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Travel

The University of Michigan's 350-acre Matthaei Botanical Gardens includes nature trails and a conservatory.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Homestead, Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst, Massachusetts. With The Evergreens, built by Emily’s father for her brother and his wife, the two houses comprise The Emily Dickinson Museum.

Amherst, Massachusetts

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Inside Cape Town

Tourists are flocking to the city, but a former resident explains how the legacy of apartheid lingers

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Points of Interest

Notable American Destinations and Happenings

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Urbane Renewal

Claire Messud, the best-selling author of The Emperor’s Children, discovers the grown-up pleasures of her adolescent playground

Bangkok's Songkran New Year festival washes away bad luck

Highlights and Hotspots

Celebrations, ceremonies and competitions sure to delight even the most seasoned traveler

Doors to the Hall of Middle Harmony have nine rows of nine knobs because the number nine is prized in Chinese numerology

Forbidden No More

As Beijing gets ready to host its first Olympics, a veteran journalist returns to its once-restricted palace complex

Tradition and change coalesce (young monks at a religious festival sport trendy shades, masks and a swastika—for Buddhists, a symbol of good fortune) in the remote, majestic country its citizens call Druk Yul or "Land of the Thunder Dragon."

The Changing Face of Bhutan

As the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom cautiously opens itself to the world, traditionalists fear for its unique culture

With their reputed healing powers, Japan's onsen, or volcanic hot springs, have attracted the weary since the days of the samurai

Springs Eternal

In rural Japan, stressed workers and tourists seek geothermal ease

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Rebel with a Cause

Where thousands of soldiers ferried supplies toward the front, a new road swings through Quang Tri Province

Revolutionary Road

Efforts to turn Ho Chi Minh Trail into a major highway have uncovered battle scars from the past

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Discover one of the country’s oldest winter festivals—Saranac’s Winter Carnival

Sunrise lit Landscape Arch in Arches National Park.

Points of Interest

This month’s guide to notable American destinations and happenings

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Snapshot: Adelaide, South Australia

Down Under’s unofficial capital of food and drink

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Everest Pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary Dies

Take a look back at the 50th anniversary of his ascent of Mount Everest

The massive neoclassical market is divided into rows of icy seafood stalls and, in the attached building, kiosks filled with cuts of meat and butcher blocks.

Snapshot: Athens Central Market

More than 30,000 people mingle every day at Dimotiki Agora, the city’s busiest markets

Mount Kilimanjaro

Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro

A trek up the world’s tallest freestanding mountain takes you through five different ecosystems and offers a stunning 19,340-foot view

Antarctica

The Wild Extremes of Antarctica

The coldest and windiest place on Earth is still largely undiscovered

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon in All Its Glory

No matter how many times you’ve seen it, visiting the canyon never fails to take your breath away

Galápagos Islands

The Beautiful and Bizarre Galapagos Islands

Evolution disciples and the merely curious can experience conspicuously adapted wildlife off the coast of Ecuador

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