Monique Burns 
With hip fashion boutiques and stylish vintage shops, organic cafés, candy stores and laid-back pottery studios, Stockholm’s SoFo is where innovative and eclectic meet and creative and kitsch collide. Located on Södermalm south of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s Old Town, the seven-block square area is a short subway ride or walk … Read more
More often than not, hotel restaurants have to offer something special to win guests’ attention and seldom are they popular with locals. Finding a casual in-house eatery with well-prepared dishes and a happening scene is rare. Jasper’s Corner Tap & Kitchen in San Francisco’s Serrano Hotel, located two blocks west … Read more
Call them boutique hotels. Call them design hotels. By whatever name, small hotels are a dime a dozen especially in big cities like San Francisco. But, once in a while, you discover one so special you wish you could stay forever. The Serrano Hotel, a National Historic Landmark, raises 16 … Read more
The Highlands cover the upper third of the country of Scotland, some 10,000 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts. Undulating moors, framed by mountains and etched by rushing rivers are roamed by herds of wild Scottish deer and Highland cattle, lumbering beasts with pointy horns and shaggy coats. Driving … Read more
If you like the hustle bustle of big cities, you’ll love Glasgow. But if you’re someone who prefers smaller cities with quaint tearooms, trendy cafés, and cozy music clubs, you’ll be equally charmed. Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city, though relatively compact and home to just 600,000 people, about the same … Read more
After sailing Maine’s sparkling seas, kayaking and canoeing its pristine lakes, hiking its lofty mountains or schussing down its snow-covered slopes, what could be better than an icy-cold beer—especially a hand-crafted ale or lager from a local microbrewery or brewpub? Maine now ranks fifth in the nation for the number … Read more
Maine and lobster go together like wine and cheese or bread and butter. You really can’t have one without the other. The state and its signature crustacean are practically inseparable. Just as you can’t have New York City without hot dogs, Boston without baked beans or New Orleans without gumbo, … Read more
The naturalist and writer Henry David Thoreau explored the Maine woods three times between 1846 and 1857. Strictly speaking, he visited the North Woods where his adventures included canoeing Moosehead Lake, Maine’s largest, and climbing 5,268-foot-high Mt. Katahdin, the state’s highest peak and the centerpiece of Baxter State Park. Thoreau’s … Read more
Since the 10th century, the Jewish community of Prague has not only survived, but also thrived. Enduring early prejudice and pogroms, Prague’s Jewish Town was at the center of a dazzling 16th century renaissance. The community attracted some of Europe’s most famous rabbis, scholars and mystics as well as mathematicians, … Read more
Maine’s coast, lakes, woods, and mountains have inspired countless American artists including year-round residents like Winslow Homer and three generations of Wyeths. Even the list of artists who visited Maine or summered there reads like a Who’s Who: Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, … Read more
Ernest Hemingway came to the Peruvian Coast in 1956—partly to fish for black marlin, partly to oversee the filming of his monumental novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Almost 60 years after his visit, I, too, am heading to the Peruvian Coast. None of my magazine articles have been … Read more
It was like a magic carpet ride. Except that I was riding a rolling blue tapestry of three mighty waterways in Norway – the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. Heading south along the coast from Kirkenes near the Russian border to the old Hanseatic city of … Read more
Pure and simple. That’s the essence of Norway from its fjords, as clear and clean as they look, to its people, whose frank gaze and forthright attitude are equally refreshing. Freshness also distinguishes Norwegian food. Blessed with more than 15,000 miles of fjord-indented coastline, bathed by four bodies of … Read more
These days, the big word in Norwegian drink circles is actually pretty small. It’s mikrobryggeri. “We’ve had microbreweries in the U.S. since the 1980s,” you scoff. True, and after three decades we’ve got upwards of 2,000. But consider this: The Vikings were among the first to brew hand-crafted beers. And … Read more
Think Norwegians are reserved? Just head for one of the country’s summer festivals and you’ll change your mind. When the weather turns warm and the sun beats down on those clear blue fjords, the beat goes on and on. From the capital of Oslo to the Arctic Circle, and clear … Read more