London’s historic hotel The Savoy (Strand, London, WC2R 0ET, phone +44 20 7836 4343, www.the-savoy.com), which first opened in 1889, reopened on Oct. 10 after nearly three years of restoration. All 268 rooms now include modern amenities. A new glass dome has been installed on the Thames foyer. The hotel’s frieze is restored.
Nightly rates range from £350 (near $540) up to, for the Royal Suite, £10,000 ($15,455).
At least 83 hippopotamuses died in Queen Elizabeth National Park in southern Uganda in June and July. An outbreak of naturally occurring anthrax was blamed. The park is home to over 5,000 hippos, and officials are working to prevent the spread to other animals.
The infection has stayed well clear of areas visited by tourists. The most likely way for a human to catch the disease in the park is by contact with or consumption of a diseased animal.
Every two years, the Grand’Place in Brussels, Belgium, is transformed into a 2,000-square-meter carpet of almost a million brightly colored begonias, laid down in one day by 100 craftsmen.
In Inari, Finland, you can visit a farm of the indigenous Sámi people, meet reindeer herders and feed their charges, join a reindeer drive or even try to lasso one of the semidomesticated animals.
Guests at The Gleneagles Hotel (Auchterader, Perthshire, Scotland; phone, in the US, 866/881-9525 or, internationally, 01764 662231), a Leading Hotels of the World member, can attend Gleneagles Shooting School during their stay.
For smartphones or mp3 devices, 12 self-guided audio tours of Jerusalem’s Old City can be downloaded for free at www.jerusalem-oldcity.org.il. Among them are “Via Dolorosa,” “The Herodian Quarter” and “Marketplaces in the Old City.” Most tours take two to four hours (depending on walking speed); five are handicapped accessible.
Francis Ford Coppola Resorts’ Blancaneaux Lodge (Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve, P.O. Box B, Central Farm, Cayo District, Belize; phone 011 501 824 3878 or, from US and Canada, 800/746-3743, www.coppolaresorts.com) offers hotel guests day trips to three local caves.
Barton Creek Cave, an ancient burial site that is visited via canoe, allows viewers to see stalagmites and stalactites, pottery shards and remains in the water below.
Travelers with connecting flights at any of three London airports can reserve a stay in airside (i.e., past security checkpoint) lounges and, at Heathrow, guest rooms operated by No.1 Traveller (phone 08442 64 64 40, www.no1lounges.com).
• Airport lounges are in Heathrow Terminal 3; Gatwick North and South terminals, and Stansted gates 16 and 49. Amenities include cinema, bistro, game room, business center and free WiFi. £25 (near $39) for three hours; £7.50 for each extra hour. Champagne and spa services cost extra.
Begun in 2005, the project to clear the sand and silt that has built up around Le Mont-Saint-Michel continues, restoring its natural marine landscape, with completion set for 2015. On April 28, 2012, a 4,150-space car park will open with a tourist information center, toilets, a pet kennel and baggage lockers. It will serve as the departure point for transportation to the Mont, as visitors no longer will be allowed to drive themselves to the site.
