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Two Good Reasons to Visit Paris Later this Year

Joan Miró’s first major one-man show in Paris was at the Gallery Pierre in 1925. The private viewing opened at midnight and quickly became legendary, both for the art on the walls and the guest list, which included the Surrealist Andre Breton. Miro’s whimsical works of his vivid imagination will be back on display this fall and winter in Paris, when the Grand Palais presents a retrospective of the great Catalan artist’s body of work. From October 3, 2018 to February 4, 2019, over 150 works coming from the greatest European and American museums, as well as from private collections, will pinpoint the milestones of his career. It’s the first retrospective of the artist since the Tate Modern show in 2010. If that’s not enough of a reason to get you on a flight to Paris, the same Grand Palais is offering a second exhibition this fall on the career of singer Michael Jackson. "Michael Jackson, Off the Wall," on view from November 23 to February 14, 2019, will mark the 10th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death and examine the contribution of the world’s most famous pop singer to the creative arts over the past 30 years. 

 

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Canada Week: Walk in the Footsteps of Canada’s Group of Seven Artists

Enter Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario and you can’t help be mesmerized by Canada’s source of artistic pride, the Group of Seven. These renowned landscape painters first exhibited together in 1920 at this same museum. Peering at the impressive mountains, lakes, and sky, I’ve often thought to myself that I’d love be at these exact spots in person. Over the years, some of my favorite stories have been following in the footsteps of artists, like visiting Winslow Homer’s Prouts Neck, Maine, or Georgia O’Keeffe’s Lake George. Now I’m hoping to get the chance to visit the landscape that inspired several of these Canadian greats, specifically A. Y. Jackson and Franklin Carmichael who used northeastern Ontario as their backdrop. First stop is Sudbury, where I’ll see many more works by these artists at the Art Gallery of Sudbury, and my first scenic overlook, the A. Y. Jackson Lookout outside of town. The highlight is Killarney Provincial Park where I’ll be hiking and paddling smack dab in the middle of a Carmichael canvas, ringed by the La Cloche Mountains. I’ll continue along the Georgian Bay coastal route, with a must-stop at Manitoulin Island before returning to Sudbury. 

 
Franklin Carmichael
Light and Shadow, 1937
Courtesy of the Art Gallery of Ontario 
 
 
 
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New Flights from Boston

If Vienna, Paris, and the Florida Keys are on your wish list, and you fly in and out of Boston’s Logan Airport, you’re in luck. Beginning in February, American Airlines will launch a direct flight from Boston to Key West. Austria Airlines will begin Boston’s first-ever direct flight to Vienna beginning March 29. And bargain European airline Level, which we flew last April to Barcelona, will add flights between Boston and Paris in May, with fares beginning at $140. Love those direct flights! 

 
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Favorite Fall Outings in New England, Biking Around the Basin Harbor Club, Vermont

The two weeks that surround Columbus Day is one of my favorite times of the year to be in New England. The temperatures are still reasonably warm, in the upper 60s during the day, and the leaves have changed color. Anywhere in Vermont will do nicely, thank you. But I love Addison Valley, known for its web of backroads ideally suited for road biking. The network of roads that branch off from the Basin Harbor Club are particularly enticing. Head south on Button Bay Road to Arnold Bay Road and you get exquisite vistas of Lake Champlain, with the Adirondacks standing tall in the backdrop. Venture onto Basin Harbor Road, turning right on Jersey Street, and the smell of manure is wafting in the air as you pass numerous dairy farms, eventually arriving at the Panton General Store. Continue on Panton Road and you see the backbone of the Green Mountains. This fertile valley was meant to be seen on two wheels at a reduced speed, especially during fall foliage. 

 
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Mashpi Lodge to Debut in Andean Rainforest in April 2012

Looking to combine that trip to the Galapagos with an immersion into the Ecuadorean rainforest? A 2 ½-hour drive northwest of Quito will bring you to the slopes of the Andes and a new upscale green resort called Mashpi Lodge, ready to be unveiled in April. Smack dab in the middle of the 3,000-acre Mashpi Rainforest Biodiversity Reserve, you’ll leave each morning to go on guided hikes to secret waterfalls through a rainforest overflowing with ferns, bromeliads, and hundreds of orchids. A mind-boggling 500 species of birds inhabit the forest, including hummingbirds and those multi-hued toucans. Also expect to see monkeys, the pig-like peccaries, even pumas, especially aboard their aerial tram that glides above the rainfortest canopy. Back at the lodge, you can refresh yourself in a Jacuzzi or opt for a massage. Many of the herbs found in the meals are indigenous to the local rainforest. The lodge is owned by South American travel company, Metropolitan Touring, who also just opened a 31-bedroom boutique hotel, Casa Gangotena, in a restored mansion overlooking Plaza San Francisco in Quito. 
 
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Driving to Columbia River Gorge and Mount Hood

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

With expert local advice, we set our GPS for Vista House in Corbett for long vista views along the river. Then we followed the Old Historic Columbia River Hwy to Latourell Falls, Multnomah Falls, and, eventually, to Cascade Locks for brunch. We met friends at the very local Bridgeside Restaurant and had a yummy salmon chowder. The Bridge of the Gods is right there, but we didn’t go over it. We also missed the Bonneville Dam with apparently very interesting salmon and sturgeon viewing. Instead, off to Hood River we went, then up to Mt. Hood and the historic Timberline Lodge for drinks and handcrafted ales while watching the skiers, in mid-May. Life is rough! Rising 11,239 feet (3,426 meters), Mt. Hood is the highest peak in Oregon, and the second most climbed mountain in the world. At the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the mountain was an active volcano and is now considered “sleeping.” I had been to Portland before, but to truly appreciate Oregon, you have to leave the city limits. 

 

 

 
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New Jersey Woman First Female to Paddle 740-Mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail Solo

This past Monday, Cathy Mumford of Colts Neck, New Jersey, became the first woman to paddle the entire Northern Forest Canoe Trail solo. The 50-year old mother of two started at Old Forge, New York, on June 19th, and finished her trip in Fort Kent, Maine, at the northern terminus of the 740-mile route. She paddled across Lake Champlain on her 50th birthday, made several wrong turns on the route to add to the mileage, yet still achieved her goal of completing this Appalachian Trail of the water in her trusty 9-foot kayak. And she only started kayaking several years ago in Tennessee. Talk about a quick learner!
 

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