Travel Briefs

A dining-and-sightseeing “Tram Experience” is being offered in Brussels, Jan. 15-Dec. 31, 2012. Holding 34 passengers, the tram passes city landmarks for two hours while serving classic Brussels dishes. The cost is €75 (near $105).

It departs Place Poelaert at 8 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., at 7 and 9:30 Fri. and Sat. and at noon Sun. Reserve a spot with Brusselicious (phone +32 [0] 2 55154 70 or e-mail Olivier Marette at o.marette@visitbrussels.be).

For more info on Belgium’s “Year of Gastronomy” events, visit www.visitbelgium.com and click on “Belgian Bites.”

Downloadable “Backpacker Cheatsheets” for 11 countries, including many in SE Asia plus Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, are available free from GuideGecko (www.guidegecko.com).

Paris’ Musée d’Orsay (62, rue de Lille; phone +33 [0] 1 40 49 48 14) unveiled, in October, the results of its 18-month-long, €20-million renovation. The Pavillon Amont now has four new levels of gallery space, while the museum’s fifth-level Impressionist space has been redesigned, with pieces rearranged.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, travelers to Sri Lanka will have to apply and pay for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) in advance of arrival. (Citizens of Singapore and the Maldives are exempt.)

Compiled by the Centers for Disease Control, “The Yellow Book,” aka “CDC Health Information for International Travel 2012” (Oxford University Press, 620 pp., 7"x10", $45 paperback), covers about 70 infectious diseases, discussing their risks to travelers.

With maps and charts, the book also outlines medical issues in specific regions and countries, tells what vaccines might be needed, has tips for travelers with special medical needs and gives pre- and post-travel tips.

The show “Hats Off!,” featuring 130 charming chapeaux from the 19th century to the present, is on until Aug. 12, 2012, at Quebec’s Musée de la Civilization (85, rue Dalhousie, Québec City, Québec, Canada; 866/710-8031). Adult $13, senior $12. From Sept. 25 to June 23 closed Mondays.

Two painters from the Romantic Period — an exhibit of 100-plus works of Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), the largest retrospective of his art in nearly 50 years, will be held Feb. 15-May 20, 2012, and nearly 100 works of Francisco Goya (1746-1828) will be shown March 16-June 24 at CaixaForum Barcelona (Av. de Francesc Ferrar I Guàrdia 6-8, 08038 Barcelona, Spain; phone +34 93 476 86 00). Open 10-8 Mon.-Sun., 10-10 Sat. Free.

Uzbekistan’s first high-speed train, Afrosiyob, started up in October and runs round trip from Tashkent to Samarkand twice a week (Wed. and Sat.). It can reach 155 miles per hour and makes the 214-mile, one-way trip in two hours (versus the previous 3½ hours). A ticket in first class costs about $30 and in VIP, $40.

Buy tickets at the station or from SJSRC (Uzbekistan Railways) (phone/fax +99871 2997025 or phone +99871 2997166).

In the Auvergne region in south-central France, the museum L’Aventure Michelin (32 rue du Clos Four, 63 100, Clermont-Ferrand, France; phone +33 [0] 4 73 98 60 60) is dedicated to the more than 120-year history of the Michelin tire company.

Open Africa (Cape Town, South Africa; phone +27 21 683 9639, fax 683 8013), a nonprofit organization, has helped set up 60 “off-the-beaten-track, self-drive travel routes” in six countries. The majority are in South Africa, with others in Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Routes can be driven without a 4-wheel-drive vehicle in most areas. Examples — “Kalahari Oasis Route” in South Africa and the “Caprivi Wetland Paradise Route” in Namibia.