September 2002

THE PEACE CORPS TODAY
It's been 40 years since President Kennedy issued his call to service for Americans. One result was the Peace Corps. [Read More]

HIKING MADEIRA'S HIGHLANDS
Several million years ago, volcanic action on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean created an island 300 miles off the coast of North Africa. [Read More]

TWO FACES OF TOURISM
It's a variation on Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty. When travelers flock to a destination, it inevitably changes to accommodate them.
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THE ISLES OF SCILLY
Though this archipelago of nearly 100 tiny islands off England's southwest tip 28 miles from Land's End may sound like an place dreamed up by Monty Python cast members, its history dates back to the Bronze Age. [Read More]

AMERICA'S COUNTY SEATS
Pell City, AL; Wampsville, NY; Muleshoe, Texas; Wenatchee, WA, and 3,065 other American cities and towns serve as the center of their county's civic life. [Read More]

A SELECTION OF SUPERB SPAS
Given the pace of many people's lives, it's no wonder that health spas have become hot vacation destinations. In 1980, the U.S. had fewer than three dozen. [Read More]

CRUISING THE HEART OF EUROPE
Twelve hundred years ago, Charlemagne, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ordered a canal to be dug between the rivers Main and Danube, in what is now called Germany. [Read More]

JOUSTING IN FOLIGNO
Like its neighbors, Assisi and Spoleto, the city of Foligno is a jewel tucked in the lush, Umbrian hills of central Italy. [Read More]

SERVING ICE WATER IN HELL
The Badlands were well named by French trappers who first traversed the 100-mile stretch of dry prairie, ragged ridge and rugged canyon in what's now southwest South Dakota. [Read More]

A COVENT GARDEN PORTRAIT
The street theater that swirls daily around the portico of St. Paul's Church may be London's longest-running show; some 340 years and still counting, even if it's often interrupted by rain. [Read More]

A VISIT TO ARKHIPOVA STREET
Today marks the start of the month of Tishray on the Jewish calendar. Jews around the world are gathering to celebrate the holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the new year. [Read More]

STAR-WATCHING IN SOCORRO
The vast, barren plains of Western New Mexico are a classic Old West landscape, endless sun-parched grasses ringed by time-worn mountain peaks. [Read More]

ON NORFOLK ISLAND
A tiny dot of dry land in the South Pacific 930 miles east of Australia and nearly as far north of New Zealand, Norfolk Island is nothing if not isolated. [Read More]

WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST?
As the world shrinks, its major ethnic cuisines have become internationalized. In most big cities these days, you can lunch on Italian or Indian food and have Japanese, Mexican, or French for dinner.
[Read More]

COST CONSCIOUS IN COPENHAGEN
Denmark's capital is the largest and most charming city in Scandinavia. With its elegant, old buildings, fine museums and galleries, trendy shops, and bustling nightlife, Copenhagen is a fascinating, friendly place to visit. [Read More]

BREAKING RULES IN BRUSSELS
It's not surprising that a city which serves as the capital of Belgium, the European Community and NATO is an orderly place.
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SAILING NORWAY'S HURTIGRUTEN
The coast of Norway is 1200 miles of stunningly rugged landscape; craggy, weather-scarred, volcanic cliffs plunging straight into the Atlantic. [Read More]

GOING NATIVE IN VIRGINIA
High-tech camping gear has certainly made wilderness journeys more comfortable, but it can also alter the experience and foster a sense of dependency. [Read More]

PASSING TIME IN PETRA
A thousand years before the birth of Christ, a great kingdom stretched across the Middle East, from the Sinai Peninsula, north through modern Jordan into Syria.
[Read More]

EXCAVATING ARMAGEDDON
It's easy to understand why biblical prophecies predict the last great battle between Good and Evil will be fought on the dry plains of Megiddo, in what is now north central Israel. [Read More]

GOING BRUSHLESS
It's easy to understand why biblical prophecies predict the last great battle between Good and Evil will be fought on the dry plains of Megiddo, in what is now north central Israel. [Read More]

BALLOONS OVER ALBUQUERQUE
A century ago, one P.A. Van Tassell, an Albuquerque bartender, inflated a large bag with hydrogen and floated 14,000 feet into the air. [Read More]

IN CONVENTS AND MONASTERIES
Looking for a quiet place of refuge and reflection, removed from life's hurly burly? [Read More]

TELLING TALES IN JONESBOROUGH
Thirty-one years ago, Jimmy Neal Smith, a high school teacher in Jonesborough, Tennessee had a vision while driving several of his students to the printer who produced the school's paper. [Read More]

 

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