pretty

  

  Sometimes there’s an elevator down to the metro, but more often than not there isn’t. 

  Sometimes there’s AC, but oftentimes there isn’t.

  Sometimes Vivienne is peacefully sleeping in her stroller or carrier, but sometimes she’s having a diaper blowout meltdown and screaming loud enough that passersby start giving concerned looks.

  Traveling can be positively inconvenient at times. We’ve never traveled with so much paraphernalia before. We’ve never had to keep breast milk chilled on ice and think about bottle expiries while navigating busy metro trains with no room for our stroller. 

  But in my mind it’s like exercising. It’s work, especially with kids, but it changes you for the better. We also want Vivienne to grow up to be adaptable, resilient and patient in the face of hot, urine-soaked transit elevators and the like.

  As Anthony Bourdain once said:

  “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

  We finished our week in Paris, walking and taking transit everywhere. We didn’t step into a car once. We averaged just over 10k steps a day, which is significantly lower than what we would have done sans baby, but it’s still respectable. 

  Seeing the data on my watch and my surging step count reminded me how sedentary my life has gotten over the last two years while working from home (at least from a steps per day perspective).

  It’s unacceptable and I need to make some life changes when I get back to Toronto. But for right now, it’s time to head south.

  2026.09.07

• We are now in a post-camera world

  

  This is a wall of 20th-century filmmaking equipment captured at the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé. For background, Jérôme Seydoux is a French businessman and movie producer (and the grandfather of French actress Léa Seydoux). Pathé is the second-oldest operating film company in the world. It was founded by the Pathé brothers in the late 19th century. (For architecture fans, the Fondation itself was designed by Renzo Piano. Note: Full architecture tours only happen once a week.)

  

  

  Seeing this taxonomy of equipment and reading about its market adoption reminded me that technologies change, but human impulses tend to remain remarkably static. Film cameras at the beginning of the 20th century were made for industry. They were expensive, bulky, and required teams of people. But as you’d expect, by the middle of the century, these devices became more affordable and suitable for individual use. This gave rise to amateur filmmakers and eventually, you could say, proto-influencers.

  The introduction of smartphones made creation even easier and social media platforms completely changed the game of distribution, turning content creation into an even bigger business. But in the end, the human desire to capture, create, and share remains the same. Today, however, the game is fundamentally changing. AI eliminates the need for handheld devices and physical models and locations. Now you can just prompt. The possibilities are endless.

  As I was walking around the Fondation and reading about how it took a year to cast the right female lead for L’Amant (Jane March was eventually found in the suburbs of London), I couldn’t help but think about how AI completely collapses this process. Today, there’s no need to look; you just need to describe exactly what you want. Invariably, this is going to feel like some kind of loss to purists. Isn’t this artificial?

  We are now in a post-camera world. But what will never change is our desire to tell stories.

  2026.09.05

• From YYZ to CDG to central Paris with a 3-month-old

  We arrived in Paris this morning and Vivienne’s first flight was a 10/10. She slept most of the way in our arms. The bassinet looked like some sort of elaborate torture device (see below), but she did also sleep in it for a bit. The problem is that they make you take her out whenever the seat belt sign is on, and so we ended up just keeping her in our arms to make sure she stayed asleep. So she slept well; we did not. Thankfully, Toronto to Paris is a super easy flight. It was around 6 hours today.

  

  When we arrived at CDG, we stopped at Monop’ for some juices and a snack, and then went straight to the RER B train. Tip: Never fuss with the ticket kiosks. Open Apple Wallet. Add the Île-de-France travel card to it, and then choose the airport pass for €14. The express train took about 30 minutes to get to Gare du Nord. We then did one transfer and one stop on the RER E line, paused in the station to feed Vivienne and admire its vaulted ceilings, and then walked to our hotel. I think we were under an hour inclusive of the meal break.

  

  I’ve said this many times before, but I very much enjoy the feeling of getting off a plane and not having to drive. In terms of our experience with a travel stroller, none of the trains we took had level boarding, so I would just grab the front of the stroller and we’d lift. But every station we were in had elevators. Not all of them were in order, but we could always find one to use. In some cases, we just managed on the escalators.

  Full disclosure: We failed at our plan of only checking one 85L bag. We ended up checking one of our 36L carry-on rollers as well. We’ve never travelled with so much stuff before. But I will say that the Patagonia 30L MLC carry-on backpack is incredible. It miraculously fits a lot of stuff and it keeps everything organized and accessible. I don’t do bag reviews on this blog, but I almost want to now.

  It turns out that travelling with a 3-month-old is harder than not travelling with a 3-month-old. It requires full-on logistics management, especially in a big, dense city like Paris where we’re accustomed to only walking, biking, and taking transit. Vivienne is already giving us a different appreciation for the city and we’re excited to let her do that. One of the things she suggested is a picnic in the park. That sounds great, and a perfect way to enjoy late-summer Paris.

  2026.09.01

• Packing for urban (and beach) travel with a 3-month-old

  

  We landed on our big-picture luggage strategy for Vivienne’s first trip, and our car seat versus no car seat decision (who wants to drive?), so now let’s look at some of the smaller stuff. As a reminder, we’re going to be operating with one large 85L check-in bag, a Patagonia 30L carry-on backpack, another smaller carry-on bag, and the Ergobaby Metro 3 travel stroller. Below is a mostly comprehensive list of the other, less-obvious things we’re bringing. Most of what you see pictured will be going in my carry-on backpack.

  Pictured (from left to right):

  • Baby carrier for urban exploring on foot
  • Portable fan that attaches to our travel stroller (charges via USB-C)
  • Diaper pack cube with 20 diapers and a fresh pack of wipes (this is going in our carry-on just in case we once again become quarantined at Brest Airport and we can’t buy diapers for 24-48 hours)
  • Smaller packing cube with clothes, burp cloths, and other important stuff for Vivienne
  • Smaller diaper bag that we’ll use for diaper changes (instead of carrying the bigger diaper pack everywhere)
  • AIAIAI headphones for the plane (these will get cut if we end up short on space)
  • Various chargers and cables
  • Plane and beach reading material (including Monocle’s summer newspaper, Med, Mountains & More)
  • Fujifilm camera (it’s been a while since I’ve taken this out)
  • GoPro, and selfie stick, which also doubles as another stand for our baby monitor (these are liable to be cut as well)
  • Cycling cap and cycling shoes not pictured here (plan is to do some road biking even though I’m the furthest thing from conditioned this summer)
  • Vivienne’s brand-new passport, where she could pass for George Costanza (reminder that I don’t love Canada’s most recent passport design)
  • MacBook Air (I used to carry my Pro around everywhere; this is a game-changer for weight)
  • Memory card reader
  • Sunglasses (including a pair for cycling)
  • Handheld luggage scale
  • Apple USB-C European plug block (we picked one up a few years ago for simplicity)
  • Baby monitor travel stand (for the Nanit)
  • 2 x universal travel adapters
  • Laser distance measuring device so I can nerd out about European built form
  • 45W battery pack with USB-A and USB-C plugs (note, this cannot be checked and must go in a carry-on)

  Not pictured:

  • Change of clothes for the flight in case we are victims of a blowout
  • First aid / pharmacy kit for Vivienne
  • Breast pump apparatuses & bottles
  • Pacifiers and clips
  • Disinfecting surface wipes for diaper changes on the go
  • Doggie bags and Ziploc bags for wrapping up dirty diapers and other such things
  • Floating pool lounger with sun shade for infants
  • Portable beach tent for Vivienne
  • Portable sound machine (charges via USB-C)
  • AirTags in our checked bag and carry-on

  2026.08.30