TRAVELING IN STYLE : TOP TOWNS

A capital city is, by definition, a town on top (“capital”: from the Latin capitalis , of the head). But not all top towns are official capitals. And not all capitals have their heads in the same place.

Some really are exalted places, of course, lustrous and illustrious both, as imposing as they are important. Paris, London, Tokyo, Buenos Aires--these are seats of government that stand tall, and stand stylishly for the countries they represent. Other capitals are anomalies, political compromises, backwaters not quite brought to the fore by official wishful thinking. (Be honest, now: When I say “Brazil,” do you immediately think “Brasilia”?) Still other capitals are that in memory only--onetime hot spots with the plug pulled.

Washington, D.C., obviously, is a capital of the first kind. Like it or not, it is America, metonymically so. Amsterdam and Rome are big-deal capitals, too, rich and famous and in charge of things. Monterey, on the other hand, is a capital only in the nostalgic sense. The ancient African stone city known today as Great Zimbabwe was capital of a vast sub-Saharan empire till time and fortune conquered it and its power turned symbolic and aesthetic. Melbourne used to be the capital of Australia but is now a capital only metaphorically. Hawaii’s Hilo is really just a county seat, but it rises to the head of things in its role as re-birthplace and enthusiastic home to that captivating and resurgent dance, the hula. Of course, with the hula, it’s the hands, not the head, that you’re supposed to watch.