The gallery is small but intense with verdant landscapes and seascapes adorning the walls.  Florida scenes with palm trees and moonlit waves; island landscapes with flaming red royal poinciana trees and brilliant blue skies; delicate hibiscus flowers blooming right before your eyes—the natural and botanical subject matter reflect the painter's unending desire to study his surrounding environment. Named for the eminent landscape artist, “Beanie” or “Bean” Backus, the Backus Gallery showcases his prolific body of work.  The museum also features paintings by the “Highwaymen," a group of local African-American artists. Typical south Florida days—and the magnificent play of light in the subtropics—become extraordinary events on the canvases of these artists.

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Like most of Red Square, the State Historical Museum is bright and beautiful in its 19th-century Victorian sentiments. Its beauty, however, is not only on the outside, as long as you possess an inquiring mind and can respect the vast achievements of a culture long misunderstood. Once inside, you'll be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Russian history jumping out at you in this sanctuary of learning—over four million objects are housed here—including prehistoric and ancient indigenous artifacts, coin collections, folk creations, clothing and jewelry (including Catherine the Great's shoes), pages and pages of original manuscripts (some over 1500 years old), a reconstructed 1950s Soviet-era living room, and a rotating program of special exhibitions.

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The war is all over the city. Caked onto the sides of subway cars, bathroom stalls, park benches, and apartment complexes. Paint on paint crime — old tags, conquered by new ones. Victims of a word war waged far from the confines of college-rule composition booklets. Still, somehow you’ve stumbled into the ceasefire. Moderating muralists Tats Cru organize a reworking of the graffiti treaty every year. Air isn’t always an enemy of fine art. Sharp gusts cut between buildings on the east side of Harlem world, whipping their way through the corner of 106 & Park Avenue and over the wall into the Graffiti Hall of Fame. Where you watch the peace, hidden in plain sight.

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While many host street festivals, none are so merry as the yearly bash on Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard. During this all-day affair, the hippest street in Venice closes to automobiles and welcomes visitors from all over the greater metropolis. Vintage clothing and handmade jewelry booths lines the streets while five music stages jam all day long with rotating bands. Snack on a homemade ice cream and cookie sandwich while browsing wares or, if you are less consumer inclined, practice your hoola hooping, admire the local art, or show up simply for the people watching. You’ll be endlessly entertained by the parade of bleached-out surfers, dogs in boots sporting bizarre haircuts, and children in silver lamé capes. In one day, the AKFest is everything there is to love about Venice: happy-go-lucky, raucous, and unlike anything else you’ve ever seen.

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Tucked in amidst the tanks and cannons of Moscow's giant Victory Park, is a striking sculpture that serves as a memorial to the Holocaust. A line of tall, gaunt victims struck down into oblivion are portrayed behind a memorial plaque. On a gray day when the crowds in the park are few, the statue seems to emanate passionate urges of remembrance and the beholder is struck with the great sense of loss and pain caused by this horrific series of events. While somber, the memorial is beautiful in its commitment to never forget those who suffered and hopeful in its proclamations of peace.

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When you visit National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, don’t be alarmed to see stealthy figures murmuring into the black and white marble floor tiles on the west side of the chamber. They’re not potential security threats— just in on an acoustical anomaly in the room which allows conversation inaudible to close bystanders to be reflected along the surface of the elliptical ceiling and clearly heard on the opposite side of the great hall. For every crouching whisperer, there exists a receiver wearing a "gee whiz" expression in a corresponding spot to the east. John Quincy Adams was in on it too—long before Watergate, when this chamber was the Old Hall of the House, he “bugged” his Freemason, Nullifier, and Democratic adversaries across the aisle by moving his desk to a strategic focal point on the House floor. A brass plate marks the spot.

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Exaggerated and bold with a hint of whimsy, the Encore Wynn's modern steakhouse, Botero, boasts views and dishes as voluptuous as the work of the restaurant's namesake. As you dine in the shadow of dozens of Botero's vibrant original paintings and bulbous sculptures, you'll feel an overwhelming desire to order in excess. Wise decision. Juicy, exquisitely seasoned steaks, lamb, and lobster are Chef Marc LoRusso's specialty. Fueled up and a few mandarin lychee martinis deep, it's smart to skip dessert, take the check (also robust), and walk a few feet over to Vegas' most elaborate nightclub, XS, to dance into the desert sunrise. Thank you, Steve Wynn. Thank you.

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High on a breezy ridge among banana groves, less than fifteen minutes by taxi from Cape Coast Castle, one of Ghana’s most accomplished craftswomen produces cloth for international fair-trade customers—Global Mamas and Choolips. You can join Julie for a half-day workshop and choose from a range of traditional Adinkra symbols and modern motifs to create your own, hand-made work of art. Learn how to press the design stamp into the cloth and lift it to reveal a perfect wax imprint. And if you should decide to transform your masterpiece into a made-to-measure outfit at one of Cape Coast’s many seamstresses, be warned: designing and creating your own wearable work of art is addictive.

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Imagine a place where you can hug a polar bear, watch commercials from all over the world, see bottles being made and packaged, and feel that cool refreshing liquid you love tingle your throat. All of these things are available to you at the World of Coca-cola. You can also taste the weird, the nasty, and the wow in the tasting room. You’ll see how truly international this American soft drink company is. To top it all off, every visitor to the World of Coca-Cola gets a free 8 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola to take home.

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