TravelWorld Food and Wine Jan.Feb 10

10.1 JAN.FEB

the

Food issueWine Goin’ On Truffle Hunts IN ITALY AND OREGON

Farm to Fork DINING IN YOSEMITE RELAX IN GOURMET

Los Gatos PLUS...

Adventures On Ice PATAGONIA AND HARBIN

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take a serious

taste

JOURNEY TO THE DAZZLING REGION OF CHAMPAGNE

T H E M A G A Z I N E W R I T T E N B Y N O R T H A M E R I C A N T R AV E L J O U R N A L I S T S A S S O C I AT I O N M E M B E R S

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Food issueWine

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

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FEATURES 8

CHAMPAGNE A sparkling wine from a dazzling region

BY GARY LEE KRAUT

14 FARM TO FORK California’s Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite is on the cutting edge of this sustainable agricultural movement STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY INGRID HART

20 MIDNIGHT TRUFFLE HUNTERS Sneaking around in the dead of night proves profitable when you’re in Alba STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACKQUELINE HARMON BUTLER

24 GOT TRUFFLES? OREGON DOES. The West’s culinary gold rush...seeking nuggets of white and black fungi

BY MARCIE J. BUSHNELL

30 LOS GATOS: GEM OF THE FOOTHILLS Where gourmet restaurants and vineyards are at your fingertips

BY NELL RAUN-LINDE

34 HARBIN ICE FESTIVAL The Old Paris of the Orient transforms the ice into gold STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADRIEN GALLO

38 PATAGONIAN PANORAMAS STORY BY PETER ROSE / PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER AND HEDY ROSE

COLUMNS 4

FROM THE PUBLISHER

6

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

7

BENEFITS OF BEING A NATJA MEMBER

42

SENIOR TRAVEL

Chicago Museums Exhibit an Ethnic Melting Pot /

46

SPORTS & SIGHTS

New South Cities Blossom Into Sports Meccas /

50

BY DAN SCHLOSSBERG

ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

Deep In The Heart of Texas /

54

BY VICTOR BLOCK

BY SUSAN JAQUES

GADGETS WE LIKE

Making Travel Just A Bit Easier

56

BOOK STORE

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

Wood-Fired Baby Artichokes

& COTTON CANDY I have to say that it takes a lot to impress my tastebuds, let alone the tastebuds of more than a dozen travel writers. But there we were, sitting all together at the Bistro Napa (located at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nevada) ooooh-ing and aaaa-ing at each appetizer, entree, and dessert placed in front of us. “Bistro Napa offers the freshest, eclectic, organically inspired seasonal menu with titillating entrées from Scallops Rockefeller to succulent filets, organic salads, wood-fired pizzas, tantalizing side dishes and appetizers from calamari to Kobe beef sliders to wood-fired baby artichokes,” according to Atlantis’ Ben McDonald. And titillating is an understatement.

WAIT... Did I say RENO? Indeed, I did.

The Atlantis was kind enough to host the quarterly NATJA Advisory Board meeting in January. And what a treat! We were entertained by the very charming Chef Clay Slieff at the award-winning Bistro as he explained the mouth-watering desserts they had just plopped before us. Plates of fresh fondue doughnuts, towering bowls of cotton candy and their famous chocolate burger—a vegetarian dish with a chocolate fudge brownie patty and sweet roll served with a shot of root beer float and mango slices as fries. They practically needed a backhoe to roll us out of the restaurant and back to our rooms (or casino).

The resort has recently undergone a $100 million expansion and the rooms in the Concierge Tower are quite nice. Our view toward snow-covered Tahoe was breathtaking. But for me, even more noteworthy was the Spa. The 30,000-foot sanctuary has rooms and treatments I’ve never heard of. They even have a skin treatment that is offered in less than a dozen U.S. spas. My two favorite numbers were the herbal steam room and the cool Brine Inhalation-Light Therapy Lounge with heated floors and seating. Yep, a nap was not hard to accomplish on this little adventure.

First, I was feasting in a world-class restaurant. Then I was lounging for hours in a spa that I needed a compass to find my way around in. I had to chuckle. I was in RENO! What a world!

Jerri Jerri Hemsworth Publisher E: jerrih@natja.org B: www.travelworldmagazine.com/blog/publisher

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

The Brine Inhalation-Light Therapy Lounge at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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Comments?

Questions?

Suggestions?

Drop us a line at Travelworld International Magazine by emailing kim@natja.org.

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Happy New Year! While many people may be working on resolutions doomed to fail in three months or less, we here at Travelworld International Magazine refuse to take that approach. Our resolutions include exploring new destinations, trying novel experiences, and meeting new people. Hey, who says your resolutions can’t match your life’s work?

So, we embrace the wonderful world of food in this issue. And because, I for one can never get enough of truffles, there are two fantastic stories on them from two very different perspectives (Jacqueline Harmon Butler, page 20 and Marcie J. Bushnell, page 24). Don’t miss stories on the Champagne region (by Gary Lee Kraut, page 8) and sustainable food in Yosemite National Park (Ingrid Hart, page 14), and other great pieces by some new NATJA voices and our columnists.

In NATJA news, the advisory board just returned from a visit and meeting in Reno, Nevada, the location of this year’s annual conference in May. It was a pleasure to scout in advance all of the offerings the area holds in store for conference attendees, from dining on the shores of gorgeous Lake Tahoe to relaxing in the stunning spa of our host hotel, the Atlantis, to eating extremely well in a variety of restaurants (with a little bit of gambling in the mix). Hope to see you there!

Happy and safe travels!

Kim Kim Foley MacKinnon, Editor-in-Chief E: kim@natja.org B: www.travelworldmagazine.com/blog/editor

EDITORIAL CALENDAR Mar/Apr 2010 . . . . . . . . .IT’S A GREEN, GREEN WORLD May/Jun 2010 . . . . . . . . .EXPLORE THE NATIONAL PARKS Submission?

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Do not submit images unless requested.

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C H A M P A Sparkling Wine from a Dazzling Region

BY GARY LEE KRAUT

No wine is more evocative than Champagne, the king of sparkling wines. Yet Champagne is so readily associated with romance, celebration, name brands, and high living that we tend to forget that beyond being wine it’s a region in northeast France.

Champagne is in fact an earthy product, and the best way to get to know it is to visit the very earth, vineyards, and cellars where it’s produced, some 90 to 110 miles east of Paris. That’s close enough that you can enjoy a glimpse and a taste of Champagne in a daytrip from the French capital, though an overnight or twonight stay allows for more thorough explorations. Or three nights if you’re on a mission, as I was in late September, when, as the last grapes were being brought in from the harvest, four English journalists, a Canadian journalist, and I set out for a serious taste of Champagne.

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P A G N E

The Villedomange Vineyard in winter.

PHOTO: JOLYOT

Smiling angel on the Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral.

PHOTO: C.MAURY

Our mission was to get a wellrounded view of all that goes into producing and enjoying Champagne while keeping in mind the mantra “drink the wine, not the label.” That’s a wise approach with respect to any wine, and nowhere more important than Champagne. It’s an approach that led us to visit towns and villages, vineyards, grapes, cellars, facilities, Champagne houses great and small, and meet with the variety of individuals involved in the process. Along the way, we discovered the variety of the wine as well as of the region.

There is no one way to visit Champagne, but however you do it, whether for one day or for three, you’ll soon learn that three important facets of TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

production define the taste and quality of the final product: 1. the quality of the grapes 2. the percentage in the final blend of the three main grape varieties authorized in the production of Champagne: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay 3. the dosage of sugar and liqueur that is added (or in rare cases not) to a bottle after its second fermentation.

Here are various places in Champagne where you can learn those details and much more about Champagne, both the wine and the region.

REIMS The two main towns for Champagne production in the region are Reims and

Epernay, located respectively north and south of the Mountain of Reims, which is the central grape-growing zone in the region. Both Reims and Epernay can rightfully stake a claim to being the centerpiece of Champagne explorations since the major houses are headquartered at one or the other.

For an overnight, you might include both, but on a daytrip I’d opt for Reims over Epernay for two reasons: Reims requires less planning due to the frequency of high-speed trains to and from Paris (45 minutes each way) and it offers a strong dose of historical splendor with its bubbly.

The hit parade of Champagne houses in Reims include G.H. Mumm, Taitinger, Pommery, Piper-Heidsieck

Signs along the route to Champagne.

Grapes grown in Epernay.

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

Lanson, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart, and others, so you’re at no loss for cellar and production tours to choose from during the day. (See the link to the Reims Tourist Office below for further touring information.) Meanwhile, the history of Reims goes both deep and high: deep in that some of the Champagne cellars originated as Roman limestone quarries (a triumphal arch from the 3rd century is the main remnant of Reims’s development as a Roman city); high in that the city rightfully boasts one of the greatest of all Gothic cathedrals, Notre-Dame de Reims, built largely in the 13th century, and a magnificent basilica, Saint Remi de Reims, that was started in the 11th century. The smiling angel on the

cathedral (see photo) may have begun as a religious symbol but is now often seen as a wink to the pleasures of drinking Champagne in Reims.

EPERNAY Epernay and its surroundings live, breath, and eat—well, drink—Champagne. There’s little in the way of historical distraction here, other than the history of sparkling wine. Champagne is Epernay’s raison d’etre. Its central thoroughfare, Champagne Avenue, is the Rodeo Drive of the big brand bubbly, including Moet & Chandon, Mercier, Martel, De Castellane, Boizel, Demoiselle, Pol Roger, De Venoge, and Perrier-Jouet, many of which offer tours year-round. (See the link to the

Epernay Tourist Office below for further touring information.)

The major Champagne houses in Epernay and Reims offer tours that are at once informative and promotional.

Yet I found during our three-day mission that trying Champagnes from various producers using different blends was the best way to get to know the variety of sparkling wines in the region.

Epernay has an enjoyable concept bar (and wine shop) called C Comme where you can do just and with little effort. The originality of the bar is that you can order a series of small glasses of Champagne selected to give a sense of the different grape varieties or blends available, i.e. 100 percent Chardonnay (a.k.a. Blanc de Blancs) vs.

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C H A M P A G N E 50 percent Chardonnay/50 percent Pinot Noir vs. 40 percent Chardonnay/30 percent Pinot Noir/30 percent Pinot Meunier. The Champagnes of different producers will naturally have a different taste even at similar percentages, partly due to the sugarliqueur dosage added, nevertheless, tasting by blend rather than by brand gives an excellent sense of the range of possibilities.

HAUTVILLERS Hautvillers is among the most charming Champagne-producing villages, as well as one of the most historically significant. Located 4 miles from Epernay and overlooking a wide sweep of vineyards along the slopes of the Mountain of Reims, the village earns its place in history because it was here, at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers, that the monk Dom Pierre Perignon (1639-1715) worked as cellar master. Though vines had been thriving in the Champagne region since Roman times, mastering the natural effervescence of local wines and controlling the double fermentation that tends to take place in northern climes began in the 17th century, thanks in part due to curiosity and efforts of Dom Perignon. Assembling wines from different years and different kinds of grapes, he and other cellar masters at the time developed cork-popping Champagne as we know it today. That connection leads Hautvillers to call itself “the cradle of Champagne.”

Dom Perignon is well known as a trademark for a high-end Champagne, but we’re talking here about the wine, not the label. Dom Perignon is entombed in the abbey church at Hautvillers beside Dom Ruinart, another monk-cum-trademark.

With an annual production of about 300 million bottles, Champagne is natTRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

urally big business dominated by the dozen or so major Champagne houses, themselves mostly belonging to large luxury groups. Yet many of the Champagne vineyards themselves belong to individual families, who either sell their grapes to the large houses, produce Champagne as a cooperative, or produce their own Champagne. Thus the interest of visiting the small producers whose sparking wine isn’t exported, such as G. Tribaut in Hautvillers, where a sunny day, a view over the vineyards, and a varied tasting provided us with a very cheery aperitif.

FURTHER AFIELD Tourist offices in Epernay and Reims provide outlines of Champagne Routes in the surrounding areas. With sufficient time, your own Champagne mission will ideally lead you to examine small, medium, and large producers in various parts of the region, including those further afield from the main Champagne routes around the Mountain of Reims. As at home, drinking and driving is a non-non.

Our own mission, which included a designated driver, took us to Châlonsen-Champagne. While Reims has the feel of a capital city, the regional capital is in fact the pleasant but less striking town of Châlons. There’s a monstrous cathedral, an easy-going riverboat tour, a touch of American history (the American Unknown Soldier was selected at City Hall following WWI)… and a Champagne house.

Though removed from the current growing zone for grapes that go into Champagne, we made the detour to Châlons to visit the medium-sized Champagne house Joseph Perrier.

Founded in 1825, Joseph Perrier produces about 800,000 bottles per year, many of which are kept in Roman

limestone quarries dug into the hill above the head office. It’s an example of a type of Champagne house that you might visit by appointment.

We also headed to the southernmost vineyards in the region planted in the south of the region whose planting zone is called the Cotes-desBar. That’s where we visited Drappier, another medium-size Champagne house with an annual production of about 1.6 million bottles.

After visiting the cellars, portions of which were dug out by Cistercian monks in 1152, we tried several of the house’s Champagne including a 100 percent Pinot Noir “brut nature,” which is dryer than most Champagnes in that the sugar-liqueur that is typically added in varying doses to sparking wines is absent. I liked its dryness, though in our group some found it too dry.

Throughout our stay, each one of us discovered his or her individual preferences with respect to Champagne.

Some liked it sweet, some like it dry, some liked it more Chardonnay or more Pinot Noir, … some just liked drinking. After three days, more than a dozen brands, and sometimes several types within those brands, some of the mystery of Champagne may be gone, but it’s for me it’s even more evocative, as it calls to mind both a sparkling wine and a brilliant travel experience.

USEFUL LINKS AND INFORMATION April though October offers the possibility of the nicest weather for a visit to Champagne but visiting at any time of year allows you to learn about the region’s sparkling wines and to get a sense of its history and landscape.

Champagne-Ardenne Tourist Board www.tourisme-champagneardenne.com

Tasting at G. Tribaut in Hautvillers.

The infamous NotreDame de Reims Cathedral.

PHOTO: G. OXLEY

Though I’ve referred to the Champagne region throughout this article, the administrative region is actually called Champagne-Ardenne as it also comprises the area in and around the hills and forests of the Ardennes along the Belgian border.

Reims Tourist Office www.reims-tourisme.com Epernay Tourist Office www.ot-epernay.fr

Hautvillers Tourist Office www.hautvillers.fr Châlons-en-Champagne Tourist Office www.chalons-tourisme.com C Comme (wine bar and shop in Epernay) www.c-comme.fr. Open daily.

Champagne G. Tribaut (Champagne house in Hautvillers) www.champagne.g.tribaut.com Champagne Joseph Perrier (Champagne house in Châlons-en-Champagne)

www.joseph-perrier.com Champagne Drappier (Champagne house in Urville, Côte-des-Bars) www.champagne-drappier.com Gary Lee Kraut operates the online travel and culture magazine France Revisited, www.

FranceRevisited.com, a premier site “for savvy readers and experienced travelers.” He has written five guides to Paris or France and numerous articles, essays, and op-ed pieces.

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California’s Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite is on the cutting edge of this sustainable agricultural movement STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY

BY INGRID HART

Half Dome in Yosemite is the key indicator that you’ve arrived at the Ahwahnee Hotel.

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The first meal I ever ate in Yosemite National Park was lentil soup cooked on a wood burning stove by my college roommate Elida, a seasonal employee in the summer of 1983. The earthy, heart-warming concoction was divine after a full-day’s hike near Yosemite’s iconic Half-Dome. Yet we still dreamed of a time when our cash flow would allow us a full-course meal at the historic and grand Ahwahnee Hotel. Twenty-six years later, our

dream came true. We shared a rockstar meal with the Ahwahnee’s Executive Chef, Percy Whatley in the hotel’s crown jewel dining hall, framed by Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point.

Dining family style with a Hell’s Angels approach to etiquette, we feasted on wild mushroom ravioli and truffle cream; an anti-pasta platter rich with artisan cured meats; free-range chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce; ocean-friendly

Halibut from Monterey Bay with Vancouver clams and local organic greens.

Hand-harvested scallops with porkbelly, which Chef Percy called umami or the fifth taste following sweet, sour, salt and bitter. For dessert we sampled six kinds of sorbet, my favorite being passion fruit. My college roommate Elida grinned and said she always dreamed of dining at the Ahwahnee but claimed, “This dinner surpassed all my expectations.”

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We were both delighted when Chef Percy told us that almost all the fresh produce comes from within a 150 mile radius of Yosemite National Park in the “Farm to Fork” movement.

“Sustainable agriculture is cornerstone to the slow food movement,” said Chef Percy, a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and a 20-year cooking veteran of Yosemite, the last four as executive chef. “We live near the San Joaquin Valley, California’s breadbasket. We are committed to local resources for organic produce, free-range chickens, and grains. In Yosemite, it’s easier to think about the environment. We are on the cutting edge of this movement.”

Chef Percy, a soft-spoken and sincere gentleman credits Yosemite’s Greenpath, an environmental stewardship program, for the authority to launch the movement. Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts (DNC), Yosemite’s contracted concessioner, agreed to his suggestion of partnering with sustainable agricultural vendors, telling him to “keep your costs down— organic is expensive.” Since 1999, Chef Percy’s been taking a humble approach, quietly purchasing local products from at least 40 vendors citing his personal passion for allowing the high quality of the food to speak for itself. “Every time I shake hands with the little guy, I develop a working friendship. There’s always a good exchange between a farmer and a chef. I like to see the emotion behind the farmer. It makes me feel good, plus our customers’ benefits.”

After the inspirational meal, Elida and I took the shuttle bus back to

Yosemite Falls is the 5th tallest waterfall in the world.

SOURCE: WWW.YOSEMITE.CA.US

Executive Chef Percy Whatley.

Rows of vegetables at the Madera farm in the San Joaquin Valley.

The upper falls, the middle cascades and lower falls at Yosemite National Park are the same height as the Sears Tower PLUS the Eiffel Tower put together.

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

SOURCE: WWW.YOSEMITE.CA.US

Curry Village where we were slumming it in the cabins. At nearly $500 for a night’s stay at the Ahwahnee Hotel, it is still too rich for our budget—I guess some things never change. Still, our home in the forest among the cedar and pine trees was surrounded by 3,000-foot granite cliffs

that kept us giddy and happy. We reclined on our backs outside our cabin’s deck, and looked up at the plentiful stars. “This feels umami,” my college friend sighed, content. I agreed, a slice of heaven—sweet.

writer living in Sacramento, California. She holds a degree in Journalism from Humboldt State University, California. Her credits include Baja Traveler, Mexico Traveler, Pology, Cal-List, Surfer, High Times, Holistic Happenings, Sacramento Business Journal, divine-

? n O g n i w o r G s ’ t a h W I

n the world of Farm to Fork I know the fork well, but the farm, not so much. To school myself, I visit the Ahwahnee’s prime purveyor of produce, a 75-acre certified organic, familyowned farm called T & D Willey Farms.

Fresh. Local. Organic. That’s the motto of this Madera farm placed in California’s breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley. Watered by snow melt streams from the Sierra Nevada, the rich alluvial soils of this region make up the most productive farmscape on earth.

I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat of Tom Willey’s electric cart as we drive the 75 acres of his and wife Denesse’s Madera farm. We motor past rows of French Breakfast radishes, Rosa Bianca eggplants, Russian kale and more than 50 varieties of crops—all organic, a Garden of Eden. At this farm, there is no mechanized harvest. In fact, the yellow crookneck squash are picked with white cotton gloves to protect the vegetable’s sensitive skin. Talk about a labor of love.

The life force on this productive farm is strong, radiating health and vitality.

In large part because of the Willey’s commitment to old-fashioned farming, “We do not use any toxic pesticides,” said Tom pointing to a stand of sunflowers—a habitat strip that attracts beneficial insects for pest control. “We

daytripper. com, and modcom.com

Ingrid Hart, the Divine Daytripper, is a

focus on plant nutrient and soil quality. That’s the best possible protection.”

I ask Tom, a knowledgeable veteran of the slow food movement, what Farm to Fork means to him. “It’s about paying more attention to the path by which food reaches your plate and then tracing it back to the farm from which it originates.” His farm is a longtime purveyor to Alice Waters’ famed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley and San Francisco’s Slanted Door. “We all need to take more responsibility and be more conscious about how we grow our food,” said Tom. “Spend your dollar on the kind of food that you want, don’t spend your dollar on food that you feel guilty about afterward. Too many of us do it too often.”

T & D Willey Farms began working with Yosemite about six years ago. Tom told me their friend Brenda, a freerange chicken and egg farmer in the local Mariposa area brought attention

to their farm. “DNC was trying to ‘green up’ their business and a branch of that was supplying their facilities with local food growers. Procurement agents from DNC came and visited the farm, hooked us up with a local trucker

that delivers to the Yosemite Valley several times a week and we began delivering produce. Our products are at the Ahwahnee Hotel, Wawona Hotel, Yosemite Lodge and all the way up to Tuolumne Meadows at high camp.

We’re very proud of our connection.”

Do Tom and Denesse ever dine at the Ahwahnee? He chuckles a happy laugh and said, “Whenever we have visitors coming from afar and we want to impress them we take them to Chef Percy or Chef Mike at the Ahwahnee. We let 10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

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them know we’re coming and they do something a little special. We see our name on the menu. It’s a great buzz.

We like to go up there once or twice a year and stay overnight and have a couple of good meals. How could you not like that?”

Back on the farm, the Willey’s send me home with a box of fruits and vegetables similar to what their Community Supported Agriculture cooperative customers receive—which is 15 percent of their business. “I can’t just show you this produce, you have to taste it,” said Tom, loading the box into my car trunk.

Inside the box are apples, cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, squash, basil, and a six-pack of farm-fresh eggs. I’m thrilled to see my favorite—red grapes. I pop a firm one into my mouth and marvel at the flavor—complex yet simple. It must be that rich alluvial soil. They taste earthy, fresh and make me zing all over.

The rest of the grapes sit on my lap for the journey back to Sacramento.

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD It’s not possible to discuss Farm to Fork without bringing up wildly successful food guru Michael Pollan, best-selling author of Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Pollan and Willey know one another, there is a footnote in Omnivore’s Dilemma that features his name—although according to Tom Willey, it’s misspelled.

At UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, along with a near-capacity crowd of 1,800, I sat listening to Pollan, a Cal journalism professor, give a Farm to Fork talk. We’re all trying to get a grip TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

Farmer Tom Willey.

Food guru Michael Pollan.

on the best way to approach the pleasure of eating. The six-foot Pollan looked Berkeley-cool with his sports coat and black-frame glasses. Pollan claims we’ve undergone 150 years of diet change and it has taken a tremendous toll on our health. “We’re no longer growing food.” said Pollan,“We’re growing food for manufacturing.”

sion. Don’t get your fuel at the same place your car does. Avoid foods that never rot—like Twinkies.”

Farm to Fork, what exactly does it mean? I suppose it boils down to what Tom Willey told me as I departed the San Joaquin Valley. “If we think of ourselves as a biological organism we only have two purposes: one is survival and the other is reproduction. Going about surviving and reproducing every day there is nothing more important than what you put in your body.” It remains both an omnivore’s dilemma and solution. Michael Pollan sums it up in seven words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” ■

WHAT’S AN OMNIVORE TO DO? How do we escape the Western diet without leaving civilization? Pollan offered a few rules to help guide the omnivore’s dilemma: “If it has more than five ingredients, don’t eat it. Avoid any foods you’ve seen advertised on televi-

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UFFLE unters Sneaking around in the dead of night proves profitable when you’re in Alba STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACQUELINE HARMON BUTLER

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Somewhere in the distance a church bell chimed the midnight hour. A heavy mist made visibility along the valley road challenging.

Nearing our rendezvous site we spotted two small nondescript Italian cars hovering by the side of the road. The drivers flashed their lights at our mini-bus, then with a squeal of tires, sped off along the twisting country road. Our driver, not intimidated by their speed, followed closely behind as we bumped our way into the hills near Alba in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.

We were in search of the legendary White Diamonds, tartufo bianco, or white truffles. At a market price of nearly $2,000 a pound, truffle hunters are willing to go to amazing extremes in secrecy as to where these incredible tubers are located.

Making a sharp right turn, the drivers lowered

their headlights as we left the main road and followed a small dirt track further into the hills at a much slower speed. The moon shimmered through the mist illuminating the scene with a ghostly glow.

Abruptly the two little cars swerved into a wide space beside the road and turned off their engines. We had arrived. Our trifulaus (truffle hunters) emerged. The two men of indeterminable age were dressed in rough outdoor clothes and carried long pointed walking sticks.

They introduced themselves, Stefano Grosso and Mario Aprile, in whispers and cautioned us to remain quiet and calm during our expedition. Then, cautiously looking around, they released their prized truffle hounds, the rather ordinary looking Toby and Dora. Neither dog appeared to have a distinct lineage.

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midnight

high point was when we actually go to taste some of them shaved on fresh fried eggs. The taste was incomparable and delicious. We also made arrangements to actually go on a truffle hunt later that night.

The aphrodisiac properties of truffles were well known as far back as the Roman times. Apicius exalts the amazing effects of truffles in his famous discourse on cooking, De re Coquinaria, and lists six different ways of using them. When the Roman Empire fell, the magical properties of truffles were forgotten and it wasn’t until the French started raving about their miraculous qualities in the 17th century that truffles once again became popular. In his Physiologie du goût, Brillat Savarin dedicates six pages to the truffles exotic possibilities. Black truffles are found in many places but the most valuable ones come from the Perigord region of France and around Norcia in Italy. However, the king of truffles is the white one found in the Piedmont region of Italy and the best known and prized are often referred to as the White Diamonds of Alba.

The main difference between the black and white truffles is not the color but the smell and taste. The black truffle has a pleasing wet leaf earthy smell and is usually added during the cooking procedure of a dish. The white one has a more enigmatic smell, mixed with notes of fermented honey, hay, garlic, spices, wet earth and ammonia, and is usually finely shaved on cooked or raw foods.

Consequently, the taste of the white truffle is more complex and, to some, more desirable than the black ones.

Choosing a truffle is an important process. Examine it closely, squeezing it gently. The best truffles are light in color, fairly smooth and hard, never soft or sticky. To store, wrap in a paper towel and place into closed, tight jar

TRUFFLE hunters

Stefanino told us that truffle dogs are usually a cross mix, with no distinct genetic background. However, the pups of a successfully trained truffle dog command a high price. Truffle hunting training begins when the pups are about six months old and continues until the dog reaches maturity at two years. These dogs are not household pets.

They are trained professionals and treated with great care and respect.

I was a little disappointed to find out pigs are no longer used for truffle hunting. Mario explained that it was far easier to train a dog than a pig. He pointed out that it was sometimes very difficult to wrestle a tuber away from a 300-pound truffle gorging pig.

A dog is willing to sniff out the truffles then sit quietly wagging its tail waiting for a doggie treat as reward.

Stefanino gave a low whistle and scampered into the bushes after Toby, closely followed by Mario and Dora.

My little group of friends stumbled up the embankment in hot pursuit. Our assorted flashlights dimly illuminated the landscape of trees, bushes, boulders, broken branches and a variety of holes in the ground made by digging or borrowing animals and by Mother Nature herself. I immediately stepped into a rather large hole, and promptly fell over. Fortunately I didn’t get hurt.

Gee, I thought dusting myself off, this truffle hunting isn’t a simple stroll in the woods after all.

My friends and I were in Alba for the famous Fiera del Tartufo Bianco, truffle fair. We spent the day wandering the aisles of the fair and learning all we could about these pricey little tubers.

We examined, poked, squeezed and sniffed a great variety of truffles. The TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

and refrigerate. Change paper towel every day and use truffle within ten days of harvesting. The common suggestion of storing truffles in rice is not a good one. Truffles are almost 82 percent water and the rice will drain the moisture from it.

Truffles are often found under the same trees, usually willow, year after year, and are harvested between late September through November. That’s why all the secrecy. No one wants anyone else to know exactly which tree produces the best tubers.

To fortify ourselves for our truffle hunting adventure, we had eaten a wonderful dinner and enjoyed the local wines at the Ristorante Brezza in nearby Barolo. We feasted on Albastyle raw veal topped with olive oil and sprinkled all over with fresh truffle shavings. This was followed by a flaky vegetable and cheese tart, then by great bowls of fresh house-made Agnolotti with a rich meat sauce. The secondo piatti was fragrant oven-roasted guinea fowl basted with Barolo wine and stuffed with local herb infused rice. A delicious selection of Chardonnay, Barbera and Barolo wines accompanied each dish. Nougat mousse or glazed pears with zabaglione were our dessert offerings. By the time we poured out the last drops of the incredible Barolo wine, I have to admit my friends and I were feeling very well fed and perhaps a tad sloshed.

We trudged on into the dark night, following the now distant sounds of Stefanino and Mario and the hounds.

Someone let out a loud yelp of pain as she hit her head on a low branch.

Someone else cautioned her to keep quiet or she would scare away all the truffles, which dissolved the group into giggles. Try as we may we couldn’t keep quiet and soon we were howling with laughter.

Obviously we had scared someone away because we heard disgruntled

This truffle seller proudly

The White Diamonds of Alba.

displays the delicacy.

Specially trained truffle-hunting dogs are used instead of pigs because they are easier train and reward.

mutterings and rustling in the nearby bushes, the slam of a car door and then the screech of tires as someone sped off into the night.

By the time we caught up to our trifulaus, the dogs had begun excitedly digging into the rough earth. Stefanino poked the ground with his walking stick and right before our very eyes pulled up a small but nicely shaped white truffle.

Because it had been a very dry year, the truffle crop was expected to be minimal, thus driving up the price.

Passing the nugget around, Stefanino estimated its cost to be somewhere around $350.

Under a nearby tree, Dora was frantically digging, tail wagging and making soft growls. Mario knelt down and gently patted the dog and commanded her to sit, then he reached down and pulled a beautiful white truffle from the hole Dora had dug. The men thought it was worth about $200.

Later, sitting in the wine cellar of our hotel, my friends and I opened another bottle of Barolo and discussed

the day’s events. We all agreed that being a trifulau might be kind of fun.

All that bustling about in secretive darkness trying to remember exactly where one found truffles last year, the excitement of the chase after a hound on the scent and the ultimate reward of actually finding a pricey little rootlet all had a certain appeal.

Accompished travel writer Jacqueline Harmon Butler has received numerous awards for her writing. She can be reached at www.jacquelineharmonbutler.com.

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GOT TRUFFLES? The West’s culinary gold rush... seeking nuggets of white and black fungi

OREGON

DOES

BY MARCIE J. BUSHNELL

“Presently, we were aware of an odour gradually coming towards us, something musky, fiery, savoury, mysterious—a hot drowsy smell, that lulls the senses, and yet enflames them—the truffles were coming.”

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

There’s something oddly humorous about staking out flying squirrels in the lower elevations of the Oregon Coast Range. But, if you’re a serious mycology fan, it’s no laughing matter.

The flying squirrels, Glaucomys sabrinus, are on a “must have” mission. These little nocturnal rodents are in need of Vitamin D after the dank, dark months of a cooler than usual Pacific Northwest winter. And their little noses are twitching.

I’m attending the last event of the four-day Oregon TrufTRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

fle Festival (OTF) held at the Valley River Inn, Eugene, Oregon at the end of January [2009]. Dr. James Trappe (pronounced Trap-ee), one of three co-authors of Trees, Truffles and Beasts: How Forests Function, is talking truffles and the squirrels that love them. Dr.Trappe, Jim to his colleagues, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard and informally dressed in a plaid wool shirt and khakis, is a guy who knows fungi.

His research interests include the taxonomy of hypogeous fungi, floristics of alpine fungi, mycorrhizal ecology and applications, and last, but not least, fungal-animal interac-

Chefs display their culinary adaptability of Oregon truffles at the Grand Truffle Dinner.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN VALLS

Truffle dog Gusto and trainer Jean Rand will be part of the dog training seminar in January 2010. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLES LEFEVRE

tions. It’s the latter I’m here to learn about. Dr. Trappe is warming up his audience for a lecture titled Tales from the Truffle Zone.

After introducing ourselves, I discover I’m the only native Oregonian in the house, a fact not lost on the “transplants” that call this moist corner of the USA home. Nevertheless we’re drawn together like hungry squirrels to glean all we can about Tuber gibbosum and Tuber oregonense, aka Oregon winter white truffles as well as the Oregon black truffle known as Leucangium carthusianum.

Jim gives us some background by stating “Five hundred types of truffles are found in Oregon and Washington, and nearly 1,500 types have been identified in North America.” That’s a lot of fungi to dig through!

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He continues with anecdotes about hunting indigenous truffles near Douglas fir tree farms and in the foothills of the Coast Range. “On one foray we discovered a new genus that we named FEvanseia, after Frank Evans, co-author of the North American Truffle Society Field Guide.”

Turns out NATS was founded in 1978 by Frank, so the notion of native Oregon truffles has been around more than 30 years. Jim goes on to explain “We use an implement called a truffle fork to pull back the duff to uncover the fruiting fungi that live on the interconnecting webs of Douglas fir roots.” Frank smiles and nods from his place near the slide projector. A photo materializes showing some dirt-covered lumps just below the surface.

In Taming the Truffle . . . The History,

Lore and Science of the Ultimate Mushroom by Ian R. Hall, Gordon T. Brown and Alessandra Zambonelli, Oregon white truffles are described as possessing “a sweet, musky, cedarlike aroma with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.” No wonder the flying squirrels’ noses are twitching.

Ripening truffles emit subtle pheromones to discerning olfactory glands. To pique the senses, Dr. Hall adds that Oregon black truffles are often described as having high notes of pineapple and green apple. It’s all in the nose of the beholder. As a plate of thinly sliced truffles, resembling brown pepperoni, is passed, I daintily sniff and behold the essence of: dirt.

In a nod to sustainable entrepreneurship, fledging Oregon truffle orchards (truffieres) are poised to

ABOVE: Chef Johnathan Sundstrom of Lark in Seattle.

ABOVE: Truffle hunting foray.

ABOVE: Truffles galore.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN HIGBY

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW RAFKIND

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN VALLS

BELOW: The truffle dog demonstration at the Marketplace in January 2009. Truffle dog Tom and trainer Jim Sanford from Blackberry Farm in Tennessee will both be with the festival in 2010. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID BARAJAS

“Call them a winter crop, produce world-class truffles. Dr. Charles Lefevre, New World Truffieres, Ltd., has been a key player in cultivated truffle implementation. With many decades of research by Pacific Northwest professors/mycologists, Oregon is establishing itself as the epicenter of all things related to truffles.

Call them a winter crop, because they tend to come to fruition between November and February with January often the month to grab your dog, your truffle fork and your sense of adventure. If you’ve got a trained truffle-sniffing dog, the gaseous emissions wafting from the earth will get his/her attention.

The truffle fork will come in handy for clearing away needles, moss and twigs to unearth the fungi. A sense of adventure will serve you well as cold rain pelts you in the face and your boots accumulate a couple inches of mud.

And there’s gold in them thar’ truffles. Dr. Hall notes “typical prices can run US$220/kilogram “for Oregon white truffles. Since you’re wet and muddy anyway, check for Leucangium carthusianum, aka Oregon black truffles. Market prices can go as high as US$1,000/kilogram for those dark lumpy spheres.

Whether you “dig” truffles or not, Oregon fungi are on a culinary roll with local and national chefs. Truffles have joined the ranks of caviar and foie gras in both price and demand. Ron Paul, chef, restaurateur and chair of the Oregon Arts Commission has diligently lobbied the City of Portland to create a year-

Pigeon, Portland, presented Rabbit & Black truffle spanakopita, prosciutto and arugula.

The main entrée highlighted a black truffle boudin blanc with braised cabbage and confit of white truffle fingerling potatoes prepared by John Gorham of Toro Bravo. And who said truffles aren’t for dessert? Chef Cheryl Wakerhauser of Pix Patisserie in Portland, delighted all in attendance with a truffle mignardise plate (a sampling of French confections featuring Oregon truffles).

Trekking through Oregon’s foothills to harvest ripened truffles for the kitchens of imaginative chefmagicians has proved once and for all that our state is on the cusp of culinary grandeur.

Oregon wines have won international awards, and it won’t be long until Oregon truffles compete with the truffles of France, Italy and China as the culinary world demands quality luxury produce. But the flying squirrels figured that out a long time ago.

because they tend to come to fruition between November and February with January

often the month to grab your

dog, your truffle fork and your

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

sense of adventure.”

round produce-based Public Market.

Ron added his opinion on the status of Oregon truffles by stating “We are all about the food in the Pacific Northwest because we are sitting in a culinary Eden.”

The previous evening, the OTF 2009 showcased the culinary adaptability of Oregon truffles at the Grand Truffle Dinner held at Eugene’s Valley River Inn. The semi-formal evening featured a creative batch of northwest chefs who met and exceeded the challenge of preparing a four course meal plus dessert featuring Oregon truffles.

From Portland’s Park Kitchen, executive chef Scott Dolich prepared a first course of black truffle cauliflower polonaise and salt cured eggs. Chef Rocky Maselli of Eugene’s renowned Marché restaurant followed with Kampachi crudo with celery root slaw, uni vinaigrette and shaved white truffles. The third course, prepared by Chef Gabriel Rucker of Le

WHEN YOU GO Check the OTF website for future dates, events and special truffle-related packages at www.oregontrufflefestival.com Oregon Truffle Festival, Valley River Inn, Eugene, Oregon, January 29–31, 2010.

Eugene-based freelance writer, Marcie Bushnell, is proud to be an Oregonian with the requisite webbed digits and ability to communicate with water fowl. For that reason, unearthing the mystique of Oregon truffles was a walk in the garden of eden for her. Happy hunting and bon appétit!

Los Ga os Gem of t Where gourmet restaurants and vineyards are at your fingertips STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY

BY NELL RAUN-LINDE

Tucked into the base of California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, a peaceful small town has everything the traveler needs for an escape, whether for a weekend or a mid-week retreat. Los Gatos is a city of narrow streets made for strolling past appealing shops and plazas. Its gourmet restaurants create marvelous scents that float TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

out their doors, and the nearby hillsides are filled with redwood trees and live oaks.

And if that’s not enough, vineyards and wineries with great wines are scattered about on the hillsides and at the top of the mountains with gorgeous views all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

the Foothills

The hillside fountain at LaRusticana d’Orsa.

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Los Ga os Gem of the Foothills Los Gatos can be a day trip, as I have done from my San Francisco Bay Area home. But when I stayed a chunk of days, instead of going merely for lunch and quick shop visits, I had time to walk trails by the creek that runs through town. I ate breakfast with the locals at the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company where some customers sat outside on sidewalk benches to chat and sip lattes and cappuccinos. I devoured dinners in restaurants manned by talented chefs. There was time to pop into museums like the history museum in the old Forbes Mill built in 1854 and the art museum on Main Street.

One afternoon I took an arranged

van-tour with a group to learn about the wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation. We stopped to taste at three Los Gatos wineries a few miles up the mountains and listen to winemakers explain the methods they choose to grow grapes, about the terrior, the harvest and, finally, how their wines become winners.

The first stop, Loma Prieta Winery, was also the newest winery we visited.

Some Loma Prieta grapes grow up the mountain as high as 2,400 feet. We tasted several wines from the patio on a warm fall day while overlooking vines on the steep hillside. The amazTRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

ing view from the patio takes in Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Owner Paul Kemp raved about the view of the sunsets and he plans a trial “Sunset Tasting” soon. Amy Kemp, co-owner with her husband, poured the tastings, all smooth and flavorful, but the Loma Prieta 2006 Saveria Pinot Noir was the star. No wonder—three gold medals in 2008.

Next stop: Silver Mountain. We traveled a twisting road through the Santa Cruz Mountains, still Los Gatos, to its gated entrance. Fences are common in these mountains. The deer like grapes.

Silver Mountain has been in the Santa Cruz Mountains for 30 years. It has the distinction of being one of two truly certified organic wineries in the region. The owner, Gerald O’Brien, said that to be certified organic, he must use no pesticides, no commercial fertilizer, and even use untreated posts to hold the wires and the vines. To replace treated posts is expensive and hard work and deters some wineries from becoming certified.

As we heard about some of the winery’s history, we tasted an Estate Chardonnay from grapes grown high in the mountains, a boon to flavor. Silver Mountain chardonnay wine has twice received gold medals. Another stunner is the light and fruity 2006 Rose of Pinot Noir.

Continuing the drive along the top of the mountains to the next winery, the Burrell School Vineyards and Winery, we entered a historic schoolhouse. The school tradition has become the theme of the winery and its creative wine bottle labels continue it. Their wine club of-

ferings bear labels of Estate “Teacher’s Pet” Chardonnay, “Dean’s List” Cabernet Sauvignon (already a Silver Medal winner), and “Extra Credit” Cabernet Franc that we sampled (soon to be a winner).

As we sipped and swirled (the mantra for the winery, “I promise to sip my wine, I promise to sip my wine“) and tasted, we watched owner David Moulton demonstrate hand-crushing of grapes in one of the tanks outside the house. This has to be done around the clock for up to two days.

In downtown Los Gatos on Main Street, the Fleming Jenkins Tasting Room is open daily to visitors. Besides learning about their wine from “up the mountain,” visitors can see memorabilia from Peggy Fleming’s days as an Olympic Gold Medal winner for her ice skating. The wine is good, too.

Forbes Mill Steakhouse serves outstanding dishes such as braised short ribs with pear and ginger glaze, extraordinary with Savannah-Chanelle Chardonnay. At California Café Bar and Grill we sampled finger-friendly appetizers, one a scrumptious grilled lamb chop, all extra good with Testarossa wines from its vineyards above town.

“Just walk up the hill to Testarossa,” someone advised. An old-timer remarked, “It may be close enough to walk if you’re a mountain goat.”

It had been a 19th century Novitiate Winery housed in a hand-carved stone building. Testarossa’s distinction: it’s the fourth oldest continuously operating winery in California (they made sacrament wines during prohibition).

Another day, we were treated to a special tour of the winery estate of the Dorsas who make La Rusticana d’Orsa wine.

The grapes for this winery grow on the hillsides of their estate, closer to Los Gatos than the top-of-the-mountain wineries we had seen earlier. The restored buildings of the estate sit about 1,000 feet up in the hills along with grape vines, olive and fruit trees, rescued

The bar-b-que at LaRusticana d’Orsa.

The Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company invites all to come and enjoy the downtown scene.

The tour at certified organic Silver Mountain Vinyard.

goats, sheep and dogs. Except for the native redwoods and oaks, it could be mistaken for a villa in Tuscany.

Frank and Marilyn Dorsa talked with pride about their property that they bought 20 years ago. They have turned crumbling structures and wild growth into beauty. Rough rock walls, quarried from the 42 acres of property, line the driveway that travels high up the mountain to a reservoir; Italian fountains pop up in the midst of a clearing; garden niches hold rock barbeques and steps that serve as seats when the clearing becomes an amphitheater.

What magic carpet lifts you to this enchanting place? Belong to the La Rusticana d’ Orsa Wine Club, support some of Marilyn’s events given for charities, or go to the quarterly Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Passport Days.

After all the touring, I would go back to the lovely, peaceful, Mediterraneanstyle Hotel Los Gatos. The hotel, complete with a serene spa, is down the street from all the “old town” shops and restaurants. The hotel has an independent restaurant on its premises: Dio Deka.

The restaurant emphasizes superb Greek food amidst its lovely setting.

There’s even more to this small historic town of 30,000, just 50 miles south of San Francisco. Sundays you will find a big Farmer’s Market in the park downtown. Holiday festivals keep things lively several times a year. Shops in vintage houses attract visitors. Many wineries are open to tasting all year, and every three months—January, April, July, November—visitors can tour the Santa Cruz Mountains wineries during Passport Days for a nominal tasting fee.

Nell Raun-Linde has been published in AAA, Senior, inflight, wine and regional magazines, web magazines, as well as San Francisco Bay Area and other U.S. newspapers. She has a passion for reading, history and family. An almost-around-the-world traveler, she’s still trying to get to Egypt.

10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

The Harbin Ice Festival, established in 1985, is held annually from January 5 and lasts for over one month. Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province and this is China’s original and greatest ice artwork festival, attracting hundreds of thousands of local people and visitors from all over the world.

The city’s location in northeast China accounts for its arctic climate which provides abundant natural ice and snow. Subsequently, the ‘Ice City’ of Harbin is recognized as the cradle of ice and snow art in China and is famous for its exquisite and artistic ice and snow sculptures.

The fabulous Ice Lantern Festival was the forerunner of the current festival and is still the best loved part of the overall event in the opinion of all who come to Harbin each year.

The first Ice lanterns were a winter-time tradition in northeast China. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the local peasants and fishermen often made and used ice lanterns as jacklights during the winter months. At that time these were made simply by pouring water into a bucket that was then put out in the open to freeze. It was then gently warmed before the water froze completely so that the bucket-shaped ice could be pulled out. A hole was chiseled in the top and the water remaining inside poured out creating a hollow vessel. A candle was then placed inside resulting in a windproof lantern that gained great popularity in the region around Harbin.

From then on, people made ice lanterns and put them outside their houses or gave them to children to play with during some of the traditional festivals. Thus the ice lantern began its long history of development. With novel changes and immense advancement in techniques, today we can marvel at the various delicate and artistic ice lanterns on display.

TODAY’S ICE LANTERN Nowadays, ice lantern in broad sense refers to a series of plastic arts using ice and snow as raw material combining ice artworks with colored lights and splendid music. The specific patterns of ice lantern include ice and snow sculptures, ice flowers, ice architectures and so on.

harbin ice festiva Harbin Ice Festival provides visitors each year a whole new world of ice and snow. The best collections of ice artworks are exhibited in three main places: the Sun Island Park, Harbin Ice and Snow World and Zhaolin Park.

The Sun Island Park is the site of the Snow Sculpture Exposition displaying a wonderful snow world. It has the world’s largest indoor ice and snow art museum and it opens to the public in November every year.

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

al

The Old Paris of the Orient transforms the ice into gold STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADRIEN GALLO

10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

Harbin Ice and Snow World came into being in 1999 and is one of the world’s largest ice architecture parks.

The inspiration for the ice and snow sculptures usually are derived from traditional Chinese fairy tales or world famous architectures such as the Great Wall, the Egyptian Pyramids, etc.

Zhaolin Park is a ‘must see’ during the festival because it has a traditional program that shows the most excellent ice lanterns. With water, lights and the natural ice from the Songhua

River running through Harbin as the material, the ice lanterns are made by freezing water, piling up ice or snow, then carving, enchasing, decorating, and so forth. The ice lantern park touring activities have been held here annually since 1963 and is said to be one of the most wonderful 35 tourist attractions in China. There are numerous pieces of ice artworks in the park arranged in groups according to different themes depicting Chinese classic masterworks, European folk-

tales and customs and so on.

A great variety of objects such as buildings, gardens, flowers, waterfalls, European-styled churches, lions, tigers, dragons are carved from ice. In the daytime, the ice sculptures are magnificent and verisimilitude. Moreover, with the interspersion of the sparkling colored lights embedded in the sculptures at night, the park becomes a glorious and amazing ice world.

Today, the festival is not only an exposition of ice and snow art, but also

an annual cultural event for international exchange. Every year, there are many ice sculpture experts, artists and fans from America, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Russia, China, etc. gathering in Harbin to participate ice sculpting competitions and to communicate with each other in the ice and snow world. Also, Harbin ice lanterns have been exhibited in most of China’s main cities as well as in many countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Oceania. For

more than 40 years, Harbin’s natural resource of ice and snow has been fully explored to provide joy and fun for visitors to the city. Now during the festival, many sporting competitions are also popular including ice-skating and sledding.

Weddings, parties and other entertainments are now very much a feature of this ice world, adding their own contribution to the celebrations of this great festival of art, culture, sports and tourism.

Adrien Gallo has written and photographed numerous articles for a wide variety of publications and photo agencies, including Atlas Magazine, Paris Geo Magazine France and U.S.A Partir (travel magazine), Chimo Magazine, Flasch Foto, Dorada Magazine, U.S.A. Nuestro, Geo Mundo, Jewish Week, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express News, Arkansas Gazette, Kansas City Star, Hispanic Review of Business, Deseret News, Virginia Country, Island Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.

PATAGONIAN

Places are often best known— and best remembered—by a particular image. Sometimes it is a man made structure: The great Mayan pyramid, Kukulkan, in Chichen Itza in the Yucatan, The Dome of the Rock in TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

Jerusalem, The Taj Mahal, The Eiffel Tower; sometimes it is a creation of nature: the Grand Canyon, the Matterhorn, the Rock of Gibraltar, Yosemite’s Half-Dome. Patagonia—that vast land, part Argentinian, part Chilean at the

bottom of South America—has its own iconic symbol. It is known as the Torres del Paine, the Towers of Paine, sharp vertical protrusions among bigshouldered mountains, rising out of rolling pampas. Close up they are awe-

PANORAMAS STORY BY PETER I. ROSE • PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER AND HEDY ROSE

some, formidable to all but the most intrepid climbers who rate them as very pinnacles of their obsession.

1–2 But to me what is even more impressive and memorable are the more distant vistas of the mountains

themselves. Like Montana in the U.S., Patagonia is a big sky country. And, on a recent first-time visit, I couldn’t get enough of them.

In many ways, like so many others, I had gone to the area with some idea

of what to expect. My premonitions were both mundane and inspirational.

The mundane came from the little purple, blue, red and white logo on several items of clothing I have been wearing in recent years. It is a moun10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

tain range over the word PATAGONIA. The more sublime source was anything but commercial. It came from the poignant prose of the late travel writer Bruce Chatwin. Chatwin left a rich legacy in his vivid descriptions of remote places on earth. But to me, none is more powerful than his evocation of Patagonia. Finally getting to see it all first-hand made me regret not having gone there long ago. It is truly a magical place—one in which real life does more than imitate the designers art and emotions are stirred even more by actual witness than even by the most skilled wordsmith’s rendition, the latter characterized by fine descriptions of ice and wind and water, huge open

spaces with wild llama-like animals called guanacos, ostrich-like rheas, prolific penguins, huge condors, and, especially, magnificent mountains.

3 My wife and I started our trip in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

After several days there we boarded the cruise ship, M/N Via Australis and spent four glorious days sailing the inland passages of the Beagle Channel and the Straits of Magellan, visiting the storied Cape Horn and getting up close to several glaciers and thousands of penguins.

After disembarking in the Chilean city of Puntas Arenas, we took a local bus for the three-hour trip to Puntas Arenas, the gateway to the Parque Na-

cional Torres del Paine. Passing miles and miles of open pampas, we arrived at our new anchorage, the three-year old luxury hotel, Remota.

4–5 The handsome Remota, a very modern u-shaped wooden building surrounding waving grasses moved by incessant wind off the water, has 72 double rooms, an incredible indoor swimming pool, colorful lounges and dining areas, traditional circular fireplaces, and huge, irregular windows offering spectacular views the bay below and red and yellow houses, green fields and snow-covered mountains behind.

6–7 Designed by the noted Chilean architect German del Oro, the stylized structure draws inspiration from the

surrounding sheep ranches, with local materials used to enhance its unique blending of tradition and modernity.

8 Remota has its own crew of guides and all-inclusive packages of three, four, and more days, that includes their services. Over 15 excursions are offered. In our days there, we managed to do four of them. The first was a six hour hike on and around a huge hill, Cerro Benitez, where we trekked through open fields and beechwood forests, saw soaring condors and ancient cave drawings and never were out of sight of the panorama that is Patagonia.

9–10 We then took a long ride on horseback in the Sierra Dorotea area led by the baqueano (the Chilean name for a gaucho). On a rest stop in a wooded glen, the guides introduced us to the Chilean drink called mate, made in a gourd packed with tea to which hot water is added.

11 On another day, we hiked down to the Eberhadt Fjord to Puerto Bories. Along the way, we listened to our guide tell us the history of the area, the establishment of the huge estancia (ranch) through which we walked, and new developments in ecotourism in the entire region.

12 We were also driven up to

through the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, frequently stopping to take in different vistas of the iconic peaks and to get close to huge herds of llama-like guanacos and ostrich-like rheas.

13 Equally impressive were the huge blue-toned icebergs, one of which seemed to be a scale model of the mountains that loomed behind them.

En route to view the floes, we saw an array of local birds including woodpeckers, parrots, and upland geese.

14 Before leaving Hedy and I paid a final visit to the town of Puerto Natales, an interesting outpost steeped in the traditions of ranching but clearly retooled to accommodate and provide services for the steadily increasing numbers of tourists, trekkers, and mountaineers. This is especially evident in the growing number of souvenir shops featuring stenciled Tshirts and polar fleece jackets with appropriate logos and stores selling top-of-the-line camping, hiking, and climbing gear.

Like many such communities in transition around the world, it was clearly apparent that just as when it was founded over a century ago, Puerto Natales is divided into distinct social categories—locals, truly indigenous people and the descendants of early settlers);

outsiders who run many of the establishments, including touring companies and guiding services, ex-pat groups of special visitors who come mainly to “use” the mountains; and tourists who come mainly to see them.

I guess we fit into the last cohort. And what we were able to see—and do— was well worth the long, long trip to the bottom of the world.

This was our first trip to Patagonia.

With two weeks we were able to sample nature’s attractions are Ushuaia, Argentina, and the waterways of Tierra del Fuego aboard the good ship, Via Australis, and then, with the helpful mentoring of well-trained guides based at the resort hotel, Remota, to hike and ride the trails and passes of the pampas and mountains to its north. Hopefully, it will not be the last visit.

IF YOU GO For further information: www.australis.com www.remota.cl www.patagonias.net info@visitchile.cl Peter Rose, writer, photographer and editor of SoGoNow.com Travel Magazine. His wife, Hedy, took the photo number one and many of the other pictures in this story.

10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

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FAMILY TRAVEL SENIOR TRAVEL

Chicago Museums Exhibit an

ETHNIC MELTING POT A VISIT TO THE CITY THAT HAS THE UTMOST IN MUSEUM DIVERSITY

By Victor Block

On past visits to Chicago, I discovered why it’s often called the birthplace of the modern skyscraper, wandered through neighborhoods that are enclaves of ethnic diversity, and waited impatiently as my wife took advantage of the city’s welldeserved reputation as a shopping mecca.

That’s why, during my most recent trip there, I focused on a different way to experience the Windy City. I sampled the diverse group of more than 40 museums that serve as another claim to fame, focusing upon several that are off the usual beaten track. Some relive fascinating chapters of our nation’s history. Others touch base with segments of the American ethnic melting pot.

Together, they provide a different, and enticing, introduction to one of the most American of cities.Several are grouped together for convenient visiting,and a number of them may be reached by inexpensive public transportation. All are easy to access for people of any age.

Many people head for the lakeside campus that is home to three world-class institutions—the Field Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium. Seeking a different kind of experience, I set my sights elsewhere.

A good place to begin is The Chicago History Museum. It provides an overall, at times somewhat offbeat, introduction to the city’s people, past and lifestyles. Along with changing exhibits, the permanent collection boasts something-for-everyone variety. A timeline of economic activity in Chicago ranges from early fur trading to the famous stock yards to its current role as a major center of business activity. Among dramatic displays recalling the Great Fire of 1871 are household objects that were fused by the heat of the flames.

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

Visitors may sit at tables in the very colorful recreation of a jazz and blues nightclub to watch videos and hear music played by some of Chicago’s most famous musicians of the past. Not far away stand the Pioneer locomotive, the first train engine in Chicago when the railroads made the city a hub of manufacturing and trade in the mid-19th century, and “L Car No. 1,” built in 1892 and now the only remaining example of the original fleet of elevated cars.

Four ethnic groups are highlighted at smaller, yet very inviting, institutions that for many visitors provides a vicarious visit to “the old country.” It’s not surprising to find the Polish Museum of America in the city that’s home to the largest population from Poland outside of Warsaw. I was surprised to learn that just one year after Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1608, Polish immigrants arrived to serve as instructors in the manufacture of glass and other goods.

A number of exhibits are devoted to leading Polish actors, military figures and politicians. An entire section is devoted to Pope John Paul II, with emphasis on his visit to Chicago in October 1979. Several displays came from the Polish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. They include 120 delicately hand-painted Easter eggs, each an art treasure in itself, and a number of pre-historic objects found in the homeland.

The Ukrainian National Museum of Chicago shares space in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood with ornate churches, a cultural center, grammar school and numerous restaurants that serve traditional fare. While the museum contains an eclectic collection, I found examples of folk most charming. They include embroidery, weavings and colorful costumes. Household utensils and musical instruments provide an introduction to life as it used to be.

The Spertus Museum displays its collections in an “open depot” style.

PHOTO: COURTESY SPERTUS MUSEUM

The Chicago History Museum is a great place to start your cultural journey.

PHOTO: COURTESY CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

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FAMILY TRAVEL SENIOR TRAVEL

ABOVE: The Jazz Club at the The Chicago History Museum is a favorite.

PHOTO: COURTESY CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

ABOVE, RIGHT: The Ukrainian National Museum of Chicago holds a charm for many.

PHOTO: COURTESY UKRAINIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CHICAGO

A personal favorite was a display of decorated Easter eggs, an important folk art. While the eggs have been meticulously painted in a variety of patterns, they typically include representations of the sun,stars and a rose.

The Spertus Museum is housed in a magnificent award-winning contemporary building that itself is worth a visit. It explores Jewish culture through samples of its collection that are imaginatively displayed on a series of floor-to-high-ceiling shelves.

This “open depot” arrangement resembles the vaults in which many museums store most of their

ment in America, and the life and legacy of Harold Washington, who served as the first African American mayor of Chicago (1983–1987). Special events include lectures, musical performances and film festivals.

Despite its variety, my itinerary merely scratched the surface of museum experiences available to visitors to Chicago. They also include collections devoted to Mexican, Lithuanian, Swedish and Greek cultures. Yet I came away with new-found knowledge of the city and of some of the people who make it a microcosm of our nation.

items, hidden from visitors. At Spertus, objects are placed in what appears to be an unorganized way, without labels, similar to how they might be kept out of sight in a museum when not available for viewing.

Most objects, like prayer shawls, an elaborately carved Torah ark and Kiddush cups used for the benediction of wine, have direct religious significance.

One area of shelves contains Holocaust material, much of it from concentration camps, and another holds items related to Jewish immigrants to Chicago.

Another institution that has special meaning today is the DuSable Museum of African American History. It is located in Hyde Park, the long-time home of President Barack Obama.

The collection is named for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a Haitian of African and French descent, who established a trading post in 1779 which evolved into a permanent settlement that later became known as Chicago.

Among stories related by the exhibits are an exploration of Africa region by region, the civil rights move-

An appealing aspect of a visit to Chicago is programs that are of particular assistance to seniors.

Chicago Greeters are knowledgeable volunteers who spend two to four hours guiding visitors on tours of neighborhoods and places of special interest. One- , three- and seven-day passes provide unlimited rides on the Chicago Transit System. All buses are equipped with lifts and ramps helpful to anyone who has trouble with steps.

For more information about visiting Chicago, call the Office of Tourism at 877-244-2246 or visit www.explorechicago.org.

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

Victor Block is an established, award-winning travel journalist whose work has appeared in a variety of major outlets for over a quarter-century. His specialties include off-beat travel, overseas destinations and seniors travel. He augments basic information with an introduction to the people, culture and essence of places he visits. He currently focuses on newspaper travel features. He is based in Washington, D.C., and can be reached at shayphred@aol.com.

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SPORTS & SIGHTS

New South Cities Blossom Into

SPORTS MECCAS WHAT MAKES THESE WONDERFUL LOCALES SO APPEALING?

By Dan Schlossberg

The twin beacons of the New South, the gleaming cities of Charlotte and Atlanta, combine past and present and point to an even brighter future.

Tied by background and proximity, Charlotte and Atlanta sit just 244 miles apart—about four hours by car if traffic allows.

Charlotte was settled first, by Thomas Polk (uncle of future President James K. Polk) in 1755. He built a home at the intersection of two trading paths that later became Trade and Tryon Streets, focal point of today’s Independence Square.

Residents of Charlotte, named for the German wife of British King George III, have always had an independent streak. Disdained by Cornwallis because of their open resentment of occupying British troops during the Revolutionary War, they earned the title “Hornet’s Nest” for their town—and Charlotte’s pro basketball team bears that name three centuries later.

The city survived the Revolution, the Civil War, and even the nation’s first gold rush, with cotton and transportation preceding banking and tourism as leading industries. The most successful survivor was the Charlotte Mint, created to process local gold 25 years before the Confederates seized it but standing today (in a different location) as the Mint Museum of Art. It is one of many museums in a surprisingly diverse downtown. Tops on the list is the Levine Museum of the New South, home of a centerpiece exhibit called “Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers.”

The Charlotte Museum of History covers a wider timespan and includes tours of a 1774 house that is the oldest surviving structure in town. Discovery Place, a Center City science museum with an IMAX theater and 300 exhibits, while the North Carolina Blumental Performing Arts Center features three separate venues, one of them a 2,100-seat theater.

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

Called the “Most Livable City” by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Charlotte is also deemed one of the “most walkable” by Prevention Magazine, which cited its climate, parks, and points of interest. They include the Victorian homes of the historic Fourth Ward, the art galleries of NoDa (short for North Davidson Street), the unique boutiques of Plaza Midwood, and the upscale SouthPark neighborhood, where a restaurant called M5 Modern Mediterranean blends Old World recipes with 21st century chic. Also not to be missed are the new-wave Zada Janes Corner Café and Lulu, which calls itself “the cure for the common menu.”

Visitors with lots of leg power but limited time should join Walk Charlotte, an escorted on-foot tour that starts at the Visitor Information Center in Center City. Another way to see the city is the two-yearold South Corridor light rail line, which runs antique streetcars on weekends. Both the line itself and the adjacent trolley museum are being expanded.

Charlotte has big-league football (Panthers) and basketball (Bobcats), minor-league hockey and baseball, college basketball tournaments, plus a plethora of additional spectator sports. A hotbed of hot rods, it hosts three major NASCAR races and serves as home of the NASCAR fast lane and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, slated to open in 2010.

The U.S. National Whitewater Center, a half-hour from downtown, features the world’s largest manmade whitewater river with Class III-IV rapids. An official Olympics training site, it offers amateur competitions for canoes and kayaks plus rafting, rock-climbing, biking, hiking, and even gastronomic adventures (i.e., fried pickles at its River’s Edge restaurant).

More water adventures await on Lake Norman, north

The U.S. National Whitewater Center just outside Charlotte features the world’s largest manmade whitewater river with Class III-IV rapids.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VISIT CHARLOTTE

The Georgia Aquarium is the world’s largest aquarium.

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SPORTS & SIGHTS

The Wachovia Championship is played at the Quail Hollow Club in the Charlotte area.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VISIT CHARLOTTE

of town, or Lake Wylie, to the south, while more than 80 golf courses are sprinkled throughout the area. Tiger Woods plays in the Wachovia Championship, staged at Quail Hollow Club since 2003, and future Tigers can perfect their game at the top-rated Dana Rader Golf School, located at Ballantyne Golf Resort.

The nation’s second-largest financial center, trailing only New York, Charlotte has given the world Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Billy Graham, Richard Petty and Clay Aiken. The six-county metropolitan area is home to 1.6 million residents and the nation’s fastest-growing airport.

Atlanta, not to be outdone, is home to the world’s busiest airport, serving 90 million passengers per year. It also has the world’s largest aquarium, the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, and more than 100 streets that include the name “Peachtree.”

That’s not surprising for a one-time Indian village called Standing Peachtree. Sold to white settlers in 1822, Atlanta had numerous different names before Georgia railroad engineer J. Edgar Thomson suggested “Atlantica-Pacifica,” soon shortened to its present form. Incorporated in 1847, Atlanta was a Confederate rail and supply center before Union forces torched it in 1864. That event was vividly portrayed in the 1939 film Gone With the Wind, based

on the Margaret Mitchell novel.

The Road to Tara Museum, in suburban Jonesboro, features paintings, photographs, and other memorabilia of the movie,which starred Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, while Mitchell’s Atlanta home is also a museum.

The true story of the Battle of Atlanta is best recounted at the Cyclorama, where a theater-in-theround accompanies artifacts from what locals call the War Between the States.

Much has happened since. Rebuilt to reflect a New South economy that pushed its agricultural heritage to the back seat, Atlanta now relies on tourism, transportation, and exposure to the world stage. The long-time capital of Georgia is home to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, and the soon-to-come Center for Human and Civil Rights.

Other Atlanta icons include the High Museum of Art, CNN Center, the Fernback Museum of Natural History, and the Center for Puppetry Arts.

During the last decade of the 20th century, the city hosted the Centennial Olympic Games and five World Series that involved the Atlanta Braves. During the first decade of the 21st, it opened the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, and the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.

Timeless attractions range from Stone Mountain, the world’s biggest hunk of exposed granite, to The Varsity, an 81-year-old greasy spoon that caters to everyone from local hero Andrew Young to students at nearby Georgia Tech. Order a “naked dog walking” and the fast-talking crew behind the counter will serve up a plain hot dog to go.

A visit to The Varsity is both a spectator and participation sport—Nipsey Russell started as a car-hop there—but it is one of many in Atlanta. The city has seven pro sports teams, including one in each of the Big Four, plus plenty of collegiate action. The 71,000seat Georgia Dome, regular home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, has also hosted Super Bowls, NCAA Final Four games, and Olympic events.

For many Atlanta visitors, golf is a passion. East Lake Golf Club, opened in 1904, is not only the city’s oldest but also its most famous. The original home course of golf legend Bobby Jones, East Lake has hosted nearly two-dozen championships. The nearby Charlie Yates course offers stunning views of the Atlanta skyline plus daily instructional classes for neighborhood schoolchildren.

In a city of neighborhoods, Buckhead is probably one of the most desirable. In addition to 1,400 retail stores and 90 art galleries, new hotels are rising more quickly than the phoenix that symbolizes the city’s recovery from Sherman’s torch. The 291-room W Atlanta-Buckhead, a sleek cylinder with proxim-

ity to the MARTA subway system, and the 150-room St. Regis, a 26-story tower, both are thriving after opening earlier this year.

Atlanta also appeals to the off-beat, with sports massages at the The Art of Touch, a midtown B&B lookalike, and New Orleans-style breakfasts at Parish, an Inmark eatery in a restored 890 pipe foundry building. Lunch gets an unusual twist at FLIP, a burger boutique offering “fine dining between two buns.” Its milkshake bar includes flavors that range from Krispy Kreme to foie de gras (which actually tastes good, despite its unlikely name).

Celebrity sightings are common. Elton John lives in Atlanta; Jimmy Carter attends Braves games; and Jane Fonda hasn’t left despite her divorce from Ted Turner. Famous faces, including Gladys Knight and Ashton Kutcher also appear at local restaurants they own. Former Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, an Alpharetta resident, is invariably polite to autograph seekers.

In fact, Southern hospitality is one tradition that has not disappeared into the dustbin of history.

That’s one of the main reasons a visit to the New South is still so appealing.

The Cyclorama in Atlanta houses a theater-in-theround that accompanies artifacts from what locals call the War Between the States.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ATLANTA CYCLORAMA

Former AP newsman Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is president emeritus of the North American Travel Journalists Association, travel editor of Sirius XM’s “Maggie Linton Show,” and author of 35 baseball books.

10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

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ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

Deep In The

HEART OF TEXAS A RENAISSANCE MYSTERY SOLVED

By Susan Jaques

In 2006, a young London curator visited the University of Texas’ art gallery to study its Genoese and Baroque paintings. That’s when Xavier Salomon first saw an unidentified portrait catalogued as Head of an Angel. “I thought it was a fragment of something larger, but I did not know what,” Salomon recalls. “What struck me at the time was its quality.”

The small image made a big impression. Last year, while researching Paolo Veronese’s Petrobelli Altarpiece for an exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Salomon had an “aha” moment worthy of Scotland Yard. In a flashback to Austin, he connected the angel he’d seen two years earlier with Veronese’s monumental altarpiece. The angel, as it turns out, is actually Saint Michael, the missing figure in the 16th century masterpiece.

Salomon’s stunning discovery solved a mystery that had baffled generations of historians. Saint Michael had vanished without a trace in the late 18th century after a Venetian art dealer carved up Veronese’s 16-foot-tall altarpiece and shipped it piecemeal to the highest bidders.

Though fragmentation was commonplace at the time, this particular crime sent shock waves through the art market. “…it will be sold just like meat in a butcher’s shop, poor Paolo, poor painting,” lamented one Scottish buyer. Eventually, three dismembered pieces found homes at the Dulwich, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Now, thanks to ace detective work, high tech art forensics and conservation, and serendipity, Veronese’s ill-treated masterpiece has been lovingly restored and reassembled. There’s a rare chance to see the reunited work in “Paolo Veronese: The Petrobelli Altarpiece, Reconstructing a Renaissance MasTRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

terpiece” at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, the show’s only U.S. venue.

Acting on Xavier Salomon’s hunch, Jonathan Bober, Blanton’s curator of prints, drawings and European paintings took the 16-inch by 12.5-inch portrait to Ottawa last spring where National Gallery of Canada’s chief conservator Stephen Gritt fired up the X-ray machine. “When we unwrapped the painting and put it close to ours, we could see it had the same DNA,” says Gritt. “Within an hour, we had proof in spades.”

An infrared image of Blanton’s fragment showed Veronese’s initial drawings, done in a charcoal-rich material over pale, chalk-based priming. On the left side, a drawing and painting of the edge of a column appeared. On the far right more evidence emerged— the plumb line for the painting’s vertical center and an adjacent vertical line through Saint Michael’s face dropped down from Christ’s reference lines.

Gritt’s team restored Saint Michael, removing old varnish and paint from a previous restoration and retouching his head, vibrant orange tunic and copper green sash.“It was in the best condition of all the fragments and one of the most beautiful bits of the painting,” says Gritt.“It’s not a workshop painting — we know it’s all Paolo.”

Ottawa already had extensive experience with the altarpiece. For decades, the top water damaged pieta, The Dead Christ Supported by Angels, lived in storage, buried in dirt, varnish and over paint. It took conservators nearly two years to clean the fragment, restore the arch, add a lining, and repair missing paint. Additions were purposefully executed to be clearly distinguishable from Veronese’s original paint.

The painstaking restoration offered an opportunity to clear up misconceptions about the fragment’s authorship. A technical study of the under drawing and

new caption

analysis of paint samples supported the conclusion that the fragment was the work of Veronese, not his assistants. “It was in really bad shape but with all of this, as we’re cleaning, there was a great deal of beauty,” says Gritt. We’re seeing it’s Paolo Veronese.”

Veronese became part of an artistic triumvirate in Venice that included Titian and Tintoretto. Unlike his rivals, Veronese’s corpus includes splendid frescoes at villas like Palladio-designed Villa Barbaro. According to Gritt, historians misjudged Veronese, interpreting his balanced compositions and courtly style as decorative. “We don’t have much information on Veronese’s personality and he didn’t try to stab anyone like Tintoretto,” says Gritt. “Historians gave Veronese the bronze medal on the podium of painting. “Titian is gold, but Veronese is definitely silver.”

Earlier scholarship connected Ottawa’s Pieta and the two large Edinburgh and Dulwich donor portraits as part of a grand Veronese altarpiece. Further research identified the finely-dressed donors as Girolamo and Antonio Petrobelli, wealthy landowners from northeast Italy who commissioned the altarpiece for their family burial chapel. In the complex, highly symbolic work, Veronese depicts his supplicant clients, their patron saints, and Christ with a supporting cast of angels and putti. But both the identity and whereabouts of the missing central figure remained a mystery.

Then in 1949, curators found a smoking gun—hidden beneath layers of paint. While restoring the Dulwich fragment, a museum conservator got more than he bargained for.

The cleaning exposed a lion on the bottom right, bright green drapery at

St. Jerome and Girolamo Petrobelli.

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ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

The Head of Saint Michael.

the left edge, and a floating dismembered hand holding a scale with a tiny human figure. “The lion identified the figure as Saint Jerome and the hand and scale suggested the missing figure might be Saint Michael weighing human souls,” says Salomon, Dulwich’s chief curator.

A decade later, the Saint Michael theory was confirmed when Edinburgh’s cleaned fragment, Antonio Petrobelli and Saint Anthony Abbot, suddenly sprouted the archangel’s wing, plus his arm and a spear. To make the donor fragments look like separate paintings, dealers had painted Saint Michael out.

With the four fragments reassembled in the Blanton Museum’s tall octagonal gallery, the Petrobelli Altarpiece is striking for its sheer scale and beauty. Over five centuries ago in a monastery church, set in a limestone frame above an altar, its impact on parishioners must have been profound. Even with a void for the archangel’s body, believed to have been either damaged or sacrificed when the altarpiece was cut, serene Saint Michael steals the show, holding the balance of good and evil.

Veronese’s staggering technique and vibrant color palette is on glorious display—from Saint Jerome’s crisp crimson and white robes to Girolamo Petrobelli’s salt and pepper beard and the fur lining on his elegant damask coat. Veronese’s unique palette included ultramarine and pale blues, silvery whites, pinks and oranges, lemon yellows, and the greens so admired by the Impressionists. “If you bought your red pigment in Naples it would have been cut several times, but the guys on the island (Venice) had

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

access to the best materials and biggest range,” says Gritt. “It isn’t just that Veronese can handle tints, it’s all about his modeling without shadows.”

How Veronese’s Head of Saint Michael wound up at a small university museum in Austin is almost as incredible as Xavier Salomon’s discovery. In 1994, Robert Manning, a Texan and the son-in-law of noted Austrian art historian William Suida, dropped by the Blanton unannounced. Recently widowed, Manning was looking for a permanent home for his family’s trove of 240 paintings and nearly 400 drawings, including works by Rubens, Poussin, Lorrain, Tiepolo, and three paintings by Veronese.

Where and when Manning’s father-in-law acquired the Head of Saint Michael is unknown, as is its provenance. According to Jonathan Bober, when Suida fled the Nazis in 1939, he hid the portrait with the rest of his collection in either Milan or Venice. In 1998, the Blanton acquired the Veronese fragment along with the entire Suida-Manning collection over giants like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Sotheby’s.

Also on view with the Petrobelli Altarpiece are four Veronese paintings drawn from the Blanton and the National Gallery of Canada. Though Veronese exercised good quality control over his workshop, the contrast between autograph works and knock offs is dramatic. “Veronese like Tintoretto relied upon his workshop more and more as he received lots of commissions,” says Bober.

In the Repentant Magdalene, likely commissioned for a high wall of a private chapel, Veronese purposefully elongated his subject’s neck and torso to make her proportions appear normal when viewed from below. “In autograph works like the Magdalene, Veronese modified the composition at each stage of the process,”says Gritt who did a technical study of the painting. The subtle colors of the Virgin and archangel Gabriel in a later autograph work, The Annunciation, illustrate Veronese’s shift to a more muted palette.

Before his death at the age of sixty, Veronese painted several very large paintings, including The Marriage at Cana and The Last Supper, which he renamed Feast in the House of Levi after getting into hot water with the Inquisition. But when it comes to altarpieces, Veronese’s earliest and last works, only two are larger than the Petrobelli — Transfiguration in Montagnana and Martyrdom of Saint Giustina in Padua. Veronese took a far more complex metaphysical approach to altarpieces than his Italian contemporaries, combining separate moments in time in completely plausible fashion.

Seeing the Petrobelli Altarpiece may really be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When the show closes next February 2010, the individual pieces will be disassembled and returned to their respective museums. “We always knew it was going to be a temporary exhibition for a very limited amount of time,” says art sleuth Xavier Salomon. “It would be impossible logistically to keep four paintings that belong to four different institutions in three different countries

and across two continents. Still, it will be very sad to see the pieces go.”

“Paolo Veronese: The Petrobelli Altarpiece, Reconstructing a Renaissance Masterpiece” runs through Feb. 7, 2010 at The Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, 200 East Martin Luther King Boulevard, (512) 471-7324, blantonmuseum.org. Tuesday to Friday 10-5, Saturday 11-5, Sunday 1-5 (open until 9 pm the third Thursday of the month)

IF YOU GO In addition to world-class music and art, Austin is a great food city. Whole Foods Market was founded here in 1980. Central Market is an epicurean institution. After a stop at the Blanton Museum, here are some memorable places to refuel: Tex Mex: The Screaming Goat is famous for its crispy “ahogada” flautas drowned in hot sauce and old house ambience (900 W 10th). With its self-serve salsa bar, hand-made corn tortillas and patio dining, Guero’s Taco Bar is a local favorite (1412 South Congress Avenue). El Zunzal cooks up unique dishes like banana-leaf-wrapped tamales and pollo frito en tajadas, fried chicken breast smothered in tangy sauce (642 Calles Street).

Barbecue: For barbeque purists, Iron Works BBQ offers traditional finger-licking ribs (100 Red River).

Lambert’s serves up meat with an Austin twist, local brewed beers, and live music in a historic downtown building (401 W. 2nd Street).

Sweets: It’s one of the toughest decisions you’ll have to make—key lime or Toll house pie at Quack’s 43rd Street Bakery. Whatever you do, don’t miss the éclairs (411 E. 43rd). There are five Austin Amy’s Ice Cream locations (including the airport) to try “Hot Apple Stuff,” a holiday tradition featuring Granny Smiths, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar or the Guinnessflavored ice-cream (1301 S. Congress Avenue, 3500 Guadalupe Street). At Veracruz All Natural’s modest trailer, two sisters whip up delicious milkshakes, smoothies and the best agua de sandia (sweetened watermelon juice) in town (2027 E. Cesar Chavez).

Susan Jaques is a Los Angeles-based travel writer specializing in the arts, cruises, and food and wine. Her articles have run in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Globe & Mail, Toronto Sun and Christian Science Monitor.

10.1 JAN.FEB / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE

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ssshhh... i’m trying not to listen Shut out the world, or at least your neighbor, with these excellent audio-technica QuietPoint® active noise-cancelling headphones. Compact and lightweight, they reduce background noise by 90 percent. They work with MP3, CD, DVD and in-flight entertainment systems. You can use them with or without the noise-cancelling function and they still work in passive mode without batteries. www.audio-technica.com

love those skins If you love items that marry form and function, this product is for you. The iSkin Solo FX SE fits over your iPod live a glove and the mirror screen film actually works (yes, you can put on lipstick and talk at the same time!). Choose clear, pink, or black. All screen films are touch compatible, and help guard against scratches, dust, and damage caused by everyday use. www.iskin.com

a mobile gorilla? say again?

Gorillapod flexible tripods by Joby are handy for photographers of all sorts.

But now they have the Gorillamobile. It’s a versatile mount for your mobile devices. The wrappable legs allow you to secure the Gorillamobile to virtually any surface so you can get into an optimal viewing, talking, or phototaking position in any environment! This gem works with mobile phones, GPS, video/MP3 players, cameras and pocket projectors. No more blurry photos from your iPhone! www.joby.com/gorillamobile TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB

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BOOK STORE Boston Baby: A Field Guide for Urban Parents

Baseball Bits

Kim Foley MacKinnon This diaper-sized volume is jam packed with valuable resources and information that all Boston parents need, with hot tips from parenting experts and essential details on museums, theaters, classes, and play spaces.

Price: $17.95 Available at: www.unionparkpress.com

Paris Revisited: The Guide for the Return Traveler Gary Lee Kraut A true insider's guide intended for those who enjoy fine informative travel writing, whether returning to Paris, looking to get it right the first time, or savoring Francophile fantasies from home.

Price: $18.95 Available at: www.amazon.com

The Best Stories, Facts, and Trivia from the Dugout to the Outfield

Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawaii: Her Epic Journey

Dan Schlossberg

Linda Ballou

Facts, stories, and anecdotes about legendary players and managers, teams and games to remember, and everything from spring training to winter dealing.

Casual fans and hardcore baseball buffs will enjoy.

Price: $14.95 Available at: www.baseballbits.com

Through the eyes of high chiefess, Wai-nani, experience the Hawaiian society as it existed when Captain Cook arrived at Kealakekua Bay in 1779.

Price: $17.95 Available at: www.lindaballouauthor.com

Horsing Around in New Jersey: The Horse Lover's Guide to Everything Equine

30 Bicycle Tours in New Jersey

Arline Zatz The first guidebook to everything equine in the Garden State, this book is for horse lovers— from the novice who yearns to go horseback riding but doesn't know how or where to begin, to the experienced equestrian seeking new trails, campsites, and challenges.

Price: $19.95 Available at: www.funtravels.com

Arline Zatz Discover the heart of the Garden State—its farmlands, beaches, pine barrens, lakes, and canals—by bicycle! Tours contain directions, detailed maps, and informative descriptions of the natural, cultural and historic features encountered along the way.

Price: $16.95 Available at: www.funtravels.com

Promote Your Book in the TravelWorld International Book Store!

Now you can promote your book in the TWI Book Store. Let fellow travelers and readers worldwide know what you’ve published.

To request rates, place your order or gather more information, contact: librarian@natja.org

TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE / 10.1 JAN.FEB