Closed for repairs and reconstruction since July 2011, the main building of Prague's National Museum (Václavské námeˇstí 68, Praha) is scheduled to partially reopen on Oct. 28, 2018, which marks two anniversaries: 200 years since the museum first opened (in another building) and the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia.
Opened in 1903 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, the Albula section of Switzerland's Rhaetian Railway includes 39 tunnels and 55 bridges and stretches between the towns of St. Moritz and Thusis. It's located inside Parc Ela, the country's largest nature reserve.
However, the portion of the track stretching between Preda and Bergün is where visitors will find the Albula Adventure Railway Trail, a scenic route for a 2½-hour hike. For more info, contact Switzerland Tourism (New York, NY; 800/794-7795, www.myswitzerland.com).
Nestled in Snowdonia National Park in Wales, Coed y Bleiddiau, a UK Landmark Trust cabin, is available to rent. Built in 1868 for a railway superintendent, the cabin has its own train platform on the Ffestiniog Railway (Harbour Station, Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales, LL49 9NF, U.K.; phone +44 1766 516024, www.festrail.co.uk).
The narrow-gauge Ffestiniog Railway is served by a restored steam train that travels between the towns of Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog multiple times each day, from the end of March to the beginning of November.
Some of Sweden's crown jewels — two crowns and an orb — were stolen from Sträng näs Cathedral, outside of Stockholm, on July 31. The items were on display in an alarmed glass case in the cathedral, which is open to the public.
The crowns, dating to 1611, were part of the burial regalia of 17th-century king Charles IX and his wife, Kristina, and had been put on display in the cathedral when the bodies were moved in the 19th century.
Each November, the bobsled track in St. Moritz is built from scratch, and, until early March, guests can ride the course with two professionals.
The rider takes his place between the pilot at the front of the bobsled and the brakeman at the back. The course, the same route used in the very first Olympic bobsled event held in St. Moritz in 1928, is 1,722 meters long and takes about 75 seconds to finish. Riders travel up to 135 kilometers per hour (84 mph).
In Sukhumvit, Bangkok, Thailand, the class "Cooking with Poo," led by chef Khun Saiyuud Diwong (known as Khun Poo, short for chompoo, or "rose apple"), instructs students, in English, on traditional Thai cooking.
At Ireland's Shannon Airport (phone +353 61 712000, shannonairport.ie), the world's largest collection of die-cast model aircraft went on permanent exhibit on July 5 in a gallery off of the Departures lounge. The 1,500-plus models of commercial aircraft, military aircraft and more, each at a 1:200 scale, are on loan from the private collection of Michael Kelly of County Limerick, who has been collecting them for 30-plus years.
On the peak of Gaislachkogl Mountain, at an altitude of 10,000 feet in the Austrian Alps, a new James Bond museum, 007 Elements (Sölden, Austria; 007elements.soelden.com/home-en), opened in July 2018.
The futuristic building and its Ice Q restaurant (the film's "Hoffner Klinik") were filming locations in the 2015 Bond movie "Spectre." There is a screening room plus nine galleries, each with a different Bond theme, such as gadgets, vehicles or villains.
A new economy-class seat, Premium Plus, began being offered in June on some international flights of United Airlines (www.united.com). United joins American Airlines, which has been offering premium-economy seats since 2016, and Delta, which introduced them in 2017.
Though located in the economy cabin, the seats have more legroom, and the seating class offers more amenities than regular economy, including free drinks and more comfortable blankets and pillows, for less than the cost of a business-class seat.
On May 11 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a park ranger was killed and three people were abducted while visiting Virunga National Park (July ’18, pg. 19). As a result, in early June the park was closed to visitors until at least 2019. The chief warden said that the park would remain closed until he could guarantee the safety of visitors. An international security firm was hired to help restore safety.
Virunga National Park is home to DRC’s only population of mountain gorillas.