December 2009

The Visit Wales tourism website has a guide to the top 20 free attractions in Wales. 

Museums, national parks, walking trails and more are listed. A link even provides times and locations of more than 80 male choir rehearsals.

Visit www.usa.visitwales.com, click on “search” at the top right and type in “Top 20 free attractions” in the search box on the next page.

The Paris catacombs are closed indefinitely because of damage caused by vandals in September.

Visited by over 200,000 people each year, the catacombs are part of a large network of underground tunnels which are stacked with human bones. Photos of the damage showed skulls and bones scattered along the walkways. 

In Malta, the Carmelite Priory Museum (Carmelite Priory, Villegaignon St., Mdina, Malta; phone +356 2702 0404, www.carmelitepriorymuseum.com) opened its priory and church to the public in June. 

The Carmelite Church, built in 1675, has an unusual elliptical floor plan, and the newly restored priory shows how the Carmelite friars lived. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. €4 adult.

On Oct. 2, BridgeClimb Sydney opened the Sydney Harbour Bridge Visitor Centre (3 Cumberland St., The Rocks, Sydney, Australia; www.bridgeclimb.com), featuring display galleries, interactive exhibits and a digital, high-definition cinema detailing the bridge’s history from preconstruction through the present day.

Open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9-5 Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. The center is fully accessible.

Wearing a green T-shirt under a blue work shirt, I was about to depart for Europe. At my farewell breakfast — one last eggs-any-style — my stylish, college-aged daughter said to me, “You look like a scrub. Okay if you’re painting a house.”

Dazu was one of the stops on our fabulous month-long trip to China with China Focus Travel (San Francisco, CA; 800/868-7244, www.chinafocustravel.com) in August ’07.

The Dazu Rock Carvings have eluded the ravages of war, purges and treasure hunters, the vivid carvings still standing to relate stories culled from Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist beliefs.

From the mailbag — “The magazine is the best on the market, in my opinion. The others are comic books by comparison.”

“I read each issue of ITN cover to cover more than once and find the articles valuable and sometimes amusing. Thanks for having a publication such as this to keep us informed and help readers be better travelers.”

“You could charge twice as much and it would still be worth it.”

Thanks, folks.