Paris' chocolatey coating

Chocolate in Paris is serious business. One can hardly walk from the Louvre to the Left Bank without bumping into a chocolate boutique....

Paris: Shangri-La Hotel to open Dec. 17

Switzerland: Chill out at Locarno on Ice festival

An icy chill is set to descend upon Locarno next week, the elegant resort destination with a Mediterranean flair in southern Switzerland,...

Partying on the iDNight train to Paris

Alarm bells went off in my brain when, 30 minutes into what I thought was an overnight party train from Paris to Nice, people around me...

Wines from Italy's Piedmont: beyond Barolo and Barbaresco

For the last 30 years, the red wine spotlight in and around Italy's Piedmont region has been dominated by its big guns, Barolo and...

Secrets of Rome revealed

After living in Rome for almost three years, I moved back to the U.S. at the beginning of the summer. I packed up my apartment, gave my...

Italy: Six nights in Tuscany for under $1,500 including airfare from Los Angeles

Winter is the cheapest season to visit Europe, and with...

Schindler Factory Museum takes visitors on a journey through a nightmare

As I stood on a cracked concrete sidewalk in the Podgorze district of Krakow, I began to understand just what "wrong side of the tracks"...

Naples' Baroque glory

Naples, Italy — The ticket taker on the train from Rome had to shout to get my attention. I was staring out the window, iPod cranked...

Where to go for pizza in Naples

If you've never had pizza in Naples, you've never had pizza.

Paris: Basquiat exhibit marks 50th anniversary of artist's birth

The Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is mounting a major...

Before you head to Europe, consider travel insurance

This is a troubling time for Europe-bound travelers. The U.S. State Department on Oct. 3 issued a travel alert that cited "the potential for...

A picturesque time at the Impressionist Normandy Festival

Last spring in the Paris Metro, I paused to admire a colorful advertisement for the Impressionist Normandy Festival, a celebration of the...

Savoring the rise of New Nordic Cuisine in Copenhagen

By 10 o'clock on a summer night in Copenhagen the more than 3,000 lights that cover the Nimb Hotel in the Tivoli Gardens are aglow, but...

Paris for beginners

Grumpy, glorious Paris — where does a first-timer start? Well, I'm here to tell you that they mold a nice cornice, these people, and...

England: Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

I was recently invited to review a superb jazz festival in Cheltenham, about two hours west of London, in the Cotswolds.

Centre Pompidou-Metz exhibit explores what defines a masterpiece

I came late to contemporary art. If a work wasn't by Rembrandt or Van Gogh, I wasn't interested. But I had friends who were, and gradually...

In Scotland, a toast to high spirits

I came to Scotland in search of the Loch Ness Monster and found a ghost instead. Of course, I also sampled a lot of Scotch, which might lead...

Scotch: Sipping the water of life

The translucent, amber liquid winked at me from the long-stemmed glass in my hand.

In France, castle Guédelon being built to medieval standards

When my niece, Sarah, was little, she returned from a long trip to Europe with her parents and announced she never wanted to set foot in...