Mercedes-Benz magazine — Fall/Winter 2016 by Spafax

16 Âˇ FA L L/ W I N T E R M E R C E D E S - M AG A Z I N E .C A C A D $12 .95

Rockies Road Trip Mike Horn takes in Canada by G-Class

Fast Forward

How the F 015 is shaping the world of autonomous driving

20 Years of SLC

Celebrate the cult roadsterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new name and look

Polar Ops

Hunting for the perfect photo in Nunavut

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Instantly thrilling. The new Mercedes-AMG C 43 4MATIC Coupe. Seductive design fused with true athletic performance. Its long, sleek shape stands out, powered by a biturbo V6 engine that delivers an impressive 362 horsepower. And its lowered sport suspension helps you handle whatever the road throws at you. Discover the thrill for yourself at mercedes-benz.ca/c-coupe

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16•F A L L / W I N T E R

CONTENTS

“One day I woke up and asked myself, ‘Is this what the rest of my life will look like?’” MIKE HORN, EXPLORER

PAGE

42 AUTONOMOUS DRIVING Inside the Mercedes-Benz F 015 research vehicle

DRIVE 42 THE FUTURE IS HERE AND NOW Discover what lies around the corner in the world of autonomous driving, and what still needs to be done along the way.

IN EVERY ISSUE 12 FORWARD

48 WILD RIDE Never before has Mercedes-AMG packed so much motorsport technology as into this GT R twin-turbo featherweight.

104 INNOVATION

PHOTOS CHRIS BRINLEE JR (MIKE HORN); DAIMLER AG (F 015)

110 ICONS 50 A DREAM OF A CAR Forty-five years after the last S-Class Cabriolet rolled off the production line, Mercedes-Benz is building a luxurious new edition. 60 HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY The cult roadster from Mercedes-Benz gets a complete makeover and is rechristened as the SLC. 64 SOUND TRACK Canadian DJ and record producer Eva Shaw takes the new CLA 45 4MATIC for an after-hours test drive.

112 SOCIETY 114 INSIDE TRACK

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72 WONDERS OF INNER SPACE The new E-Class wagon combines interior spaciousness with a sporty silhouette. mercedes-magazine.ca

BRIGHT IDEAS Design goes tropical

CONTENTS

TR AVEL

16•FALL/WINTER 16 THE LIST From dining to style, Canadian culture stays ahead of the curve. 20 DESIGN Keep summer alive year-round with tropical home furnishings inspired by pineapples, palms and tiki-style decor. 22 EVENTS From outdoor painting in the Rockies to ice fishing in the Land O’ Lakes, helicopter operators go beyond heli-skiing. 24 AREA Made in Canada gets an indie makeover in Ottawa’s Wellington West neigbourhood.

LIFEST YLE

PAGE

76 STAYS Our favourite getaways from around the globe. 78 ZEN AND THE ART OF POLAR BEAR PHOTOGRAPHY On a photographic safari in Nunavut, our writer learns a little about the perfect shot and a lot about life in the Far North. 86 EYE ON THE HORIZON Vibrant, raw and full of energy, the French coastal city of Marseille exists in stark contrast to the rest of Provence. 96 SPICE ROUTE The magic of Cambodian cuisine comes alive on a floating food tour of the Mekong River.

26 GAME CHANGER Entrepreneur and programmer Brie Code is on a global mission to make videogames with people who don’t play them – yet.

PAGE

30 THE BIG CHILL A look behind the seams of three Canadian outerwear brands that prove you can still look cool while staying warm. 36 RESTLESS SPIRIT A weekend with explorer Mike Horn in the Rockies reveals a story of personal loss and perseverance.

96 PAGE

PERFECT PROVENCE Rediscover the magic of Marseille

CAMBODIAN CUISINE PAGE Cooking classes on a river cruise PAGE

SUITE LIFE Where to check in around the world

PHOTOS GUNNAR KNECHTEL (SOUP); ENNO K APITZ A (MARSEILLE)

PAGE

D I S C O V E R F R O M

T H E T H E

M A G N I F I C E N T D I A M O N D

VA N C O U V E R • 1 0 8 8 A L B E R N I S T R E E T • 6 0 4 2 3 5 5 5 5 5

S O L I T A I R E

M A S T E R

S I N C E

C R E A T I O N S 1 8 8 8

T O R O N T O • C F S H E R WAY G A R D E N S • 4 1 6 6 9 5 1 8 8 8

DEBEERS.CA

PRESIDENT’S NOTE

t’s hard to believe how quickly the months have flown by since the last issue of Mercedes-Benz magazine. Memories of summer’s open-top driving weather linger even as we’re on the cusp of darker, cooler nights and outdoor adventures that require a few extra layers. I don’t mind admitting that my enthusiasm for the upcoming hockey season is making the transition significantly easier. I hope you enjoy the fall/winter edition of the magazine, which is guaranteed to get you excited about the months ahead. Please join me on a photographic safari in the Land of the Midnight Sun, where we’ll follow polar bears across Nunavut’s wild landscapes (page 78). From there, powered by the iconic G-Wagon, our adventurous spirits will come alive with an epic road trip across the Canadian Rockies with famed international explorer Mike Horn (page 36). Switching gears, we’ll return to an urban state of mind as we explore the trendy allure of Ottawa’s up-and-coming Wellington West neighbourhood (page 24). Then, we’ll meet the teams behind Canadian brands that are redefining the world of outerwear (page 30) – after all, who knows more about winter coats than we do? Of course, our journey together will also feature plenty of opportunities to learn more about Mercedes-Benz’s impressive lineup of all-new and newly facelifted vehicles. We’ll see the refreshed four-door Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC through the eyes of Canadian-born,

internationally renowned DJ sensation Eva Shaw (page 64). Forty-five years after the final W 111 rolled off the production line, we’ll take in the incredible history of the S-Class Cabriolet and its most recent iteration – a luxurious, modern-day classic (page 50). Plus, I invite you to join me in celebrating another milestone in style: the 20th anniversary of the SLK. Newly rechristened as the SLC, it is a marvel in its fusion of open-top pleasure driving and everyday utility (page 60). In our previous edition, I had a chance to share the ways in which the all-new, semi-autonomous E-Class blends cutting-edge technology and sleek design to transform the driving experience. In this edition, we’ll take you on the “road to the future” (page 42) and treat you to a preview of what the world of fully autonomous vehicles has in store. For over a century, Mercedes-Benz has established itself as a leader in the automotive sector with cutting-edge innovations and breathtaking design. Today’s technologies provide a fascinating preview of an even safer and more connected future on our roads – whether traversing the Rockies or gliding through the National Capital Region. In the more immediate future, I hope you have a chance to take in the fall colours and take to the road to discover the hidden gems in your own hometown. Sincerely,

Brian D. Fulton President and CEO Mercedes-Benz Canada

PHOTOS ADAM M c CULLOCH (NUNAVUT ); DAIMLER AG (SLC, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE)

FORWARD

PU BL ICAT ION DE TA I L S Published by Daimler AG · Communications · HPC E402 · D-70546 Stuttgart Responsible on behalf of the publishers Thomas Fröhlich · Mirjam Bendak Publisher’s Council Ola Källenius (Chairman) · Thomas Fröhlich · Bettina Fetzer · Jörg Howe Gesina Schwengers · Dr. Jens Thiemer · Andreas von Wallfeld Canada Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc., 98 Vanderhoof Ave., Toronto, ON M4G 4C9 President and CEO Brian D. Fulton Vice-President, Marketing Virginie Aubert Director, Communications and PR JoAnne Caza Supervisor, PR Nathalie Gravel C O NC E P T A N D E DI T I N G Germany Condé Nast Verlag GmbH · Karlstrasse 23 · D-80333 München Contributors Gregor Bresser, Leandro Castelão, Karin Finkenzeller, Christoph Henn, Enno Kapitza, Sebastian Krawczyk, Niclas Müller, Benjamin Pichelmann, Benedikt Sarreiter, Anna Schäfer, Martin Trockner Canada Bookmark Content and Communications, a Spafax Group Company, 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1020, Toronto, ON M4W 1A8 Bookmark Content and Communications, a Spafax Group Company, 500 St. Jacques Street West, Suite 1510, Montreal, QC H2Y 1S1 CEO, Americas Raymond Girard Executive vice-president, content marketing Nino Di Cara Senior vice-president, content strategy Arjun Basu Senior director, business development and client strategy Courtney MacNeil Account manager, luxury and lifestyle brands Elana Crotin Editor-in-chief Natasha Mekhail Associate editor Eve Thomas Contributing editors Violaine Charest-Sigouin, Christopher Korchin Digital editor Renée Morrison Editorial intern Kelly Stock Contributors Jennifer Berry, Chris Brinlee Jr, James Robert Dawe, Andrew Findlay, Erik Hecht, Wolfgang Kaehler, Gunnar Knechtel, Richmond Lam, Jasmin Legatos, Paige Magarrey, Adam McCulloch, Amy Rosen, Gabrielle Sykes, Chantal Tranchemontagne Art director Guillaume Brière Assistant art director Mélanie Ouimet Graphic designer Marie-Eve Dubois Photo researcher Julie Saindon Production director Joelle Irvine Production manager Jennifer Fagan Ad production manager Mary Shaw Production and circulation coordinator Stephen Geraghty Ad production coordinator Joanna Forbes Fact checker Jessica Lockhart Proofreaders Katie Moore, Isa Tousignant Advertising sales sales@bookmarkcontent.com Senior national account manager, High Net Worth Media Fiona Stedman, fiona.stedman@bookmarkcontent.com Sales manager, Quebec and Eastern Canada Lysanne Boileau, lysanne.boileau@bookmarkcontent.com Senior National Account Manager, Quebec and Eastern Canada Barb Welsh, barb.welsh@bookmarkcontent.com Rights ©Copyright 2016 by Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc. All rights reserved. Reprints and use, as a whole or in part, only with the express written permission of Daimler AG. No responsibility can be taken for unsolicited texts and photographs. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher or the editors. Some vehicles may be shown with non-Canadian equipment. Some vehicles may be shown without side marker lights. Some optional equipment may not be available on all models. For current information regarding the range of models, standard features, optional equipment and/or colours available in Canada and their pricing, contact your nearest authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer or visit mercedes-benz.ca. All other content in this magazine has been compiled to the best of our knowledge, but no guarantee is given. Return undeliverables to Bookmark Content and Communications, 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1020, Toronto, ON M4W 1A8 Printed on FSC® Certified and 100% chlorine-free paper (ECF) Printed in Canada ISSN 1925-4148 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement 41657520

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THE LIST 16•F A L L / W I N T E R

From dining to style, Canadian culture stays ahead of the curve

DININ G

DRINK UP Forget the sugary big-name sodas – the new cocktail mixers are all about natural ingredients and local production.

WALTER CRAFT CAESAR MIX A thick and fresh classic cocktail mix made of vine-ripened tomatoes, grated horseradish and clam juice using North Atlantic clams.

BEC COLA A deliciously rich and zingy pop that uses organic maple syrup as a sweetener. Also comes in lime and cranberry.

PORTER’S TONIC Organic agave nectar sweetens four well-balanced flavours: original, grapefruit, cardamom orange and hibiscus.

WA LT E R C A E S A R . C O M

BEC - COL A .COM

PORTERSTONIC.COM

G O O DS

NEW-FOUND FASHION N E W F O U N D L A N D N AT I V E Lori Morgan identified a need for simple, modern pieces that celebrated her home province’s culture and heritage, so she started Terre-Neuve, an apparel and accessories supply store. The latest item to hit the shelves is the “All Around the Circle” pillow, an updated version of the local knit-pillow design, made by Morgan’s mother. Traditionally made in primary colours, Terre-Neuve’s contemporary cushions sport neons and pastels. T E R R E N E U V E S U P P LY. C O M

C U LT U RE

COMIC RELIEF

After completing a residency on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canadian artist and graphic novelist Walter Scott released Wendy’s Revenge, a follow-up to his debut from Koyama Press. The Kahnawake, Quebec-born artist’s work has been featured in Hazlitt and the Hairpin, two popular sites for literary types. His latest tome continues to

satirize Canada’s indie arts scene and builds on the adventures of the eponymous, anxiety-ridden heroine who dreams of art-world stardom. KOYA M A P R E S S . C O M

ST Y L E

GEAR SHIFT

Drive in style with these timeless Mercedes-Benz accessories. T H E C O L L E C T I O N . C A

PHOTO KENT DAY TON PHOTOGR APHY (A ZIZ A CHAOUNI)

WOMEN’S WALLET Black leather and gold finishings secure your notes, cards and coins.

C U LT U RE

INSIDE JOB More than 1,100 years apart, the stories of two groundbreaking women have come together in one building in the Middle East. Fatima El-Fihriya, the savvy daughter of a merchant, founded the al-Qarawiyyin library in Fez, Morocco, in the ninth century. Since that time, it has housed some 4,000 manuscripts, including ancient Qurans, but access has long been limited to scholars only. That changed this fall with help from Aziza Chaouni, the Toronto-based architect who began the restoration of the library in 2013. Not only is she responsible for the design, she also succeeded in convincing the Ministry of Culture to allow for the construction of two exhibition rooms that are now open to the public. A Z I Z A C H AO U N I P R OJ E C T S . C O M

AMG GT KEY RING Stainless steel and carbon leather combine with a pull-twist mechanism for quick and easy use. BUSINESS HANDBAG This practical design features an adjustable strap and dedicated laptop compartment.

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THE LIST

DINING

STEEPED IN TR ADITION Every cup of Northern Delights tea is made with the help of Nunavik residents, who hike out onto the tundra to handpick Arctic leaves, stems and berries. The result is a series of flavourful and medicinal specialty blends like Arpiqutik (with cloudberry leaves and roasted dandelion root) and Paurnagaqutik (with crowberry). All funds from the sales are redirected to a cultural organization that helps promote and preserve the language and culture of the Inuit in Nunavik. DELICEBORE AL .COM

G O O DS

LOVE TO LUMINARIES

Designer collaborations are nothing new, but when Félix Guyon and Audrée L. Larose met, they formed a personal and professional partnership. Working out of Verchères, a small town just outside of Montreal, the couple created La Belle Époque line, a collection of home-decor objects inspired by the romanticism of the late 19th century. The most recent additions to the collection, two opulent lighting fixtures draped in copper-plated chains, were unveiled at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York this spring. L A R O S E G U YO N . C O M

G O O DS

ROCKING THE NURSERY N U R S E RY F U R N I T U R E gets a modernist makeover from Monte, the Toronto design firm headed by Ralph and Michelle Montemurro. The Rockwell bassinet is a fan favourite, and the recently released Jackson rocker (both pictured) showcases the company’s signature aesthetic and approach: clean-lined design with grown-up appeal, made-in-Canada craftsmanship and sustainable materials like plush foam made of seed-based oils and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Look for their next venture: a furniture line that moves away from the baby’s room and into adult spaces. MONTEDESIGN.NET

T R AV EL

BLOOM’S DAY Next spring, keep an eye out for the Canada 150 tulip. The specially engineered flower was developed for Canada’s milestone birthday in 2017 – and released just in time to plant this fall. About 300,000 of these red and white, mapleleaf-flag-looking flowers will bloom in the flowerbeds of the nation’s capital in time for the famous Canadian Tulip Festival. Keen gardeners can purchase the bulbs at Home Hardware stores across the country. N C C - C C N . G C . C A

DINING

PHOTO HANDCR AF T CREATIVE (R AW:CHURCHILL)

POUR BOY T R AV EL

58 DEGREES NORTH R AW: A L M O N D WA S last year’s buzz-worthy outdoor winter dining experience in Winnipeg. Now, organizers have upped the ante with RAW:churchill. The itinerary (March 3 to 11, 2017) includes a 30-minute trundle in an overland vehicle from Churchill, Manitoba, across the frozen Churchill River to the Prince of Wales Fort, a stone citadel with 6.5-metre-high and 10.5-metre-thick walls. For two hours, nestled in a warm tent under the northern lights, chef Mandel Hitzer will dish up a multiple-course meal featuring historical flavours and modern techniques. R AW - C H U R C H I L L . C O M

As they celebrated their 10th anniversary this summer, Beau’s was named the official brewery for Ottawa 2017, a year-long party for Canada’s sesquicentennial birthday. More than 1 million bottles of their Lug-Tread Lagered Ale will be branded and sold across the country. But the country’s largest craft producer of organic beer has no intention of partying alone: They’re inviting other Canadian independent brewers, like Ottawa’s Big Rig Brewery and Kichesippi Beer Co., to join in their patriotic efforts, and together will release one special beer for every month of the year. B E AU S . C A mercedes-magazine.ca

DESIGN

HOT TROPIC

The warmer months may be a distant memory, but Canadian designers are keeping the summer vibe alive with tropical kitsch creations for every room of the house – think cheery colours, tiki-inspired furnishings and vintage Florida motifs. All that’s left is to whip up a round of daiquiris. W O R DS PAIGE MAGARRE Y

CUPPA CABANA The Homespun pendant by Vancouver studio Propellor is custom-made by local metalworkers – it has the tool grooves on the shade to prove it. Available in aluminium or copper, in three sizes, the fixture can be ordered in a variety of colour combinations (even the cord can be boldly hued), but we love the watermelon feel of this green and coral combo. P R O P E L L O R . C A

THE LAST STR AND This Montreal furniture manufacturer takes its cues from mid-centurymodern designs. Case in point: the Strand chair, inspired by the strand furniture of the 1960s. This modernized version, made of curved steel rods and featuring a wool cushion, was recently launched in on-trend gold-plated and nickel-plated versions.

TABLETOP TIKI W OV E N R AT TA N M A K E S U P the rustic yet modern top of this piece, part of Winnipeg designer Thom Fougere’s 2016 collection. Designed to create “a dynamic surface with which to interact,” his Rattan Bench, which doubles as a coffee table, also features a minimal oak frame to provide support without taking the spotlight away from the featured material. T H O M F O U G E R E . C O M

PINK ANDBROWN.COM

FROND AND CENTRE Talk about year-round decor: This throw-cushion cover, handmade by Milton, Ontario-based studio Tessuto Designs, can withstand 500 hours of direct sunlight on the patio in the summer without fading, and fits in just as well when moved indoors over the winter. Adorned with a dramatic Martinique palm leaves print, the spun polyester cover comes in seven sizes – ranging from 40 x 40 centimetres to 66 x 66 centimetres – to add a pop of green to any space. E T S Y. C O M/S H O P/ TESSUTODESIGNS

HAWAII FIVE OH

CAYMAN CHIC “ T O M E , T H E B E AC H is always a celebration, combining the drama of nature with the excitement of a holiday,” says Toronto designer Kate Thornley-Hall of her Cayman Islands Collection, which includes everything from throw pillows and rugs to beachwear inspired by the sea. Among the highlights: the multicoloured Cayman Brac Parrot wallpaper designed in collaboration with Senay Design Studio, made in Canada and available in custom sizes. K AT E T H O R N L E Y H A L L . C O M

Nothing keeps summer alive yearround like a burst of colour – especially when it comes in the form of a tropical fruit. Measuring 24 x 14.5 centimetres, the Glossy Pineapple by Distinctly Home, based in Toronto, has an ultra-highgloss resin finish. Designed to brighten up the dining table, the mantle or the patio, it comes in blue, pink, green and white. T H E B AY. C O M

mercedes-magazine.ca 21

EVENTS

These Canadian helicopter operators go above and beyond heli-skiing, propelling adventurers into remote locations for one-of-a-kind experiences in the wild. W O R D S J A S M I N L E G AT O S

G A N A N O Q U E , O N TA R I O

ICE FISHING Take ice fishing to the next level by landing right on the lake. Outfitter Kouri’s Kopters brings enthusiasts to different spots in and around southeastern Ontario, from the St. Lawrence River and Bay of Quinte to the tucked-away Land O’ Lakes region. Once you arrive, you’ll angle for trout and walleye in complete tranquility, cut off from the outside world. Each excursion includes a guide who will walk first-timers through the process, and all the necessities like tackle, huts and heaters – guests pack only their clothing and fishing licence. For outof-towners or groups, the company offers accommodations for up to six in a rustic cottage about an hour from their Gananoque base. KO U R I S KO P T E R S . C O M J A N UA R Y– A P R I L ( W E AT H E R D E P E N D E N T )

PAINTING J U N E – D E C E M B E R Let the remote corners of the Canadian Rockies inspire a trip that will leave you with both memories and a work of art to hang in your home. Departing by helicopter from Jasper, you’ll soar high above the treeline and over the icefields of Mount Robson, hover mere metres from the Kiwa Glacier and zoom around the peaks of the Cariboo Mountains – weather permitting – before being set down in the backcountry with an easel to spend the rest of the day. Mountain Galleries provides all painting equipment as well as a gourmet lunch and a guide for up to five people (only three passengers at a time can go up in the helicopter, which will make a second trip to accommodate larger groups). M O U N TA I N G A L L E R I E S . C O M

PHOTOS CARL TRESCHER, CMH SUMMER ( VIA FERR ATA)

NATURAL HIGH

J A S P ER , A L B ERTA

G O L D EN , B R I T I S H C O LU M B I A

VIA FERR ATA Adrenalin junkies, take note: You don’t need to be an expert climber to scale the Mount Nimbus via ferrata in the Columbia range. Italian for “iron road,” this system of fixed rungs and steel rope lets you conquer pinnacles 600 metres above the valley floor without ever having to tie a knot – though a general level of fitness is required. Sign up for a three-day stay at the all-inclusive CMH Bobbie Burns lodge, owned and operated by Canadian Mountain Holidays, then choose from a series of activities like climbing the via ferrata, the longest of its kind in North America, and heli-hiking. Guests first meet in Banff and are bused (via luxury coach) to a helipad in British Columbia’s Kootenays, then helicoptered into the remote retreat. J U LY– S E P T E M B E R

M O N T-T R EM B L A N T, Q U EB E C

DINING Kick your dinner date up a notch and arrive by air for a four-course meal at Mont-Tremblant Casino’s Altitude Seafood and Grill, which overlooks the surrounding mountains. For this romantic option, HéliTremblant will take you on a 10-minute ride over the Laurentian Mountains with panoramas of Lake Tremblant, the ski slopes, tony chalets and the racing track. Upon landing at the skiing centre, you’ll be shuttled to the restaurant, where the set menu includes Beef Manhattan, goat cheese risotto and pan-seared salmon. For an extra-special occasion – say, a marriage proposal – you can choose to skip dinner and instead land on the mountain, where Héli-Tremblant provides the bubbly to celebrate your big moment. A P R I L– O C T O B E R

H E L I -T R E M B L A N T. C O M

K A N A N A S K I S , A L B ERTA

YOGA

Practise your downward dog and connect with Mother Nature at the foothills of the Rockies with a sunset hatha yoga class. The helicopter ride out to Lusk Hill (otherwise a three-hour hike) only takes a few minutes from outfitter Rockies Heli Canada’s base, but that’s enough to get a thrill without sacrificing shavasana time. As the sun sets, you and your fellow yogis will toast to the unforgettable vistas over a picnic. If you’re looking for a place to stay once the helicopter lands back at the base, the Stoney Nakoda Resort & Casino is conveniently located next door. R O C K I E S H E L I . C O M

JUNE–SEPTEMBER

C A N A D I A N M O U N TA I N H O L I DAY S . C O M

TO B E AT I C W I L D ER N ES S A R E A , N OVA S C OT I A

HIKING Hike, snowshoe or cross-country-ski your way through the largest protected area in the Maritimes. With a guide from Ukaliq Wilderness, you’ll jump on a helicopter for an aerial tour of the peninsula’s greatest hits – think Peggys Cove, Lunenburg and the Bluenose II schooner – before landing in an abandoned airfield just outside the Tobeatic. Once landed, you’ll quickly find out why this park is considered to be the real backcountry. No motorized vehicles are allowed on its 12,000 hectares, and while there are trails, there are no maps, which is why an expert guide is essential. During the multi-day, all-inclusive expedition, Ukaliq can arrange a variety of activities: hiking through old-growth forests and along Mi’kmaq trading routes, canoeing on the rapids, or spotting moose, bear and other wildlife. Accommodations range from ultra-rugged (guests make their own shelter as part of the survival-training program) to traditional tent camping and upscale glamping facilities. U K A L I Q . C O M Y E A R - R O U N D , E X C E P T M AY T O E A R LY J U N E

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AREA

PHOTOS JOHN CULLEN (1); SCOT T ADAMSON (2); JUSTIN VAN LEEUWEN (3); SAR A CR AT T (4); FLEUR DE LOTUS PHOTOGR APHY (5); REMI THERIAULT (6)

Supply and Demand owners Steve and Jennifer Wall

CAPITAL GOODS

Made in Canada gets an indie makeover in Ottawa’s Wellington West. WORDS EVE THOMAS

A S C A N A DA G E T S ready to celebrate next

year’s sesquicentennial (a.k.a. 150th anniversary), the capital is gearing up for 365 days of superlative celebrations, from immersive art installations to star-studded concerts. But visitors can also explore the city’s quieter cultural offerings in Wellington West, a former working-class neighbourhood that’s gaining attention for its unique boutiques and innovative restaurants – all intent on giving back to the community.

THE MENU Forget stuffy steakhouses and boring prix-fixe business lunches. In Wellington West, the fast-food and fine-dining options are equally committed to Ottawa’s expansive greenbelt. Supply and Demand [1-2] is a must for high-end meets made-in-house, from the first fresh roll smothered in bacon butter to comfort desserts done right, like a sky-high Eton Mess soaked in macerated rhubarb. For good food on the go, stop at Hintonburger, a KFC turned burger joint where meat is from the local butcher, veggie options are plentiful and sodas come from

artisan brewer Harvey & Vern’s. At Holland’s Cake and Shake, owner/pastry chef Michael Holland makes soft-serve in wild flavours like cotton candy and Ovaltine, and sandwiches (all stuffed with potato chips) are served on milk bread from his grandfather’s recipe. For gourmet grocers, try Thyme & Again for fresh salads and frozen food, including Fogo Island ethical cod. The company has grown from a team of three to over 60 in 25 years, and has catered events for the Queen. Or stop at Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli (est. 1984) for a savoury taste of Montreal. To scope out the celeb chefs of tomorrow, try the car lot turned food-stall destination by Irving Avenue (it’s open year-round). Former resident SuzyQ Doughnuts [3] just moved to larger digs up the street after causing lineups around the block.

PHOTO X X X X X X

THE TOURS Getting to know the neighbourhood is easy, with tours that cater as much to locals as to out-of-towners. C’est Bon’s Wellington West Tour starts at the low-key Parkdale Market, sampling its way from freshpressed-juice stores to chocolate makers and offering a history lesson on the side. Brew Donkey started as a craft-beer delivery service, but founder Brad Campeau’s tours took off and now include short trips to local brewpubs and daylong visits to regional breweries, distilleries, even kombucha makers and coffee roasters. Bonus: Brew Donkey’s kiosk is inside MakerHouse Co [4], a shop devoted to locally made housewares (with two percent of sales going to community initiatives through the #CraftChange campaign).

THE SCENE While

downtown Ottawa can be oddly serene even on a Saturday night, Wellington West is bustling (politely) with craft-cocktail bars, monthly art walks and live music wherever you look or listen. First opened in 1934 by NHL star Bill Cowley, the Elmdale [5] was bought by lauded restaurateurs and seafood merchants the Whalesbone Oyster House in 2013, and is a great spot for fish ’n’ chips against a backdrop of antique photos and signs. When dinner and drinks are done, there’s more history to be had at West Park Lanes, a no-frills, five-pin bowling spot that dates back to 1946.

THE SHOPS A Made-in-Canada label doesn’t mean compromising on style (or heading home with a flag-emblazoned souvenir tee) at a plethora of indie fashion boutiques, like Victoire [6], which stocks L’Intervalle shoes, Iris Denim and Rosehound Apparel pins. Next door, JV Studios’ [7] founder, jewellery designer Jasmine Virani, has stocked the shop with subtle and unique accessories (custom wedding bands are also on offer), as well as cheeky small-batch greeting cards, hand-poured candles and terrariums from Ottawa florist Pollen Nation. Opened in 2010, Oresta Apothecary, the sister shop to Ottawa’s first organic spa, has its own treatment room and offers natural brands like Eminence from Vancouver and CAMP [8], out of Toronto.

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LIFESTYLE The best in events, innovation, arts and entertainment

GAME CHANGER

Brie Code is on a global mission: to travel the world making video games with people who don’t play them – yet. WORDS EVE THOMAS PHOTOS RICHMOND LAM

W H E N B R I E C O D E took to the stage in Tunis,

Tunisia, she was greeted by a rapt audience of twentysomethings ready to hear her vision for the future. But she wasn’t there to lecture on politics, religion or recent news. She was there to talk about video games. “I told them I love games because we can use them to change the world, and I want to change the world,” she says, adding, “I don’t like problems with easy solutions.” Code has been circling the globe since late 2015, after leaving her position at industry heavyweight Ubisoft, where she worked on major actionadventure titles for seven years. While her original plan was to rent out her Montreal apartment and purchase an open-ended airplane ticket, she scaled her strategy back a bit – but not much – to attend international video-game conferences, with occasional stops home to unpack and reconnect with friends. So far this year, the self-described workaholic has been to Austin, Beirut, Berlin, Istanbul and Stockholm, to name a few. Yet even before her plans for world domination, Code regularly spoke at tech events and game jams, already noticing how local culture shaped the tone of each experience – for example, she says the Nordic Game conference in Malmö, Sweden, had an especially high number of female attendees and that presenters were just as likely to document their failures as boast about their triumphs. But while she lives and breathes gaming, many of her friends consider them an off-limit art form. Therein lies the real mission of Code and the studio 26

INSPIRATION BOARD Code’s apartment decor, including abstract video game art by Brock Davis (inset), reflects her eclectic aesthetic.

I love games because we can use them to change the world, and I want to change the world.

she founded, Tru Luv Media: to make games for people who don’t play video games. “When I started doing focus groups for Tru Luv, I realized I couldn’t just research underrepresented groups, I had to make games with them, because what they wanted to see was so different from the norm.” Often, participants’ reluctance is about a lack of leisure time, aversion to clichés of sex and violence, or just the feeling that they’re not the target market for mainstream game advertising. Code works with these first-time creators, as well as a rotating team of independent art directors, to develop the kinds of games they want to see in the world – and in the App Store. At the moment of writing, in between a trip to Turkey and a stop in New York, Code has about six games on the go, with each game genre shaped by its topic, and each topic chosen by her collaborator. They range from a Japanese-style, leftto-right scrolling adventure game about ocean pollution, to a Zen point-and-click phone game

TEAM PLAYER During her time at Ubisoft in Montreal, Code worked on lauded games including the Assassin’s Creed franchise and Child of Light, which saw her as lead programmer.

about “self-care” that includes a breathing GIF to help control panic attacks. Beyond the workload itself – she’s always programming, whether she’s on an airplane or in a cabin in the woods – the task she’s facing is imposing in an industry that adds $3 billion to Canada’s GDP alone. “Skeptics tell me, it’s hard enough to get the attention of people who want to play video games. How can you expect to get the attention of people who don’t?” As a child in British Columbia, Code was hardly immersed in the industry. She wasn’t allowed a console, and she only had access to a handful of computer games. But this only pushed her more (“I don’t like being told what to do”), and also gave her a skewed concept of the industry. Her favourite game, The Colonel’s Bequest, was created by pioneering designer Roberta Williams, starred a female protagonist and contained no fighting – just exploring. Still, Code didn’t consider making video games a potential career until much later, at Vancouver’s Relic Entertainment, where she realized her work could combine her programming degree with her creative drive. From there she went on to develop AI at Pandemic Studios in Australia, then joined Ubisoft, where she worked on the Assassin’s Creed franchise and, most recently – and notably – Child of Light, as lead programmer. It’s an ethereal dreamscape of a game whose hero, a little girl named Aurora, must solve puzzles and gain allies in the land of Lemuria. Among rave reviews, one critic noted: “[It] isn’t the type of game we’re used to from Ubisoft, but it’s the type of > game this industry needs.” mercedes-magazine.ca

LIFESTYLE

AHEAD OF THE PACK Travelling multiple times a month has made Code an expert packer, and she follows a strict rule: For everything she buys abroad, she must jettison something else.

Being a stranger in a foreign land has helped Code empathize with what it’s like to be an outsider. Like Child of Light, Code is a rarity in a business that’s still heavily dominated by men, and she’s intent on making diversity more than a buzzword. “When I built my team for Child of Light, it was 25 percent women, which is incredibly high. But I also looked at things like age, interests, how long they’d worked in the industry. It’s not just about adding new viewpoints – studies show everyone feels freer to share more unconventional ideas when they’re in a more diverse group.” Of course, now Code has nothing but diverse viewpoints, from her collaborators (including a Turkish architect, Iranian-Canadian entrepreneur and, full disclosure, the writer of this profile) and from the people she meets in her travels. Additionally, being a stranger in a foreign land has helped her empathize with what it’s like to be an outsider in an established culture – and to value a warm welcome. After all, Code’s approach has always been more carrot than stick, mentoring and inspiring as much as she critiques. She wants to change the industry because she believes in the value of video games as works of interactive art and as a bolster to ailing economies. As for her own life, she’s waiting to see how her games do in the App Store, once they’re released. “In a way, I’m being selfish,” she admits of her project. “I want new creators to make games I wouldn’t get to play otherwise – to tell stories no one else can tell. I want to see what people can do when they get the chance.” 28

GO PRO Globe-trotting inspires Code’s work – and her Instagram feed @briecode.

Norway

Turkey

USA

Sweden

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LIFESTYLE

THE BIG A look behind the seams of three Canadian outerwear brands that prove you can still look cool while staying warm. WORDS JENNIFER BERRY PHOTOS GABRIELLE SYKES

CHILL C

anadians know cold weather. We swap war stories about winter storms and consider anything above zero T-shirt-appropriate. So when it comes to winter coats that function as more than fashion statements, it only makes sense for us to be at the top of our game. Most Canadians already know the big players: Canada Goose for their Arctic-ready (but Aspen-approved) parkas, Mackage for catwalk designs or Quebec’s Kanuk for their snowy-owl-stamped coats. Now a fresh crop of homegrown brands is creating the next generation of stylish outerwear, reinventing the winter coat using everything from machinewashable leather to English tweed, but all 30

sharing a common thread: substance and style, in equal measure.

Sleet cred Marissa Freed was born into the garment industry. Splitting her time between Toronto and Winnipeg, the 37-year-old is the fourth-generation owner and president of Freed & Freed, the clothier founded in 1921 by her great-grandfather. The company has been manufacturing garments in Winnipeg for nearly 100 years, beginning with boys’ knee pants (sold through T. Eaton mail order) and employing more than 750 locals in its prime. They’ve made uniforms and outerwear for everyone from VIA Rail to Canada Post and, most > recently, dedicated some of their production

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capacity to an eponymous range of outerwear, FREED – the company’s first line under its own name, designed by Marissa Freed herself. In 2009, the garment-industry heiress chose snow over sand when she returned to Winnipeg from a career in PR and marketing in Miami’s South Beach. A six-month post at the family business eventually became permanent as she took on more projects, from maximizing efficiency on the production line to chasing new contracts. “In some ways, I lucked out because I had a path laid out for me that had achieved a lot, and a father who had a huge amount of knowledge that I could draw from,” says Freed. Even with the family legacy, she had her work cut out for her when she joined. She was the only one of three siblings to work for the family business, and its future was uncertain. At that point it was subsisting mostly on contracts from the Canadian Armed Forces, and the staff had shrunk to fewer than 50 people. This was a stark change from the glory days of a company that went from a 745-square-metre factory in the 1920s to occupying an almost 15,000-square-metre space by 1981, and whose main source of business for decades was producing popular London Fog jackets and overcoats. But Freed was determined to learn the business and seek out new opportunities, like the contract for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s new dress uniforms that she secured in 2011, the first of many significant partnerships. With her father, Stephen, retired after nearly four decades at the helm (he joined the company at 21), Freed is, well, free to steer the company into the future. Above all, she feels it is time to introduce the family name as a brand in its own right, recognizing that the company possesses something special that resonates with savvy consumers: its heritage. “The industry itself was growing more patriotic; there was more of an appreciation for ‘made at home’ quality goods,” says Freed. “So I felt we really had an opportunity because of our history in Canada.” The next step was figuring out how to put a modern twist on the company’s time-tested

GEO LOCATOR BOROUGH Parkdale tuque Tuck Shop Trading Co.

OSC (OUTDOOR SURVIVAL CANADA) 2009, Toronto The brand’s technical, expedition-ready outerwear is produced by hand from start to finish at its Toronto factory.

More Canadian outerwear to watch.

ARCTIC BAY 1965, Toronto Named after the Arctic Bay hamlet on Nunavut’s Baffin Island, the brand’s lightweight parkas are made using Inuitinspired techniques and materials, like Canadian coyote and beaver fur.

QUARTZ NATURE 1997, Quebec This Quebec-based brand makes deepfreeze-ready parkas for Sûreté du Québec and Air Creebec employees.

JOHNNY YIU 2003, Toronto Each slim-cut quilted down coat is meticulously hand-stitched at Yiu’s Toronto HQ and comes complete with custom hardware and an embroidered silk label signed by the designer.

The industry is growing patriotic; there is more of an appreciation for ‘made at home’ quality goods. MARISSA FREED, FREED & FREED

Style names that put local pride front and centre. CITY Regina parka Arctic Bay

LOCAL LABELS

PROVINCE P.E.I. coat FREED

SKOOKUMBRAND 1999, Dawson City, Yukon Skookum [skoo-kuh m] is a First Nation word meaning powerful, strong and impressive. Each coat is made to order in northern Canada.

outerwear. “People were very well-versed in the parka category when we first came out, and we were trying to take them back to wool. We explained that it’s added warmth without the added bulk, and we really focused on luxury. That was our clincher,” she says. So how do FREED’s coats combat Canadiancalibre winters without the thick down we’ve been convinced is the only defence against subzero temperatures? Freed says the answer is a breathable membrane in all their coats that protects the wearer from wind and precipitation “without needing something puffy,” along with an optional snap-in/snap-out down vest that’s included with every coat. The designs are a deliberate mix of classic and fashion-forward, like the Vancouver coat for women (most styles are named after Canadian cities and provinces), which comes in a classic red and black buffalo check in an exaggerated cape silhouette, with shells made from 100-percent British wool or English tweed. The latter is another nod to the brand’s history in outerwear: It was some 1960s-era English tweeds found in the rafters of the family’s factory that inspired the new design direction. “We wanted to work with fabric that helped us explain our heritage take on the coats we were producing, so tweed and other wool blends allow us to tell that story,” says Freed. It’s a story that’s resonating with retailers and famous fans alike – the coats have been carried at Holt Renfrew and Pink Tartan and have been spotted on singer Andra Day and television host Cheryl Hickey.

The lowdown If FREED’s strong suit is its fierce family roots, > Markham, Ontario-based Nobis’ forte is mercedes-magazine.ca

LIFESTYLE

pairing leading technology with sophisticated design. Nobis, which is Latin for “us,” launched in 2007 as an answer to what vice-president Robin Yates describes as demand for an alternative to the puffy parka. Formerly the vice-president of Canada Goose, Yates understands past trends in winter wear and the ensuing parka fatigue – symptomatic of a market oversaturated with shapeless, logo-heavy coats built for northern expeditions, not urban lifestyles. “[In my former job], I was part of conveying the message that you needed a jacket that could go to the deepest minuses, and that would validate the quality of the jacket. But quite the opposite is actually true,” he explains. “A jacket that is built exclusively for minus-40 conditions doesn’t function at all in the city, because minus 40 is completely arid and dry.” Which is not to say that Nobis shies away from the fluffy stuff. Most of its coats have a premium down fill (it’s one of the only brands to use exclusively Canadian down, according to Yates) and are windproof, waterproof and breathable – suited not just for extreme cold, but also the slush, sleet and social demands of city life. The details are where the quality and attention are apparent when slipping on a Nobis coat, as I do at their downtown Toronto flagship store. Tula, a double-breasted, belted dress parka, is a utilitarian take on a classic peacoat that has me feeling instantly polished and ready for after-work drinks. In the Cindy, with its slightly more “expedition” feel – multiple pockets and heavy elastic rib cuffs with thumbhole openings – I’m all set for a weekend at the chalet. On Nobis coats, magnetic closures replace Velcro on the front, brilliantly eliminating annoying snags on finely knit sweaters. And discreet underarm zips allow for optional ventilation. A breathable free-hanging nylon lining limits the migration of down feathers onto the wearer’s clothes, while removable fur trims – and washable leather sleeves on the premium Sterling collection – provide the option of home laundering. It’s low-maintenance at its most luxurious. “There was a checklist of things some of my former consumers weren’t that happy about, so this time I wanted to remove the smoke and mirrors and create a lighter, more fitted jacket,” says Yates, something they achieved by investing in the jacket both inside and out. One of those investments is invisible to the naked eye. Most Nobis coats have a laminated membrane called SympaTex, a German technology that uses osmosis (“the diffusion of solvent molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration through a semi-permeable membrane until equal diffusion occurs,” explains Yates) to minimize heat loss while maintaining breathability. “This means that 34

BOOT BATTLE Two classic Canadian footwear brands face off. SOREL EST.

1962

From: Kitchener, Ontario Iconic style: The 1964 Premium Materials: This leather boot was built for stomping through snow, with an oiled leather upper, felted wool inner liner and heavy-duty tread. Bonus: Celebrity fans include Demi Moore and Elizabeth Olsen, who’ve been spotted wearing them at the Sundance Film Festival.

I noticed that one can have a fashionable jacket but it’s not very functional, or if it’s functional, it’s bulky and bland. JANET HAN, THE WILD NORTH

COUGAR EST.

1948

From: Burlington, Ontario Iconic style: The Pillow Boot Materials: Instantly recognizable by its tan leather, laces and signature red fleece lining. Bonus: First released in 1976, the Pillow Boot got updated 35 years later with an expanded line that includes wedge heels and knee-high versions.

if you’re 90-percent humidity inside your jacket and it’s 10-percent humidity outside, this will breathe almost like a skin until it meets the outside temperature.” Nobis is now sold in more than 40 countries worldwide, including Harrods in London and New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue, but you needn’t look beyond the snowy streets of Manhattan to spot a Nobis coat on famous fans like Kate Hudson, Charlie Hunnam and Rachel Weisz.

Great green North While Nobis’ raison d’être is the union of fashion and function, the Wild North’s goal is to create coats that are as eco-friendly as they are functional. Based in Oakville, Ontario, the Wild North was founded in 2014 by a group of outdoorsy friends and family led by Janet Han, a petite woman with a background in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo. Passionate about everything from hiking to snowboarding, Han was consistently disappointed that she had to choose between high performance and style. “I noticed that in the winter one can have a fashionable jacket but it’s not very functional, or if it’s functional most of the time it looks bulky, bland, one-colour and one-material,” she says. So she and a group of equally outdoorsy friends went to work designing coats, with an eye on sustainability from day one. “The Wild North” doesn’t just refer to Canada’s North, it’s also a nod to the wild fur used in many of the line’s designs. The brand consults periodically with Environment Canada and sources most if its fur

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from indigenous trappers in northern Canada, supporting multi-generational trapping families in the process. Another choice made in the name of the environment: the use of cashmere and wool in the shells of Wild North coats instead of (much less expensive) synthetic alternatives like Gore-Tex and polyester. “Wool and cashmere are biodegradable and less harmful to the environment when constructed, including producing fewer emissions. Synthetic materials also tend to be less breathable,” says Han. The Wild North’s focus may be functional and ethically made outerwear, but that doesn’t mean

their coats are short on style. The brand cemented its fashionable status early on, showing its designs on the spring 2015 runway of Toronto and Men’s Fashion Week (where they sent the models down in coats and skivvies only) just a year after launching. “What it comes down to is, we wouldn’t have to forsake fashion, or choose between comfort and warmth,” says Nobis VP Yates. And Freed agrees: “Warmth is of the utmost importance, but beyond that it’s got to be stylish, because we spend six months in some form of outerwear.” The only choice that remains, for chic but chilly Canadians? Which coat to buy.

Local labels don’t just focus on the worst-case scenario, weatherwise. Canadians can find slimcut, tailored toppers when the temperature is still in the tolerable single minuses, from companies like Judith & Charles (pictured), founded in Montreal in 1991, which offers soft feminine shapes and menswearinspired pieces; Zareen, whose couture-inspired women’s trenches are designed in Vancouver by Cindy Xin; and Toronto’s Smythe, whose madein-Canada blazers and overcoats have been spotted on celebs like Beyoncé and Cameron Diaz.

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RESTLESS SPIRIT 36

TOOLED UP Mike Horn sets out from Calgary for the peaks of Banff and Jasper in a rugged G-Class SUV. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of hundreds of globespanning advenutures heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll undertake as part of his two-year Pole2Pole expedition.

A weekend with explorer Mike Horn in the Canadian Rockies reveals an incredible story of personal loss and perseverance. W O R D S A N D R E W F I N D L AY P H O T O S E R I K H E C H T A N D C H R I S B R I N L E E J R

LIFESTYLE

ike Horn has never signed a liability waiver. Ever. That’s what he tells us, and I have to believe him. So when Will Gadd, mountain guide and one of Canada’s premier adventure athletes, produces one as we venture out to scramble in the Canadian Rockies, the look on Mike’s face is one of, well… “What is this piece of paper?” he says, waving it in the crisp mountain morning air the way I would a parking ticket. After some haranguing, Horn finally submits his signature while we fill our mugs at a coffee shop in Lake Louise. “That’s a first,” says Gadd with a chuckle. I’ve joined the South African-born explorer while he is in Canada to promote his latest adventure, dubbed Pole2Pole, an epic expedition that will have him following the meridians by sailboat, kayak and skis, and circumnavigating the planet via the poles for about two years. In the modern realm of exploration, Horn is a household name in Europe. He has skied to both 38

ROAD WARRIOR Horn and his adventuring entourage cruise through the Rockies, stopping for some “soft” adventure in the form of a via ferrata climb.

poles, circled the equator selfpropelled, sailed solo around the earth, swum the Amazon and brought youth from around the world on expeditions to engage them with conservation projects. He was named the Laureus World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year in 2001, and lists among his confidants and supporters Prince Albert II of Monaco. As a sports trainer he gets paid to inculcate a winning attitude in athletes, and was hired to help propel the German national team to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. That’s just a snapshot of his vast resumé. When I first met Horn in Calgary, he gripped me with a metacarpalcrushing handshake. He was eating a manly meal of smoked lamb ribs and bison tartare garnished with a raw egg yolk. “That’s what food eats,” he said, nodding at my mixed salad greens sprinkled with hemp hearts. With a compact muscular frame that looks like it could take a tiger to the mat, intense dark eyes, chiselled square jaw and neatly trimmed black hair specked with silver, Horn is telegenic in a rugged James Bond manner. He speaks with an ambiguous pan-European accent and clearly enjoys an audience, hence his decision to host a French adaptation of the reality TV series Running Wild with Bear Grylls, in which he shows city slickers how to survive off the land. Waivers finally signed, we pile into the Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV that will be our ride

solo across the South Pole for four months before rejoining his 33-metre sailboat, Pangaea.

Born to be wild

throughout the trip and let Horn’s lead foot propel us along the Icefields Parkway to Saskatchewan River Crossing. Two hours later we pull into a dusty parking lot at the foot of Mount Stelfox. Gadd gives us a brief introduction on using climbing harnesses and carabiners to move safely along the via ferrata, a network of rebar drilled into the rock like ladder rungs and linked together by a steel cable to assist with climbing. The rock is warm to the touch and as coarse as 50-grit sandpaper. Anxious to move, Horn leads off. But rather than follow the rungs, he opts to scale the bare rock next to them. Via ferrata is, after all, pretty tame stuff for someone who, during his Pole2Pole journey, will haul a 200-kilogram sled

Horn has skied to both poles, circumnavigated the equator selfpropelled and sailed solo around the earth.

Horn’s restless spirit is partly a function of his roots. He was born into a comfortable, sporting Afrikaner family in South Africa. Early on his father recognized the innate thirst for adventure that burned within his young son, and gave him freedom to explore the natural world around Johannesburg. Horn wandered creek beds, looked under rocks, peered over cliffs and biked dirt roads. “My father never asked for details, he just required that I be home at six o’clock,” Horn recalls. When he hit his twenties, it seemed a life of ease and affluence awaited him. After graduating from university, Horn took a job in a family foodimport business. He was making good money, playing cricket and rugby, and owned a house. “One day I woke up and asked myself, ‘Is this what the rest of my life will look like, importing cabbages and fruits?’” Horn tells me this as we relax on a rocky ledge midway up the via ferrata, Abraham Lake’s emerald surface sparkling far below. Following this life-disrupting epiphany, he phoned his uncle on a Friday and told him not to expect him on Monday. Or any Monday after. He gave away most of his possessions and bought a plane ticket to Switzerland. During apartheid, it was one of only a handful of countries that issued visas to South Africans. “I had no plan, I just knew that I wanted to see the world,” says Horn, still on the ledge. Then, abruptly he stands up and is off again on the via ferrata, our conversation curtailed. Action is his modus operandi. But only after monkeying around on Mount Stelfox one day and ice-climbing in Jasper’s Maligne Canyon the next, would I have the opportunity to sit in the passen> ger seat next to Horn for the three-hour mercedes-magazine.ca

LIFESTYLE

MIKE HORN’S ADVENTURE TIMELINE 1997 Swam the Amazon River from source to sea, unsupported and living for six months on what he could forage and hunt from the rainforest.

drive south to Lake Louise. And that’s when he sheds the bravado, revealing a more contemplative side. His life story, following the decision at 28 to abandon South Africa, seems as unlikely as a Mission: Impossible screenplay. At first, life in Switzerland was less than forgiving, with gainful employment hard to acquire for citizens of a thenpariah nation like South Africa. Running out of options, he decided to hitchhike from the Swiss Alps to Israel in the middle of winter to find work as a mercenary soldier. Fate intervened in the form of a sympathetic traveller who pulled over when he saw Horn shivering next to a mountain road. The driver was incredulous when the young South African told him he was planning to thumb his way to the Middle East. He offered Horn a bed in the hostel he managed, allowing him to work off his lodging in the dish pit. The guy liked Horn and asked if he’d step in to manage the hostel for a spell. Horn happily accepted. That was in Château-d’Oex, the Swiss town where Horn still lives today. That is, when he’s not on expedition. The Swiss Alps shaped his life. Swimming rushing rivers and jumping off waterfalls gained him local notoriety. Eventually, Horn captured the attention of the Italian watchmaker Sector at a time when brands began realizing the marketing cachet of extreme sports. He joined the Sector No Limits team of athletes, and from there began to 40

1999 Circumnavigated the globe around the equator, beginning with a solo transatlantic sailing in a ninemetre trimaran from Gabon to Brazil (this feat earned him the 2001 Laureus prize). 2004 Completed a 27-month solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle. 2005 Skied with his wife and daughters Annika and Jessica, then 12 and 11, across Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. 2015 Drove from Switzerland to Pakistan via the wilds of Central Asia on an epic 12-day push, before making an attempt on K2, the world’s secondhighest summit. 2016 Attempting to circumnavigate the earth via the poles. Follow Horn’s Pole2Pole adventure at M I K E H O R N . C O M

conceive of bigger, bolder and longer adventures. Mercedes-Benz signed on, sponsoring both his use of G-Class SUVs for land journeys as well as his sailboat. Though Horn has achieved fame through adventure, he has also suffered great personal loss. His father, the most influential person in his life, succumbed to cancer before his 60th birthday. His older sister also died from the disease. But perhaps the greatest loss was his wife of 25 years, Cathy, who passed away in 2015 after a multi-year battle with breast cancer. They met when he was a young South African doing crazy things in the rivers and mountains of the European Alps, she a Kiwi working at a Swiss ski resort. Cathy was, Horn tells me, the backbone of his adventures – the one beyond the spotlight, handling logistics and media, taking their two daughters to school and helping with their homework, while he battled polar winds and savage seas. “You don’t meet people like that every day. Pole2Pole is our expedition. We planned it together and now I’m just executing it,” Horn says. “That’s why it may be my last expedition – I don’t have that support anymore.” The late afternoon sun glances off the peaks of Athabasca and Andromeda as we drive along a deserted highway past the disintegrating edge of the Columbia Icefield. It’s the sort of epic landscape that inspires awe. Horn is quiet, without words for the first time since we met. It’s hard for me to imagine what would come next if he decided to stay home for good. A cushy appointment to some board of directors? A fulltime gig with a sponsor? A retirement of armchair speaking engagements? Not likely. I ask him what occupies his mind on those lonely polar treks or ocean crossings. “I think about the next adventure,” he replies, without hesitation. Clearly, some wild animals can’t be tamed.

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DRIVE The automotive world, from motorsports to vehicle previews

THE FUTURE IS

HERE AND NOW

Autonomous driving might sound like the stuff of science fiction for owners of older cars, yet the technology for it has already arrived. We take a look ahead at what lies just around the corner, and what still needs to be done along the way. Â WORDS NICLAS MĂ&#x153;LLER

FORERUNNER The Mercedes-Benz F 015 research vehicle presents the shape of things to come for personal mobility â&#x20AC;&#x201C; here, on the streets of San Francisco.

DRIVE

THE ROAD TO THE FUTURE SEMI-AUTOMATED The driver has to permanently monitor the automatic functions and may not engage in any non-driving activities. Semi-automated driving functions have been available in Mercedes-Benz production models for many years now under the name “Intelligent Drive.” The advanced Intelligent Drive Driving Assistance package for the new E-Class includes an array of innovations that further reduce the driver’s workload, lowering stress and increasing comfort on the road. HIGHLY AUTOMATED The automatic system recognizes its own limits and prompts the driver in time to intervene in such situations. Non-driving activities are possible to a limited extent. FULLY AUTOMATED The system can handle any situation autonomously. There is no need for monitoring by the driver, who is at liberty to perform non-driving activities, making driverless driving a reality.

LUMINARY Instead of a radiator grille, the F 015 is fitted with an LED panel (top). The laser projection system can superimpose a zebra crossing onto the road to assist pedestrians (above). 44

THE VISION Mercedes-Benz, whose origins lie in the invention of the automobile by Carl Benz in 1886, is well on the way to revolutionizing mobility yet again, this time by developing fully automated vehicles. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, can even today be very specific about what tomorrow’s self-driving cars will be capable of: “Not only will the Mercedes-Benz of the future produce zero emissions, it will also drive autonomously. It’ll be safer and more luxurious than ever, and fully connected as well. A comfortable retreat for the trip between home and the office – for working, communicating, relaxing, enjoying.” One hundred and thirty years after Carl Benz turned travel by horseless carriage into a reality, Mercedes-Benz is paving the way for travel by driverless car. The first highly automated vehicles are expected to form part of the streetscape by 2025, after which fully automated driving will only be a short step away. A highly advanced system of sensors, precise environment maps and total connectivity will, in the future, allow both cars and trucks to reach their destination safely and efficiently. The F 015 Luxury in Motion research vehicle unveiled in Las Vegas in 2015 makes the vision of fully automated driving a tangible reality in which the car is turned into a mobile living space. The passengers are free to use their time in the car exactly as they wish. The F 015’s interior design mirrors this transformation perfectly: With its swivelling armchair-style seats, fine walnut floor and ultra-HD screens in the sidewalls, the inside of the car feels more like a lounge in a futuristic luxury hotel. Rather than being the centre of attention at all times, the steering wheel only extends from the dashboard when occupants decide not to drive in fully automatic mode. In the future, autonomous vehicles will not only offer their occupants supreme travel comfort, they will benefit the environment as well. The F 015, for instance, has been designed for the F-Cell plug-in hybrid drive system – meaning that its batteries can be recharged from either an on-board fuel cell or a power socket – while the electric drive means the car produces zero tailpipe emissions. Large LED panels at both the front and rear furthermore allow the car to communicate with pedestrians, and there is even a high-precision laser projection system for marking a zebra crossing on the road, if required, to ensure safe passage across it.

BRAND -NEW CAR The Vision Tokyo show car (below) shows the mobile home-awayfrom-home of the future: Inside, the seating offers a lounge-like feel, while a projector displays threedimensional holograms.

THE PRESENT The F 015 research vehicle, the Vision Tokyo show car that also debuted in 2015, as well as the S 500 INTELLIGENT DRIVE all demonstrate how much progress Mercedes-Benz has already made in its quest to make this vision a reality. In 2013, the S-Class in question was equipped with supplementary systems that enabled it to complete a fully automated drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim, a distance of 100 kilometres, replete with oncoming traffic, turning manoeuvres and double-parked cars. It was the same route that Bertha Benz covered in 1888 on her pioneering automotive journey. Many of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production models from Mercedes-Benz are able to substantially reduce the driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workload and provide assistance, meaning that semi-automated driving is already possible. This is best illustrated by the innovative DRIVE Pilot feature in the new E-Class, which has greatly enhanced the semi-automated driving functionality on freeways and highways. With the help of a stereo multi-purpose camera, multi-stage radar sensors, ultrasonic sensors and a 360-degree camera, the vehicle forms a detailed picture of its surroundings and uses the amassed data for a variety of comfort and safety functions. DRIVE Pilot can come to the driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aid in many different situations, such as maintaining the correct distance from the vehicle in front, obeying traffic signs, braking and steering, as well as moving ahead again in traffic jams. Another example is the Active Lane Change Assist: If the driver signals the intention to change lanes for longer than two seconds, the Active Lane Change Assist will steer the new E-Class into the adjacent lane. However, the car will only perform the lane change autonomously if the system of sensors does not detect any vehicles in the relevant safety zone. All the driver has to do is monitor the procedure and be ready to intervene manually at any moment. To anyone who is used to driving an older car, however, even that will sound like science fiction come true. TOP CLASS The new E-Class (left) makes semi-automated driving possible even today. Above: Using radar and ultrasonic sensors plus a stereo multipurpose camera, the E-Class can detect distances, road markings and traffic signs. mercedes-magazine.ca

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THE TO-DOS As revolutionary as the notion of highly automated and, eventually, fully automated driving may sound, implementing the concept no longer requires a technical revolution. It is just a matter of refining and improving tried-and-tested systems. One look at the figures also clearly shows how important technological advancement is for Mercedes-Benz. In 2016 and 2017, Daimler AG is investing over $20 billion in research and development, with a further $20 billion being spent on new property, plants and equipment. The Mercedes-Benz engineers have almost reached their goal as far as “sensor fusion” is concerned: Cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors relay data that is then evaluated with the help of intelligent algorithms. This enables a vehicle to recognize signs, obstacles, road markings and other road users and create a spatial image of them, which in turn provides the technology with the basis needed to execute safe braking and steering manoeuvres. To extend the vehicle’s field of vision beyond the 46

range of its own sensors, however, Car-to-X communication still needs to be expanded, and it must factor in data from other sources into its environment calculations, such as the sensors of remote waypoints and other vehicles. Improvements will still have to be made to networking in this regard, and the infrastructure further developed. This is one of the reasons why Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz formed a consortium to acquire map provider HERE: Road and environment maps in HD quality are one of the fundamental requirements for highly and, later, fully automated systems. Another important task is one for the legal experts and politicians rather than the engineers: A legal framework for autonomous driving needs to be established at an international level. Most traffic regulations are rooted in the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Experts from around the world are therefore working on updating and standardizing the regulations. Provided that humans can override and switch off the computer systems at any time, highly and fully automated driving will likely get the green light soon.

PHOTOS DAIMLER AG ILLUSTRATIONS SEBASTIAN KR AWCZ YK

WORK AREAS Little stands in the way of highly automated driving becoming reality: Legal issues are being clarified, and high-precision digital maps are being developed.

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Developed in Nürburgring and almost too hot for the road, this is the Mercedes-AMG GT R. Never before has Mercedes-AMG packed so much motorsport technology into a production vehicle as in this brand new twin-turbo featherweight.

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MAGICAL STUFF The striking front end of the new cabriolet, featuring the Active LED High Performance Lighting System, brings light to the misty night.

Forty-five years after the last S-Class Cabriolet rolled off the production line, Mercedes-Benz is building a luxurious new edition. The updated S-Class open-top four-seater is every bit the equal of its illustrious precursor. A legend returns – stronger than ever. WORDS BENEDIKT SARREITER PHOTOS BENJAMIN PICHELMANN

HER: BLOUSE: RENÉ LEZ ARD; PANTS: TIM L ABENDA; BL A ZER: FONNESBECH; HIGH HEELS: JIMMY CHOO. HIM: SHIRT, SUIT AND SHOES: PAL ZILERI

EUROPEAN VEHICLE MODEL SHOWN

A DREAM OF A CAR

mercedes-magazine.ca

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HER: DRESS: TIM L ABENDA; BALLET FL ATS: PR ADA HIM: PANTS: AMERICAN VINTAGE; SHIRT AND LEATHER JACKET: BLK DNM; SHOES: COS

FIERY ELEGANCE The S-Class turns heads at the Europa-Park film set â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and maintains its poise, even when spectacular things are going on around it.

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1961 – 2016:

HALCYON DAYS FOR CABRIO FANS

HER: JUMPSUIT: BELSTAFF HIM: JACKET AND PANTS: RENÉ LEZ ARD; POLO SHIRT: HIEN LE

THE ODD COUPLE The 449-hp S 550 combines the power of an eight-cylinder engine with tranquility and luxurious comfort.

Cruising along in one of these classic cars nowadays, gazing into the heavens with the roof down, you can’t help but feel the thirst for freedom and fantasies of progress so emblematic of the 1960s – not to mention the Mercedes-Benz designers’ respect for tradition. So it was that the W 111 Cabriolet’s classic-car career began the moment the last one rolled off the line. The rise in value of these cars has been substantial. A 1971 280 SE 3.5 now costs in the region of $375,000, but you can pay well over half a million dollars; 10 years ago, values were still around $150,000. A 220 SE will set you back around $100,000, and that figure is also likely to rise.

45 years later, the comeback The W 111’s shoes, then, are big ones to fill. But the new S-Class Cabriolet is capable of doing just that – a worthy heir apparent. Like its celebrated forebear, the 2016 car is arguably the most cosseting and innovative cabriolet of its time. Viewed in profile, its dynamic lines lend it the powerful serenity of its predecessor and will certainly have heads turning on short trips and long journeys alike, even in vastly different weather conditions. This is because the new S-Class Cabriolet also comes with the innovative > AIRSCARF system, which sends warm air

hat exactly is the stuff of dreams? Could it be the same ingredients that make up that nebulous “cloud nine”? The recipe for making dreams of the automotive kind is reasonably clear: Steel, chrome, burled walnut and leather seemed to do the trick for the Mercedes-Benz W 111 Cabriolet, a car that can justifiably be described as a legend. It first hit the roads in 1961 in 220 SE Cabriolet form, powered by a six-cylinder engine – a majestic model of great elegance whose pure length, smooth lines and curves still conjure an aura of calm and authority. The sedan version’s “sight lines,” which spawned its “Fintail” nickname, are rounded off on the cabriolet. And its sophisticated brand of comfort – think leather seats, fine wood fixtures and fittings, plus room for the whole family – were complemented by the type of safety innovations for which Daimler is renowned: Disc brakes, a steering wheel with impact plate, and crumple zones at the front and rear were all present and correct. The car was conceived as a long-distance tourer, but doubled as a creation to fill the dreams of fans. By 1971 the lineup had expanded to include the 250 SE, 280 SE and eight-cylinder 280 SE 3.5. And that was it for 45 years – which didn’t do any harm to the large cabriolet’s quasi-mythical status, either.

HISTORY MAKER The S-Class Cabriolet’s predecessor, the W 111 (above, on the right), was built from 1961 to 1971. It was a dream car at the time, and now enjoys legendary status. Right: The LED lights are anything but mere dazzlers. The Adaptive High Beam Assist Plus system automatically illuminates the road a long way ahead without blinding other road users.

WINDS OF CHANGE The AIRSCARF neck-level heating system sucks in air through the black intakes in the backs of the head restraints, warms it up – and blows it back out around the front-seat passengers.

COMFORT, DRIVING PLEASURE AND HEADROOM –

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

HER: PLEATED SKIRT: BOSS; BLOUSE: VAN L A ACK HIM: POLO SHIRT, PANTS AND BL A ZER: EMPORIO ARMANI; SHOES: COS OPPOSITE PAGE HER: DRESS: AMERICAN VINTAGE HIM: SHIRT: AMERICAN VINTAGE; JACKET: BOSS

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LUXURY ON BOARD The porcelain/deep-sea-blue colour combination with ambient lighting creates a maritime, yacht-style ambience. The sports steering wheel with wood detailing is heated â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as are all four seats.

out from the head restraints around the neck area of the driver and front passenger, making top-down driving on cooler days a very pleasurable pursuit. AIRSCARF supplements the work of the new THERMOTRONIC climate control system, which makes its debut in this model. THERMOTRONIC maintains the balance of the in-car climate fully automatically – even during the transition from roof down to roof up. Twelve sensors register the temperature inside and outside, as well as the intensity of the incoming sunlight, the air quality and the levels of harmful gases, allowing the system to check the nature of the air being pulled in from outside.

It’s calm, even with the roof down The car’s remarkable climate-control abilities are complemented by exceptional acoustic comfort, which bathes the interior in an almost monastic calm. The S-Class Coupe is the quietest production car in the world, but the cabriolet isn’t far behind. The sealing concept for the doors is extraordinary, and the windows are double-glazed. With the roof down, the AIRCAP automatic wind protection system reduces turbulence in the interior and makes the flow of air less noisy. A wind deflector extends out of the windscreen frame, while a draft-stop between the head restraints minimizes the breeze. The three-layered roof is available in black, dark blue, beige or dark red, and features a butyl layer as a water barrier on the inside. 58

i S 550 Cabriolet Engine/Performance 4.7-litre eight cylinder, 449 hp at 5,250–5,500 rpm; max. torque 516 lb-ft at 1,800–3,500 rpm

Transmission 9G-TRONIC nine-speed automatic The above data do not relate to an individual vehicle and do not form part of an offer but serve solely to facilitate comparisons between different models.

M E R C E D E S - B E N Z . CA

Butyl makes a better soundproofing material than neoprene, which is commonly used in such models. The upholstery matting and roof lining provide additional buffers against outside noise. At the touch of a button, the roof slips back under the soft-top compartment lid – which is framed by a chrome trim element and blends harmoniously into the broad, muscular rear end – in just 20 seconds. And that leaves the sun to shine into an interior that can be decked out in a range of different leathers and that makes a compelling prospect with its use of chrome and choice of six different colour concepts. One of these brings together the porcelain and deep-sea-blue tones, giving the S-Class a sophisticated yacht-style ambience. For the protection and comfort of its passengers, the cabriolet also comes with cutting-edge Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Drive assistance systems. This technology helps with braking, keeps the car in its lane, spots pedestrians and even uses the PRE-SAFE system to reduce speed automatically if required. PRE-SAFE PLUS also detects a looming rear-end collision early on. If the danger is not averted, the system can apply the brakes firmly and automatically pull the seat belts tight prior to an impact. Combining intelligent technology with timeless design is a fine art. And one with a tradition in large Mercedes-Benz cabriolets that stretches back a lot longer than 45 years.

ST YLING STEFANIE SCHWAIGER HAIR AND MAKEUP ALEX ANDER HOFMANN/AGENTUR USCHI R ABE WITH PRODUCTS BY CHANEL

OPEN TO GREATNESS The open-top S-Class has the makings of a classic. Here, it’s seen on 20-inch wheels with the Big Wheel at the Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, in the background.

At home with perfection. Created with simple, clear forms.

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HAPPY

20TH BIRTHDAY

The cult roadster from Mercedes-Benz has been rechristened. Since July, the two-seater with vario-roof has gone by the name SLC. But that’s far from the only change the company has made to celebrate the car’s big birthday. WORDS MARTIN TROCKNER PHOTOS DAIMLER AG EUROPEAN VEHICLE MODEL SHOWN

mercedes-magazine.ca

THE INTERIOR Inside the SLC, aluminium trim details with a carbon-fibre finish accentuate the sportiness of the new model. The instrument cluster has also been given a makeover. With the Audio 20 system in place, the display in the centre console now measures 17.8 centimetres diagonally and has a screen surround in high-gloss black. New colours – saddle brown and platinum white – are now available for the leather trim. And the standard ambient lighting now also brings accents in solar red, polar blue and polar white to the footwells.

ince 1996, the letters SLK have adorned the bodywork of a history-making MercedesBenz. For 20 years now, the compact roadster has fused the driving pleasure of an open-top car with the everyday usability of a coupe. The key has been the vario-roof, which guarantees high comfort levels in all weather. In the year it was launched, the SLK was Germany’s best-selling roadster, and it has since attracted fans the world over. The R 170 (up to 2004), R 171 (up to 2011) and R 172 (since 2011) model generations have notched up combined sales of 670,000 cars. Among the presents awaiting this now classic Mercedes-Benz are a facelift and a new name: It’s out with the SLK and in with the SLC. This underscores the roadster’s close relationship with the C-Class, and also heralds a host of other technical and stylistic optimizations by the Mercedes-Benz designers. Visually, the car now cuts an even more dynamic figure, the range of equipment options has been expanded and numerous details have been further refined. The overview on the right shows exactly what has changed – from the interior trim to the panoramic vario-roof, from the front end to the trunk. 62

THE FRONT END

THE LIGHTS The Active LED High Performance Lighting System available as an option for the SLC bathes the road in a pleasant white hue that is very close to daylight. The optional Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus system makes continuous high-beam headlamp use possible without blinding other road users.

Sporting intent is written all over the face of the SLC. The newly designed nose with steeply raked radiator grille and arrowshaped hood creates an even more dynamic look. The diamond radiator grille is a standard feature of all SLC models. And the striking headlamps with integrated LED daytime running lamps also catch the eye. The new front bumper with prominent air intakes is another time-honoured roadster design cue.

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THE VARIO - ROOF Operating the electrohydraulic roof is now easier than ever. If traffic conditions require that you pull away with the roof still opening or closing, the process – started while at a standstill – can continue with the car moving at up to approximately 40 km/h. The optional glass panoramic varioroof with MAGIC SKY CONTROL can be changed from a dark tint to transparent at the touch of a button, making it possible to stargaze when the roof is closed.

The trunk capacity of the SLC makes it ideal for road-trip getaways for couples. A new electric luggage compartment separator is standard. If the separator is in the upper position for increased trunk capacity, it automatically moves down as soon as the roof is opened. If there is not enough space for this to happen, the driver immediately receives an alert in the instrument cluster.

SOUND

TRACK

Eva Shaw is a DJ and record producer, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not surprising that the sound created by the new Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC is what impresses her most. But the refreshed four-door coupe also has many other persuasive tricks up its sleeve. P H OTO S S TAU D S T U D I O S EUROPEAN VEHICLE MODEL SHOWN

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CHANGE THE RECORD When time allows, Eva Shaw heads for the record store to seek out new tunes. On vinyl, of course – no other format is quite as tactile.

ince Eva Shaw first took the dance floors of New York clubs by storm, her career has accelerated at a pace even the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 4MATIC Coupe would be proud of. Nowadays you will find the Canadian, who grew up in Toronto, adding further glitz to her CV with sets at festivals such as Ultra in Miami – where she performed in front of a crowd in the tens of thousands – and a weekly residency at Hakkasan in Las Vegas. Any spare time is filled touring venues from East Coast to West. “The feeling you have after a show is totally satisfying, addictive even,” says Shaw. As well as deejaying, she has also been producing her own work recently – tracks such as “Charizma,” “Get Down” and “Space Jungle.” Plus, she is more than a little photogenic and enjoys being in front of the camera, so she’s in regular demand as a model, too. All of which means Shaw is constantly on the move – on a plane one moment, in the car en route to another DJ booth the next. Frequent travelling has honed her sense for details. Take her first impressions of the facelifted CLA 45 4MATIC, following an after-hours test drive: “The sound it makes is fantastic; it’s really crisp and there’s a lovely bass to it.” It will, in other words, win you over with its vivacity, sporting performance and muscular dynamics – the perfect companion for < the perfect night. mercedes-magazine.ca

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T H E Y T U R N N I G H T I N T O DAY and even put the strobes of the hottest clubs in the shade. LED High Performance headlamps, which now come as standard as part of the CLA 45 4MATIC model update, do more than relieve the workload on the driver’s eyes: They also create the impression they are constantly craving new experiences – that they are, as it were, burning the agility of the CLA 45 4MATIC into the night. Aerodynamically, the update has ensured the compact four-door is ready for anything. Its Cd (drag coefficient) has been lowered, while the front end is adorned with a new AMG apron in A-wing design with louvres in the outer air intakes, plus flics and a new front splitter insert. And for those keen to really stir things up on the “dance floor for cars” (i.e., the asphalt), look no further than the AMG Aerodynamics package. This optional extra includes a larger front splitter, additional flics and spoiler lips on either side of the simulated air outlets at the rear. <

DJ EVA SHAW SETS THE TONE, JUST LIKE THE

UPDATED CLA

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LEAVE EVERYDAY LIFE BEHIND â&#x20AC;&#x201C; WHAT MATTERS IS

PERFORMANCE

M O M E N T S O F PA S S I O N , AU T O M O T I V E LY S P E A K I N G , are something

everyone defines in his or her own way. The sprint from 0–100 km/h in just 4.2 seconds, the sound uncorked by the engine the very first time you start it up – something that will remain forever in your memory’s sound archive – or just knowing there is a turbocharged AMG 2.0-litre engine under the hood of the CLA 45 4MATIC, which now produces 375 hp. Every experience with this car and every fact about it has a pulse-quickening effect. And coming down from such a high is anything but easy. Dynamic features such as the newly designed diffuser insert with four vertical fins are guaranteed to provoke an emotional response that will stay with you long after you leave the car behind. <

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F O R A FA S T DA S H T H R O U G H T H E N I G H T, it’s easy to swap the turntables for a DINAMICA Performance steering wheel. The optional wheel stands out with its red centre marker and topstitching, which literally runs like a thread through the interior. The instrument panel and beltlines are now trimmed in ARTICO manmade leather as standard, while the black/red AMG design trim element catches the eye with its polished surface, matte print and AMG logo. The standard AMG DYNAMIC SELECT transmission modes and the shorter gear ratios of the AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT seven-speed sports transmission are also among the exciting new additions that give the CLA 45 4MATIC even more “beats per minute.”

ON THE RIGHT TRACK Every new record represents a new decision: Eva Shaw sets the rhythm for the night.

CLA 45 4MATIC Coupe Engine/Performance 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo, 375 hp at 6,000 rpm; max. torque 350 lb-ft at 2,250â&#x20AC;&#x201C;5,000 rpm

Transmission AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT seven-speed sports transmission The above data do not relate to an individual vehicle and do not form part of an offer but serve solely to facilitate comparisons between different models.

M E R C E D E S - B E N Z . CA

HARMONY OF DESIGN AND

DYNAMICS

mercedes-magazine.ca

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WONDERS OF INNER

SPACE

Gentle curves and taut lines, short overhangs and broad shoulders: The new E-Class Wagon combines interior spaciousness with a sporty silhouette. WORDS GREGOR BRESSER EUROPEAN VEHICLE MODEL SHOWN

t has been almost four decades since Mercedes-Benz first combined the quality and luxury of the E-Class of the day with a tailgate and generous interior space to create an entirely new vehicle category: the premium-class station wagon. Considered revolutionary back in 1977, the wagon still sets industry standards today. This winter, the sixth generation of the model series hits showrooms around the country. Significantly more athletic in appearance than its predecessor, the car has a sporty, tapering roofline that leaves you wondering how the load compartment can possibly accommodate up to

1,820 litres of cargo. The Wagon incorporates all the innovations of the E-Class Sedan and also offers those wagon-specific features and intelligent solutions that have always set this model series apart. One example of this is the new cargo position of the rear seat bench, whose backrest can be canted an extra 10 degrees as a standard feature. That may not sound like much, but it instantly increases cargo volume by 30 litres â&#x20AC;&#x201C; without any loss of seating. The rear-seat backrest is also available from the factory with a 40:20:40 split, which means owners can decide how much of the rear bench is required for seating and how much will be allotted for cargo.

SITTING ROOM The curved instrument panel translates the athletic look to the interior. High-quality materials, including open-pore wood, leather and metal fabric, lend the vehicle a lounge-like ambiance. The two optional high-resolution 31.2-centimetre displays merge to form an impressive widescreen cockpit. The instruments and multimedia functions are controlled by finger swipes on the touch-sensitive controls integrated in the steering wheel.

WATCH THIS SPACE

745 kg

Nothing throws this station wagon off balance. Standard-fit air suspension at the rear axle regulates levelling for up to 745 kilograms of load.

There is no nicer way to transport luggage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and with a capacity of 670 to 1820 litres, the load compartment is one of the largest in the premium segment.

OOZING STYLE

Extra rigidity in the body design, special bodywork insulation and sound absorbers under the rear seats and in the wheel arches prevent road noise from penetrating the vehicle interior. Perfectly finished door handles and window seals also keep unwanted wind noise to a minimum. 74

AT YOUR COMMAND Active Brake Assist was just the beginning. The new DRIVE PILOT now goes a step further. This system not only maintains the correct distance behind vehicles in front, it can also track them automatically.

PHOTOS DAIMLER AG

THE STRONG SILENT TYPE

The new E-Class Wagon proves that wagons are todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyle vehicles of choice. Elongated side windows and a more steeply raked rear window lend it a stretched and elegant look. Pretty with a purpose are the powerful rear end and large tailgate with two-piece LED lights. The standard-fit, organically integrated roof rails can cope with even the most cumbersome of loads.

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TR AVE L The best in hotel getaways, weekend road trips and far-flung adventures

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Our favourite getaways from around the globe.

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FIRE AND ICE Snow-capped volcanoes, explosive geysers, breathtaking waterfalls and glaciers as far as the eye can see: Icelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Golden Circle holds no shortage of wonders. And it is here, where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates meet, that you can also find ION Luxury Adventure Hotel, whose architecture is rivalled only by the lava fields below. To really bask in the luxury of nature, be sure to relax in the outdoor bath, fed by natural hot springs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it provides perfect viewing for the dancing lights of the aurora borealis. I O N I C E L A N D. I S 76

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NIGHT GALLERY

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FOR AGING AHEAD While the Mondrian London hotel has cemented the formerly low-key SE1 as the city’s hottest new postcode, what really sets it apart from the other shiny new properties on the South Bank is Dandelyan Bar. Award-winning head bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana, a.k.a. Mr. Lyan, draws inspiration from the globetrotting British botanists of yore and, even further back, the first hunter-gatherers. The complex, poetic cocktail menu is part history lesson, part Book of Shadows. A brief taste: Vaudeville Venom includes vodka and zedoary root, traditionally used by Native Americans “to block evil spirits, and also as an antidote to cobra venom”; the 13th Century Boy’s ingredients (like palm and pine cordial) are inspired by Egyptian mummification rituals. Suffice it to say, this is not the time to order a pint of ale. M O R G A N S H O T E L G R O U P. C O M

Alan Faena took the title of hotelier to the next level with his Faena Hotel in Buenos Aires, transforming an abandoned port into an arts destination anchored by a luxury hotel. Now, he’s done the same along a formerly sleepy stretch of Miami Beach, creating the six-block Faena District and Faena Hotel Miami Beach. We love the hotel’s art-deco-inspired style, but it’s the works of art that tell a thoroughly modern story. Here are three standouts:

“THE WAY TO FUTOPIA,” JUAN GATTI Instead of a lobby, find “The Cathedral,” a grand entrance hall punctuated by these eight murals.

M AU I , H AWA I I

MEANINGFUL MAUI White-sand shores and top-notch snorkelling make Kapalua Bay a prime destination on Maui, but Montage Kapalua Bay’s cultural offerings are perfect for a dose of authentic Hawaii in between trips to the beach. First, make your own lei using fresh flowers and fern stems that you’ll pick with help from Silla Kaina, the hotel’s cultural ambassador. Next, take a ukulele lesson and learn basic chords on the stringed instrument that has become an iconic part of Hawaiian music since being introduced by early Portuguese settlers. And finally, dance the hula, honouring the story of Hawaii through basic hip, foot and hand movements accompanied by Polynesian chants. M O N TA G E H O T E L S . C O M

“STORMS,” ALBERTO GARUTTI These interlocking chandeliers conceal a pan-continental secret: Every time lightning strikes the Argentinian Pampas, they flicker in response.

“GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN,” DAMIEN HIRST As though a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth skeleton in the garden were not enough to draw the eye, this one is encrusted in 24-carat gold. FA E N A . C O M

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On a photographic safari in Nunavut, our writer learns a little about capturing the perfect shot and a lot about life in the Far North. W O R D S A N D P H O T O S A D A M MC C U L L O C H

ZEN POL AR BEAR A N D T H E A RT O F

P H OTO G R A P H Y

PHOTO WOLFGANG K AEHLER (L ANDSCAPE)

COLD CALL Adventurous photographers make the journey to Arctic Kingdomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nunavut camp, where, for two months each fall, polar bears congregate as the Hudson Bay freezes over.

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CAMPFIRE STORIES Graffiti in the mess hall offers insight into the former hunting camp’s past. The digs may be bare-bones, but they make up for it with their proximity to some of the world’s best bear viewing.

he weight of my camera bag is double that of my suitcase. I have lugged it to the Nunavut Territory, an hour’s flight north of Churchill, Manitoba, to embark on a photo safari. With me are lenses both long and wide, spare batteries, camera bodies and polarizing filters (surely polar bears need polarizers). No bear within 50 kilometres will be able to twitch a whisker without my photographing it. My home for the week is a former hunting camp, a scattering of sturdy timber cabins wreathed by 13,000 volts of electric fence. At the heart of the camp, hidden behind the coffee cups in the kitchen, the graffiti is rife with bowhunting braggadocio. The entire outfit, run by tour operator Arctic Kingdom, only exists for two months a year each fall while the ravenous polar bears mill about the shoreline waiting for the Hudson Bay to freeze over so they can roam the ice, hunting for seals. At first glance through my viewfinder, the monochrome landscape of snow and stone holds few points of interest. Not a tree, road or hill breaks the line. But in the Arctic, appearances are deceptive. This is a land where rocks appear to levitate, where the daytime sky can appear black and where the setting sun, when sandwiched between white clouds and even whiter snow, reflects endlessly, filling the world with undiluted colour where you least expect it. The intensely cold weather shapes the people as much as it does the land. 80

This is a land where rocks appear to levitate, where the daytime sky can appear black and where the setting sun reflects endlessly with undiluted colour.

The expedition leader, Jason, gave up a lucrative tech career for the silence of the tundra. Françoise, his right-hand woman, once tried to snorkel from Canada to Greenland as part of a female-only relay team. Our two Inuit guides, Cameron Emiktowt and Joachim Akatsiak, can spot a bear several kilometres away without binoculars. These are their ancestral hunting grounds, and have been for over a thousand years. Our chef, Andrew, remains upbeat while fighting a constant battle against unpredictable supply runs and furry, half-ton kleptomaniacs. Over the next five days this frozen tableau will become my muse, from which I hope to learn a little about photography and a whole lot more about life in the North.

OVEREXPOSE BY ONE STOP

PHOTO WOLFGANG K AEHLER (L ANDSCAPE)

Bright white snow can confuse the light metre in some cameras into thinking the scene is overexposed. The camera then automatically adjusts, and the result can be grey and gloomy. Check your histogram to see if you need to overexpose a stop. The Arctic certainly forces you to look on the brighter side of life. On a day that starts at -13°C, I would normally be cowering under thick blankets with a Kindle. Instead, I find myself up early and invigorated by the frigid dawn. “Not bad at all,” quips Chef Andrew. The week before had seen 90 km/h winds, which he describes as “manageable, but they certainly let you know you’re alive.” This afternoon the weather feels tropical enough for two guests to jog along the landing strip in shorts. The rest of the group takes a walk along the beach searching for lazy bears that, on a balmy day like this, prefer to hunker down in the cool permafrost. “They’re ambush predators, so it’s perfect for them,” remarks Jason while peering over a rock bed. We make our way toward a forest of Arctic willows, which Jason promises are the “giant sequoia of the tundra,” but we soon discover that they grow no taller than 25 centimetres. He definitely has his Arctic optimism cranked up a notch. >

BEAR NECESSITIES Camp visitors are separated from the north’s largest land predator by a13,000-volt electric fence that keeps both parties safe without impeding the view.

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IGNORE THE BELLS AND WHISTLES Poke a hole in a shoebox, add a sheet of photographic paper and presto! You’ve just made a pinhole camera. Photography is really that simple. All you need is aperture, shutter speed and focus. The other buttons, while useful – the HDR, matrix metering, rear-curtain sync and the zillion other menu functions – you can live without. I am reminded of this fact every morning when I make the 20-metre dash from my cozy sleeping cabin to the communal dining room. As I shuck off my jacket and boots and open the inner door, a waft of breakfast-scented air overcomes me and brings with it a hot flush of gratitude. “Theatre, movies, restaurants, swimming pools, you give all that away when you come here,” remarks Jason, over our morning feast of chocolatechip pancakes. The Inuit are hunters who believe in reincarnation and, as such, are exceedingly grateful for every animal they take. In the 1920s, an Inuit shaman told the polar explorer Knud Rasmussen that “the greatest peril of [Inuit] life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls.” Existence here underscores the notion that our human needs are very simple: food, shelter and warmth. I’m encouraged to be mindful, and grateful, for all the extra luxuries that I have – not the least of which is pancakes.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE The sights are spectacular but photographers must be wary of the -30°C temperatures. Full expedition gear is necessary to brave the day.

CAPTURE THE CONTEXT

HURRY UP AND WAIT

I fill my 16GB SD card with polar bears on the very first day. After the rush of excitement at seeing the burly quarters of a bear in awesome close-up, all the photos begin to look the same. Then there is the issue of the electric fence. It appears in almost every shot, robbing me of the clean image I thought I wanted. The photos that hold my interest the most show more subtle moments: the way Joachim waves off a bear as casually as one might shoo the family dog from the dinner table; the sad beauty of a dead lemming wreathed by stones that we stumble upon while exploring the tundra; the haunting intensity of Jason in the cabin, fixing his attention on the horizon, completely unaware that the window has bathed his rugged features in perfect light; Françoise’s fierce blue eyes cinched by a fur-rimmed hood. I become fascinated with the context of the camp. The main cabin serves as my studio and I fill my SD cards with profiles of people waiting and watching for the bears to arrive. My original goal was polar bears, but it soon shifts to portraits. In the Arctic, animals migrate, the sea becomes solid and everything moves. You might start hunting polar bear, but don’t ignore a juicy caribou if it crosses your path.

BELIEVE IN MAGIC...

I know it’s impossible, but I swear I see rain on the horizon. “It’s going the other direction,” explains Jason. “Water is evaporating from the relatively warm sea and being sucked into the clouds.” It turns out the Arctic is full of strange phenomena. Another day, I photograph what appear to be boulders the size of apartment blocks levitating like hot-air balloons, an illusion caused by light refracting through the cold air on the horizon. The Inuit use the Arctic’s optical oddities to hunt: “Water sky,” for example, a black hole in an overcast sky caused by the less reflective water absorbing the sun’s rays, indicates a hole in the sea ice where seals are sure to congregate. Knowing the reason for the illusion helps you capture it on camera.

“You don’t go looking for polar bears, they come looking for you,” warns Jason rather ominously. Being patient requires a lot of preparation: Choose your lens, find the perfect angle and know the minimum shutter speed you need for a sharp image of a moving bear. I watch one afternoon as Françoise (who had wowed us with her awardwinning portfolio over dinner) walks calmly to the edge of the compound and lies on her stomach, with no bear in sight. Within minutes a half-ton bear ambles directly into her frame, just as she knew it would. While hunting, the Inuit often stay put for hours, poised at breathing holes, waiting for seals. This speaks of patience and knowing how to prepare for imminent opportunities. But it doesn’t mean you need expensive gear. “People have turned up with little point-and-shoots and they get amazing pictures,” remarks Jason. The key difference: They know their gear, take time to prepare and show patience in getting the shot. Know how to make the most of the opportunities when they arrive and you’ll be amply rewarded. To others it will look like luck, but you’ll know the difference.

YOUR BAT TERIES DEPLETE FASTER Normally, I can shoot all day on just one battery. Here, with wind chill dropping the temperature to -30°C, a battery hardly lasts an hour. In truth, I barely last an hour either. The energy-sapping chill slows everything down, except the ice that blows across the tundra with the eerie sound of broken glass. Even with Cam and Joachim spotting a polar bear 10 minutes before it lumbers into camp, I have scant time to don $2,000 worth of Arctic wear, check my camera settings, choose a suitable angle and ready myself for the bear’s arrival. “In this cold, I lost seven kilograms in six weeks,” claims Andrew. “I cook comfort food. Your body needs it.” I therefore forgive my body its seemingly irrational exhaustion and take naps as needed.

...BUT DON’T BE FOOLED BY TRICKS

In 1818, British explorer John Ross entered Lancaster Sound seeking the Northwest Passage, only to be confronted by a mountain range blocking his way. He named the range the Croker Mountains and turned back, defeated. As it happens, the Crokers were simply a “superior mirage” where curving beams of light in cold air stretch the flat landscape vertically. Life is full of illusions and false barriers. Knowing how they work means you’re less likely to be deterred from > following your chosen path. mercedes-magazine.ca

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ICE TIME Bears suitably captured, the photographer turns his attention to people, such as expedition guide Françoise Gervais.

BECOME A MASTER IMPROVISER “Living in the Arctic is like living on a boat: You have to be self-sufficient and ready to improvise,” says Andrew, while hacking at a lump of frozen meat with a handsaw. “Last night a mother and cub tipped over a deep freezer and took the caribou meat and all of our garlic bread.” Tonight’s meal will clearly require some improvising. As with a life at sea, one item is universally hailed as the most useful of all: rope (and sometimes caribou sinew). The camp sled is held together with rope frozen to the texture of dried spaghetti, and Joachim wears a thin stretch of caribou sinew as a belt. In the spirit of improvisation, one guest presses her iPhone to a pair of binoculars and is rewarded with an acceptably good shot. Two other rules these Arctic folk swear by: Never lay your glove on the ground (if it blows away you’ll get frostbite), and always keep your parka in your sled in case your tent burns down. That night I backed up all my files to an external hard drive. If my digital “tent” burned down, I wouldn’t lose it all.

PUT YOUR CAMER A DOWN “If you’re viewing the whole trip through the viewfinder, then you’re missing it,” whispers Jason as we observe a mother teaching her cub how to break into a shipping container. (Surely these are the garlic-bread bandits?) “At the floe-edge camp, we had this giant walrus surface right underneath our feet. It was as big as a submarine, and the only people who didn’t see it were the photographers. They were too focused on looking through the viewfinder.” So, with the setting sun ablaze behind land’s largest predator and the full moon rising over my shoulder, I forget about the depth of field, the f-stop and the hundredth of a second my camera insists will capture the moment. I set aside my Nikon and fill my lungs with a blast of Arctic air. The fractions of a second expand, meld together – one second becomes a minute, then an hour. I suddenly sense the timelessness of the Arctic and have never felt so raw and alive.

BEARS ARE JUST AS AFR AID OF YOU

“In the Arctic, there are hardly any thunderstorms and very few loud sounds,” explains Jason during our safety briefing. The staff are well protected with noisemakers, buckshot, rubber bullets and, their most useful weapon, a commanding voice. “They might seem big and scary, but polar bears don’t like noise and they especially don’t like to be touched,” says Jason.

Arctic Kingdom

Tour operator Arctic Kingdom specializes in safaris in the Far North. They provide both scheduled and custom itineraries for guests, celebrities and documentary filmmakers from outfits like National Geographic and the BBC. The unparalleled access in remote destinations includes such adventures as snorkelling with narwhals, hot-air ballooning over the frozen sea ice and walking with grizzly bears. ARCTICKINGDOM.COM

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CAUGHT IN THE NET The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, inaugurated in 2013. Left: A fisherman hawks his catch at the Old Port.

EYE ON THE HORIZON If the word “Provence” only conjures up the scent of lavender and visions of sleepy medieval villages, Marseille can teach you a thing or two. The capital of the storied region is its polar opposite in many ways: raw, avant-garde and full of contrasts – as invigorating as the sea. WORDS K ARIN FINKENZELLER PHOTOS ENNO K APITZA

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TWICE AS PRETTY Neo-Romanesque La Major cathedral reflected in the glass facade of the Villa Méditerranée. Below: designer Roselyne Gierlinger poses.

he face of Marseille can change as quickly and profoundly as that of a great actress. On Rue Grignan, east of the Old Port, the decorated windows of the luxury shops are reminiscent of the glamorously made-up visage of an Oscar-winning diva on the red carpet. Then the street goes over a bridge, and after just a step or two more, a sign straddling a pair of adjoining buildings announces the Quartier des Créateurs, the designers’ district. That’s a wrap, thanks! From here onward the city puts on a totally different face: walls ablaze with garish graffiti; designer boutiques with coolsounding names; alternatively minded health food stores and tiny, exotic restaurants lining the narrow lanes. Cross a few more streets and you get the impression you’ve already been all around the world. Head back toward the port via the Marché de Noailles and the historic Canebière thoroughfare, and you’ll experience another abrupt cinematic cut – and suddenly swear you’re in the middle of Berlin’s Neukölln neighbourhood. And it’s barely been two kilometres since you passed the Hermès shop. Marseille is unique. It doesn’t have the classic beauty of Cannes or Nice or the instant charm of one of those places in the south of France that are constantly suffused with the odour of lavender. “Anyone who claims they love Marseille unconditionally doesn’t know the city that well. It’s a mesmerizing place, yet repulsive at the same time. The city is a rebel – full of energy and 88

Marseille is a rebel. Full of energy and difficult to contain. R O S E LY N E G I E R L I N G E R , FASHION DESIGNER

difficult to contain.” That’s how fashion designer Roselyne Gierlinger describes her adopted home. Born in Corsica, she moved here 20 years ago. Above the entrance to her boutique a sign reads “Floh” (“flea” in German), the nickname given to the 55-year-old by her Austrian husband. She explains: “When I first met him, I could never sit still, I was always doing a bunch of things at once. Maybe that’s why this city suits me so well.” A few months ago, Gierlinger moved her shop from the melting pot of the Cours Julien district down to the more upscale area close to the opera and the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, inaugurated in 2013 when Marseille was a European Capital of Culture. Says Gierlinger, “I liked the atmosphere where we were before, but here we get more foot traffic.” The cruise ship passengers who used to disembark, only to leave right away for the picture-postcard town of Aix-en-Provence about 30 minutes away, are now happy to spend the day in Marseille. Biotech and Web entrepreneurs are also gradually making the city their own. As a centre for trade and an industrial port, Marseille was globalized long before the term came into general use. Traditional and modern, rich and poor – they all coexist cheek by jowl in France’s

second-largest city. In the Old Port, for example, where every morning the fishermen hawk their daily catch in front of the yachts. Or just opposite there, in the kitchen of La Kahena restaurant, where Nouredine Miladi stands over huge tubs filled with chicken and lamb, making a couscous broth he’s been accustomed to ever since his childhood in Djerba, Tunisia. In the sloping alleys of the old town’s Le Panier district, housecoat-clad matrons gab back and forth. They hang their wet laundry outside their windows like an art installation as it dries above the entranceways to the new galleries and shops. Also available here is Marseille’s famous soap, made from vegetable oil boiled with other natural ingredients, a favourite of no less a personage than Louis XIV. And nowadays the former Hôtel Dieu houses the five-star InterContinental Hotel. “This city is a melting pot of cultures and lifestyles. We feel we are primarily from Marseille – and only then possibly French,” says Corinne Vezzoni. Like so many of the city’s 850,000 inhabitants, the 51-year-old city planner and architect is a transplant. Until graduating from high school, she lived in Morocco with her parents. In the 2015 elections, a right-wing radical came close to being elected president of the Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur region. The capital’s cosmopolitan populace heaved a collective sigh of relief that it didn’t actually come to pass. “Marseille was founded by the Greeks 2,600 years ago,” says Vezzoni. “They came by sea, not overland through France.” The mountains at the city’s back provide another explanation as to why its residents constantly have their eye on the horizon – they’re more familiar with the ferries to Africa than the TGV to Paris, says Vezzoni. Vezzoni works on the sixth floor of a concrete edifice that doesn’t look particularly attractive from the outside. Le Corbusier designed the building, which was inaugurated in the early 1950s. His style visibly influenced other apartment houses built against the backdrop of the Estaque mountain range. “You don’t necessarily have to find the architecture pretty. But here even people who can’t afford a villa on the beach still get to enjoy a sea view,” says Vezzoni, triumphantly pointing to the panorama outside her office window. From this elevated vantage point, it’s easy to see how the craggy foothills stretch from the outskirts all the way to the coastline. The narrow inlets of the Calanques are a piece of untamed nature within the city. Their vertical cliffs, with turquoise water sparkling in between, are an ideal destination for hikers, climbers, boaters and paddlers. The caves of the Calanques once gave refuge to pirates and smugglers, not to mention Second World War resistance fighters.

This city is a melting pot of cultures. We feel we are primarily from Marseille – and only then possibly French. CORINNE VEZZONI, ARCHITECT

Guillaume Ferroni has come up with an equally clever hiding place for his own enterprise in Marseille. An access code arrives via e-mail with the tantalizing subject line “secret instructions.” Just key in C25469, and the door to what appears to be a souvenir store pops open. Striding through a closet, you enter “Carry Nation,” an underground bar named after the God-fearing woman famous for attacking alcohol-serving establishments in the United States at the end of the 19th century. Ferroni distills rum. Legally, of course. But that’s unusual for Marseille. Even though enjoying one’s first pastis of the day right after breakfast is deemed socially acceptable, since the end of the colonial period with its sugar barons, rum has been somewhat atypical. The 47-yearold explains, “As recently as the 19th century, there were 25 brands of rum in Marseille, and countless liquor warehouses. But all that is gone.” Ferroni plans to change that. He combs through archives, searching for progeny of the abandoned distilleries. In the meantime, he also operates three bars in the city. “At my places, you won’t find a cocktail in which fruit juices mask the alcohol,” he says. He’d much rather pour you a shot of Bellevue rum, 1998 vintage. Straight up. Sixty millilitres for 33 euros. Marseille is definitely not for the faint of heart.

ROMANCE OF THE SEA Sailboats and motorized yachts in the Old Port by SaintFerréol les Augustins church. Above: rum distiller Guillaume Ferroni. Top: architect Corinne Vezzoni enjoys the city’s multiculturalism.

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I love working with fresh fish – especially rockfish and sea bass. It’s simply what I do best. JÉRÔME CAPRIN, CHEF

FINE CUISINE IN AN ARCHITECTURAL ICON

SEA VIEW Jérôme Caprin (top right) plies his culinary trade in a high-rise designed by Le Corbusier, serving up delicacies such as scallop carpaccio (above) with lettuce, blossoms, algae and blue Curaçao jelly.

M E D I T E R R A N E A N - M AG H R E B I is how Jérôme Caprin describes his cuisine at Le Ventre de l’Architecte restaurant. Not surprising, considering that the head chef’s grandmother hails from Tunisia; as a result, Caprin himself is not only steeped in French culinary culture, but also in that of the Mediterranean’s southern coast. The 34-year-old’s favourite dish is rabbit molokhia – with a green sauce like his grandma used to prepare, made from the powder of a leafy green vegetable called jute mallow. The dishes on Le Ventre de l’Architecte’s lunch menu change on a weekly basis, while Caprin overhauls the dinner menu every month. But as its name suggests, a visit here isn’t just a culinary highlight; the restaurant is located on the third floor of the Cité Radieuse (radiant city) building, with at least a partial view of the Mediterranean. Famed architect Le Corbusier designed the concrete monolith, which opened in the early 1950s. Located in Marseille’s eighth arrondissement, the building was conceived as a sort of all-inclusive ocean liner incorporating apartments, offices, businesses, restaurants and kindergartens. Le Corbusier’s idea of a vertical city equipped to fulfill as many of the daily needs of its residents as possible quickly spread around the globe. Some of the original furnishings of his Marseille creation are still in use. Those wishing to extend their stay beyond the duration of a visit to the restaurant can book a room at the Hôtel Le Corbusier right next door. H O T E L L E C O R B U S I E R . C O M/ R E S TAU R A N T

GRILL PLATTER “Couscous complet” at La Kahena involves lots of meat – lamb skewers, chicken and meatballs.

FIRMLY ANCHORED Nouredine Miladi went from kitchen helper all the way to restaurant owner. His eatery is an Old Port institution.

THE COUSCOUS MASTER I N M A R S E I L L E , YO U C A N E A S I LY E AT your way through the cuisine of every continent on the planet. The city is home to around 40 different nationalities, with most of the immigrants hailing from neighbouring European countries and North Africa – like Nouredine Miladi. His big family calls him simply “tonton” (uncle). But in Marseille, Miladi is something of an institution. At 20, he arrived in France from the island of Djerba, Tunisia, and started off as a kitchen helper. Today he owns La Kahena restaurant in the Old Port. Not many people can prepare couscous as well as he can. His secret? Simmering the broth made with lamb and chicken meat over a low flame for hours on end. To do so, Miladi has to be in the kitchen at the crack of dawn. L A - K A H E N A - . Z E N C H E F. C O M

SUPERCHARGED SOUP VA L L O N D E S AU F F E S is the name of a species of grass from which fishermen used to fashion their nets. These days, there’s an inlet with the same name situated approximately 10 minutes’ walk from the Old Port. That’s where you’ll find the Chez Fonfon restaurant and some of the best bouillabaisse in the country. Head chef Clément Renault (left) splits the soup and the fish into two separate courses. Bouillabaisse was originally a poor person’s dish, a stew prepared everywhere in Provence using scraps and unsold catch. Renault, however, uses only the best ingredients – both for the soup and for the course that follows it: a platter piled high with freshly caught, topquality seafood (far left). C H E Z - F O N F O N . C O M mercedes-magazine.ca

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THREE TO SEE 1

U R B A N B E AC H In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès’ fiancée, Mercédès, lives in a village called Catalans. Founded by Catalan fishermen in the 17th century, the village is now a district of Marseille. Its beach, La Plage des Catalans, is a convenient getaway located right in the middle of the city. There’s no better place to cool off at lunchtime in the summer.

S O C C E R C AT H E D R A L Marseille hosted six games in the Euro 2016 Championships. In preparation, the Stade Vélodrome was expanded and a roof added; it now holds over 67,000 spectators. Normally the stadium is home to Olympique Marseille, the only French club ever to win the Champions League, which it did in 1993.

HOUSE OF WORSHIP In Marseille it’s called “La Bonne Mère” – the good mother. Around two million tourists flock to NotreDame-de-la-Garde pilgrimage church each year – not least for its spectacular views of the city and surrounding sea. The basilica in its current form dates back to 1853, when it was built to replace a chapel dating from the Middle Ages.

L E N O U V E AU S TA D E V E L O D R O M E . C O M

N O T R E DA M E D E L A G A R D E . C O M

STREET ART Works by $kunk Dog grace the walls of artist’s room “2113.”

NATUR AL PRESERVE

Marseille doesn’t lack for much – there’s even a bit of wilderness in the middle of the city. The hidden inlets and chalk cliffs of the Calanques are within the bounds of the eighth arrondissement. Visitors can explore the area by boat or kayak. Cave paintings were discovered in the cove of Morgiou in the 1990s – 37 metres underwater and over 20,000 years old. C R O I S I E R E S - M A R S E I L L E - C A L A N Q U E S . C O M 92

BED EXPERIMENT Hotelier and patron of the arts Georges Antoun regularly invites young creatives to his New Hotel of Marseille, where the artists get to stay in his lodgings for a few months – and beautify them at the same time. That’s how Room “2113,” for instance, came into being: Furniture designer Marine Peyre created a multifunction bed in which guests can do a lot more than just get some sleep. Eating, reading, listening to music, chatting with friends – all of this can theoretically be done here without getting out of bed. Street artist $kunk Dog, who generally prefers to immortalize himself on Marseille’s buildings, provided suitable wall decor. N E W - H O T E L . C O M

SUNSET View from Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde toward the Frioul Islands.

G O O D TO K N O W

F R E S H F R O M T H E OV E N Four des Navettes is the name of the city’s oldest bakery, located near the Abbey of Saint Victor. The famed boat-shaped, orange-flavoured cookies for which it is named have been baked here since 1781. Aficionados enjoy dunking them in coffee before gobbling them up. F O U R D E S N AV E T T E S . C O M

CENTR AL CIRCUIT This 11-kilometre course gives joggers and walkers a great chance to see Marseille. Start off at the Old Port, on the northern shoreline, where a plaque commemorates the Greek seafarers who founded the city. Proceeding eastward along the harbour basin, head up into the Le Panier district of the old city. Need a break? Don’t miss the cultural centre and its collection of archaeological artifacts in the Vieille Charité, formerly a poorhouse. From there, continue via the Terrasses du Port shopping centre to La Major cathedral and the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. Follow the seaside via Fort Saint-Jean, the Palais du Pharo and the Abbey of Saint Victor to the Plage des Catalans – where the Mediterranean offers a welcome chance for a cooldown before returning to the Old Port.

HIGH - SPEED TR ANSFER The TGV races from Paris to Marseille in just over three hours.

LET IT BE Only 25 percent of the metropolitan Marseille region is actually developed. There are beaches in the middle of the city. Some people even use the basin at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations as an impromptu beach. Technically that’s against the rules, but doesn’t that just bolster the city’s rebellious image?

BREATHLESS

Discover Marseille on the run with Christophe Arzoumian: an early jog along the Corniche du Président John Fitzgerald Kennedy shoreline promenade, for instance, with the Frioul Islands glowing soft pink in the morning sunlight; or evenings, up to the city’s landmark, Notre-Damede-la-Garde pilgrimage church. It’s 14 euros for an hour-long guided jogging tour. R U N A N DV I S I T- M A R S E I L L E . C O M

ILLUSTRATION ANNA SCHÄFER

PLENT Y TO SHOUT ABOUT “Be still, Marseille, you’re too loud. I can no longer hear the sails in the harbour,” sang Colette Renard in a famous 1950s chanson. Complaints about the raucous conversational tone that the natives tend to employ continue to be valid today.

BROADWAY

AUTOMATIC SWISS MADE

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RO UT E The magic of Cambodian cuisine comes to life on a floating food tour of the Mekong River. WORDS AMY ROSEN PHOTOS GUNNAR KNECHTEL

LOCAL FLAVOUR Left to right: a Buddhist monk; street food in Cai Be; a fisherman along the Mekong River; a Sa Dec Market vendor; laksa, a spicy noodle soup; Vinh Trang Buddhist Temple

re we moving or anchored? Fixed or adrift? This is my first thought as I rub my eyes awake from a king-size bed aboard the Aqua Mekong. I hop across the hardwood, part the curtains and stumble backwards as I’m hit by the morning’s first rays. Though the air is tropical and the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows is blue, the Mekong River is not the Caribbean. Instead, it’s a wide, muddy ribbon of brackish water, its riverbanks teeming with life. Therein lies its beauty. And, oh, we’re moving all right, in this luxury,

all-suite riverboat, cruising from the temple city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The Mekong’s rich water makes for bumper crops on its fertile banks, provides for its fish and irrigates its rice paddies. It gives life, and food is life. So it’s apropos that we should be travelling with David Thompson, Aqua Mekong’s consulting chef, for a special sailing that will combine a Southeast Asian food education with corresponding sights along the passing riverscape. The Aussie-born Thompson was awarded the > first-ever Michelin star for a restaurant mercedes-magazine.ca

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Its tart sweetness is great as a base for dressings.” Aside from the flavours and aromas, one also can’t help but notice the sellers’ pride in presentation: Their neat bundles of mint, kaffir, basil, cilantro, green onions and tidy towers of fermented fish are stacked with artful precision.

Mekong on the move

WATER WAYS From top: The Aqua Mekong lit up at night; an on-board serving of fragrant pho

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serving Thai food for his London-based Nahm. His second Nahm in Bangkok was named the top dining establishment in Asia by S. Pellegrino’s Best Restaurants list. But I know him for Thai Food, a 668-page culinary opus that helped articulate Thailand’s food culture to an English audience. Like us, Thompson is on board to mingle and learn more about Cambodian cuisine – a blend of fermented, smoky, sour and sweet – which we’re all finding is distinct from Thai, but just as delectable and complex. So whereas Thailand’s famous red curry is known for its spicy kick, Cambodia’s version offers the same interplay of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, garlic and shallots, minus the heat. In lieu of a chili base, Khmer red curry uses zesty turmeric. It’s also served with baguette, a staple preserved from the country’s French colonial past. In spite of the Far East’s culinary variations, Thompson iterates that some principles are universal. “All Asian recipes are loose,” he says. “You smell and you taste to achieve the balance you want.” To illustrate, the riverboat’s head chef, Adrian Broadhead, leads us ashore to the Sa Dec Market near the CambodianVietnamese border. “This is lotus stem with its flower,” says Broadhead, picking up the delicate green bloom and peeling back its stalk with a paring knife. The centre of the head holds seeds reminiscent of macadamia nuts; the stem is like crunchy daikon radish. “This is luffa.” It’s a kind of squash – think zucchini meets okra – that’s great simmered or steamed. He points out small iridescent river lobster, snakehead fish, banana blossoms, tamarind paste: “Add water and loosen it up, then strain it.

As with our market outing, my shipmates and I (a joyful clan of SPF-smeared Marco Polos) are almost always on the go with morning and lateafternoon excursions each day, taking 10-person skiffs from river to shore as we pack in as much water-borne exotica as we can muster. One morning we visit a temple by rickshaw, the next we pedal around rice fields by bike. Come afternoon, we venture even deeper into the mangroves to find what life is like on a family farm. Watching a dragon dance that the kids learned from YouTube is apparently just one of the charms of living on this lush homestead. And while I find the family enchanting, I take a particular shine to the vast collection of local fruit laid out for us to snack on: green guava, fleshy jackfruit, juicy mango and the Mac Daddy of all Far East fruit, durian, which the family’s matriarch tells me “smells like hell, tastes like heaven.” (Though I’d say, smells like hell, tastes like mango mixed with blue cheese.) On the skiff ride back, we pass through a stretch of river so verdant, it’s as if we’ve sailed

into the Emerald City. Children out for a dip wave from the water. They’re teaching their little sister to swim, and she holds onto a banana tree trunk like a pool noodle. Nearby, their mother washes clothes on a rock while a rooster struts its stuff. Back on board the Aqua Mekong, it’s all cool jasmine-scented facecloths and iced-tea greetings. I take a soak in the plunge pool as we glide past fishermen in small wooden boats wearing conical straw hats. I lounge in the library, and as we pass a floating market, examples of each boat’s wares (ripe bananas, fresh limes) hang like flags from a pole. The pace of the river may be slow, but the movement is pervasive. We stop by fish farms where men and women sort basa fish from wicker baskets. There are sandy outcrops with lush trees and long grasses. Here, the land is also in motion: During high season, some of these island rice farms are covered in water, to be born again in late summer when the rains subside.

Simmer school

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Cambodian cuisine is a blend of fermented, smoky, sour and sweet flavours. Distinct from Thai, but just as delectable and complex.

HIGHLIGHT REEL From top: A dragon dance by local children; chefs Adrian Broadhead and David Thompson; Cai Be, Vietnam

In the ship’s dining room, with its impressive wraparound windows, we sink into plush club chairs to enjoy a light lunch of crispy yam rolls, caramelized ribs in young coconut juice and grilled river lobster satay, before joining a cooking class with Chef Thompson. He’s teaching us how to make a Cambodian fish curry using the ingredients we’d bought that morning at market. “There’s so much more to this > delicate cuisine than I ever knew,” he says.

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The pace of the river may be slow, but the movement is pervasive. “And this is the curry that changed my mind about it.” For the next hour he delivers a master class, starring steamed snakehead fish, fresh coconut cream and herbs. The pounding of mortar and pestle never ceases, nor does the teasing as Thompson encourages Broadhead to eat a chili so hot, it gives him the hiccups. “This is a dish you see on the roadside,” explains Thompson as he continues tasting his curry, adding more fermented fish paste for balance. “It’s a dish to eat with rice.” Each bowl is topped with a magical array of fresh vegetable and herb garnishes, including the morning’s luffa buds. “What I’ve learned,” he says, as we all sit down to slurp together, “is how delicious and how overlooked Cambodian food is.” Perhaps all the more so because this bowl of tastes and textures – the gifts of the Mekong River, mere metres away – is such a beautiful expression of what culinary travel is meant to be.

DESTINATION, RICE 1

STREET VIEW On shore excursions, guests can explore bustling spots like the market in Chau Doc.

A RICE IS BORN Sa Dec in Dong Thap Province, Vietnam, is in the heart of the Mekong Delta. In 1980, a massive canal project was launched to spread fresh water through the region. The first rice crops were planted in 1989 on the newly washed area, and within a few years Vietnam became one of the largest rice growers in the world. 2

G O O D TO K N O W

GLOSSARY OF INGREDIENTS At a market in the border town of Tan-chau, chef Adrian Broadhead points out some key ingredients for Vietnamese and Cambodian cooking. Some are ubiquitous, like lemongrass and fish sauce, while others are more unexpected. LOTUS SEEDS The flower’s large pods taste like chestnuts and look like macadamia nuts.

FLOATING FIVE - STAR

The Aqua Mekong is a 62-metre, all-suite luxury ship featuring a spa, games room and library, plunge pool and screening room to be enjoyed during three-, four- and sevennight stays. Join the chef-hosted voyage for an experience with Asian-cuisine expert David Thompson. AQ UA E X P E D I T I O N S . C O M 100

GAC A bright-orange fruit packed with 10 times more beta carotene than carrots. PERILLA LEAVES These herbs look and taste like a mintier Japanese shiso and are great in salad rolls.

RICE IN MOTION Boats haul tons of rice down the river to polishing factories, where all of the small batches are brought together and refined. In the markets you can see over a dozen different types, from long-grain to sticky, red to black. 3 MYSTICAL RICE In Chau Doc, in Vietnam’s An Giang Province, visit this Buddhist temple on the way to the top of a hill that is decorated with banners celebrating the New Year. A monk chants as you wander the grounds, looking out over misty rice fields.

B i r ks s N OW F L A k E ÂŽ

Starting at $995

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H OT E L S

ITALIAN AURA The Saigon Reverie hotel lobby

Cambodia & Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

PORTS OF CALL

The five-star luxury you experience on board doesn’t have to end once you dock. Bookend your trip with stays at these sumptuous hotel recommendations: one historic, one brand new.

It took seven years to build and design the Reverie Saigon, the highest (and hottest) hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. Its suites and spaces, many with feng-shuiapproved views of the Saigon River, start on the 27th floor. With intoxicating decors from Italian designers Provasi, Colombostile, Visionnaire and Giorgetti, there is likely no marble or tile left in all of Italy. The Spa, too, is a feast for the eyes, and when I get a pre-flight facial, the pores as well. A special “Reverie Blue” paint was created for their fleet of cars, including Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans used for complimentary airport dropoffs, where the assigned attaché remains with you until you’ve reached the security line. THERE VERIESAIGON.COM

Phnom Penh, Cambodia Raffles Hotel Le Royal is legendary for more reasons than you can squeeze into its 1929 French-colonial frame. There’s the Elephant Bar, formerly the Philippines Embassy, now home to some of my favourite new cocktails, including the cognac-based Femme Fatale, created for Jackie O (who was a treasured guest). Tradition reigns: The bellboys wear Khmer sampot trousers, and each day a young man sits cross-legged in the lobby and plays folk music on a wooden xylophone. Restaurant Le Royal is housed in the former ballroom and dishes out weekend brunch on bone china that bears the royal crest. My bedroom opens up to a balcony overlooking the flowering trees flanking the pool. R A F F L E S . C O M/ P H N O M P E N H

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INLAND EMPIRE Raffles Hotel Le Royal and its famous Elephant Bar

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I N N OVAT I O N High-tech meets fine design on the international stage

A N E X T R AO R D I N A RY S T U N T performed by Alex Thomson in Alvor, Portugal, seems simply too spectacular to be true. Even after watching the “making-of” video a few times, you still might think it relies on special effects. But it clearly demonstrates that the British professional yachtsman has once again proven his ability to dominate the elements. This time, though, it’s not at the tiller of his 18-metre racing yacht but on a board attached to a massive kite. As he is pulled across the course taken by his team of yachtsmen, Thomson grabs a towline being drawn through the water by the yacht and attaches the end to his trapeze. The boat then steers closer to the wind, and the resulting acceleration combines with the lift of his kite to propel Thomson up into the air. When he reaches an altitude of 85 metres, a height at which most skydivers would long since have pulled the ripcord, Thomson releases the link to the yacht and for a glorious 40 seconds glides back to the surface of the Atlantic. In 13 attempts he only managed to stay upright three times during the hard landing – but he did so in style. M E R C E D E S - B E N Z . C O M/S K Y WA L K

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PHOTO ALEX THOMSON R ACING/MARK LLOYD

HIGH FLYER

SOUNDS OF SILENCE In the past, if two people in the same room wanted to hear different types of music, they could either use headphones, or one of them would have to go someplace else. But now a new type of speaker has the answer: Instead of producing uncontrollable soundwaves, the “A” speaker beams ultrasound straight to an individual’s ears. Whether you’re lying in bed or sitting on the sofa, the manufacturers claim the other person won’t hear anything. A KO U S T I C - A R T S . C O M

S I M P LY GORGEOUS

LIGHT- FOOTED

A bright spark in Las Vegas has come up with a novel way of harnessing the excess energy of some of the city’s live wires, effectively turning them into mobile power stations. When pedestrians tread on a special plate, the EnGoPlanet system generates and stores seven watts of electricity – enough to operate a streetlight or recharge a smartphone. E N G O P L A N E T. C O M

Four hundred and thirty metres seems an awfully long way down when you have to walk across a bridge with a glass floor offering views of the yawning abyss below. This spectacular transparent construction, designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan, is six metres wide and spans a 300-metredeep gorge in Zhangjiajie National Park, in Hunan Province, China. As if the bridge didn’t already provide enough in the way of white-knuckle thrills, the operators also have plans to add bungee jumping to their program. H A I M D O TA N . C O M mercedes-magazine.ca 105

IN N OVAT I O N

A NEW ANGLE ON YACHTS YAC H T O W N E R S may not like to hear this, but however huge, luxurious or exclusive their boats may be, they all have the same basic shape. Now, London designer Jonathan Schwinge has set out to change all that. As its name suggests, his study for a “Tetrahedron Super Yacht” takes the form of a three-based pyramid consisting of four faces and six leading edges. When the vessel is anchored, it will rest on three hulls and it will be possible to lower the side walls, giving the impression of a luxurious beach house. But once it sets out to sea, the yacht will rise out of the water, stabilized by a torpedo-shaped lower hull and broad hydrofoils. It will then seem to levitate like a spacecraft over the water, connected only by a slender vertical strut to the underwater propulsion system. SCHWINGE .CO.UK

Having both spent time in the hospital as kids, Janice Ng and Henry Lo feel passionately about Farmooo, the virtual-reality game they created for teen cancer patients. It has players perform tasks on a virtual farm, an immersive experience meant to serve as a distraction from pain during lengthy chemotherapy treatments. The game’s creators are currently working with the medical staff at B.C. Children’s Hospital, testing it with real patients. CLASH OF THE TITANS La Machine, the French street-theatre company, will make its North American debut in Ottawa next summer. Experts in building gigantic wood and steel creatures equipped with hydraulic and automatic-motion systems, they will introduce Canadians to Kumo Ni, an enormous spider who requires 16 operators to bring her to life, and Long Ma, a 13-metre-high dragon horse. Amid a frenzy of special effects and sound engineering, the pair is set to transfix the crowd as they lumber down the city streets. L A M A C H I N E . F R 106

PHOTO EYELEVEL CREATIVE FOR JONATHAN SCHWINGE; ILLUSTRATION JULIA PEL ZER

VIRTUAL THER APY

IN N OVAT I O N

CHILD’S PLAY Most 12-year-olds don’t have part-time jobs, but Émile Burbidge has one that’s the envy of kids big and small. The Saint-Bruno, Quebec, resident has been appointed Chief Play Officer for Toys “R” Us Canada, which gives him access to the hottest new toys, games and gadgets on the market. He will provide insider information and recommendations for gift-givers and parents, and have the opportunity to travel all over Canada to attend company events. “I feel like the luckiest kid in the country,” he said when he won the role over hundreds of other Canadian children. Well played, Émile, well played.

OTHERWORLDLY

The “Ameluna” lamp (above left) glows like a deep-sea creature. The result of a collaborative venture between Mercedes-Benz and Italian light manufacturer Artemide, this masterpiece of design is illuminated by 288 LEDs. The colour effects it generates are reminiscent of the ambient lighting in the new E-Class (above right). A R T E M I D E . C O M

MOVEABLE METRICS WEARABLE WELLNESS technologies just keep getting smarter, and Montreal’s OMsignal is at the head of the pack. The popular OMshirt and newly released OMbra are each outfitted with bio-sensors to track the wearer’s fitness metrics, including calorie burn and breathing rate. Tech aside, these pieces are also advanced when it comes to breathability, moisture management and compression (for improved blood circulation), so they’ll take you from downward dog to uphill cardio sprint.

PHOTO DAIMLER AG (E- CL ASS)

OMSIGNAL.COM

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SEEING RED Stopping at a red light is something humans learn to do from a very early age. We are unconsciously influenced by colours 99 percent of the time. Red, for instance, also guides our eating habits: Scientists at Oxford University have discovered that people eat less when food is served on red plates.

TACTFUL DIRECTION Music provokes not only emotions, but actions, too. In a recent experiment, customers bought much more expensive wine when classical music was playing than when pop songs were on offer. In another experiment, consumers gravitated toward French wine when listening to chansons, and to German wine when they heard traditional folk songs.

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FOLLOW YOUR NOSE What we smell determines our behaviour, say scientists. Citrus odours, for example, apparently stimulate our love of order. In an experiment, passengers in lemon-scented train cars left behind half as much litter as those in other cars. And when munching cookies, test subjects left fewer crumbs behind if the odour of lemons was present while they were eating.

SHAKE ON IT As the International Space Station circled Earth kilometres above our heads at the end of 2015, an astronaut on board shook hands with a scientist at the German Aerospace Centre down below – figuratively speaking, at least. It was in fact a robot named “Space Justin” that performed the manoeuvre, shaking hands to commemorate the first time a humanoid robot had been controlled from space.

STEERING ASSIST

BRAIN POWER “Brainflight” is what developers call a futuristic aircraft control system in which sensors record pilots’ neural signals, allowing them to control aircraft using their thoughts. Brain-computer interfaces are still in their infancy, but experts can already see their potential for games, cars and prostheses.

CLEVER CLOGS Lechal’s “smart shoes” are intelligent enough to give you directions: Using GPS data and a smartphonebased route planner, they become a self-contained navigation system. When it’s time to turn a corner, either the left or right sole vibrates. At the same time, the shoes count footsteps and calories.

The Steering Assist’s stereo camera can detect road markings as well as vehicles in front of the driver’s car; the system then adjusts the steering as needed. Outside the car, we are equally content to allow ourselves to be led. Here are six examples of guidance aids – from instinct to shoes.

WORDS CHRISTOPH HENN ILLUSTRATION LEANDRO CASTEL ÃO/DUTCHUNCLE PHOTOS FOTOLIA; REINHARD EISELE/EISELE- PHOTOS; MAURITIUS - IMAGES/H. MARK WEIDMAN PHOTOGR APHY/AL AMY

ICONS

A Daimler Brand

Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy Experience pure exhilaration! Learn advanced driving techniques and develop your skills under the guidance of some of the most respected driving instructors in the industry. Master the road and perform manoeuvres like a pro in only the newest vehicles Mercedes-Benz has to offer. Find out more about our wide selection of course options by visiting mbdrivingacademy.ca

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PEOPLE & PLACES Step out with Mercedes-Benz at the season’s hottest events, from golf tournaments to track driving. AMG EXTR AORDINAIRE

SILVER STAR CELEBR ATION Silver Star Mercedes-Benz Montreal hosted a red-carpet event to celebrate the achievements of former owner Sam Eltes. Over 200 people gathered in June to honour Eltes’ 25-year career, which saw his business sell more than 2,000 vehicles a year and consistently rank among Canada’s top 10 Mercedes-Benz facilities. Eltes was presented with an honorary plaque, and company executives – including MercedesBenz Canada President and CEO Brian D. Fulton – spoke to his accomplishments. Left to right: Norman Hébert, Dealer Principal, Silver Star; Jeffrey Budning, Vice-President, Finance and Administration, Silver Star; Brian D. Fulton, President and CEO, Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc.; Rob Girouard, Vice-President and General Manager, Silver Star; Sam Eltes, former Dealer Principal, Silver Star 112

PHOTOS MERCEDES - BENZ CANADA (F1); SILVER STAR MERCEDES - BENZ MONTREAL (SILVER STAR)

During this year’s Canadian Grand Prix, select Mercedes-AMG customers were granted exclusive access to Montreal’s Formula One racetrack, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Under the tutelage of AMG Driving Academy instructors, the participants piloted high-performance AMG vehicles and experienced part of what F1 drivers do.

SOCIETY

EAST COAST EXPANSION In July, Mercedes-Benz Canada broke ground on construction of a new independent retail and maintenance facility in Dieppe, New Brunswick. Serving as a satellite for TriStar Mercedes-Benz in Saint John, the operation will offer after-sales support, parts and accessories for Mercedes‑Benz, AMG and smart brands. With eight fully equipped service bays, the facility will efficiently serve the region’s growing customer base. Located adjacent to the Greater Moncton International Airport, it is set to open in spring 2017.

PHOTOS TRISTAR MERCEDES - BENZ (EAST COAST ); BRIAN YUNGBLUT (ENERCON); MERCEDES - BENZ CANADA (GOLF)

Left to right: Hannu Ylanko, Vice-President of Network, Training, and Process Development, Mercedes‑Benz Canada; Neal Bodack, former Vice-President of National Sales, Mercedes‑Benz Canada; Andrew Peters, General Manager, TriStar Mercedes‑Benz; Brian D. Fulton, President and CEO, Mercedes‑Benz Canada; Ian Brett, Dealer Principal, TriStar Mercedes‑Benz; Ernest Thibodeau, Deputy Mayor, Dieppe; Allen Byrns, President of the Board of Directors, Expansion Dieppe; Louis Godbout, Executive Director, Expansion Dieppe

SPRINTER DELIVERY

Marking the culmination of a partnership that started in 2014, Mercedes-Benz Canada celebrated the delivery of 20 Sprinter 4×4s to Enercon Canada at the company’s Niagara Region Wind Farm in Smithville, Ontario. The customized Sprinters are ideally suited to Enercon’s requirements thanks to their fuel efficiency, high payload capacity and low gear range.

Left to right: Michael Weidemann, Executive VP, Enercon Canada; Hans-Jörg Mehl, VP and CFO, Mercedes-Benz Canada; Volker Kendziorra, Global Head of Service, Enercon

GOLF TOURNAMENT TRIO

Left to right: Ross Ashley; Anisur Salim; Terry O’Brien

The Canadian final of the MercedesTrophy golf tournament was held in August at Öviinbyrd Golf Club in Ontario’s Muskoka Lakes region. Currently in its 18th year, the tournament was made up of 32 Mercedes‑Benz customers who won qualifying tournaments across the country. The event winners – Ross Ashley, Anisur Salim and Terry O’Brien – went on to represent Team Canada in October at the 2016 MercedesTrophy World Finals in Stuttgart, Germany. mercedes-magazine.ca 113

INSIDE TRACK

SHARING THE ROAD

With car2go, Daimler has gone beyond building vehicles to changing the shape of cities. WORDS VIOL AINE CHAREST- SIGOUIN I L LU ST R AT I O N JAME S R O BE R T DAWE

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“A LO T O F P E O P L E doubted the feasibility of

our model,” says Paul DeLong, car2go President and General Manager for North America, “but we proved them wrong. Today, we are the largest carsharing network in the world.” Launched in 2008 by Daimler, car2go has revolutionized the concept of car sharing, removing the stresses of a typical rental by allowing members to borrow a smartcar without booking ahead, and then return it at their leisure. DeLong had no trouble convincing the audience about the benefits of the business model while on stage at this year’s C2 Montréal, a conference on innovation whose guests included Martha Stewart and Michelin-starred chef

Massimo Bottura, among others. Because car2go not only improves the quality of life of its 1.4 million users in 28 cities around the world, it also provides a potential solution to mobility problems in urban centres. “Currently, about 50 percent of the world population lives in cities, and by 2050 it will be 70 percent,” explains DeLong. So what better vehicle than a smart fortwo to navigate the new frontiers of the urban jungle? It’s a vehicle content with half a parking space, one whose three-cylinder, 89-hp engine offers the ultimate in energy efficiency. The positive effects are already being felt: A recent independent study of one-way car sharing in North America found that each car2go removed up to 11 vehicles from city streets (and 14 metric tons of greenhouse gases). For their part, select Canadians can borrow a Mercedes-Benz B-Class through a pilot project set up in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. “The majority of our members are between 20 and 35, and they’re starting to have children. So it makes sense to add four-door vehicles to our fleet.” So how will car2go continue to expand into the future? DeLong mentions that it has just penetrated the Chinese market, but his vision is bolder: a world in which Daimler’s car2go fleet is composed of self-driving cars. “We were the first to build a car, and the first to create a network of car sharing in this way. We hope to be the first to make the autonomous car possible.”

PHOTOS DAIMLER

DeLong’s bold vision: a world in which the car2go fleet is composed of self-driving cars.