2 Best Sights in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Victorian wunderkind Anna Leonowens is famous for the time she spent as a royal governess in Thailand (then Siam), which inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I, but she also spent two decades in Halifax, where she founded the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. It later returned the favor by opening the Anna Leonowens Gallery, with three exhibition spaces that focus on contemporary studio and media art, and serve as a showcase for the college faculty and students. The gallery mounts about 100 exhibitions a year and also has offshoots at the Port Loggia on the waterfront and in the Granville mall.

Between Pier 21 and the Seaport Farmers' Market, the exhibit space of the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, home of the Mary E. Black Gallery, presents shows of pottery, jewelry, textiles, metalwork, and other innovative, high-end crafts. The center also holds classes, including one- and two-day workshops, from fall through spring.