Colors of Quebec

BY ALAN SOLOMON CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LA AIE, Quebec — For a fall color experience, there can’t be many places as glorious as this. We’re talking leaves of the appropriately brilliant hues here, of course. Mountains, lakes, villages, inns and art. A great, scenic river, plus people who speak and cook and celebrate life in fluent Quebecois. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Whether gardens or shops, enjoy Montreal inside out

BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER TRAVEL ARTS SYNDICATE

MONTREAL — As dusk falls over the Montreal Botanical Garden, a serpentine string of lanterns leads to an enchanting realm of beautiful maidens, warriors, gods and dragons. Temples with flaring rooflines outlined in small, white lights are reflected in a pond that merges reality and dream. From inside one of the temples, the sweet, mournful sound of an ancient stringed instrument evokes longing for beautiful, lost things. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

New York and Paris on a whim

BY SHARYN BETZ LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

The dollar was weak, gasoline was expensive, and all the economic indicators screamed “stay home” this summer. But I’d been invited to spend a week at a villa in Tuscany. The room was free, the company delightful and the Delta Air Lines ticket I’d obtained was reasonably priced. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

TRAVEL IN EUROPE : Getting all of Istanbul in a camera frame is not easy

RICK STEVES

ISTANBUL — Staring into a TV camera, I say, “Istanbul is one of the world’s great cities, period. For thousands of years, this point, where East meets West, has been the crossroads of civilizations. Few places on earth have seen more history than this sprawling metropolis on the Bosphorus.” It’s the last day of a week devoted to producing a TV show on Istanbul, and we need a grand spot for the show’s opening. We had a reasonable vista from the Galata Bridge, but it just showed charming old fishermen and tour boats. I want to somehow capture the historic crossroads and contemporary might of this city. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Brussels to restore shabby downtown

BY ROBERT WIELAARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS, Belgium — In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels penned their “Communist Manifesto” — “a specter is haunting Europe, the specter of communism” — in a cabaret overlooking Brussels’ spectacular Grand-Place. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

‘Sweet Tea’ art stirs West, South

BY JUANITA COUSINS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — An elegant museum in Cartersville’s modest downtown has become a surprising sanctuary for Western art collectors. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Airlines reluctant to end free drink

BY LOUIS R. CARLOZO CHICAGO TRIBUNE

One by one, the nation’s airlines have snatched back freebies that fliers once took for granted — baggage checks, meals. (Whoever thought there would come a day when we would miss airline food?) But one service remains relatively unscathed: the complimentary beverage. So why haven’t the airlines zapped this perk with the same miserly zeal? - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Rich travel: Do more, spend less

BY JEREMY SCHMIDT UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE

For college students on the loose, it was nirvana. In 1970, I spent most of a summer roaming western America with four friends. We had an old station wagon, backpacks, climbing gear, a few guidebooks and not much money. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

CONSUMER TRAVEL : Big airlines that file bankruptcy often keep flying

ED PERKINS

What do you do if your airline goes bankrupt? I hear this question a lot lately, and if some big-name financial gurus are right, we’ll all be hearing it more often in the future. Despite widespread attention in the press, however, lots of consumers still seem to think that bankruptcy means total shutdown and failure. It doesn’t, and two recent examples graphically illustrate the difference. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

British garden flies visitors to treetops

BY RAPHAEL G. SATTER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Cutting through the canopy some 60 feet high, Kew Gardens’ new XStrata Treetop Walkway gives nature lovers a look at a part of the forest that’s seldom seen — a view from the top. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Vigilance on cruises a must, warns author

BY JAY CLARKE THE MIAMI HERALD

You’re off on a longdreamed-of vacation, a cruise to sunny Caribbean islands. You’re on a big cruise liner with a couple of thousand other passengers. There are doctors and nurses on board, locks on your stateroom door, lots of public spaces, and ship personnel at your beck and call. Safety isn’t something to worry about. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Artist’s awful Vermeers duped Nazi, others

BY MANUELA HOELTERHOFF BLOOMBERG NEWS

The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century, by Edward Dolnick, Harper, 368 pages, $26.95. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Life comes full circle for author Russo

BY KIM ODE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

CAMDEN, Maine — Earlier this year, Richard Russo bought an apartment in Boston. Flying to book events and to visit a daughter in London have made him a regular at Logan International, four hours from his rambling home overlooking Penobscot Bay. This way, he can catch a decent night’s sleep before heading up the coast. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Ideas motivate Cheney, not power, book says

BY TIM RUTTEN LOS ANGELES TIMES

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, by Barton Gellman, The Penguin Press, 484 pages, $27.95. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

Cold in Hand rewarms English detective Inspector Rebus

BY PATRICK ANDERSON THE WASHINGTON POST

Cold in Hand, by John Harvey, Harcourt, 376 pages, $26. - Sunday, October 5, 2008

BEST-SELLERS

Fiction 1. THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, by David Wroblewski. A mute takes refuge with three dogs in the Wisconsin woods after his father is murdered. 2. THE OTHER QUEEN, by Philippa Gregory. The story of Mary, Queen of Scots, in captivity under Queen Elizabeth. 3. FAEFEEVER, by Karen Marie Moning. MacKayla is caught in the middle as the faes battle it out in Dublin; the third part of the Fever series. 4. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson. A hacker and a journalist help a wealthy octogenarian investigate his niece’s disappearance 40 years ago; the first part of a trilogy by the late Swedish journalist. 5. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. After World War II, a journalist travels to the island of Guernsey to meet residents who resisted the Nazi occupation. 6. THE BOOK OF LIES, by Brad Meitzer. The murder of the father of Superman’s creator, Jerry Siegel, is linked to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. 7. THE HOST, by Stephenie Meyer. Alie - Sunday, October 5, 2008