Travel

NYC 'Top Chef' walking tour offers food fun even if you've never seen the show
NEW YORK - Why take a walking tour inspired by a cable series you've never seen? If the series is Bravo's "Top Chef," then the tour will be about cooking and food. And that's something most people can relate to.
      

Venture off the slopes and into Vancouver when Olympic fatigue hits
VANCOUVER, B.C. - After enduring the inevitable lineups at customs, sporting events and various party zones, even the most flag-waving, cheer-shouting, mascot-hugging Winter Olympics fan might succumb to Games fatigue. So, if the vortex of anthems, medals and ubiquitous sponsorship ads leaves you seeing nothing but Olympic rings, step outside and take a deep refreshing breath of Vancouver air.
      

Town in Quebec's Eastern Townships has high concentration of artists
HAMILTON, Ont. - Your chances of bumping into an artist are probably higher in West Bolton, Que., than anywhere else in Canada. The tiny community in Quebec's scenic Eastern Townships is the only municipality in the country with over 10 per cent of its labour force engaged in arts occupations, according to a new study by Hill Strategies Research.
      

Socially charged works by Kenyan-born artist to be exhibited at AGO
TORONTO - The Kenyan-born, New York-based artist Wangechi Mutu is known for socially charged works that explore female and cultural identity. Her first solo exhibition at a major North American museum will be staged at the Art Gallery of Ontario from Feb. 24 to May 23.
      

Cape May, N.J., translates coupon booklet into French for Quebec visitors
CAPE MAY, N.J. - Cape May County, at the southern tip of New Jersey, has put out the welcome mat for Quebecers for decades. "Many in the Quebec market are very, very loyal to us," says Diane Wieland, Cape May's director of tourism. "They come for the warm ocean beaches."
      

Masked merrymaking, costumes, confetti and sweets mean 'Carnevale'
VENICE, Italy - Masked merrymakers are cavorting in Venice to mark the start of Carnival. The canal-laced city's pre-Lenten festivities are Italy's most popular. Venetian souvenir shops are crammed year-round with colourful, delicate masks, but "Carnevale" is the time to put them on.
      

Travel industry officials say new flights to Alaska this summer may lower fares
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Travel industry officials say more airline flights to Alaska this summer may boost competition and result in lower fares to some Lower 48 cities. The Anchorage Daily News says Continental, United and US Airways all plan to add daily nonstop service between Anchorage and Portland, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
      

Lookout deck of World's tallest tower in Dubai unexpectedly shuts 1 month after opening
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Tourists headed for the observation deck of the world's tallest tower were left disappointed and confused Monday after the owner of Dubai's Burj Khalifa unexpectedly cut off public access to the building because of electrical problems. A lack of information from the building's owner made it unclear whether the rest of the largely empty building, including the dozens of elevators meant to whisk visitors to the tower's more than 160 floors, was affected by the shutdown that began Sunday.
      

Tourists make last-minute museum, monument trips around Washington before heavy snow
WASHINGTON - Tourists are making last-minute trips to Washington's monuments and museums before they likely get snowed in. Small groups walked up slick steps of the Lincoln Memorial Friday, and a handful of people stopped by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the World War II Memorial.
      

Monster storm heads up Atlantic seaboard, threatening to paralyze D.C.
WASHINGTON - A snowstorm dubbed "Snowmageddon" - not just major, but historically major - was pounding the U.S. capital on Friday, threatening to dump 65 centimetres or more on a region that rarely gets more than a few dustings a year. The storm was in contention to break a record for the D.C. region, set in 1922 when a blizzard blew in from the Atlantic and crippled the city with a whopping 71 centimetres of snow. By way of comparison, the storm that paralyzed D.C. in December - nicknamed "Snowpocalypse" by the Washington Post - was measly by comparison, leaving just 40 centimetres in its wake.
      

Aspen making effort to shed snootiness, be friendlier to tourists
ASPEN, Colo. - Find this ritzy ski resort a little snobby? Aspenites are working on it. A city tourism initiative announced this week seeks to shake off Aspen's unfriendly reputation, according to the Aspen Daily News. The "Adopt a Tourist" promotion has city officials asking residents to volunteer to play host for visiting tourists.
      

Tips for booking hostels online (they're not just for young travellers anymore)
Dictionaries typically define hostels as inexpensive lodging, usually for young travellers. But Hostelworld.com, a website where travellers can book a hostel stay, is trying to change that definition. As a spokeswoman for Hostelworld.com, Aisling White has written to dictionaries in the United States and Europe asking them to redefine hostels as inexpensive lodging for people of all ages.
      

Looking for an offbeat winter vacation trip? Laugh, eat in Traverse City, Mich.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Here's a prescription for curing those midwinter blues: Forget jetting off to Florida or the Caribbean. Instead, spend a long weekend in snowbound, frostbitten northern Michigan. Don't laugh. Well, actually, do laugh - a lot. That's the point. The inaugural Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival is scheduled for Feb. 19-21, organized by a couple of celebrities with local ties: filmmaker and political gadfly Michael Moore, and Emmy winner Jeff Garlin of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
      

National Trust for Historic Preservation names 12 Distinctive Destinations
ST. LOUIS - St. Louis, the city of red-brick, 19th century architectural jewels and diverse neighbourhoods, has been named one of this year's Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The National Trust announced the winners of the annual contest Wednesday, but for the first time, the organization also invited the public to pick a "fan favourite" by voting online through Feb. 28 at http://www.PreservationNation.org/ddd.
      

Miami? Who needs it? Crowds decide Super Bowl party is in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS - Mardi Gras falls on a Sunday this year. The city of the Saints is filling up with ex-New Orleanians and others ahead of the Super Bowl, many looking to cast off a legacy of football futility and natural disaster - others just looking to party down in one of the world's greatest party towns.
      

FBI: Unruly flight passenger blames double dose of medical pot cookies after fight, diversion
PITTSBURGH - The FBI says a San Francisco man told investigators he was high on a double dose of medical marijuana cookies when he allegedly attacked crew members and forced the diversion of a US Airways flight to Pittsburgh. A criminal complaint released Wednesday says 30-year-old Kinman Chan was flying from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on Sunday when he began screaming in the restroom, then fought with crew members who tried to get him to sit.
      

Ongoing restoration revives Frank Lloyd Wright's vision for Florida college campus
LAKELAND, Fla. - Like any other sunbather, Frank Lloyd Wright's "Child of the Sun" withered in Florida's heat, humidity and harsh sunlight. Moisture seeped through the sand-and-cement blocks Wright used to build the chapels, library, planetarium and classroom and administrative buildings of Florida Southern College in the central Florida town of Lakeland, about 80 kilometres southwest of Orlando. The iron support bars knitting the blocks together rusted and swelled, causing walls to buckle.
      

Spectators can expect airport-level security at Vancouver-Whistler Games
VANCOUVER, B.C. - When Victor Lysenko travels to Whistler to take in Olympic alpine skiing in just a few short weeks, the B.C. man fears it won't be the international competitors who prevent him from seeing a Canadian athlete strike gold, but that airport-style security checks, long lines and poor planning will keep him away from the competition until there's no one left on the hill. Security officials are doing their best to assure ticket holders like Lysenko that they won't miss a minute of the action, provided the spectators follow a long list of Olympic do's and don'ts.
      

Czech association calls for law making it crime to use laser pointers to blind pilots
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A Czech airline pilots group has called on Parliament to enact a law making it illegal to use laser pointers to blind pilots. The Czech Airline Pilots Association says at least seven passenger planes were targeted by laser pointers last year at Prague's international airport as they were landing or taking off.
      

Plans to use cruise ship as floating hotel at Vancouver Olympics scuttled
VANCOUVER, B.C. - The company that planned to use a cruise ship as a floating hotel during the Vancouver Winter Olympics is scuttling the plan, leaving hundreds of people - including some terminally ill kids - high and dry less than two weeks before the Games begin. Edmonton-based Newwest Special Projects said in a news release Tuesday evening that slow sales and higher than anticipated expenses forced the company to drop plans to moor the Norwegian Star in Vancouver harbour.