Geneva's Reformation is easier to understand through several different places than through a long list of dates. At Saint-Pierre, the subject is worship
A good museum day in Moscow leaves room for the city afterwards. Choose one main museum, give the visit a clear subject and plan a real
A day with a theatre ticket is easiest to plan backwards: confirm the stage and starting time, then make room for food, a short walk and
If Moscow allows time for one major art museum, choose according to what you want to see rather than the institution’s general fame. The Tretyakov
Choose Kolomenskoye for a historic architectural focus beside the river, Tsaritsyno for a palace-and-landscape outing, or Kuskovo for the order of a formal estate
Tokyo can be understood through things that usually need little attention: salt on a table, a sheet of paper, a watch on your wrist and the
A small stone beside a Tokyo bridge can explain something a monumental building does not: how people found one another, how food reached the city or
A Japanese garden becomes easier to enjoy when you stop treating it as a collection of objects to identify. You do not need to know every
A European-looking mansion in Tokyo is not an accidental piece of scenery borrowed from another country. Buildings such as Kyu-Iwasaki-tei, the Maeda residence,
Tokyo offers two very different connections with Hayao Miyazaki. The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka requires an advance plan, while the large mechanical clock at Nippon Television
Hachiko, Godzilla and Gundam reveal three different ways Tokyo creates recognisable images. Hachiko connects the story of a real dog with the everyday habit of meeting
Old Town offers a different rhythm from Chicago’s downtown towers. A church steeple rises above residential streets, a private row house carries a significant social
