Search results for

The tram gives Portland visitors stunning views of the city, river, and mountains beyond. Grab the streetcar from downtown out to the waterfront. You’re delivered to the lower terminal for the three-minute ride carrying you 3,300 feet at 20 MPH to the upper terminal at OHSU. Linger for photo ops then head back down to explore. If it’s nice, skip the streetcar and walk back along the river. Daily workout, check. Roundtrip cost: $4. At the lower terminal, the Daily Cafe is an easy find in the atrium of the OHSU Clinical building as you disembark the pill-shaped car, built with precision by the Swiss. Head for the river and stroll along the shore in any weather. Double back along SW Bond Ave and consider lunch at Bambuza Vietnamese Bistro. Check out the pricey high-rise condos on the market in the real estate office windows, then relax in one of the pocket parks to people watch. It snows in Portland. A couple of times a winter, even downtown gets dusted and it’s a huge mess. I’ve dreamed about getting my ski gear on, grabbing my boards and heading for the PDX Tram at the South Waterfront. I’d casually climb aboard with the patients and medical folks heading up to “Pill Hill” and blow their minds.

We all have a mental image of upscale European alpine villages from countless spy movies and Vogue fashion shoots. There’s the little café with etched glass and women sipping Alsace with perfect hair and puffy parkas. The men are capable sorts, usually lean and well-traveled. Jet-setters, rich ski bums, and other dubious types mill around low-slung Citroëns with skis on the back, while the air feels charged with intrigue and adventure simmering under the laissez-faire insouciance. Sorta like the Arrabelle at Vail Square. “There’s no other place like this in North America that captures the iconic ambience of classic Old World European cities like Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Prague,” says John Dawsey, director of sales. “During the design phase, we really wanted to capture a feeling aligned with a cultured European central plaza.” The Arrabelle consists of 86 suites overlooking the town square, which converts into a skating rink in winter at the gondola base of Vail Mountain. The charm is in the details: working wood shutters, copper drainspouts, and subtle fairy-tale stenciling around the Bavarian Biedemeier-style architecture. The lobby’s windows are Czech, no less. Off the lobby, the Tavern is always buzzing with locals and visitors in the shadows sipping hot chocolate and Grand Marnier. The menu is meat-friendly. Try the Bone-in Veal Schnitzel with saffron risotto because that’s what spies and dangerous women eat.

Sunday brunch at Perry’s is not your usual run-of-the-mill affair. Yes, there is an all-you-can-eat buffet bar filled with typical brunch fare. Yes, there are the usual boozy drinks to go with your brunch meal. Yes, there is music piped over stereo speakers. But this is far, far, far from an ordinary brunch because it has fabulous drag queens to entertain you while you eat! Perry’s Drag Brunch is among D.C’s most loved institutions. There are two seatings each Sunday and they don’t take reservations. The line forms outside around 9am for first seating which is at 10am. Make sure you’re in that line. As soon as the doors open, ask to be seated toward the center of the room—the bad seats are on the periphery. A split second after you get to your table, throw your stuff down and RUN to stand in the buffet line. After you get your food, then flag your waiter down to get your drinks. At about 11am, the show will begin. The drag show features queens that are campy and witty, and the show is raunchy and HILARIOUS! Perry’s Drag Brunch is definitely not for the timid, though! You may get called out, and next thing you know you’re a part of the show. Whatever happens, you can be certain your friends will have captured the moment on their smartphones and before the red blush leaves your face, they will have already posted it up on Facebook! It’s all in good fun! Just remember to bring along a wad of $1 bills for tips. The ladies do work hard for the money!

Key West’s most famous literary resident, Ernest Hemingway, lived in this two-story Spanish-colonial villa for nearly a decade and composed several of his best-known works here. His second wife, Pauline, insisted they add a pool to the spacious grounds—the first inground pool in Key West. The cost ballooned to around $20,000, a fortune in the 1930s, and was said to have contributed to the breakup of their marriage. It’s just one of the fascinating stories guides will share on the half-hour tour of the home and gardens (included in the price of admission). And yes, you’re guaranteed to see plenty of six-toed cats, descendants of Hemingway’s original six-toed cat, Snow White.

Taking a nighttime stroll through Brooklyn, retracing George Washington’s footsteps as he was engaging British forces in Brooklyn and Long Island who went on to invade New York City in the summer of 1776 during the American Revolution (I love a good dose of American history). I paused for a moment to admire the ingenuity and design of the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the Manhattan skyline. Then I found myself humming Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind.”

The best views of San Francisco are from the top of Twin Peaks, the two hills that are located in the geographic center of the city. Only from Twin Peaks can you get a 360-degree view of the entire city. If you are lucky, on a clear day you can see all four Bay Area bridges—from the Golden Gate to the Richmond-San Rafael and the Bay Bridge all the way south to the San Mateo. Standing on North Peak, you can look down the tree line of Market all the way to the Ferry Building. All the city neighborhoods, scattered over up and down the hills, from Mission to Bernal Heights to Russian Hill to the Presidio are in your vista. If it’s clear, you’ll be able to see the Marin Headlands, Alcatraz, Sausalito, and even Mt. Tam. From the North Peak, you can walk over to the South Peak and take in the city views from the Sunset District down to San Francisco International Airport. Tips: 1. Bring a jacket with you. Even on a warm summer’s day, it can be chilly at Twin Peaks. 2. Wear sturdy shoes, especially if you want to walk up to the Peaks and or around them. 3. Bring binoculars, if you have them. There are telescopes that you can pay to use if you don’t have binoculars.

This bowed silver building stands out among the skyscrapers of Downtown L.A. (though it now has an equally interesting-looking neighbor in the Broad). Those stainless-steel curves have a purpose, though. Architect Frank Gehry designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall with top-notch sound quality in mind, and the result is an architectural landmark that doubles as one of the most acoustically advanced concert halls in the world. The venue is home to the always impressive L.A. Philharmonic, a 100-piece orchestra that puts on concerts ranging from classical to jazz, contemporary, and world music throughout the year.

D.C.'s most recognized landmark—and the world’s tallest freemasonry structure—transports visitors on a 70-second-long elevator ascent to its 500-foot observation deck. A National Park Service Ranger accompanies you and shares the history of this obelisk dedicated to the President and General who was regarded as “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Consider that at completion in 1884, only men were allowed to use the then-steam powered elevator because it was deemed to dangerous for women whose only option was to climb 897 steps to get to the top. Timed tickets are now required to enter and are available on a first come, first serve basis at the monument lodge located along 15th Street NW. Tip: although the ticket window opens at 8:30am, it’s best to line up 1-2 hours early as tickets are usually gone by late morning.

Note: The monument is closed for renovations until early 2019.

San Miguel is known as a community of artists, but to fully appreciate that understatement, every traveler should get closer to the city’s arts community. This village is a place where many have reinvented themselves as the next Picasso or Basquiat. First stop? The art galleries at Fábrica la Aurora, where visitors browse, shopping to add to their collections, with choices from the genres of painting, drawing, and sculpture. Longtime local favorites include Peter Leventhal—whose Rubenesque nudes adorn many a wall across the globe—and his wife, multimedia artist Terra Mizwa; abstract artist Merry Calderoni; and Annie Evans, whose sculptures of devilish women are mesmerizing. Art galleries also abound in the Centro and nearby San Antonio district. Events calendars detail monthly art walks.

Mexico City is full of architectural masterpieces, but there is nothing like the experience of being inside a Barragán-designed home. Very few are still in good shape and open to the public, including Casa Luis Barragán (the architect’s former home and studio that’s the only private residency to be named a UNESCO World Heritage site). Once you’ve visited this more famous house, get in touch with the owners of Casa Gilardi and ask for a tour. The last project Barragán completed before he died, Casa Gilardi is known for the huge jacaranda tree decorating its interior courtyard, and for a striking hallway with vertical apertures that bounce sunlight against brightly painted yellow walls and out into an electric blue room with an indoor pool. The artist James Turrell spent a month living in the house, taking black and white photos to study Barragán’s use of light.

The Gold Souq: Located in downtown Doha, next to the central bus station and Al Fardan Plaza, this gold market offers anything from very affordable imported bangles and chains to locally made bridal jewelry sets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of the gold available is 22-carat, although white gold, silver and platinum pieces are also available. The main attraction of this souq is that the jewelry is strictly regulated and all gold and precious gems sold here are weighed in front of the buyer, and have been previously tested and hallmarked, thus guaranteeing the purity of the metal. The must-buy accessory for tourists and expats is the necklace with the person’s name written in Arabic. These are made in just about every jewelry shop at the souq for a very reasonable price. Needless to say, haggling is mandatory.

Located about an hour northeast from Reykjavík and part of the famed Golden Circle tour (along with Gullfoss), the Geysir hot springs area consists of around a dozen hot water blowholes, including the eponymous Geysir. The Strokkur blowhole is the most popular, principally because it regularly (every few minutes, usually) spouts its boiling water up to 100 feet into the air. It’s still worth looking around at the other pools, even if they haven’t erupted for years or even decades, since they usually offer interesting colors and bubbling geothermal activity. The site also has a hotel, souvenir shop, café, and a related exhibition.

The popular Gros Islet Fish Fry, also known as the Jump Up, is one big neighborhood party. The narrow streets of Gros Islet fill up with locals and tourists by 7 p.m., and by then the food shacks are busy: Hungry patrons shout out their orders and wait impatiently as the seafood steams and fries. While you wait for your food, grab a seat at a picnic table and throw back some Piton beers. Dance it all off after dinner as DJs blast soca, reggae, and international music. Whether you’re a dancer or not, stop here for your Friday dinner and some Saint Lucian vibes.

Preservation Hall occupies a worn Creole town house that was originally built as a home in the early 19th century, and that had evolved into an art gallery and performance space by 1961. (It was founded by a man of philanthropic bent who fretted that the great, aging New Orleans musicians no longer had a place to play.) It hasn’t changed much since the ‘60s—audiences cluster on benches or stand along the back wall to hear whomever is playing that night. Among the glories of New Orleans is traditional jazz, which is still very much alive here and never feels as if it belongs in a morgue—or even an intensive care unit. Check the schedule for upcoming acts, but don’t get hung up on specific performers; every night offers something worth stopping by for, and everyone leaves in a better mood than when they arrived.

Huichol beaded masks and animal figurines, yarn paintings, ceramics, and bright oil and acrylic paintings are the specialties at this art gallery in San José del Cabo. Practical ready-to-take-home items include bowls and other kitchen items, jewelry, and vases.