From Funk to Soul, travel around the Great Lakes

In the inner suburbs of Minneapolis, Prince's residence houses the old recording studios - as well as the costume-making workshops, film studio, rehearsal spaces, and concert halls - created by the artist. Built in 1987 with royalties from the Purple Rain album (nearly 20 million albums sold), Paisley Park became Prince's creative hub for working on albums and future tours. The property is now a museum dedicated to the man behind the Sign o' the Times.

On a fine day, some 200 farmers congregate at Dane County Farmers' Market. There's a real market gardening culture in Wisconsin. On Saturday mornings, the market becomes a hive of activity. Everything is fresh – morning-picked leeks, the day's asparagus and farmhouse cheeses. It was also one of the first organic markets in the country, a place where the word 'biodynamics' has a real meaning.

Here, the parks are really 'alive'. Classical and jazz concerts are played out in the open. A food festival also draws thousands of people in summer. Families gather for picnics, kids play baseball, football or basketball in the famous Bulls jersey. Designed by the greatest architects – including Frank Gehry, who designed the Jay Pritzker Pavilion – Millennium Park is part of Grant Park.

Walking tours are organized downtown and along the river to discover the city's architecture. For a long time, Chicago was home to the tallest tower in the world, and its very open skyline remains one of the most impressive. Great architects have left their mark on Chicago: for example, you can explore Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, his very first 'Prairie-house' style work, which showcased brick and the horizontal style that would inspire several generations of architects.

With its vast sand dunes and lakeshore beaches, Warren Dunes is one of the most beautiful parks in the country. Paths and picnic areas were developed along the length of its 790 hectares. Here, on the shores of Lake Michigan you feel as if you are by the sea …

The label that revolutionized the history of music! Between 1959 and 1972, Motown recorded the likes of the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5 in this little house. Transformed into a museum, the founder's apartment and the old studios display instruments, gold records and costumes of the era. The guided tour offers an extraordinary journey into the world of Soul, forever linked to Detroit.

Opened in 2001, this tropical garden provides an amazing and exotic journey. Make your way past thousands of butterflies, tropical flowers and plants, exotic birds, turtles, and insects. Colourful butterflies land on your shoulder and your back in a warm and humid atmosphere (the temperature fluctuates between 25ºC and 30ºC all year round). You're in Canada no longer …

The Toronto Maple Leafs team is one of the most prestigious in the NHL, the North American Hockey League (on ice).13-time winner of the famous Stanley Cup (the last dating back to 1967!), the Toronto team plays almost all its matches to a full house at the Air Canada Center. If you can't get a place, follow the match in one of the town's bars. Intense atmosphere guaranteed!

Paris has its Eiffel Tower, Toronto has its CN Tower! Built at the heart of the town between 1973 and 1976, this concrete needle offers a spectacular view over Toronto and the surrounding areas (except on hazy days). A glass-sided elevator takes panorama lovers up to 342m above ground level (the summit of the antenna reaches 555m), where you can walk out… onto a glass platform.

Adjacent to the Allegheny forest, this was once the district of mills, warehouses, and small stores. Here, butchers, market gardeners, cheese makers and bakers operate side by side, just as they did fifty years ago. Many of them came from Italy and never went back. There is a unique atmosphere, like in a good old black and white film ...