China: New map, Zagat and Mobil guides, literary companion
NEW YORK -- The coming Olympic games in Beijing have spurred production of a slew of new guides to China. Along with books from most of the major travel publishers come four noteworthy new products, each offering readers a completely different experience: a literary companion, Mobil and Zagat guides, and a bilingual map.
"China: A Traveler's Literary Companion," edited by Kirk A. Denton (Whereabouts Press, $14.95), provides a way to see the country through fiction "that offers a strong sense of place," Denton says in his introduction. The stories, written from 1921 to 2003, range in setting from the mountains and streams of West Hunan, to silkworm-raising country and sorghum fields, to the high plateaus where Tibetan culture mingles with that of the Han Chinese. Other stories are set in the booming metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Themes include the place of tradition in a modern society, changing values, poverty, the effects of globalization and identity.
If your interests run more to hotels and restaurants than literature, check out the new Mobil Travel Guide Beijing ($17.95). Mobil has been rating hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958, but this is the company's first guide to a city overseas. It lists must-sees, nightspots, places to stay and eateries. While none of Beijing's hotels received a five-star rating from Mobil, four received four-star ratings: the Grand Hyatt, the Peninsula, the St. Regis and the Shangri-La. A "best of the city" section in the front of the guidebook recommends, among other things, Peking duck at Li Qun or Dadong Roast Duck restaurants, shopping for original works of art at 798 Art District, martinis at Centro in the Kerry Centre Hotel, and a stroll through the Imperial Garden in the Forbidden City.
The Zagat Survey, best known for restaurant guides based on reviews by diners, has also published its first-ever book on Beijing. The Zagat Beijing Survey ($15.95) includes dining, hotels, attractions, shopping and nightlife in the city. Series founders Tim and Nina Zagat, who are New Yorkers with a passion for authentic Chinese food, held a press briefing in Beijing in May to launch the book.
The VanDam map publishing company has produced a laminated, fold-out map of Beijing as part of its StreetSmart map series. Priced at $8.95, it's full color, extremely easy to read, includes place names in English and in Chinese characters, and shows neighborhoods, roadways and a subway map. It also has indexes for attractions, hotels and streets, along with separate maps for the Olympic Green and the Forbidden City. All 33 Olympic competition sites are marked with keyed symbols, and notable buildings and architecture are beautifully rendered in 3-D perspective. You can order the map from http://www.vandam.com. VanDam produces maps to destinations around the world. Its maps include the ArtSmart and ShopSmart series.
Midwest Living recommends overnight getaway in Duluth
DES MOINES, Iowa -- If you live in the Midwest and you're looking for an overnight getaway, Midwest Living magazine recommends Duluth. This Minnesota city of 87,000 offers maritime heritage, good food, shopping, beaches and parks, all on the shores of Lake Superior.
The magazine's itinerary for an overnight includes a stroll along the 4.2-mile Lakewalk. At Canal Park, there are hotels, restaurants, shops and art galleries. Stop in at Grandma's Saloon & Grill at the base of the Aerial Lift Bridge, which rises throughout the day to let tall ships through. Park Point, a 7-mile-long sandbar lined with beaches, separates the lake and the harbor.
Area attractions include the SS William A. Irvin ship museum, the Great Lakes Aquarium and the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace. Nearby are Jay Cooke State Park and the Glensheen Mansion, garden and grounds. You can kayak on the lake or bike the Munger Trail.
Eateries recommended by the magazine include Pickwick, the New Scenic Cafe and Hell's Kitchen. For more details, check out the July/August issue of Midwest Living.
Vacations to enrich your life
WASHINGTON -- Learn to tango, make a quilt, blend Scotch whisky or brew beer.
These experiences and 96 more can be part of your next vacation, as described in the recently published book, "The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life," by Pam Grout (National Geographic,$19.95).
A tango vacation in Buenos Aires can last anywhere from three days to a month; details at http://www.argentinatango.com. Canada PEI -- http://www.eslhomestay.ca -- organizes eight-day quilting vacations on Prince Edward Island. At the Glengoyne Distillery 15 miles north of Glasgow, Scotland, you can take a two-hour course or get a whole day of tutorials in Scotch whisky. Details at http://www.glengoyne.com. If your taste runs more to beer than the hard stuff, BeerTrips.com offers trips to German beer regions as well as to Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and other locales known for excellence in suds.
Other trips described in "The 100 Best..." book range from teaching English in Palestinian refugee camps in the Middle East, organized by Project Hope, to a five-week business course in China, offered by World Link Education. Classes are taught in English but basic Mandarin instruction is part of the curriculum, and sightseeing options are available too.
New Legoland Discovery Center opening in Chicago suburb
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -- A Legoland Discovery Center is opening in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg at the Streets of Woodfield shopping center.
Fans of the toy bricks may already be familiar with the Legoland theme park in Carlsbad, Calif., but this will be the first Legoland Discovery Center in the U.S. It's modeled after two similar attractions in Germany.
The 30,000-square-foot center will feature hands-on brick-building activities, a dragon ride, an exhibit room with displays of models made by Lego master builders, and a 4-D movie with special effects. For the youngest visitors, there will be a Duplo play area.
The center's grand opening is July 31. Details at http://www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com.
Actor Morgan Freeman plans second Ground Zero Blues Club at tribe's casino resort
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. -- Actor Morgan Freeman is opening his second blues club in Mississippi.
This one will be outside the Mississippi Delta.
Freeman announced that he will open a Ground Zero Blues Club at the Pearl River Resort run by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Neshoba County. The original club, owned with businessman Bill Luckett, is in Clarksdale.
The club will be located in the Golden Moon Hotel and Casino, one of the Choctaws' two casinos near Philadelphia.
Freeman said construction will begin this month with a planned completion date in October.
Freeman and tribal chief Beasley Denson said the new club will feature blues music and the restaurant will serve fried or grilled catfish sandwiches and the club's famous Highway 61 Burger.
Bear Lake resort to feature thousands of homes, marina, ski area
SALT LAKE CITY -- Developers have tentative approval to start building a luxury resort with golf and skiing on the Idaho side of Bear Lake.
The Black Bear Resort plans to start selling the first of thousands of custom building lots by summer 2009, giving the market for high-end developments time to recover.
Idaho regulators still have to be convinced the resort has enough water rights. To compensate for groundwater withdrawals, the developers say they bought a ranch at another location where they will leave water rights untouched.
"Bear Lake County never had a project as big as this," said Bill Poce, senior vice president of marketing for the Salt Lake City developers, Bruce Barrett and Brad Auger.
The group, The Retreat at Bear Lake LLC, acquired 2,207 mountain acres from cattle ranchers and others for the membership-style residence club. Building lots are being advertised for up to $925,000. Golf and ski memberships will be sold for hefty fees.
That has been the model for a number of developments around Park City and in other Western resort areas that have fallen on hard times. Buyers have turned skittish, banks stingy and market turmoil from the U.S. subprime crisis is drying up credit.
"We understand the problems they're going through -- some related to sales, some related to banking problems," Poce said Wednesday. "But there is still some activity in that market, and our marketing entry price is going to be substantially lower."
The resort also plans to build a 600-slip marina on Bear Lake and a ski area. Details at http://www.blackbear.com.
Denali National Park announces visitor center opening
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A new Eielson Visitor Center opened in June in Denali National Park on the Denali Park Road, 66 miles from the park entrance.
Park officials say the center looks out on the Alaska Range, including Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak.
The center features a dining area and exhibits that include an interactive topographical model of Mount McKinley and works by participants in Denali's Artist-In-Residence program. The National Park Service is also calling the building a model of sustainable design, with features that maximize daylight and promote energy conservation.
From 1934 to 1950, a tent camp occupied the site. The original building opened in 1960 but was demolished in 2005 to make way for the new facility, which was deemed necessary because of the rapid increase in the number of visitors.
Private cars are not permitted that far along the Denali Park Road, so most visitors arrive at the center on tour buses.
The total cost of the building and its exhibits was $9.2 million. It's named after Carl Ben Eielson, a pioneer Alaskan aviator.
The center will be formally rededicated during a ceremony on Aug. 12 and is open through Sept. 15.
Best castle hotels in Europe, according to TripAdvisor
NEWTON, Mass. -- Maybe you can't live like a king, but you can vacation in a castle.
The TripAdvisor Web site is offering a top 10 list of castle hotels in Europe, based on rankings by travelers who contribute reviews to the Web site and TripAdvisor editors.
The list is topped by the Glin Castle in Glin, Ireland, with a $491 average nightly rate, followed by Castle Stuart, Inverness, Scotland, $614; Thornbury Castle, Thornbury, England, $394; Domaine de la Tortiniere, Tours, France, $310; and Borthwick Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland, $273.
Next up on the list is the Chateau de Bagnols, Lyon, France, average nightly rate $1,335, followed by Castelletto di Montebenichi, Bucine, Italy, $242; Ashford Castle, Cong, Ireland, $527; Parador de Jaen, Jaen, Spain, $205; and the Hotel Castle Liebenstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, $173.
'Black List' exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
HOUSTON -- An exhibit opening at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston on Aug. 3 will look at the black experience in America.
"The Black List Project" is a collaboration between New York-based photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and film critic Elvis Mitchell. The show features large-scale portraits of 25 prominent black Americans as well as some excerpts from videotaped interviews. The subjects include Toni Morrison, Colin Powell, Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons, Vernon Jordan and Chris Rock.
An HBO documentary on the project is scheduled to air Aug. 25 and a book is also forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.
The Houston museum will host the show until Oct. 26. It is scheduled to go on a national museum tour after that. Details at http://www.mfah.org.
San Francisco Web site for tourists and foodies
SAN FRANCISCO -- A look at the Golden Gate Bridge and a visit to the sea lions who live at the pier are tops on the list for most visitors to San Francisco. But the local culinary scene is also a big draw, and the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau has launched a new micro-Web site for foodies at http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/taste.
Visitors to the site can search for restaurants by price, type of cuisine and neighborhood, but there are also more unique listings such as restaurants that offer al fresco dining (including the Waterfront Restaurant at Pier 7), inspiring views (such as the Cliff House, 1090 Point Lobos Ave.) and dining adventures (like Asia SF, 201 Ninth St., described as featuring "Cal-Asian cuisine" along with performances by "gender illusionists"). The Drink section links to wineries, tasting rooms, brew pubs and tap rooms. The Taste Experiences section highlights a variety of attractions, including Local Tastes of the City Tours at http://www.sffoodtour.com and Ghirardelli Square, named for the famed chocolatier.
The site also provides a history of San Francisco's "food firsts," along with chef profiles and Foodie 411, a weekly insider's blog by Marcia "the tablehopper" Gagliardi.