The 1950s red Spårakoff Beer Tram, a traveling bar, serves Finnish beer and other beverages while you tour Helsinki, Finland. The 40-minute ride starts from the Mikonkatu tram stop, near Helsinki’s Railway Square, and makes five stops, including the Helsinki Opera House.
In 2009 the tram operates Tuesday-Saturday, May 19-Aug. 29, with departures every hour from 2 to 8 p.m. Tickets, available on board and at the kiosk on the Esplanade, cost €8 ($10.50).
Each Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m., a “High Tea” is offered with a performance by an opera singer in the dining room of the Guillaume at Bennelong restaurant in the Sydney Opera House (phone +61 2 9250 7250, e-mail tourism@sydneyoperahouse.com or visit www.sydneyoperahouse.com). The menu includes a glass of wine, assorted teas, savouries, pastries and petit fours. The price is AU$145 (US$99) and bookings are required.
As of January 2009, passengers aboard Royal Caribbean International cruises are required to pay a fee of $3.95 when ordering room service between midnight and 5 a.m.
The railcars of the Majestic Imperator Train de Luxe (Vienna, Austria; www.imperialtrain.com) replicate those used by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and his wife, Elisabeth (Sissi), before WWI. With modern chassis, cars dating from 1905 to 1959 have been restored or replicas made using original plans and photographs.
The (non-air-conditioned) luxury train runs between Vienna and Munich, passing through Melk, Linz, Salzburg, Prien am Chiemsee, Innsbruck, Seefeld and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Including photos, captions and maps, the book “Classic Motorsport Routes” by Richard Meaden (2008, Publisher Motorbooks. ISBN 9780760334317 — 224 pgs, Hardbound, $40) shows 30 of the circuits, roads and tracks across four continents that have helped shape more than a century of racing, including the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, Grossglockner, the rallies of Monte Carlo and Spain, the Grand Prix circuits from Monaco to Germany and the Frankfurt-Darmstadt Autobahn. All routes are on public roads and can be driven by travelers today.
In Nikko, two hours north of Tokyo, the theme park Edo Wonderland Nikko (www.edowonderland.net) shows Japan as it was in the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868). Visitors can watch battles between samurai and ninja, try archery and see traditional plays, magic shows and acrobatics.
Open daily 9-5, March 20-Nov. 30, and 9:30-4, Dec. 1-March 19. Day pass, ¥4,500 (near $45) adult, ¥2,300 child. Half-day pass, ¥3,900 adult, ¥2,000 child.
Good news for tourists in Shanghai — as of May 1, checkout times in hotels, guest houses and hostels are negotiable. Previously, hotels across China’s mainland set noon as the checkout time.
The new regulation requires that Shanghai hotels confirm the checkout time with guests in writing before they check in. Hotels do not have to offer a flexible checkout time, but they are required to inform guests of the time of checkout when they arrive and to display checkout options near the reception desk.
The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced plans to develop and protect the site of Dahshur. The site has five major pyramids as well as many private tombs and some royal tombs. The project includes cleaning and restoring monuments, providing barriers to control access, creating safe zones around the sites and building tourist facilities.
A spokesman for the Supreme Council said they hope to open the “Bent Pyramid” to visitors this summer and, within a year, open another pyramid on the site.
Two events in France in 2009 honor artist Pablo Picasso.
• Through Sept. 27 at Musée Granet (place Saint-Jean de Malte, 13100 Aix-en-Provence; phone 00 33 [0] 4 42 52 87 97, www.museegranet-aixprovence.fr), the show “Picasso-Cézanne” features 100-plus sculptures, paintings and etchings which focus on the influence of Cézanne on 20th-century artists, particularly Picasso. Open 9-7 Friday-Wednesday and noon-11 p.m. Thursday. €10 ($13).
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) spent the last 36 years of his life in London. His home in Mayfair is today the Handel House Museum (25 Brook St., Mayfair, London, W1K 4HB, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 20 7495 1685, www.handelhouse.org), where, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death, the exhibit “Handel Reveal’d” is being held through Oct. 25, 2009.
Among exhibits are a life mask, scores in Handel’s own hand, shopping lists and information about his many illustrious patrons.