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Neighborhood Watch: Park City, Utah

Friday March 12, 2010

A quintessential Old West mining town, Park City, Utah is delightfully picturesque. Each winter, a wondrous blanket of fluffy snow piles up on the city's rooftops and covers the long boughs of tall evergreens with sparkly white. It's a paradise for skiers and snowboarders, who are easily spotted gliding down nearby slopes, or riding up on the lifts that pass right over the roadways. And during those brief breaks between downhill runs, Park City offers all sorts of distinctive shops and delicious restaurants to explore.

With its bevy of enticing storefronts, Main Street is the obvious first stop on your Park City shopping adventure. Crosby Collection (No. 419) is a jewel box of Native American treasures. You'll find Navajo weavings, Pueblo pottery, and loads of turquoise. For cute clothes (ladies and babies only), stop in at Mary Jane's (No. 613), then satisfy your inner cowboy at Burns Saddlery (No. 363). For lunch, head off the beaten path to Park Avenue. This quaint, quiet road that runs parallel to Main Street is lined with adorable miner's homes that date back to the 1880s. At No. 703, the High West Distillery and Saloon is the perfect place to warm up with a hearty burger and a highball. The brand new restaurant, housed in a hundred-year-old garage, is the first whisky distillery to open in Utah since the 1870s. After lunch, satisfy your sweet tooth a few doors down at Sugar Buzz (No. 651). Just be sure to stock up on enough jelly beans to last through the rest of your stay at the luxurious St. Regis Deer Crest Resort. It's going to be hard luring you out again from this cozy retreat nestled among the high peaks of Utah's majestic Wasatch range. Although a glance out the window is all the incentive you'll need to get back out onto those impeccable Deer Valley slopes.

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Open Air Art on Detroit's Eastside

Wednesday March 10, 2010

The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit is a 1924 landmark, surrounded by downtown Detroit's most stylish historic skyscrapers. In contrast, the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, just two and a half miles away on the city's eastside, seems like the country. Here, the rural landscape is defined by old shingled houses and grassy vacant lots. Most of the region is pretty poor, and pretty desolate, but there is one segment of Heidelberg Street that will make any visitor grin. Colorful circles dot the asphalt, smiling faces line the sidewalks, teddy bears cling to the tree trunks, and painted tires litter the lawns like oversized Life Savers. This is the Heidelberg Project, a 20-year-old open-air art exhibit created by local artist Tyree Guyton and his grandfather Sam Mackey.

After a stint in the Army, Guyton returned to his childhood neighborhood to find it in an astonishing state of devastation. So he started enlivening the vacant houses with bright colors, painting rainbow hued circles, and attaching whimsical scraps to the paint-chipped shingles and porch rails. Over the years, the project has met with lots of controversy, and a couple of the city's mayors have ordered the destruction of several neighborhood houses. But the handful still standing are certainly worth a gander. Take a stroll or a drive down Heidelberg Street and see "The Dotty-Wotty House," "The House that Makes Sense," "Numbers House," and "The House of Words." You might even catch site of Guyton himself, painting and nailing away among the dirty plush duckies and baby blue hubcaps.

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There's no faster motor sport than Formula 1 racing, where drivers take their cutting-edge vehicles around a track at speeds well over 200 mph. On March 25-28, 2010, the sport makes its way Down Under, where the Australian Grand Prix will draw thousands of racing fans to Melbourne for a dramatic spectacle of sight, sound, and speed. The world's most skilled drivers will drive 58 laps around the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park, with the winner hoisting the cup and basking in the glory that comes with victory in Australia's premier racing event. In addition to the big race, there are a number of supporting events designed to captivate any motoring enthusiast, including a V8 Supercar Challenge - with muscle-cars tearing up the Albert Park Street Circuit - and the Shannon's Historic Demonstration, which brings out the classic Italian racers of the early to mid-twentieth century. But I'm most curious about the MINI Challenge Series, in which drivers pilot identical cars around the track, highlighting the amazing skill and daring of the winner. It just might inspire you to join your local racing club. Guests at the Westin Melbourne might enjoy this high-octane extravaganza.

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Look out the window as you come in for a landing at New York's Kennedy Airport. You'll spot a tall clock tower rising among the brownstones of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Dating from 1927, the historic Williamsburgh Bank building is one of the borough's most iconic landmarks, and since January, it's been home to the Brooklyn Flea.

A paradise of antique treasures (old vinyl, silver plate flatware, vintage clothing, and mid-century furniture) and handmade crafts (hand printed stationery, organic soaps, knit hats, and all sorts of jewelry), the Brooklyn Flea takes place every weekend. About one hundred vendors set up their wares in three of the bank building's architecturally stunning floors. Beyond the iron grates of original bank teller windows, Polaroid cameras line up alongside Halston shoes. Swedish clogs point toward embroidered pillowcases. And milk glass lamps illuminate Pucci scarves. Tantalizing aromas drift from the bank vault, a destination in itself where dozens of food vendors cook up their lobster rolls, tacos, papusas, chocolate chip brownies, and red velvet cupcakes. Even Martha Stewart says, "it's a fantastic way to get a taste of everything that the borough has to offer."

Half a mile from the soon-to-open Sheraton Brooklyn New York Hotel, the Brooklyn Flea is at 1 Hanson Place, its winter location, through the end of March. Starting the first week in April, all those fabulous finds move outside. The Fort Greene outdoor market sets up every Saturday at the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School's sprawling parking lot on Lafayette Ave., still just a short walk from the hotel. And on Sundays, it's under the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo.

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If it were in any city other than New York, the Brooklyn Museum would be the most popular museum in town by far. After all, it boasts no less than 1.5 million works of art and antiquity, from Pablo Picasso's 1942 classic Woman in Gray (Femme en gris) to one of the most spectacular collections of ancient Egyptian art on the planet. But this being New York, it's overshadowed by (admittedly spectacular) institutions like the Met, the MoMA, the Guggenheim, and the American Museum of Natural History. But don't let that stop you from visiting, because a short trip on the subway (or an even shorter taxi ride) will reward you with the rarest of experiences: a world-class museum with plenty of breathing room. Browse the permanent collection without being elbowed and jostled, or check out temporary exhibits (see video) like To Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, which explores the Egyptians' belief about life, death, and the afterlife. A host of compelling exhibits are planned for this year, including American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection (with works by designers such as Elizabeth Hawes and Christian Dior) and Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, with nearly 50 paintings, photos, and sculptures from 1977 - 1987. Nothing second-rate about that. Starwood has hotels throughout the New York City area, including the soon-to-open Sheraton Brooklyn New York Hotel.

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The Newseum is one of Washington D.C.'s most exciting new museums, and a special offer from the St. Regis Washington D.C. makes it a pleasure to check out 500 years of headlines. The Newseum Package features overnight accommodations in either a Superior Room or Metropolitan Suite, overnight valet parking, a Parisian breakfast for four (two adults and two children) served in Adour restaurant, four tickets to the Newseum, and one complimentary in-house movie. If you're a news buff, you'll love the Newseum, which boasts 14 galleries, 15 theaters, and dozens of interactive activities like G-Men and Journalists, Manhunt: Chasing Lincoln's Killer, and the NBC News Interactive Newsroom, where you can sit in the hot seat and try to report breaking news before your competitors. When you've seen all there is to see, return to the hotel - an icon of elegance in the nation's capital - and enjoy amenities like a fitness center, kids club, and the most comfortable rooms in town. Toast your adventure into the ink-stained life of a Washington reporter with a drink at the St. Regis Bar and vow to follow this story to the end. Visit here for more information or to book your stay.

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Sonic Sightseeing on London Beatles Walks

Wednesday February 24, 2010

Just simply walking anywhere is a recommended pastime for London visitors, but if you're looking for something more sonically stimulating, the London Beatles Walks may be the right sort of magical mystery tour for you. These unique musical tours are led by a gentleman who may be the Beatles' number one fan in the world, no easy feat indeed. Richard Porter owns the Beatles Coffee Shop in the St. John's Wood neighborhood, not coincidentally where the Beatles vital haunt Abbey Road Studios (see video) still resides. It's also not coincidentally a stop on Porter's three different Beatles tour paths, including a private walk for "die-hard" fans available by appointment only. No matter what direction you head in, it only takes a few moments of hearing Porter speak to understand that you're in the hands of one of the most knowledgeable and caring sources of Beatles information around.

Stay at The Park Lane Hotel and you'll be within short walking distance not only of excellent public transportation, but of many sights you'll see along the London Beatles Walks so you may return to your favorites and linger longer. You'll also doubtless see many intriguing restaurants, shops, and attractions for further exploration. From vampires and ghosts to chocolate and cheese, we love a good walking tour and would love to know, what are your favorites you've taken? Please let us know in the comments section.

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When you think of Las Vegas, you probably envision casinos, nightclubs, and outlandish stage shows, but a spectacle of a different kind awaits just outside of town. The Hoover Dam is a marvel of civil engineering, having provided pollution-free power to thousands of homes and businesses throughout the area since it was completed in 1936. Located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, about 50 kilometers from central Las Vegas, it provides a fascinating contrast to the glitter of the strip, and it just might turn out to be the most memorable part of your visit. Tours of the dam provide an inside look at the mechanics of it all, from the colossal 221 meter concrete arch-gravity walls - which stretch from Nevada to Arizona and create Lake Mead - to the 17 massive turbines that generate 4000 GWh of electric power a year. Visitors also screen a film about the dam's construction, which is filled with interesting facts about the dam, such as how it was completed more than two years ahead of schedule. Another interesting fact is that the Hoover Dam spans two time zones, so you can wander from Pacific Time to Mountain Time and back again in time for dinner on the Strip. Starwood has two Las Vegas properties: the Westin Casuarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa and the Element Las Vegas Summerlin.

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Peter Foreman is the Director of Sales & Marketing at Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur and thelobby.com's expert on Asia and Australia.

At 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, February 27th, Sydney's Oxford Street comes to a stand-still while it covers itself with all the feathers and glitter that it can find for the largest gay and lesbian parade in the world - The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. The parade is free to watch; you just need to arrive early enough to grab your street-side vantage point along with the hundreds of thousands Sydney-siders and international visitors who clamber for the best viewing spots along the parade route which starts at Hyde Park, just outside of Sheraton on the Park. Alternatively, seats are available at the BGF Glam Stand for A$136 (US$118), which not only gives you a more comfortable vantage point to view the colourful costumes and elaborate floats as they roll up Oxford Street towards Taylor Square, but also supports one of Australia's most important charitable organizations. The parade has been named by Conde Nast as one of the world's top ten street parades and is more than 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) in length with over 10,000 participants. Sheraton on the Park, The Westin Sydney and Four Points by Sheraton, Darling Harbour are all within walking distance of Sydney's Oxford Street. Happy Mardi Gras!

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Food from the Sichuan province of China is known for being spicy, and the food in Chongqing is reputed to be the hottest in all of Sichuan. I'm inclined to agree, since it's the birthplace of the famous hot pot. Or should I say infamous, since any food cooked in a pot of boiling oil brimming with red-hot chili peppers and a mouth-numbing spice known as prickly ash is bound to develop cult-like status among culinary adventure seekers.

Not that you have to look very hard to find it in Chongqing. Restaurants serving the incendiary dish are more numerous than coffee shops in Seattle. And chances are, if you're spending more than a couple days at Le Méridien Chongqing, you'll be invited to try it by a local friend or business associate. So, why not cut to the chase and try it out?

To start, look for one of the 125-plus branches of Xiao Tian'e Huoguo, or Little Swan. The chain offers the option of hot or mild broth, and you choose what to eat from a buffet, which is helpful if you want to avoid such things as brains and innards. Here's a basic guide to food names and the cooking process — don't forget to dip food in your personal dipping bowl (which contains sesame oil, garlic and salt) to help cool the food and reduce the spiciness. And if you need more help cooling off your throat, beer is the traditional fire extinguisher.

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