C O N T E N T S

Sleepless in L.A.
By Don George, Editor

Giving good gnocchi
A five-course seduction in Venice
By Linda Watanabe
McFerrin
- Books on Venice
- Getting there

Meeting Moses
on Mount Sinai
By Deb Fellner
- Getting there

D E P A R T M E N T S

Postmark: Lamu
God's Wake-up Call in Kenya
By Don Meredith

Passages:
On China's Yangtze:
"The River at the Center of the World"
By Simon Winchester

Table Talk
- Boycott Burma?

Salon Taste
Adventures in eating

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Your virtual travel agency

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E A R L I E R

Tuesday April 15

My Favorite Flick
By Don George, Editor
Las Vegas
By Cynthia Gorney
Postmark: Bangkok
By Steve Van Beek
Passages:
"Under the Tuscan Sun"
By Frances Mayes
Readers' Tips
and Tales

Browse a full list of all
Wanderlust articles

               B O O K S  O N   V E N I C E

DEATH IN VENICE AND OTHER STORIES

BY THOMAS MANN | lust for the strange and exotic -- "a kind of roving restlessness, a youthful craving of far-off places" -- lures novelist Gustav Aschenbach to Venice. But in the end, it is this lust that condemns him, turning his normally compliant behavior into obsessive passion. This is a tale about the darker side of Venice, of the squalor beneath the water, the deception within the confines of the city. German author Thomas Mann unravels the mystery of Aschenbach's fate slowly, dropping clues along the way but never enough for readers to know how it ends. Just as Venice's twisting alleyways and canals create the perfect setting for romance, Mann shows how that haunting city can be an equally fitting place for death.

THE WORLD OF VENICE

BY JAN MORRIS | uncovering the real Venice -- behind the buildings' facades and corridors -- is not easy, but Welsh writer Jan Morris does it with seamless grace, entwining history, artistic impressions and cultural traditions to evoke the Venice rarely seen. For example, on first glance the Venetians seem to be very pious, with churches decorating the streets on almost every turn; but in reality, Morris shows how insignificant a role religion plays in modern society. With her singular eye for the telling detail and her ear for just the right turn of phrase, Morris portrays the facial characteristics that set Venetians apart from other Italians, relates the hushed debate over whether St. Mark is really buried in the basilica of the same name and lyrically describes how Venice makes you feel when you try to leave it. Morris brings to life a new Venice, bound and blessed in a different light, a city intimately inviting and addictive.

THE PASSION