October 2009

A few years ago, if you wanted to take a cruise from a U.S. port, you didn’t have a lot of choices. If you were dreaming of the Caribbean, you would book a flight to Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Port Canaveral and then set sail. If you lived west of

Vajrayogini Mandala, Tibet; 18th century, Courtesy Rubin Museum of Art Reviewed by Bobbie Leigh Just as painted Russian icons are not intended to be  solely artistic  representations of  saints, but objects of meditation and veneration, mandalas   — at least for the initiated —  are   magic windows, pathways to  the deepest

Shakespeare and Company, Paris. Photo by Dena Timm. The best English-language bookshops in Paris, Vienna and Lucerne … By Richard West PARIS Shakespeare & Co. (37, rue de Bucherie): Surely the most well-known bookshop in Europe, founded in 1951 by the now-in-his-90’s, George Whitman, who still describes the three sprawling

Jeff Dossett on Everest. Jeff Dossett is the CEO of AdventureLink, the new adventure travel trip finder that's beginning to change how we research and book adventure travel. He's a former Microsoft guy, where he was MSN's executive producer and general manager, and also did a stint as a senior

  The journey, not the arrival, is what seems to matter more than ever these days. That’s because flying from A to B is the toughest part of any trip. But if you’re proactive, you can make your next flight experience easier and maybe even seamless. The good news is

By Mary Alice Kellogg Like many of us, SpaWatcher thinks "sauna" and "Sweden" are words joined at the hip. But after a visit to Stockholm's sleek Sturebadet, she now thinks Sweden and "Sami Zen" is an even better match.

Grizzlies in Brooks Falls, Alaska. Photo by Steve Morello. If you’ve ever contemplated an adventure trip with “nature” as the keyword, you’ve probably come across Natural Habitat Adventures. The Boulder-based company is the Conservation Travel Provider to World Wildlife Fund. It’s been named a “2009 Best Adventure Travel Company” by

Interior of Esherick house. Photo by G. Widman for GPTMC. By Deborah Hay In the bucolic countryside near Valley Forge sits a modest house in the woods. It was once the home and studio of Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), America’s foremost wood sculptor and furniture craftsman. Whether or not his name

By Mary Alice Kellogg I’m a sucker for tradition, graciousness in large quantities, dressing appropriately for this-could-be-a-movie moments, for scenery that makes my mouth water. All are reasons I’ve fostered a love of the rituals of cruising … and why I’ve also visited Bermuda on a regular basis for more

Reviewed by Richard West "Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. The mountains are in labor, and a silly mouse will be born." Well said, Horace, in your "Epistles, Book Two," but times have changed. Actually it's a Bosavi woolly rat, the world's largest (32" long, 3 lbs.), one of  40 new