Recently in Four Block Radius Category

You know those bitterly cold and wet winter days when you need to leave the house to get things done, but don't really want to expose yourself to the elements? Well, residents of Montréal have created a unique way to cope with the inclement weather and still get out and about in this great Canadian city. The Underground City (la ville souterraine) is comprised of 32 kilometers of immaculately clean and efficient tunnels that form the largest underground complex in the world, connecting buildings and subway stations throughout the downtown area. Everything you could ever wish to find, from shops and restaurants to theaters and art museums, are protected from the snow and sleet and waiting to be discovered. In all, more than 1,700 boutiques and businesses are accessible via this feat of engineering, including McGill University, the Place Bonaventure shopping center, the Tour de la Bourse (stock exchange tower), and the famous Place des Arts performing arts center. If you're worried that spending too much time underground might make you turn into a vampire or something, rest assured that the designers and engineers made sure that plenty of natural light filters in through tall windows and cavernous atrium areas. The W Montréal is connected to this "city under the city" in the Square-Victoria area, so guests might want to get down and see what's happening beneath the street level.

[image via bonjourquebec.com]

Lately it seems like there's been an increasing focus on design, with elaborate concepts that were once confined to elite boutiques filtering down to the mass market through chain stores and TV shows like Top Design. While that's all fine and good, if you really want to see where some of Europe's most cutting-edge design ideas are coming from, pay a visit to the Danish Design Centre in Copenhagen. Created to promote Danish design on a national and international level, visitors can peruse examples of industrial and product design ranging from furniture to vacuum cleaners and everything in between. The Danish Gift, for example, is a collection of pieces selected by the Italian design firm King & Miranda that represent the values attributed to Danish design as seen from the outside world. An exhibit entitled Lightyears--Design Lights the Way features the work of renowned Danish lighting designers Lightyears, who have created a series of lighting solutions that go beyond any lamp you've seen before.

Naturally, the museum is itself a masterpiece of modern design. Housed in a sleek glass building designed by Henning Larsen, the center includes offices, exhibition rooms, a conference center, a cafe, and, best of all, a design store. At the DDC Shop, visitors who've become inspired by the innovative designs they've seen can pick up products related to the exhibitions, as well as "Travel Light" items and all kinds of design books and magazines. There will be no need for a taxi, because the Danish Design Centre is a very short walk from the luxurious Palace Hotel.

New York's Times Square (pictured) is a lot nicer today than it was 35 years ago, when upscale merchants and attractions began to flee as the area's fortunes declined. It's so nice now, in fact, that it's a good time to make Times Square weird again. Fodor's Travel Wire points out that a brand new Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium recently opened its doors here at the crossroads of the world. Visitors will marvel over locks of hair from Elvis and JFK, a 3,000-pound meteorite found in China nearly 50 years ago, a section of the Berlin wall, and an impressive collection of 24 shrunken heads from Ecuador. Whether it's all authentic is up to the visitor to decide, but you certainly won't be bored as you browse exhibits of the fascinating and macabre. Guests at the nearby Westin New York at Times Square have a luxurious sanctuary from which to explore everything wild and weird in New York. Now that's something to believe in.

[image via Westin New York at Times Square]

Thanks to Harvard University and MIT, Cambridge has always been a magnet for quirky boutiques and shopping destinations. One of our favorites is the Museum of Useful Things. This not-museum is one of America's best retailers for unusual goods to make your life just a bit easier. A quick look through the store offers guests dozens of ingenious solutions for problems they never even knew they had. Are you looking to purchase a package of 4-way rubberbands? How about a collapsible folding basket? Or a humane, ping-pong ball powered mouse trap? Best of all, the Museum is just down the street from the Sheraton Commander.

The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts neighbors the St. Regis Hotel, San Francisco, the W San Francisco and The Westin San Francisco Market Street. But its location on hotel row isn't what is truly interesting. On Saturday, the museum's new Robert Crumb exhibition is opening. For the uninitiated, Crumb is a legendary underground comic book artist whose work has informed generations of graphic designers. The show will combine his early work, newer experimental pieces and his collaborations with wife Aline Kominsky-Crumb. If you haven't seen the documentary Crumb, we wholeheartedly recommend you do so.