February 2015

A Visit to St. Petersburg
By Marian Betancourt I had long wanted to visit this fabled city by the sea built by Peter the Great in 1703 to open Russia to the West. Inspired by the country’s great novelists and poets and Robert Massie’s splendid biographies of Peter and Catherine and the Romanovs, I

Stratton: Classic Vermont Skiing
By Stevenson Swanson Stratton’s reputation for wide, open trails did not really hit me until my son and I stood at the top of the Sunriser Supertrail during a late-winter weekend visit to this classic southern Vermont ski resort. To my eye, the grand boulevard of Sunriser appeared to be
Great Urban Weekend Escapes: Austin, TX
By Larry Olmsted Welcome back to “Great Urban Weekend Escapes.” Since the famous Austin City Limits music festival just finished, it seems like a perfect time for this column to visit Texas’ capitol city. Austin has been one of the country’s hottest, trendiest and fastest rising destinations for several
Snow Flurries: Mountain Resort Spas Vanquish Stress
by Kim McHugh Photographs courtesy of the resorts Mountain Resort Spas Vanquish Stress (Part 1) For centuries spas and soothing mineral springs have been vanquishing the specters of ill health, fatigue and too many laps around the chariot track. These days slope weary skiers and snowboarders are checking into

Active Travels: Biking Lake Geneva’s La Côte Region
By Steve Jermanok Traveling to the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland this past September with Lisa, every day was a dream that could easily make this list. Seeing Dubuffet’s collection of art from the insane at Lausanne, strolling through the sculpted vineyards of the Lavaux, and taking a cruise over

The Museum that Walmart Built
By Eleanor Berman Straddling spring fed lakes and surrounded by 120 acres of native forest, the multi-million dollar Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is one of America’s most exciting museums. Everything about it is unusual, including the location: Bentonville, Arkansas, population, 40,000. Why Bentonville? Because this small town

Letter from Rome: Hotel de la Ville Roma Redux
By Marc Kristal The tourist’s week I spent recently in Rome was – as it always seems to be in that unusual city – a dream of perfection. The sun came out every day and turned my scarf and gloves unnecessary. The low winter sun made silhouettes of the stone
TechnoSnow Gear
By Neil Wolkodoff The SnowSports Industries Association brings out new products for retailers to evaluate in preparation for the 2015-2016 snow season. After scouring 250,000 square feet of exhibits and demonstrations at the SIA show in Denver last week, here are some products were technologically better than last year. Some