December 2011

By Richard West  Welcome to  Everett Potter Travel Report’s 4th Annual Best Travel Books of the Year choices, a selection of opinions and quotes from previous reviews that whirls and dips like a drunkard’s bedroom. One of the main themes in 2011’s travel narratives is exploration of the back of

By Everett Potter My favorite hotels in 2011? I stayed in some pretty wonderful places, but here are three where I’d gladly check in tomorrow morning: ROOM WITH A WATER VIEW Who knew that Park Hyatt could offer a hotel experience as smooth as the best Four Seasons Hotel? I

  By Steve Jermanok Home to 14 downhill ski areas, including the renowned Tremblant, the Laurentian Mountains is Quebec’s foremost winter playground. Once the white stuff starts to fall (an almost daily occurrence in these parts), a lineup of SUVs and minivans make the hour drive north of Montreal. Yet,

By Bobbie Leigh Call them personal presents, something special for  you not for those on your holiday lists.    Here are some  2011  choices  among  hundreds of  great new books…  but these  are ones not to give away, to keep  handy on your  bookshelves as each has special charms and flair.

By Richard West Celebrity alert!  Waiting to board my never-late SAS flight to Stockholm, I glanced right and noticed a familiar-looking rather handsome plumber. No,  it was Michael Nyqvist, currently Sweden’s most famous actor,  who has portrayed the testosteronic  Everyman  journalist  Mikael “Kalle” Blomkvist in that country’s three Millennium Trilogy

  By Steve Jermanok I had the privilege of traveling with Austin-Lehman Adventures last summer on a family trip to the Canadian Rockies and loved every minute of it. For 2012, founder Dan Austin is rolling out some exciting new adventures including a six-day biking trip through Burgundy and three

By Everett Potter If there’s a single reason to travel to the Canadian capital of Ottawa in the middle of a chilly winter, it can be summed up in two words: Rideau Canal. For several months each winter, the 7.8 km serpentine canal that runs through the heart of the

Story and Photos by Julie Maris/Semel Vicenza, a World Heritage Site, is all about Andrea Palladio who in the 1500s designed palaces, churches, and villas. Referring to classical Roman architecture, Palladio’s unique style influenced architecture from Venice to Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, and to today’s contemporary American houses. Vicenza is

By Richard West Anybodyanybodyanbody, don’t click and leave, give this a read, how ‘bout you now, one minute of your time, one 60th of an hour, we got some winners, right here, anybodyanybodyanybody, I miss a few, I get a few, no book’s easy.  In fact we got four recent