Routes

One hour south of Halifax, the seaside community of Lunenburg is one of only two cities in North America dubbed a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the other being Quebec City). What UNESCO found fascinating was the fact that Lunenburg was a perfectly planned British colonial settlement, a 48-block grid designed in London and plopped down on the coast of Nova Scotia in 1753. They were also obviously impressed with the preservation because Lunenburg remains one of the most charming towns on the Atlantic coast. The British were successful in recruiting some 1400-plus people to Lunenburg, mostly of German and Swiss descendant, including the ancestors of my Lunenburg Walking Tours guide, Ashlee Feener, an 8th-generation descendent. We started our hour-long stroll through town at the highest point in Lunenburg, the former site of the citadel and now home to the castle-like Lunenburg Academy.  No longer a public school, the Second Empire structure built in 1895 is now an international music academy attracting students from across the globe, the first hint that this storied fishing community has transformed into a cultural destination. 

If you want the feel of having your own personal park ranger by your side as you drive through America’s most spectacular scenery, then do yourself a favor and download the Just Ahead audio guide. Just Ahead utilizes GPS technology to know exactly where drivers are on the road, and delivers stories and maps relevant to their exact location. The app points out not-to-miss features while also helping drivers avoid getting lost by providing suggested directions. It works without an Internet connection or cell phone service. Simply turn it on and enjoy a narrated tour that describes the history, geography, and wildlife of each national park. 

The parking lot at the Blithewold estate in Bristol is overflowing on this chilly day in late April. I walk around the pink blooms of the Japanese star-magnolia tree and under the signature Japanese cedar that stands guard in front of the massive stone mansion. That’s when I get my first glimpse of the soft yellow hues glowing from a vast garden, stemming from row after row of daffodils. Young girls dressed as fairies run down the aisles, butterfly wings attached to their backs and colorful ribbons in their hair flowing in the wind. I follow their cue and enter a pasture coated with morning dew to find countless families happily ensconced within the centuries-old stone walls. A harpist plays as kids create papier-mâché flowers, blow bubbles, and dance around a Maypole. I half-expect to see nymphs lounging in a nearby pond of water lilies.

One-day bus tours aren’t my cup of tea. Especially when the guide has memorized an encyclopedia on Iceland and is blurting out everything she knows about the country into a microphone at the front of the bus. There was no pause, just a barrage of factoids that had nothing to do with the landscape we were looking at. At one point, I couldn’t stop laughing hysterically with a friend because this guide could not shut up and give it a rest. We decided to return home and create a “Boston Bullshit Tour” where we would hire stand-up comedians to adlib about Boston’s history, basically saying anything that comes to mind. 

Belmond, formerly Orient-Express, announced last week that they would introduce luxury train travel to Ireland the summer of 2016. Called the Belmond Grand Hibernian, the sleeper will consist of 20 cabins with accommodations for up to 40 guests. The train will also feature four interconnecting suites to accommodate families, two restaurant cars, and an observation bar car. The Grand Hiberian will travel throughout the island offering two, four, and six-night rail stays that include stops at Dublin, Belfast, and Cork. Daily excursions include a round of golf at a world-class resort, a literary tour of Dublin, and stops at Ireland’s classic estates. Belmond already offers upscale train travel to Scotland on the Belmond Royal Scotsman, currently the UK’s only luxury sleeper train. 

The 80-mile stretch of roadway between Asheville and Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway is a joy anytime of year, but it’s hard to top this coming week when the leaves on red maples, dogwoods, and sassafras trees are at the height of their fall foliage. Spend your first night in the heart of downtown at the Renaissance Asheville. Then it’s time to hit the High Country, where the drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway reaches its highest elevation at 6,047 feet, surrounded by row after row of ridges like the flanks of Mount Pisgah and Cold Mountain, the setting for the best-selling novel. There are numerous opportunities to stretch your legs and stroll to lonely mountain streams and waterfalls amongst the 120 species of trees, the greatest variety in the US. A good place to start is the self-guided Harwood Cove Nature Trail that begins at the Chimneys Picnic Area.

From the shores of Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as the Swiss call it, to the forest and duck pond of Lac de Sauvabelin, the city of Lausanne climbs an impressive 800 feet. You climb uphill or downhill on an Escher-like maze of stairwells, narrow cobblestone streets, bridges, even elevators and escalators. Last night, I took an elevator close to my hotel, the Lausanne Palace, down to the former warehouse district of Flon, now a Tribeca-like neighborhood of hip restaurants like Le Nomade and popular dance clubs like Mars. It’s quite strange to take an elevator down to another neighborhood, but Lausanne is full of surprises, from the massive Gothic cathedral consecrated in 1275 to Jean Dubuffet’s fascinating Art Brut collection, created for the most part by people who are ingenious or simply insane (I’ll delve into this further tomorrow).