Destination: Europe
September 18, 2005
DESTINATION: ITALY
Visiting Puglia? Don't forget your pickax
I could imagine the ghosts of Capuchin monks looking down on me from the upper floor of the weathered building as we drove into the courtyard. The historic dwelling, known as Cappuccini for the monks who lived here in the 16th century, would be my home for the next two weeks.
September 11, 2005
POSTCARD FROM POLAND
Island-hopping in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is opening up at a dizzying pace and nowhere more so than in Poland. Since the fall of communism in 1989, the country has been modernizing rapidly. In 2004 it joined the European Union, cementing its position at the corner of the continent. Around the same time, the budget-airline boom reached the major Polish cities, connecting them to European airports at low prices. With appetites whetted by popular destinations such as Prague, Czech Republic, and Budapest, Hungary, visitors are flocking to see what else the region has to offer. Wroclaw is a fine place to start.
September 4, 2005
THE INTERNET TRAVELER
James Gilden: On a high-tech hunt for fall's most glorious displays of color
FALL in New England conjures images for many travelers of quiet walks through quaint villages under leafy canopies of brilliant displays of yellows, oranges and reds, smoke curling from a nearby chimney or pile of burning leaves and iPods plugged into ears tuned to the latest podcast to help determine the next leaf-peeping stop.
August 28, 2005
CRITIC'S CHOICE | DUBLIN
Dublin, beyond the Blooms
THE notion of a holiday built around literature is a contradiction, which makes Dublin the right destination for those inclined toward the literary life.
August 28, 2005
Getting a flavor for the language
THE pubs here are as much a literary institution as a social one. Even if you don't drink, it's a place to immerse yourself in the speech from which so much that is distinctive about the city's literary life springs.
August 21, 2005
RARE RETREATS
SPAIN: Napoleon slept here, and so can you
IF you've been looking for those castles in Spain — to sleep in, that is — the network of state-owned paradores that crisscrosses the country will fill the bill.
August 14, 2005
The French connection
THE French tricolor flew above Place du Général de Gaulle on a misty morning as white-gloved gendarmes in snappy blue uniforms, rifles across their chests, stood at attention and the band struck up "La Marseillaise." It was July 14, Bastille Day.
July 24, 2005
CRITIC'S CHOICE | BERLIN
A portal to the new Berlin
For Westerners, the center of Berlin suddenly shifted east when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The geographic heart of the metropolis still lies in the bohemian neighborhood of Kreuzberg, with its big, loft-like apartments and sometimes raucous night life. But reunification of East and West has meant that the city's spiritual core has returned to Museumsinsel — Museum Island — a spot of land in the Spree River that is home to an array of seminal art museums stuffed with astounding collections. Nearby, the once drab East Berlin neighborhood around Auguststrasse, just a short walk across the river, has metamorphosed into the liveliest contemporary gallery scene in Europe.
July 10, 2005
A fresh surprise in Old Europe
I first saw them through the window of our train as it pulled into the station at Pragersko, on the way from Ljubljana to Ptuj. There they were, strange, woolly creatures with scary masks, jumping and whirling, the cowbells on their belts creating a cacophonous symphony.
June 5, 2005
DESTINATION: GREECE
A sunny view on Santorini
There we stood, on the side of a highway on this Aegean island's wine country. We were stranded. Darkness was about to fall.
June 5, 2005
Bonny, bonny banks
"Haste ye back," beckoned a sign at the car ferry terminal at Ardrossan on Scotland's western coast as the boat eased up to the dock after crossing from the Isle of Arran.
May 29, 2005
A EUROPEAN UPSTART
New kid on the Med
Next to the sleek sailboats and fat-cat yachts on the Côte d'Azur, easyCruiseOne looks like a big, orange rubber ducky in search of a tub.
May 22, 2005
TRAVELER'S JOURNAL
An American toddler in Paris
When we told friends we were going to Paris with our 1-year-old, they looked at us as though we were out of our minds.
May 15, 2005
ON A BUDGET
Arthur Frommer: Old Europe without Europe's new prices
IF your heart is set on Europe but you hesitate because of the high prices and weak dollar, consider a peek at the low-profile country of Slovenia.
May 15, 2005
EUROPE | SPAIN
Salvador Dalí as you've never seen him
It may seem excessive, but there are three museums commemorating the life and work of Salvador Dalí in the northern area of Catalonia not far from the French border, but what was his life if not excess? The museums are a little off the main American tourist routes in Spain, but they are well worth the trouble to find. The three brim with art and kitsch and reflect the many sides of the artist. Here is a look at them.
May 8, 2005
Novel landscapes
One was a convent-bred beauty with melting black eyes who abandoned her husband and ran away to Paris, where she went through lovers like handkerchiefs.
May 8, 2005
POSTCARD FROM SPAIN
Pleasure seekers find it in Madrid
Madrid has become one of Europe's most dynamic cities, combining exceptional art galleries with its gently hedonistic passion for the good life. Madrid is one of the few places on the planet that routinely experiences traffic jams at 2 a.m.; after all, it's said to boast more bars than any city in the world. That much is known by anyone who has spent any time here. What is less known is that the Spanish capital is arguably the most hospitable city in Europe.
May 1, 2005
TASTE OF TRAVEL: FRANCE
Well done in Provence
It was the discovery of our week in Provence. In fact, it was the discovery of our entire 18 days in London, Paris, Burgundy and Provence.
April 17, 2005
NEWS, TIPS & BARGAINS
Focus is mainly on the planes
Forty German aircraft, plus exhibits narrating two centuries of aviation history, are displayed in a two-story addition to the German Museum of Technology in Berlin that was to have opened Saturday.
April 10, 2005
POSTCARD FROM IRELAND
For Cork City, it's finally show time
Like the rest of Ireland, Cork is a bursting-at-the-seams success story that's giving rise to a yearlong party. Cork's designation as the European Capital of Culture for 2005 should prompt more visitors to take a look at this energetic port city of commerce that dates to the 7th century but is now thoroughly modern. For the rest of the year, it will be crawling with cultural events.
March 20, 2005
NEWS, TIPS & BARGAINS
Once there was a storyteller ...
The 200th birthday of Denmark's Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Princess and the Pea" and dozens more beloved fairy tales, is being celebrated around the world this year with hundreds of events, exhibits and tours.
March 6, 2005
Channeling spring
BRITISH weather forecasters were predicting snow for the January morning I arrived in Jersey. That wasn't what I had in mind. I wanted to vanquish the winter blues with flowers, which is not as absurd as it might sound; spring comes early to the 45-square-mile island in the English Channel. While the rest of Northern Europe languishes in winter's clutches, daffodils pop up in cemeteries and bright primroses decorate the front yards of vacation cottages, unseen and thus unappreciated by the sun-seekers of summer.
February 20, 2005
Return to glorious Lipari
That's it, I thought, emptying a plastic bag of capers, the last of the little hoard I'd brought home last summer from the Italian island of Lipari. I've eaten capers many times without really knowing what they are: the immature buds of a shrub that loves heat and bright sun and grows in rocky crevices around the Mediterranean. I put one in my mouth and rolled it around. Its flavor was earthier and more intense than an olive, and its essence took me back to the island flung into the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the parched, volcanic soil yields little but capers and where my Italian grandfather was born.
February 13, 2005
TRAVELER'S JOURNAL
The perils (and joys) of spontaneous dining overseas
My family was stunned.
February 6, 2005
NEWS, TIPS & BARGAINS
Churchill, moment by moment
Britain's largest exhibit space dedicated to its great World War II prime minister, Winston Churchill, is scheduled to open Friday in London.
January 30, 2005
CRITIC'S CHOICE / PARIS
Keepers of the cinematic flame
As much as any country on the globe, France has made great films during every decade of cinema's existence, and Paris shops have the paper evidence to prove it. The city has numerous places to buy posters, magazines and books, stores that are fertile hunting grounds for collectors of every stripe.
January 30, 2005
CRITIC'S CHOICE | PARIS
Paris, with popcorn
Nobody writes songs about January in Paris. It's cold and bleak, and the impenetrable rain clouds make 8 a.m. as dark as midnight. It's perfect weather for going to the movies, which is what I do.
January 16, 2005
TASTE OF TRAVEL: SPAIN
Madrid menus go for the bold
My first real culinary discovery in Madrid — made while I was a student backpacking through Europe — was a restaurant called La Latina in a neighborhood of the same name. The service was rushed, the décor nonexistent and the food not especially good. But the place was exceptionally cheap, and I gradually ate my way through most of its menu, my introduction to traditional Spanish cuisine.
December 19, 2004
Choirs that move a nation
Never let it be said that Welsh men don't know how to express emotion. Just listen to them sing out loud and strong, harmonies oozing together, sending sinners to hell and putting the righteous on the path to heaven. Then their voices get soft and sweet and you fall in love with them.
December 19, 2004
To music, art and Welsh pride
Open a scant month, the long-awaited Wales Millennium Centre on wide, flat Cardiff Bay, has already been nicknamed "the Armadillo" by the cheeky Welsh.
December 12, 2004
SPECIAL WINTER ISSUE
Braving the spires of Chamonix
Neither guidebooks nor snapshots and not even long-ago memories prepared me for the intimidating beauty of the French Alps. As our tour bus pulled into the Chamonix Valley, there they were — a jagged row of snow-covered peaks that hovers over the legendary town like a wall of colossal teeth.
December 5, 2004
DESTINATION: ENGLAND
Malice in the palaces of Tudor London
Despite tales of tumbling heads and murdered wives, I'm a sucker for the Tudors, one of England's ruthless royal dynasties. And there's more fun to be found in exploring two of England's monarchical Henrys than all the Georges put together.
December 5, 2004
TRAVELER'S JOURNAL
An eerie journey to Poland that continues to haunt
There used to be a small hotel right on the grounds of Auschwitz, the former Nazi camp in Poland. I spent a night there in the old communist days of the '70s. My room — more like a cell — overlooked the camp gates and the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work makes you free") sign, guaranteeing troubled sleep.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
This guy can dance but not to their tune
No one goes to Istanbul at Christmastime.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
Bali drive leaves them lightheaded
It was late December, and Brian and I were sharing a plate of boiled vegetables in peanut sauce at a cafe in the seaside town of Candidasa on the Indonesian isle of Bali. We were disagreeing about where to go for New Year's Eve. Both of us thought we should celebrate the holiday somewhere special, but we couldn't agree on what that meant.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
Where the wild things are -- inside the tent
You may have heard the story of the innocent 15-year-old preppy who signs up for a wilderness course and is mistakenly lumped in with a bunch of at-risk youths. She tells the group's leaders there's been a mix-up, but no one believes her. She tells the other teens and is laughed at, cursed at and treated like just another juvenile delinquent. So, for the next three weeks, she does her time.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
A roundabout way to get some sleep
Sleep is the enemy of the traveler. It's the dark demon that devours six, seven, eight hours a day. It rips the voyager from the quest, the explorer from the exploration.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
Complain? Or just sit there and stew?
Bathing is an art in Japan. Bathing has style. Bathing has etiquette.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
Look who came to dinner: Hairy
Three hobbled horses tore up the embankment like wildly rearing rocking horses, then stood stock still, ears pricked and rigid. My family and our two guides were eating chicken legs by campfire. Having gone to fetch a sweater from the tent, I paused to wonder at the horses' sudden fright. I approached the big brown Morgan and stroked its neck. It remained taut, alert.
November 21, 2004
TRAVEL TURKEYS
Cheeks like roses, nose like a cherry, drunk as a skunk
If you're anything like me — and let's hope you're not because your dental bills will automatically double — your Christmas wish last year was something as pitiful as this: Time to organize the great sock drawer of your mind.
November 7, 2004
Belgium's gentle fall
I could never fathom why people return to the same place over and over. There's so much of the world to see. But I'm now beginning to understand how a place can grow on you, having been twice to the Ardennes.
October 24, 2004
DESTINATION: PORTUGAL
No need to storm the castle
For 20 years, my friend Vicki Sullivan had been talking about the red roofs of Lisbon. She caught a brief glimpse of the Portuguese countryside on a one-night layover decades ago and had been determined to return ever since.
October 24, 2004
NEWS, TIPS & BARGAINS
Tower Hill rises in tourist appeal
The Tower of London, one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, has been spruced up with a new visitor center, restaurants and more.
October 10, 2004
DESTINATION: ITALY
Just like nonna used to make
As in most traditional Italian families, life in the Mauriello home revolved around cooking and eating.
October 3, 2004
DESTINATION: FRANCE
Hot on Hannibal's cold trail
Gasping for breath in the thin Alpine air, we peered into the thick veils of clouds, desperate for a glimpse of the Italian plains stretching somewhere below. Above us, Monte Viso, the 12,600-foot, twin-peaked colossus of the southern French Alps, appeared briefly through the mist. But in the distance? Whiteout.
September 26, 2004
DESTINATION: FRANCE
500 miles in a pilgrim's footsteps
"My friends all think I'm crazy: 'Why would you walk 500 miles?' " lamented Jan.
September 19, 2004
DESTINATION: SCOTLAND
The true spirit of the islands
Leaning into a huge wooden fermentation tank, I inhaled the yeasty aroma of its contents. "Don't sniff too heavily," Ardbeg Distillery Manager Stuart Thomson told me. "It'll take your breath away."
September 19, 2004
DESTINATION: FRANCE
Where Champagne is king
"Champagne," actress Marlene Dietrich said, "gives you the impression that it's Sunday, that the best days are still to come."
September 19, 2004
DESTINATION: BELGIUM
Happy hours in Brussels
"The things we do with beer, eh?" the waiter said as surprise registered on our faces. We had just tasted a delectable dessert: a sorbet made with three hop-brewed beverages — a wit (white) beer, a kriek (cherry) lambic and an abbey-style ale.
September 5, 2004
LE PALAIS, FRANCE
Île hop: Who needs hip?
At 6:30 on a pitch-dark morning early last October, I was backing a French rental car down a ramp from the dock at Le Palais on Belle-Île onto the ferry, my eyes frozen on an attendant who was waving his arms frantically and yelling. "À droit!" (To the right!) Then, "À gauche!" (To the left!)
August 8, 2004
DESTINATION: ITALY
Sperlonga, a gentler stretch of coast
I looked around as we emerged from the crowded bus into the seaside piazza, and I knew our gamble had paid off.
August 22, 2004
Like it or not, Modernist design has a place here too
The 1945 air bombing of Dresden left many blanks on the map. Several of them in the old town, once sites of Baroque gems, are occupied by replicas of buildings there before the war. Some remain evocative ruins, such as the 1729 Kurlander Palace. Still other empty spaces have been filled with new buildings that make parts of Dresden seem like a miniature Berlin.
August 22, 2004
Dresden's spirit soars once more
You can't get lost in Dresden. Wherever you go, you can see the stately white dome of the Frauenkirche, as much a landmark in this eastern German city as St. Peter's is in Rome.
August 29, 2004
DESTINATION: ITALY
Roaming Venice's backyard
I'd like to show you our favorite souvenir from our trip to this city, but my wife and I ate it. It wasn't biscotti, chocolate or delicious Montasio cheese. It was a lemon.
August 29, 2004
DESTINATION: IRELAND
Coasting in the counties
Something about the Derry Independent Hostel here made me suspect from the start that I might not fit in.
August 15, 2004
DESTINATION: THE NETHERLANDS
Becoming one with the mud
I flew all the way to the Netherlands to play in the mud.
August 8, 2004
The classic Crete
A mighty wind buffeted our Olympic Airways jet, bouncing it around as we descended at Heraklion, Crete's capital.
March 21, 2004
DESTINATION: NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
Caribbean paradise, no waiting
This remote island in the Caribbean doesn't make the best first impression — unless flat, scrub-covered desert with a scattering of cactuses stimulates your imagination.
June 6, 2004
Normandy mission
Today, on the 60th anniversary of D-day, world leaders are gathering in Normandy on the north coast of France. Fireworks will light the sky over Arromanches-les-Bains, where the Allies constructed an artificial harbor to support troops infiltrating the countryside from the beachheads. And in little Falaise, a walking tour will be dedicated to the closure of a last pocket of German resistance, marking the end of the Battle of Normandy in late August 1944.
April 25, 2004
TASTE OF TRAVEL: ROME
Italian fare like a warm embrace
I developed a little trick in my conversational Italian class a few years ago. Insecure in my command of vocabulary, I found I could deflect difficult conversation by changing the subject to Italian food and restaurants. Prosciutto, risotto, minestrone — those words I knew. My classmates played along. "Jerry is a buongustaio," one observed.
April 18, 2004
Lodging for the Games will cost you
Athens hotel rooms are still available for the dates of the Olympics, but you may have to pay dearly. Private home and apartment rentals are another option.
March 7, 2004
AMALFI
You walk slowly on the Path of the Gods high above Positano for fear of cutting a switchback short and falling over a cliff. Your imagination starts playing tricks, keeping you on the lookout for brigands and satyrs. You get used to going astray on trails that peter out into nothing or dead-end at farmhouses guarded by furiously barking dogs. Then, of course, you must retrace your steps, all straight up or down.
February 29, 2004
TASTE OF TRAVEL: ITALY
The heart and soul of Rome
During our most recent visit to Rome, old friends Serenella and Mario Franchi asked my husband and me to dinner.
November 9, 2003
Fellini's Rome
He was 18 and inexperienced — in all respects — when he came to Rome in 1938. For Federico Fellini, it was the beginning of a love affair that lasted more than 50 years.
June 8, 2003
Sweden's treasured isle
I have always been drawn to islands. The journey to reach them is half their allure, and the approach to each is different. If they have a sense of peace and solitude and aren't too taken with themselves, I am smitten.
All around Uto
Getting there
Hanging out in medieval Cuenca
GETTING THERE
April 6, 2003
Rolling through Ireland
"So you'll be riding the Ring of Kerry, right?" asked Mary at O'Sullivan's Rent-a-Bike in Killarney.
April 6, 2003
Biking Ireland's Beara Peninsula
February 16, 2003
BELGIUM
In the city that cloth built, a rich tapestry
Tiny Belgium is packed with surprises, I have happily discovered these last few years. Ghent, 35 miles northwest of Brussels in the province of East Flanders, is one of the best of them.
January 19, 2003
An Austria frozen in time
One ancient Alpine day the people of Lungau, a 25-by-30-mile hand-shaped nest of glaciated and riverine valleys tucked behind Salzburg's Tauern Alps, chose the fittest man among them and sent him to find the end of the world. A three-day walk from his home in Zederhaus, one of the small villages scattered throughout Lungau, brought him to what appeared to be an impenetrable granite wall. Satisfied and likely relieved, he went home.
January 19, 2003
An Austria frozen in time
One ancient Alpine day the people of Lungau, a 25-by-30-mile hand-shaped nest of glaciated and riverine valleys tucked behind Salzburg's Tauern Alps, chose the fittest man among them and sent him to find the end of the world. A three-day walk from his home in Zederhaus, one of the small villages scattered throughout Lungau, brought him to what appeared to be an impenetrable granite wall. Satisfied and likely relieved, he went home.
January 12, 2003
NEWS, TIPS & BARGAINS
Deal of the week: 2 weeks in Provence under $2,000
Idyll Ltd. of Media, Pa., offers a two-week package for independent travelers in Provence, France, starting at $1,639 (March 26 departure) or $1,859 (April 9) per person, double occupancy.
December 22, 2002
Germany's seasonal glow
All I ever want for Christmas is a flash of that intense openhearted joy that sometimes comes during the holidays. But the Christmas spirit is elusive. To catch it, you have to be in the right place at the right time. So this year I went river cruising in Germany.
December 29, 2002
DESTINATION: THE NETHERLANDS
In Amsterdam when it sizzles
When we lived in this city in 1998 and '99, we were always out of town for New Year's Eve. The last week of December, we caught a train to Paris or Bern, Switzerland, pushing against the tide of Brits, French, Germans, Belgians -- seemingly everyone in Europe under 30 -- as they poured into Amsterdam.
December 29, 2002
A hotel's life
Of course it's true that you can't go home again. But there are times when you can't even go on vacation again.
December 29, 2002
A hotel's life
Of course it's true that you can't go home again. But there are times when you can't even go on vacation again.
December 29, 2002
DESTINATION: THE NETHERLANDS
In Amsterdam when it sizzles
When we lived in this city in 1998 and '99, we were always out of town for New Year's Eve. The last week of December, we caught a train to Paris or Bern, Switzerland, pushing against the tide of Brits, French, Germans, Belgians -- seemingly everyone in Europe under 30 -- as they poured into Amsterdam.
December 22, 2002
Germany's seasonal glow
All I ever want for Christmas is a flash of that intense openhearted joy that sometimes comes during the holidays. But the Christmas spirit is elusive. To catch it, you have to be in the right place at the right time. So this year I went river cruising in Germany.
December 15, 2002
DESTINATION: ITALY
The accidental treasures of Venice
When I went through customs on my return from Venice, I had nothing to declare, no glass, no lace, no gondolier's striped shirt or straw hat.
July 4, 2004
A spot of tee-hee
It was a blustery Saturday night when I visited one of those traditional North London pubs that had been spruced up to attract a more affluent crowd. The revamp had had little effect on the bar's basement, where the old rough-around-the-edges feel — low ceilings stained with nicotine and a cozy assortment of scuffed tables and row seating — remained.
April 25, 2004
TASTE OF TRAVEL: LONDON
Frugal Brit fare beyond fish 'n' chips
Eating cheaply was easy when I was last here more than a dozen years ago. I mostly frequented curry-in-a-hurry or fish and chips shops or avoided restaurants altogether because the quality of the food was not worth the time or expense.
November 2, 2003
England's dark intrigue
On Guy Fawkes Day, bonfires crackle and leap all over England. Children inveigle passersby for small change, chanting, "Remember, remember, the 5th of November." Scarecrows stuffed to resemble the most hated man of the hour are tossed on the pyre.
August 4, 2002
On Top of the World in Wales
The Welsh mountain fog mesmerized me with its surreal beauty, whipping over the craggy peaks and ridgelines, riding the constant winds that sculpt the bleak rock face of the mountains.
July 21, 2002
St. Albans' Sacred Place in History
I've lived in Tokyo, traveled on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and built an igloo in the snowy wilderness of British Columbia, but the only trip I make almost every year is to St. Albans, my hometown.
July 21, 2002
Finding Swiss Bliss in Zermatt
If the Swiss ran the world, trains and planes would be on time. Every hotel room would have a view, and reservations would never be lost. Communicating would be easy because the Swiss seem able to speak whatever language you greet them in. You would never have a bad meal. In fact, nothing bad would ever happen.
May 9, 2004
DESTINATION: IRELAND
Pirate queen with Irish luck
She was the scourge of Spanish and English merchants. "Notorious by land and sea," her English enemies said. Queen Elizabeth I even put a price — 500 pounds — on her head.
May 2, 2004
DESTINATION: MALTA
Gozo is slow ... oh, so slow
A cabdriver taking us to the ferry at Malta's Cirkewwa Harbor shook his head when we told him we were planning to spend the remaining days of last April's weeklong vacation on Gozo, Malta's tiny sister island and only a third the size of its sibling.
April 18, 2004
DESTINATION: ENGLAND
A spot of tea and British history
I spent a great deal of time at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church on a recent trip to London. But I wasn't praying.
February 8, 2004
DESTINATION: ENGLAND
A magical tour of Liverpool
Our family, exhausted after a day of sightseeing, must have seemed out of place in the busy, boisterous restaurant. "What brings you to Liverpool?" a young waitress asked.
January 11, 2004
DESTINATION: TURKS AND CAICOS
Low-key in the West Indies
Grace Bay Beach, Turks and Caicos
October 19, 2003
DESTINATION: FRANCE
Salsa and samba by the Seine
When I heard drumming in the distance at the Parc de la Villette, I practically broke into a run. This patch of park in northern Paris, where Africans and Caribbean Frenchmen turn up on Sunday afternoons to play their homeland music, seemed to offer a taste of the immigrant city I'd been looking for.
May 18, 2003
DESTINATION: SPAIN
Clinging to the past in Cuenca
I fretted the whole way to Cuenca. We had been in Madrid for a few weeks in January, and I needed a break from the noise and crowds of that vibrant city. Cuenca, it seemed, was the perfect respite: an isolated medieval town perched atop twin gorges in a stunning defiance of gravity.
May 25, 2003
Padua's pleasurable paradoxes
"Padua has," said Padre Paolo, "a field with no grass, a cafe with no doors and a saint with no name."
June 22, 2003
DESTINATION: ITALY
La dolce vita on Tuscany's shores
We were vacationing in Italy — with Rome, Florence and Venice at our fingertips — so why did we spend a week sitting on a beach?
June 22, 2003
DESTINATION: ICELAND
Becoming one with the inner Viking
A misty drizzle was falling again, beading on my bright orange rain pants and my horse's thick black mane. It was cold enough to make my nose run and my toes numb. But none of that mattered once we took off at a gallop along the muddy home stretch.
August 3, 2003
DESTINATION: GERMANY
In Aachen, the legacy of Charlemagne
The driving rain didn't deter us or change our plans as we headed into town with our German friends Lutz and Marga. We settled into a small hotel in the heart of the old town, then, umbrellas aloft, went in search of Charlemagne's trail.
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