Two of the best museums in Montreal
As one of Canada’s historic industrial centres, Montreal has been a far busier place than the international focus on Vancouver and Toronto might have you believe. From the early French attempts to establish a fur trading post and British colonial rule (yes, British!), to Montreal’s establishment as the economic capital of Canada in the late 1800s and beyond, Montreal certainly has an interesting history. There are several interesting museums in Montreal but for the best crash course of the city’s history, especially if your visit will be brief, I suggest focusing on the development of the city and the people that chose to call it home. These are the two…
Musee Renoir – an insight into Renoir’s life in Cagnes-sur-mer
Do you love art enough to be interested in the story behind it? In the hills above sleepy little Cagnes sur Mer on the French Riviera coastline, hides a real treat for art lovers, especially fans of Pierre Auguste Renoir. A short walk from the centre of Cagnes-sur-mer, Renoir’s final home, now open to the public, is a beautiful sanctuary overlooking olive groves and the glittering Mediterranean. It’s easy to see why, when driven to a warmer climate by agonising rheumatoid arthritis, Renoir chose to live there. World-famous artists seem quite untouchable at times, unreal almost, so it is incredible to be able to walk through the house that was…
What’s in the James Cook Museum in Cooktown?
These days Cooktown, over 300 kilometres north of Cairns, is a quiet and fairly low-key laid back kind of place. However, that was not always the case, as evidenced by the various exhibits inside the National Trust James Cook Museum. From explorer James Cook’s encounter with what is now Cooktown, the town’s founding, the gold rush, and significant immigration, to the impact of the Second World War and of European settlement on the local indigenous population, this small museum houses several exhibits sharing Cooktown’s interesting history. James Cook and the HMS Endeavour Originally jettisoned from James Cook’s ship the Endeavour, the enormous anchor and a cannon form the centerpiece of…
