Photograph by Puneet K. Paliwal

The Power & The Glory

Rome was always on my wishlist, so it had to happen. And it happened—unplanned and overnight—and I went along. We fell in love with each other at first sight, of course. So I soaked it all in ambling through its cobbled streets, lined liberally with marvels of history, art and culture. It was like walking through the pages of a history book; and I was amazed at just how well-preserved its well-worn pages were. On its cover was the Colosseum—a place that had witnessed the rise and fall of empires; a playground of human strength, valour, brutality and treachery. And now, the structure seemed to carry a certain hollowness and the burden of it all. I paid homage to it by buying a 3D replica in marble dust for € 2—one for myself and many for my friends. 

Runu Saxena

Siteseeing

gayot.com

Gayot (guy-OH) started in 1969 as a restaurant guide and has evolved today into a fairly useful resource for the traveller, particularly the traveller who likes to eat. It was begun by André Gayot, one of the people to coin the term ‘nouvelle cuisine’ in the early 1970s. Since then Gayot guides have directed readers to the best restaurants, hotels, shops and attractions—first in the United States and now across the world. The outfit has come to be considered an authority and the website, which was started in 2002, is a logical extension of its work. Gayot is a huge umbrella website today: it covers hotels, wine, spas, movies, automobiles, cookbooks, fashion, aviation and contemporary culture.

Its travel section still leans heavily towards travel in and out of the US but it is nevertheless informative to the international traveller and certainly entertains the armchair traveller. See their top ten lists on the most extreme hotels of the world or what hunting grounds are best if you’re into celebrity spotting or the best diving hotels in the world. Or even the best travel gifts, the best cruises, events or deals. The website is a sprawled-out mass of interconnected links but browse on!

Sheetal Vyas