Travel: Europe, Canada

La Scala opera house once again grand
Near the stage of Teatro alla Scala, inside a second-level box, stands a fireplace. The box belonged to Giuseppe Piermarini, architect of the 18th-century theater, and the fireplace was useful in many ways.

Cathedral to reopen in Latvia
Latvian Culture Ministry officials hope to reopen one of the nation's most treasured landmarks, the Dome Cathedral in Riga, by mid-December – six months after engineers said it was in danger of collapsing and ordered its doors shut.

11/05/2004

Here's what I learned at cooking class in France
Good food is such an important part of a vacation, it's no wonder cooking schools are proliferating around the globe.

10/29/2004

When Swiss canton votes, the nation and visitors watch

TOD ROBBERSON/Staff

Citizens in the Swiss state of Appenzell continue a 700-year-old tradition of democracy.

As Americans head to the polls Nov. 2, they will owe at least a small part of their democratic tradition to Appenzell's ancestors. Seven centuries ago, they took sword in hand to oust the distinctly undemocratic Habsburg feudal system and install a system of popular self-government. As they've done annually on the last Sunday in April since the 14th century, residents of the tiny, German-speaking canton of Appenzell Inner Rhoden withdraw their swords and march to the town square to make their voices heard.

Romanian sites keep the spirit of Dracula alive
I wanted to be scared. This is Dracula's country, after all. So I toured a horror house. I visited a bar where a coffin lay open and a skull rested on a table.

Peru museum recalls Inquisition's horrors
The evils and torture of the Spanish Inquisition weren't limited to Spain. They were exported to its colonies.

10/22/2004

London bids farewell to celebrated buses
Back in the 1950s, a song by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, a British comedy duo, evoked the joys and travails of riding what their composition called a "big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted, London Transport, diesel-engined, 97-horsepower omnibus."

Rome renovations come at a cost
Over the last several years, Romans have become used to the way in which some of their oldest churches, monuments and palaces are renovated.

10/08/2004

Iceland's Laugavegur Street: so cool, it's hot
OK, so it's not Milan's Golden Triangle or Madison Avenue. That's the point. This is Reykjavik, Europe's northernmost capital.