Improbably enough, one of the world’s most impressive 19th century opera houses, the Teatro Amazonas, is in Manaus, right in the middle of the great Amazon rainforest. The elegant pink and white neo-classical building, sporting an iridescent dome sprinkled with a dusting of colors, lies in old quarter of Manaus, the commercial capital of the […]
Canada is a calm and placid country, an idyllic place to live and bring up a family, but when it comes to the weather, Canada can be maddeningly fickle and disappointing. Spring in this country is a cruel tease. It comes and goes as it wishes, dashing hopes and expectations. When spring officially arrived in […]
Fulfilling a childhood dream, I finally made it to the Amazon rainforest, a vast, trackless, virtually unspoiled region in Brazil. Bisected by rivers and streams and speckled with lakes, it’s a gigantic greenhouse of unimaginable richness and diversity, containing one-tenth of the world’s plants and animal species. Comprising 36 percent of Brazil’s territory, the Amazon […]
When I visited Warsaw in the summer of 2009, the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, a monumental $100 million project, was still a figment of the imagination of its founders and still in the planning stages. When I returned to Poland last month, Warsaw’s newest museum had been opened for more than […]
The spirit of Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza, the great 17th century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, hovers over Holland’s capital, The Hague. Spinoza (1632-1677), the scion of Portuguese Jews, lived here during his last seven years, earning a livelihood as a lens grinder after having been excommunicated by the Jewish community in 1656. A rationalist credited with having laid […]
Holland, though remarkably small in size, has produced a stunning constellation of great painters from Frans Hals to Vincent van Gogh, both of whom have enriched the canvas of Western civilization. Some of their finest paintings and drawings are found in two museums in Amsterdam, Holland’s major city. The Van Gogh Museum has the distinction […]
Amsterdam’s old Jewish quarter, the Jodenhoek, is but a hollow shell of its former self, having been swept away by the tides of time. The epicenter of the Jewish community from the 17th century until World War II, it was once a congested and atmospheric labyrinth of tenements, factories, open-air stalls, narrow streets and back […]
A sedate, cosmopolitan city of picturesque canals, charming neighborhoods, exquisite buildings and superb museums, there is something for everyone in Amsterdam. There is even a cool museum for both kids and adults to bring families together. Amsterdam is best explored by bike, boat, bus and foot. Smaller and friendlier than Paris, to which it can […]
I knew I was flying south, toward blissfully warm weather, when I looked out of the airplane window and saw cotton-candy cloud formations, the kind you see in Canada during the summer months. My wife and I were heading to Varadero, Cuba, having booked a one-week all-inclusive package at the Melia Marina Hotel. The fluffy […]
The Chateau de Versailles, one of the crown jewels of France’s tourist industry, dazzles the senses with its inspired architecture, ornate furnishings and formal gardens. A short distance by car from Paris, it transports a traveller to a bygone world. Until the 1789 French Revolution, Versailles was the opulent seat of kings. When mobs stormed […]