National Comedy Museum Opens in New York State
Posted on 08/13/2018, 12:00 PM
Think of the word museum and you’ll probably think of old paintings. You might expect the sound of footsteps crossing a quiet gallery or guards standing watch over masterpieces. The National Comedy Center, which just opened in Jamestown, New York, shatters that lofty picture in favor of something more fun. If this museum is doing its job, attendees will be laughing their way through more ...
Two New Non-Travel Books May Change The Way You See the USA
Posted on 08/09/2018, 8:30 PM
You drive into a new town. It is not a famous place and it certainly isn’t a tourist magnet. But it has a certain vibe, a personality. You start to explore, stopping by a local store, walking through a park, trying the coffee joint where townspeople are congregating. It’s an interesting exercise, but the takeaways are vague: seems like a nice place, you think. But you don’t think more than that, ...
The 'Mamma Mia!' Sequel is a Lie: That's Not Greece!
Posted on 08/02/2018, 8:30 PM
You may remember—or perhaps you studied it in your Great Achievements of World Cinema class—that the first Mamma Mia! movie was set in Greece. Based on the hit Broadway musical, the film was famously, dazzlingly Greek, so Greek it made Zorba look shy. Meryl Streep's American character has decamped there to run a preposterously picturesque cliffside inn, where old flames hover and neighborhood teens...
Former High-Security Prison in Tennessee Opens to Visitors
Posted on 07/30/2018, 6:00 PM
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary was not a spot often visited for just one day. This former maximum-security prison held dangerous criminals with sentences exceeding 200 years. The penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, has been closed since 2009, but last Saturday it opened to the public as a tourist attraction, giving outsiders access to this rustic lockup like ...
WWOOFing: Explaining a Different Way to Travel, Farm by Farm
The Game-Changing Museums of Indianapolis
Posted on 07/09/2018, 6:45 PM
Indianapolis is reinventing the museum. As dropping attendance and revenues plague museums across North America, Indy’s most storied institution, Newfields: A Place for Nature and the Arts—once known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art—has become the sixth-most-visited museum in the United States per capita. Part of the reason for its success has to do with that name change. In 2017, curato...
This Midwest American Town Is Turning 350 Years Old
Posted on 07/03/2018, 7:15 PM
You might have heard that New Orleans and San Antonio are each celebrating a 300th birthday this year. Both cities made our list of the Best Places to Go in 2018 for that very reason. But it's likely you missed the news about another riverside municipality's big milestone—even though it bests the other two by half a century. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan turns 350 this year. The Soo, as it's kn...
Route 66 and Puerto Rico Among USA's Most Endangered Historic Sites
Posted on 06/28/2018, 3:30 AM
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Route 66 all appear on 2018's "Most Endangered Places" list, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual roundup of important architectural and cultural sites in peril. The purpose of the list, the group says, is to raise awareness and spur action to protect landmarks—and in some cases landmasses—"facing a range of challenges and threats, from d...
Current Volcanic Eruptions Bring Memories of Vesuvius, Says Arthur Frommer
Posted on 06/27/2018, 12:00 AM
I have found it odd that in all the media coverage of the eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, no journalist has drawn a comparison to the eruption of Vesuvius outside Naples in 79 A.D. That may be because Kilauea is a “baby” by comparison with Vesuvius, the latter (pictured above) having become one of the greatest tourist attractions in all of Italy. The cataclysmic eruption of ...
Arthur Frommer: Quintana Roo, Mexico, is Gaining as a Tourist Destination
Posted on 06/26/2018, 12:00 AM
While numerous destinations in Mexico are suffering from what some describe as an overly sensitive spate of tourist warnings from our U.S. State Department, one area is obviously resisting that trend. In 2017, some 22 million tourists visited the state of Quintana Roo, in sharp contrast to some declines in Mexican tourism elsewhere. Quintana Roo is the location for super-popular Cancun, Pl...
A Life-Changing Conference for Would-Be Travel Writers and Photographers
Posted on 06/20/2018, 11:15 AM
Over the course of the year, I give about a dozen speeches on travel across North America. Inevitably, when I sign books afterwards, a familiar scenario will play out. I’ll hand back the book on which I’ve just scrawled my name and notice that the individual standing in front of me looks very, very nervous… and doesn’t want to move away from the table. He or she will chitchat for a few minutes be...
A Return to Northern Michigan With No Repeat Experiences
Posted on 06/14/2018, 12:30 PM
I’ve always taken the stance that when you return again and again to the same place for vacation, you’re only setting yourself up for ennui. I figured there were a few exceptions to this rule—namely, cities like Paris and Tokyo that are so huge and varied that you'll never exhaust the possibilities. But for the most part, I believed that vacations should be about the stimulating, the new, the un...
Polish Vodka Museum Opens in Warsaw
Posted on 06/12/2018, 8:00 AM
There's some dispute about where vodka was born. Both Poland and Russia lay claim to having produced the first batch of the transparent spirit from distilled grains or potatoes more than five centuries ago. Since the stuff has become so deeply embedded in both countries' cultures and economies—not to mention their citizens' bloodstreams—we're content to call it a tie. Poland has arguably la...
After 700 Years, Westminster Abbey Opens Secret Attic to Visitors
Posted on 06/11/2018, 12:00 AM
It took five years and $30.5 million (£22.9 million) to make it happen, but Westminster Abbey in London has just made a spectacular new addition to one of Europe's top tourist attractions. Which is to say it opened something more than 700 years old. The Triforium, a medieval attic balcony that runs around the top of the Abbey's nave from 52 feet high, has been converted into the Queen's Diamond ...
