Winter 2007 Table of Contents

FEATURES

Take a tour of the wildest place in Europe, in three parts. Portfolio of photographs by David Leventi

76 Is Transylvania Down for the Count? Some want to turn it into Dracula Park; others foresee Tuscany East. Either way, this region of castles, steeples, lynx, and now Slow Food is poised for a revival.
By Gisela Williams

82 Gypsy Kings Wealthy Romanies construct grand illusions. By David Leventi, as told to Anna Watson

84 The Long and Winding Road Taking a journey through rural Romania is like time-traveling to the Middle Ages. Enchanting Painted Monasteries and spellbinding villages are well worth the potholed trip. By Michael Webb

91 Compass: Exploring deepest Romania.

A Bangkok dweller explains the elusive appeal of a city that lives relentlessly in the present yet alongside the ghosts of the past. By Lawrence Osborne. Photographs by Peter Bialobrezski

99 Compass: Making sense of Bangkok.

Forget what you learned in school. Yes, spices helped spark the age of exploration and a few wars, but not because European aristocrats wanted to preserve their food. It was because they liked the taste (and they tasted money). By Michael Krondl.
Photographs by Kathryn Parker Almanas

When Maira Kalman heard her beloved B&B at Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst might close, she raced to England to capture one of her favorite places on earth. Here’s her colorful love letter to a corner of Kent that’s forever Bloomsbury. By Maira Kalman

New York chef Daniel Boulud is a rock star in his French hometown, but those he left behind are hardly rubes. They’re world-class purveyors of the finest silk, leather, furniture, and food.
By Melissa Clark. Photographs by Jeremy Murch

120 Compass: Navigating a city where quality knows no bounds. Plus, granddaughters cook up a storm, and le monde Boulud.

A novelist goes incognito at a hotel, where he cleans up after guests, then gives us the dirt. By Arnon Grunberg. Photographs by Nan Goldin

DEPARTMENTS

The gutsy New Museum on the Bowery, a theatrical debut by Mark Twain, a Shakespearean family tree, and other arts and travel highlights from around the world.

There’s no shortage of sun-splashed fun to pursue when you’ve finished gawking at (or buying) the contemporary masterpieces at Art Basel Miami Beach.
Read the Article

As the New Acropolis Museum opens in Athens, some of its most important pieces remain marooned in London. Just don’t call them the Elgin marbles.
Read the Article

34 Compass: A Greek-food goddess surveys the vibrant Athens dining scene. By Diane Kochilas
Read the Article

Get the inside scoop on modern European architecture straight from the pros. By Elizabeth Helman Minchilli

A London museum plumbs the mind of an eccentric Victorian pharmacologist and the meaning of life, from open heart surgery to Napoleon’s toothbrush. By Kristin Hohenadel

A stint in a Yugoslav prison can be liberating. Built in a former jail, the Hostel Celica has artfully decorated rooms, two cafés, and bars on the windows. By Colum McCann

Vintage ski posters whisk you from your humdrum existence to a powdery white wonderland of shiny, happy people. By Everett Potter
Read the Article

54 Compass: Where to find the art of the slippery slope.

A couple moves from ski country (the French Alps) to horse country (the Argentine plains) to open a resort with two polo fields.
By Suzy Buckley

Champagne for my real friends (and real pain for my sham friends) in the region that may have outgrown itself. Who will fill those Russian flutes? Maybe the grape farmers. By Alice Feiring

64 Compass: Where to stay, eat, and sip in the Champagne region. Plus, the best grower champagnes.

Six artists capture the infinite variety and expansive beauty of Australia. By Joe Yogerst
Read the Article

72 Compass: Finding your way to the art of the outback.

A 19th-century French mailman builds his dream palace. Part Gaudí, part Addams Family, it’s a masterpiece of outsider art.
By Peter Wortsman