The Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts was one of those places I’d read about and passed by on a hundred occasions since it opened in 2009. It’s the most expensive thing ever built by the city of Richmond Hill and I remember there was a lot of talk (not all of it good) about the $30 million price tag. So when my girlfriend – let’s call her Flory – told me she’d got tickets to see the John Tesh Grand Piano Christmas show there I thought “Okay. Now we’ll see what they wasted all that money on.” Boy, was I wrong. Learn More Now about the home of David Dunlap Observatory telescope Richmond Hill

The place blew me away from the minute we walked through the doors. When we entered the main auditorium it was like being in New York or Paris or Berlin or something. Just an incredible sight. Even so when we took our seats in the first row of the balcony I didn’t know what to expect. After all, John Tesh? The guy from Entertainment Tonight? Well, you know what? This was my night to be wrong because as soon as the lights went down and the curtain pulled back Tesh launched into a combination of holiday standards and original music that really captured the holiday tone and sent everybody home smiling.

After the show we went over to Rhapsody Continental Cuisine. It has a retro decor that’s all early 20th century Eastern Europe and it really helped reinforce the old time Christmas mood the show had established. I had the Hungarian Bean Soup and Wiener Schnitzel while Flory had Hortobagyi Palacsinta and House Schnitzel. We topped the night off by splitting the Somloi Galuska (sponge cake layered with vanilla pudding, rum-soaked raisin, nuts, whipped cream and chocolate sauce). What a way to ring in the holidays.