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Found Art
Found Art

A STRETCH

ESTABLISHED IN 1680 under the Dutch name De Leuwen Jagt, or “the lion hunt,” the 327-year-old Seidelberg Wine Estate sits on several acres outside Cape Town, South Africa, with a panoramic view of Table Mountain. Producers of award-winning wines and a popular destination for weddings, the estate vineyards are gazed upon by Seidelberg’s stretching woman (pictured), basking in the sun at first light. In addition to winemaking and grape growing, the estate has an Artist’s Studio Lounge and Bronze Casting Studio Gallery, featuring the work of local and national artists.

-LAURA BYRD

 

 

FLIGHTS BEFORE FLIGHTS

WANDERING AROUND in an airport can be mind-numbing. Food courts and dutyfree shopping lose appeal quickly. San Francisco–based Taste Inc. sought to bring a new aesthetic to airports with Vino Volo (Italian for “wine flight”). Upscale wine lounges with leather chairs and sumptuous décor serve small pours of wine by the glass, artisan cheeses, smoked meats, salmon, crab and crème fraîche. Vino Volo’s goal is to give the traveler a new airport experience—with interactive wine tastings and gourmet food pairings. “Tasting Flights” consist of three glasses of wine ($6 to $14); a more expensive “Sommelier Series” is also available.

A boutique retail area sells bottles of wines from around the world. Vino Volo lounges are near gates within the screening area where liquids can be carried on board.

Since the first opening, September 2005 in Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International, four more lounges have appeared, in Baltimore-Washington International, John F. Kennedy International, Seattle-Tacoma International and Sacramento International airports. Additional locations are planned over the next five years.

-LAURA BYRD

 

 

THE SCAMPER TO PAMPER

FLYING FIRST CLASS? Great, but who’s going to pamper you before you board your international flight? Opportunities abound aground.

Since December 2004, Lufthansa passengers traveling through Frankfurt, Germany, have had the pleasure of visiting the airline’s 19,000-square-foot, first-class terminal and lounge. It offers the services of a personal assistant, a cigar lounge, bubble baths and the ultimate in transportation from terminal to takeoff: a chauffeur-driven Porsche or Mercedes-Benz.

In the United Kingdom, Virgin Atlantic has a two-story Clubhouse at London’s Heathrow Airport. Patterned after members-only Soho House, the flagship Clubhouse offers a full menu of services— from beauty and spa treatments (including tanning beds and spray tanning, manicures, pedicures, saunas and a spa pool) to fine dining, film screenings and cocktail lounges.

A newly reopened Clubhouse at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport features two sunken lounges, sundeck and a high-tech Welcome System, designed to provide passengers with easily accessible flight information. In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific’s The Wing is a 43,000-square-foot lounge with noodle bar, GameZone with PlayStation2, and a luxury shower-bed-and-bath facility called The Cabañas.

In the United States, there are Clubhouses in New York, Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

-CHRISTINA ORLOVSKY

 

 

THE NEW SEVEN

OF THE ORIGINAL Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, determined by Greek scholars, only the Great Pyramid of Giza has stood the test of time. Enter the New Seven Wonders, chosen by a global multimedia tally of nearly 100 million votes: India’s Taj Majal (pictured); Rio de Janiero’s Christ the Redeemer; Rome’s Colosseum; Peru’s Machu Picchu; the Great Wall of China; Jordan’s Petra; and Mexico’s Chichen Itza.

-CHRISTINA ORLOVSKY