THE POLAR BEAR is outside my window. I'm standing on a ship's stateroom balcony-my balcony. He stands below me on a slab of sea ice so vast it looks like land. He's not close enough to touch, but he's close enough for me to watch his every move with no need for binoculars. He saunters, drops to rub his broad shoulder on the ice, and then splendidly rolls right onto his back, paws up in the air. As my ship slows to stillness here in the middle of the Iceland Sea, somewhere very north of the Arctic Circle and hundreds of miles from land, this vulnerable creature rolls back up on four legs, turns his dark brown eyes and snout toward me, and uses his keenest sense smell to assess. We're close enough, in other words, to suss each other out. He's unconcerned. To prove it he drops down for another casual back roll, lolling like a sultan. Eventually he moves on. So, quietly, does my ship.
I could never have imagined an encounter like this with Ursus maritimus, much less steps from my bed, before making an Arctic voyage aboard Le Commandant Charcot, a revolutionary new ship launched in 2021 by French cruise company Ponant. But I chose this-and two more sea journeys-to peer ahead into cruising's next great chapter after the crushing halt of the COVID-19 pandemic. I sought to explore new places, yes, but more so to explore how we might now see the world by ship differently. To look, as all sailors should, to the horizon.
THE NEW POLAR PLUNGE
Close encounters with wildlife and adventures like kayaking are served alongside Champagne-and a healthy measure of ice-aboard Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot. The ship charts varying routes into the Arctic in the North American summer (including the Northwest Passage and the geographic North Pole) and navigates the frozen realms of Antarctica in the winter. Prices vary by itinerary; us.ponant.com
この記事は Veranda の November - December 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Veranda の November - December 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Social Study
In the Chicago suburbs, a convivial family home is reimagined with intoxicating color, wild florals, and a sweeping two-story library-secret doors included.
Building DRAMA
IN A STORIED UPPER EAST SIDE APARTMENT, CHAIRISH COFOUNDER ANNA BROCKWAY TURNS UP THE HEAT WITH HIGH-VOLTAGE COLOR AND AN ULTRACHIC VINTAGE HAUL.
STORYTELLERS in Residence
Interior designer Stephanie Sabbe pens a new chapter for a Nashville author's guesthouse, creating a writer's cabin with muses stretching over centuries.
ELECTRIC REGENCY
Glamour, symmetry, and a bookish emerald study: In Richmond, Suzanne Kasler and Carter Skinner usher in a new era of bravado for so-called neutrals.
A Bold REWRITE
Designer Guy Oliver changes the narrative of a late 19th-century London townhouse to showcase exquisite art and literature and exude an ageless sense of comfort.
Handwriting HISTORY
WITH THE OPENING OF A NEW IMMERSIVE MUSEUM IN GERMANY, MONTBLANC CELEBRATES THE ART OF PENMANSHIP ACROSS TIME AND CULTURE.
ONCE UPON AN ODYSSEY
While sailing the Antarctic, a writer makes a thrilling discovery: an EXTRAORDINARY SHIP'S LIBRARY assembled with an explorer's heart.
The Drintmakers WORKSHOP
Venetian studio BOTTEGA DEL TINTORETTO conjures the creative spirit of its namesake Italian Renaissance painter, one hand-bound book at a time.
GOOD on PAPER
Using traditional Philippine techniques and recycled magazines and newsprint, Lori Weitzner champions the powers of page and plant with wallcoverings crafted entirely by hand.
Etched in TIME
Patek Philippe's new rose gold Retrograde Perpetual Calendar draws upon the sweeping scrolls, foliage, and volutes of a classic antique pocket watch.
