WHAT YOU WILL SEE:

Geneva, Switzerland
Small metropolis surrounded by unspoiled nature and breathtaking scenery. It r ests on the southwestern tip of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), with an idyllic setting on one of the biggest alpine lakes and within view of the pinnacle of Mont Blanc. On its limits lie magnificent country estates, hidden behind ancient stands of oak, and, to the north, peaceful villages, and home of fruity Perlan wines. Capital of Peace is one of its names - the European headquarters of the United Nations is located here. Another well-deserved name for this city with a humanitarian tradition, international organizations and cosmopolitan flair, is The World's Smallest Metropolis. Quays, lakeside promenades, parks, elegant stores and lively streets and alleyways in the old part of town wait to be discovered. Boat trips beckon on the lake and the Rhone River. The Alps seem close enough to touch. Geneva is the cosmopolitan, graceful soul of Switzerland's French-speaking territory, a high-profile crossroads of wealth, influence, and cultures from around the world. The combination of Swiss efficiency and French savoir-faire gives Geneva a chic polish, and it is home to some of the world's most luxurious and exclusive stores and extravagant restaurants. Filled with parks and promenades, the city becomes a virtual garden in summer.

Milan, Italy
Milan is Italy's window on Europe, its most sophisticated and high-tech metropolis. In the 1700s, the Habsburgs dominated Milan, a legacy that left it with scores of neoclassical buildings in its inner core and an abiding appreciation for music and work. Milan also boasts La Scala, one of Europe's most prestigious opera houses, and a major commercial university (the alma mater of most of Italy's corporate presidents). In addition, it's the site of several world-renowned annual trade fairs. Milan is one of Europe's top shopping cities, with an incredible concentration of sophisticated, high style boutiques -- and that's only fitting because Milan is the dynamo of the Italian fashion industry. Dolce & Gabbana, Ferré, Krizia, Moschino, Prada, Armani, and Versace have all catapulted to international stardom from design studios based here. Milan is all about worldly pleasures. Shopping is of almost religious significance. Theatre and cinema flourish in this fashionable milieu, as does a hopping club scene and a slew of tempting restaurants.

Venice, Italy
With sumptuous palaces and romantic waterways, Venice is straight out of an 18th-century Canaletto masterpiece. Venice is called La Serenissima (the "most serene"), a reference to the monstrous power, majesty, and wisdom of this city that was for centuries the unrivaled mistress of trade between Europe and the Orient and the bulwark of Christendom against the tides of Turkish expansion. The most serene also refers to the way in which those visiting have looked upon Venice, a miraculous city imperturbably floating on its calm, blue lagoon. It is a preposterous monument to both the folly and the obstinacy of humankind. It shouldn't exist, but it does, much to the delight of thousands of visitors, gondoliers, lace makers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, and glass blowers.Venice is unlike any other town. No matter how many times you have seen it in movies or TV commercials, the real thing is more surreal and dreamlike than you ever imagined. Its landmarks, the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, seem hardly Italian: delightfully idiosyncratic, they are exotic mélanges of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles. Sunlight shimmers and silvery mist softens every perspective here, a city renowned in the Renaissance for its artists' rendering of color. It is full of secrets, ineffably romantic, and -- at times -- given over entirely to pleasure. You must walk everywhere in Venice and where you cannot walk, you go by water. Occasionally, from fall to spring, you have to walk in water, when extraordinarily high tides known as acqua alta invade the lower parts of the city, flooding Piazza San Marco for a few hours. Centuries ago, in an effort to flee barbarians, Venetians left dry-dock and drifted out to a flotilla of "uninhabitable" islands in the lagoon. Survival was difficult enough, but no Venetian has ever settled for mere survival. The remote ancestors of the present inhabitants created the world's most beautiful city. To your children's children, however, Venice might be nothing more than a legend. The city is sinking at an alarming rate of about 2 1/2 inches per decade, and at the same time, the damp climate, mold, and pollution here are contributing to the city's decay. Estimates are that, if no action is taken soon, one-third of the city's art will deteriorate hopelessly within the next decade or so.