| Vancouver, streets shiny from an autumn rain, welcomed us with the sun sparking life into its snow-crested mountains and bestowing a flush on its red maples and golden aspens. Our hotel, Le Soleil also greeted us brightly. The sun is both their seal and their point of view. Decorated in the sun’s gold and crimson hues, they used the emblem of the Sun King (Louis the XIV) as their own, but their congenial and competent employees were not, merci dieu, little-merry-sunshines. Read more . . . Le Soleil, Vancouver, BC
"Gobsmacked!" exclaimed the man from Kew - he meant he was utterly astonished, Butchart was terrific! Later, he admitted he hadn't looked forward to this "floral Disneyland" of less than serious gardening. Mr. Ian Ross, the Butcharts' grandson and restorer of the gardens after the forced neglect of WWII was adamant that the gardens be for pleasure. And so they are: exuberant, colorful, lavish, and even theatrical. Read more . . . Butchart Gardens, BC
I watch the rain explode on my window and listen to "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" while I wait to see if I can book myself an early Christmas present—a lazy weekend of Caribbean warmth at The Ritz-Carlton in Cancun. Days later a warm and sensuous tropical night and the razzmatazz of the Christmas-bedecked Ritz magically dispel the storming north. Tiny white lights encircle dozens of palms and two twelve-foot-tall Christmas trees hung with angles and horns and drums salute my arrival. Read more . . . The Ritz Carlton, Cancun, Mexico
The mouth of the cave, swooped across by the occasional swallow, receded until it was just a light at the end of the tunnel. We’d become a flotilla of small lights scattered across a shiny black river and lead by a swimming black dog. Floating along, our headlamps pick up stalactites forming, drip by drip, off the ceiling. Every so often, a huge tree root had broken through and was heading for water. We ahhhh, but talk little. There was something awe-inspiring about flowing through a cathedral-sized cavern. Read more . . . Wind Star in Belize
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America 
