Everyone who comes to Paris looks forward to its restaurants – famous institutions like Taillevent, Guy Savoy and Faugeron roll off the tongues of world gourmands – and it has remained that way for more than 200 years. Starting in the Middle Ages, aristocrats traditionally ate in their own homes unless they were traveling, when they brought along their own cooks. Read the rest of this entry »
If the giant tortoise is the symbol of the Galapagos Islands, then Darwin’s finches must be the symbol of evolution in the Galapagos. The Galapagos Islands’ finches are most famous for their role in this theory of evolution. What may be less well-known is that the finches are still evolving today. Read the rest of this entry »
In June art festivals of all sorts blossom like spring flowers across Switzerland in almost every one of the 26 Cantons, from Art Basel in the north, a gigantic week-long art market that attracts 50,000 collectors and buyers, to the Montreux Jazz Festival in the south, one of the world’s greatest music venues. Read the rest of this entry »
“One thinks Heidelberg by day – with its surroundings – is the last possibility of the beautiful; but when he sees Heidelberg by night, a fallen Milky Way, with that glittering railway constellation pinned to the border, he requires time to consider upon the verdict.” Mark Twain wrote this ode to Heidelberg in his humorous travel book, “A Tramp Abroad” (1880). During the three months that Twain spent in the city in 1878, many of his recorded experiences aren’t entirely dissimilar from activities that tourists and residents still enjoy today. Read the rest of this entry »
Historically, Germany’s wine has suffered with an “inferiority complex” fueled by the reputation of wine powerhouses France and Italy. And in modern times, they’ve tacked of “how to compete with a Bordeaux or a Chianti” by improving quality, while keep prices reasonable. Finally, German vintners are starting to reap the rewards. The world famous Riesling region, centered on the Rhine and its tributaries and in eastern Germany near Dresden, is the biggest success story to come out of Germany’s 13 wine growing regions. Read the rest of this entry »
In the early 1500s, Rome was full of neglected ruins from the days of the ancient Empire, which still contained artworks buried amongst the rubble. The Renaissance had seen a sudden growth of interest in all things classical, and the popes – cultivated men who were in touch with the intellectual currents of the day – were the richest art collectors in Italy. They began offering substantial cash rewards for any sculptures, until Rome was scoured by freelance treasure hunters on the hunt for pagan masterpieces. Read the rest of this entry »
Europe’s most famous cathedral, whose twin Gothic towers loom above France’s most beloved river, the Seine, actually owes a lot of its international success to the author Victor Hugo. Back in 1831, when Hugo wrote his classic novel about a hunchbacked bell-ringer at Notre Dame who falls in love with a beautiful gypsy, the medieval cathedral had fallen on hard times. During the Revolution in 1789, it had been seized, looted of its treasures and converted into an atheistic “Temple of Reason.” Read the rest of this entry »
Pop into Harry’s Bar near Piazza San Marco, one of Hemingway’s favorite haunts, and you’ll see where the novelist created his signature cocktail made of 15 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. If you decide to try one, make sure you know the way back to your hotel.
If you’d like to see one of the last remaining gondola workshops in Venice, visit this 17th century boatyard where they still construct and repair the city’s most popular mode of transportation. Read the rest of this entry »
