Spectacle Island offers spectacular views of Boston Harbor

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Spectacle Island has a swimming beach, five miles of walking trails dotted with gazebos, and a panoramic vista from the highest point in Boston Harbor.

It's hard to believe that underneath all this is an 80-foot-high mound of trash.
A five-year, $180 million project buried the waste dump under 6 million tons of dirt and gravel from Boston's Big Dig highway project to create this 105-acre oasis. Easily accessible via a 10-minute ferry ride from the city, it's now advertised as the harbor's jewel and touted as a "green" park for its solar-powered facilities and compost toilet system.
"It was an eyesore in Boston Harbor that has been turned into something beautiful," said Beth Jackendoff, a park ranger who lives on the island part-time. "Not only does it have some of the best views you're gonna get in Boston, but it's something that we're going to be able to learn from. It has a theme of reclaiming something."
Wes Austin, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thought it would be the perfect place to bring his mother and sister visiting from San Diego.
"It's different, it's close, and there's more nature than you can find in the city," said Austin, 26, of Boston. "And, it's a nice getaway for just a couple of hours."

The family sat recently in the grass atop the island's north drumlin, the highest point in the harbor, and admired the scene of cargo ships floating by as planes dipped in and out of nearby Logan Airport. At 157 feet above sea level, the spot towers over neighboring islands and boasts a view spanning Boston's skyline and the 40 miles between Salem to the north and the Blue Hills Reservation to the south.
"It's just so gorgeous," said Janis Austin, 56. "It just gives such a different perspective of the skyline. I've never seen the city like this."
Fishing, hiking, swimming and bird watching are common at one of Boston's best-kept secrets. But most people are there to appreciate Spectacle Island's spectacular views.
One of the harbor's 34 islands, Spectacle has a curious history. Colonists named it for the pair of eyeglass spectacles they saw shaped by its hills, which have housed a hospital for quarantined patients and a factory where horse carcasses were rendered to glue.

It is perhaps best known for having been a dump for more than 100 years. The growing accumulation of garbage eventually forced out the handful of families who lived there, and it became a glaring example of Boston Harbor's pollution.
But the island's filthy reputation is lost in the new park, which opened last summer.
"You'd never know it was a landfill without reading about it," said Judy Wishloff, 43, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who visited while vacationing in Boston. "As a tourist, this kind of attraction really resonates because there are cool things to do, and the visit has history and substance."
Down in the island's valley is the visitor center, powered by solar panels and packed with exhibits and information on the island's history, wildlife, vegetation and environmentally friendly usage.
With articles on file that date back to the 1800s, visitors can learn about the island's old schoolhouse, or the layers of the five-year restoration project that involved bringing in more than 4,400 barge-loads of dirt. Rangers and park employees refer to the project as the "mini-dig."
This summer, the island features jazz concerts every Sunday. Park rangers also organize events including kite flying, guided tours and scavenger hunts for children. Bird watchers can enjoy rare sightings of bobolinks, warblers and savannah sparrows, among the park's 100 bird species, and fishermen can borrow poles or nets from the visitor center to catch stripers, cod, flounder or lobster.
The visitor center also features a cafe that sells burgers and chowder, and lounge chairs in the shade of the verandah.
Free boat shuttles launched in June give visitors an opportunity to island-hop in the harbor. Popular sites include a fort at Georges Island, America's first lighthouse at Little Brewster Island, and campgrounds at Lovells Island, Grape Island and Bumpkin Island. Spectacle Island's 38-slip marina also allows private boats to dock overnight for a fee.
With a little imagination, the novelty of being on an island could in itself provide enough entertainment for the day. Jeffrey Frankel, a 54-year-old economics professor at Harvard University, wore a long plastic sword slung through his pant belt when he visited.

Ride the rails in style

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mahogany interiors, five-course meals and personal butler service will be available on several Amtrak routes starting this fall, as the national passenger railroad embarks on a new partnership with GrandLuxe Rail Journeys.

The companies have teamed up to attach seven special GrandLuxe cars to regularly scheduled Amtrak trains. More than 90 departures are scheduled from November to early January.
The new service, dubbed GrandLuxe Limited, will be available between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area; Chicago and Los Angeles; and Washington and Miami. Limited trips are also scheduled between Washington and Chicago; from Denver to San Francisco; from Denver to Chicago; and from Chicago to Albuquerque.
For Amtrak, the partnership will be a moneymaker, company spokesman Cliff Black said. He declined to say exactly how much privately held GrandLuxe is paying the government-owned corporation.
The project marks the first time Amtrak is providing regularly scheduled private rail services.
"We like the opportunity to experiment with creative marketing approaches," Black said. "Anything that elevates the profile of passenger-train service is beneficial to Amtrak."
The arrangement allows Evergreen, Colorado-based GrandLuxe, formerly known as American Orient Express, to bring its brand of luxury to a wider group of potential customers in a more affordable format.
Tickets for the two- and three-day GrandLuxe Limited trips will range in price from $789 to $2,499. In contrast, GrandLuxe's regular tours take seven to 10 days and range in price from about $4,000 to $8,000 per person.For its longer trips, GrandLuxe operates one 21-car train that consists of old passenger cars from the 1940s and 1950s -- a time when train travel had not yet been overshadowed by the interstate highway system and commercial aviation. The cars have been refurbished to conform to modern standards and to add "a level of luxury that never existed," said Christina Messa, vice president of marketing for GrandLuxe.
For the Amtrak partnership, GrandLuxe will split its train in three. Each segment will have a dining car and a lounge car and have room for 47 passengers, Messa said. It will operate completely separately from the Amtrak portion of the train.
GrandLuxe passengers will not be able to get off at intermediate stops because of limitations such as platform length, though the companies said that could change in the future.
Amtrak will operate the same number of cars it normally would, but in some cases it may have to add an extra locomotive, Black said.
The companies said they could continue and expand the partnership if it is successful.
GrandLuxe trains tend to appeal to older travelers, and Messa said she expected the new Amtrak routes to do the same.
Tom Weakley, 64, has ridden GrandLuxe trains 16 times since retiring from a job in the drug wholesaling industry. He said he relishes being pampered on board the train. A butler brings coffee in the morning. In the afternoon, there are cocktails in the lounge car.
The lounge cars themselves vary: One features a baby grand piano; another, used for particularly scenic routes, is surrounded by glass.
Dinners are long and unhurried -- an opportunity to make friends with fellow passengers, said Weakley, of Indianapolis.
"Did I mention the complimentary wine?" he added. "And they don't limit you to one glass."

Tolkien tales come alive in Denmark's Faeroe Islands

GJOGV, Faeroe Islands (AP) -- It's just after 9 p.m. when the magic begins.
The late-setting sun breaks through purple rain clouds to drape the rugged island of Eysturoy in a golden shimmer. A perfect rainbow arches over the Slaettaratindur mountain. Offshore, a wild ocean launches ferocious swells against the Giant and the Witch, two spectacular rock pillars that protrude from the surf like craggy teeth.
All that's missing from the storybook setting is a band of orchs or goblins crawling out from behind a rock, or a pipe-smoking hobbit emerging from one of the turf-roofed houses.
The Lord of the Rings analogy is never far away in the Faeroe Islands, a barren and wind-swept archipelago whose volcanic peaks shoot out of the Atlantic Ocean halfway between Iceland and Norway. Local legend even claims the ring of power is hidden here.
"The one who holds it gets lots of powers but the one who holds it will also die because of it," says Hans Jakub Mikkelsen, a hobby historian, recounting an ancient Faeroese saga.
Although easily accessible by plane from Britain or Scandinavia, the Faeroe Islands are remote enough to be spared mass tourism for now. You run into more sheep than people once you venture outside the sedate capital, Torshavn.
That's a good thing. Anonymity has helped this semiautonomous Danish territory remain one of those rare places where you don't have to worry about traffic, pollution or crime. Doors are left unlocked and only seven of the roughly 48,000 residents are in jail.
Shy but hospitable, the islanders trace their heritage to a less friendly bunch -- the Vikings, who started settling here in the 8th century. Ancient traditions live on, like the medieval chain dance, the reciting of ballads and a controversial slaughter of pilot whales.
The bloody spectacle occurs about six times a year when a school of pilot whales comes close enough to be driven onshore. Knife-wielding men butcher the whales to the silent approval of scores of curious onlookers and the horror of animal rights activists.
The brutal tradition seems hard to reconcile with the gentle character of the Faeroese, but then again, this is a land of stark contrasts.
Nature has carved a dramatic landscape from the basalt rock spewed out by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. Every winding turn of the well-kept roads offer majestic views over deep-green pastures, shimmering fjords or steep cliffs towering over the Atlantic swell.
But walk up to the edge, and the brute force of nature stares you right in the eye.
Take Slave's Edge on the island of Vagar. Here, a high-lying lake spills over a rock wall and releases its excess water into the ocean in a 30-meter waterfall.
The surf below roars menacingly as a horizontal wind lashes your face with rain. The rocks start to feel slippery as you watch the hostile waves crash into the vertical wall. Not surprisingly, the Faeroese are looking for ways to generate electricity here.
"If you take the power of 1 kilometer off these cliffs there is enough energy in those waves for one year of electricity consumption in the Faeroe Islands," says Olavur Gregersen, the head of SeWave Ltd., a small Faeroese wave energy company.
While hiking on mountain trails is a must, the best way to get around the Faeroe Islands is by car. Modern roads and tunnels connect the main islands of Vagar, Streymoy, Eysturoy and Bordoy. Ferries run between most of the other islands. Weather permitting -- and everything here depends on the weather -- you can even get around by helicopter.
From the air you get a full appreciation of how lonely these 18 islands are. Tiny villages with colorful wooden houses are clustered around the shores, but the inside of the islands is desolate. The mountainsides are simply too steep or too exposed to the elements to make comfortable living possible.
You also get an idea of why the Faeroese don't pay much attention to weather forecasts. One island will be baking in sunlight while the next is shrouded in fog.
The rule is to dress warm and waterproof, especially if you're out hiking. A clear blue sky can turn into hailstorm within minutes -- and don't think you'll see it coming.
Harsh as it may seem, the climate is actually very mild for this northern latitude thanks to the Gulf Stream, a warm ocean current that helps keep average temperatures between 37 degrees in the winter and 52 degrees in summer.
The mix of warm Gulf Stream waters and frigid Arctic waters also provides for fertile breeding ground for fish, whose impact on the Faeroe Islands cannot be overestimated.
The local government says fish products account for an estimated 97 percent of export volumes, and you believe it when you see the impressive fleet of trawlers crowding the port in Torshavn. Faeroese cod, saithe, haddock and farmed salmon are shipped around the world.
Oddly for a fishing nation, fresh seafood does not dominate the menus at Torshavn's eateries. The Faeroese like to eat meat when they go out, not fish which is considered a staple food.
You'll need some courage to sample Faeroese delicacies like sheep's head, whale blubber and Skerpikjoet -- raw mutton that has been left to dry for months. If you're not feeling adventurous, there's always roast lamb and potatoes.

UFO fest to mark 60th anniversary of 'Roswell Incident'

ROSWELL, New Mexico (AP) -- Is "The Truth" located in this remote city in New Mexico?
Driving alone down a stretch of desolate highway en route to Roswell, I begin to understand why conspiracy buffs have long argued that aliens crash-landed in the desert here a half-century ago.
Darkness engulfs desert fields. A misshapen yellow moon hangs in the sky. Husks of abandoned buildings litter the roadside. Has an alien invasion already taken place? I notice a blinking light in the sky -- but quickly discern it's an airplane.
Being out here by yourself is enough to make you think twice.
"I do know this. There are other things out there in the universe," said John Turner, 78, who was working the desk of the International UFO Museum and Research Center on Roswell's North Main Street when I visited.
I have secretly wanted to visit Roswell since I was a boy. What I got during my brief visit -- something I've contemplated doing for years -- was a lesson in how a small city in the middle of the American southwest became enshrined in American pop culture.
The 60th anniversary of the so-called "Roswell Incident" will be marked July 5-8 at the city's annual UFO festival. City officials say 50,000 people are expected for the event, which will include lectures, book-signings, tours, entertainment, and, according to the organizers, perhaps an alien abduction or two.
Long-term plans are underway as well for a UFO-themed amusement park, complete with an indoor roller coaster that would take passengers on a simulated alien abduction. The park, dubbed Alien Apex Resort, could open as early as 2010. The city has received a $245,000 legislative appropriation for initial planning, but the park would be privately built and managed.
The original Roswell Incident occurred in July 1947, outside the city. A rancher named W.W. "Mack" Brazel went to check on some sheep after a night of storms. He claimed he found some strange debris. Neighbors told Brazel he might have pieces of a flying saucer.
On July 8, 1947, a local military office issued a press release saying that pieces of a "crashed disk" were recovered. A story featured on the front page of the Roswell Daily Record claimed a flying saucer was captured (the paper is now reproduced and sold to tourists). Other news agencies picked up on the event -- albeit in a cursory fashion.
A revised release was soon sent out that said the material was a weather balloon. But stories about requests for tiny coffins and a nefarious plot began to emerge and Roswell went from small town to Alien Capitol.
What exactly happened more than a half-century ago in the desert remains murky. But it did inspire me to drive hundreds of miles across the desert to a town of roughly 45,000 people.
After a fitful sleep at the Best Western, I rubbed my scalp to search for any curious implants or scars, and headed out early to spend the morning downtown.
I was greeted at the UFO Museum (a former movie theater) by an alien dummy wearing a Santa Claus hat. The light posts on the streets of Roswell feature alien heads wearing Santa Claus hats. The creatures look utterly incapable of such malevolent acts as abduction and brain surgery.
The museum takes visitors through a timeline, beginning with newspaper clips and printed affidavits from many who claim to have intimate knowledge of the crash. For an extra donation, visitors can take an audio tour with a decidedly low-tech cassette Walkman.
The convoluted timeline of what happened after "The Roswell Incident" shows just why there are so many conflicting stories about the event.
The museum freely mixes documentary materials and kitsch. Among the displays are explanations of crop circles and an exhibit detailing how Roswell has been portrayed in pop culture.
It's curious how aliens are almost inevitably depicted by those who claim they've been visited by extraterrestrials as diminutive with oval heads, green skin and doe-shaped eyes.
The museum's most popular and photographed exhibition is purely fictional: the set of an alien autopsy from the 1994 television movie "Roswell." The vivid exhibit, in which doctors prepare to examine an emaciated alien corpse, is on a permanent loan to the museum.
The gift shop takes up a good chunk of the first floor and offers every conceivable extraterrestrial gift: alien plush dolls; alien shot glasses and magnets that say "I BELIEVE." A wide selection of books and documents on the Roswell incident is also for sale.
There's also a research library for those inclined to further study the alien phenomena.
"We'll tell people the story of what happened and tell them to make up their own mind," Turner said.
Downtown Roswell is a hub of alien-themed shops. There's the Not Of This World coffeehouse and the Cover Up Cafe. Even businesses like banks have cardboard cutouts of aliens in the windows.
One shop worth a visit is the Alien Zone, roughly a block away from the museum. For a small fee, visitors (the human kind) can see an exhibit called "Area 51" that features displays of roughly 3-foot-tall alien models in very human poses.
One display shows an alien in a sauna reading a newspaper; another features a forlorn-looking alien lounging in a jail cell in prison stripes. The main exhibit features an "alien autopsy" complete with an alien baby fetus in a glass jar in the background and another life-size model of an alien stumbling from a crashed space ship.
There's plenty else to do in Roswell. But even city officials now seem to know why many people trek across the desert for a visit. The city's Web site says: "Roswell has something to offer all of our special visitors, whether from this planet, or from a distant galaxy."

New 'Wonders' poll in final month of voting

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The Great Wall, the Colosseum and Machu Picchu are among the leading contenders to be the new seven wonders of the world as a massive poll enters its final month with votes already cast by more than 50 million people, organizers say.
As the July 6 voting deadline approaches, the rankings can still change, the organizers say. Also in the top 10 are Greece's Acropolis, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, the Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra.
The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, are assured of keeping their status in addition to the new seven after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete for a spot.
The winners will be announced on July 7 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Latin Americans and Asians have been the most enthusiastic voters so far in the final round of 20 candidates for the world's top architectural marvels, but people from every country in the world have voted by Internet or phone, says the nonprofit organization conducting the balloting.
"It's the first ever global vote," said Tia B. Viering, spokeswoman for the "New 7 Wonders of the World" campaign.
Rome's Colosseum, China's Great Wall, Peru's Machu Picchu, India's Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra have been among the leaders since January while the Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer made their way up from the middle of the field to the top level, according to latest tallies. The United States' Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House have been sitting in the bottom 10 since the start.
Also in the bottom group are Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Russia's Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain's Stonehenge and Mali's Timbuktu.
Americans and Europeans have the lowest participation so far, Viering said.
"At the moment, most of the voting is coming from Latin America and Asia," she told The Associated Press. But the organizers are confident the campaign will draw more attention in the U.S. and Europe in the final phase, Viering added.
"Excitement is starting to pick up in the United States" because the campaign is getting much attention worldwide and Americans are starting to realize how positive it is, she said.
"People realize that it's now or never."
The ancient city of Petra in southwestern Jordan -- popularized by "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and famous for its water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock -- jumped from the middle of the pack to the top seven in January thanks to campaigning by the Jordanian royal family and thousands of Jordanians voting by text message over their mobile phones, Viering said.
The campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, with almost 200 nominations coming in from around the world. The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by the start of 2006. Since organizers started a tour to each site last September, the competition has been heating up.
There is no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite wonder, but most of the votes are cast by Internet in a system that registers each participant's e-mail address to discourage people from voting twice, Viering said.
"We have a lot of kids (voting) and that trend is continuing...but we have votes really from every part of the population," she added.
The original list of wonders were concentrated in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
Vanished are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria.
After the Egyptian protest, the organizers of the campaign set the pyramids above the competition.
"We absolutely had no problem with this," Viering told the AP. As of July 7, there will be eight world wonders including the Pyramids of Giza, she added.
Choosing world wonders has been a fascination over the centuries. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, keeps updating its list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 830 places.
"It's so exciting," said Viering. "There are not many things that could bring the world together like global culture, ... this is really something that every single person in the world can be interested in."
"This is all about bringing people together, to appreciate each other, ... to celebrate diversity," said Viering.
Weber's Switzerland-based foundation aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

How not to climb the Matterhorn

ZERMATT, Switzerland (AP) -- One sheer drop-off to the right, another eight feet to the left. A switchback ridge so steep that three steps brings you to the next turn. Rope handholds to clutch when the mountain trail shrinks to less than a foot wide.
What am I, a goat? It was time to consider a panic attack.
A summer day hike, my husband said. A glorious saunter up a flower-filled meadow to one of the world's most famous Alpine huts. Look, families with little children are in the gondola line with us. Don't forget your sunglasses, it's so bright.
Which is how, three hours later, I was shivering in a surprise July snowstorm en route to Hoernlihuette, the Matterhorn base camp, wearing capris and sneakers with no tread.
At 14,690 feet, the Matterhorn is not even the highest mountain in Switzerland -- but it surely is the most photogenic, rising up on four elegant faces to a craggy peak along the Swiss-Italian border. Walt Disney even borrowed its silhouette for Disneyland, debuting the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride in 1959.
At the real mountain's base lies the car-free Swiss town of Zermatt. There is no offseason here; it's nearly always packed with tourists riding trains and gondolas up the mountains, hiking on the alpine trails, walking along picturesque streets lined with traditional chalets, and eating at restaurants decorated with the ubiquitous, huge Swiss cowbells. Utterly charming or tourism gone mad, depending on your point of view.
Hoernlihuette, at 10,696 feet, has been on the flank of the mountain in some version since 1880. It's where the guys and gals with ice picks, ropes and crampons eat, drink, sleep and use the outhouse before launching their pre-dawn summit attempts. When the weather is bad and no one sits on the patio, you can also inhale the wet socks and sweaty shirts of manly men who disdain deodorant.
About 4,000 people a year stay here during its brief summer season (July 1 to September 30), with 3,000 of them seeking glory on top of the Matterhorn. But I was of the lesser beings, daytrippers who gasp for breath up to the stone refuge, throw themselves exhausted upon its sturdy wooden benches and need a beer -- or maybe two -- before they can face the trials of going back down.
We set off for Hoernlihuette on a crisp sunny morning, after a brief walk around Zermatt and a stop to pick up water and munchies. Then we were off to the Schwarzsee cable car, which whisked us 3,000 feet up to a restaurant and pond above the tree line, where families with children picnicked.
For hikers, it was time to get started, at 8,474 feet.
After 45 minutes across a stony meadow, we reached Hirli, a lone building a few hundred feet up. My, how time flies on a mountain. You can see where you are going, yet it takes forever. To match my plodding pace, my husband photographed about 10,000 alpine flowers from every direction.
Then the wind turned brisk, the blue sky ashen gray. Temperatures fell about 20 degrees. We broke out the windbreakers, which held off the freezing rain for five to six minutes tops. I longed for gloves and a hat.
It took about 10 steps for the landscape to turn from alpine meadow to crumbling lunar rock face. As the sleet turned into stinging hail, the trail disappeared altogether.
The snowstorm struck when we were totally exposed on the switchback ridge. By then I was hyperventilating about the sheer cliffs on either side. I decided it was better to stare at the wet stones beneath my feet.
Ironic, is it not, that we seek out these sweeping mountain vistas, yet when we are there, a glance in any direction sends our hearts racing in fear?
Yet the mind is a marvelous thing. Since the storm limited visibility to six feet, all of a sudden I could not see the plunging cliffs. Death might be a step or two away, but I was oblivious. That's when the fear disappeared.
We somehow made it to Hoernlihuette. Fortified by gemuesesuppe (vegetable soup) and heisse schokolade (hot chocolate), we left the steamy camp about 3:15 p.m., just as the next day's summiteers were checking in for the night. There's nothing like a one-inch layer of sleet and a pea soup-thick fog to really make a mountain descent interesting -- I thanked God again and again for my two adjustable hiking poles.
As we drew near to Schwarzsee, we heard a shout. A climber with a fully loaded expedition backpack was practically dancing down the mountain, leaping from rock to rock, his ice pick swinging. We flattened against the cliff to let him pass. A minute later, another. Then six, then a dozen.
"Maybe they are racing," I mused.
We soon found out why, as we watched the gondola operator lock up his office and ride the last one down, despite our own shouts from 100 yards away. We had misread the 17:15 p.m. closing time as 7:15 p.m. In fact, 17:15 p.m. is 5:15 p.m. We arrived at 5:21 p.m., six minutes too late. Believe me, he did not care.
Now we had 3,000 feet more to go, or 2 hours and 35 minutes to Zermatt, according to a trail sign.
A word about those Swiss hiking times posted at every crossroads. Would you ask a Kenyan how long it takes to run to the nearest village? I think not. Swiss grandmothers could beat you up the mountain carrying their day's groceries, so why would you believe their time estimates?
You can't. Try adding 25 minutes for every hour. Then add another 35 minutes because it is dark and you have to stick to the winding road instead of hitting the steep yet enticing trails through the woods that you know could save you miles. Memo to self: Buy a hiking head lamp.
After three more hours, my thigh muscles began to twitch uncontrollably. Nearly frozen, we arrived back in the dark, utterly exhausted, about 9 p.m.
What did we learn?
Zermatt and the Matterhorn are must-see destinations.
Mountain expeditions in capris and bald sneakers are bound to end in disaster.
The Swiss are nothing if not punctual -- do not miss the last tram.
Over 500 people have died climbing the Matterhorn since 1865, and Swiss tourism authorities say deaths now average about 12 annually. (WHAT? WHAT? A dozen each year? Could someone have mentioned this sooner?) As of early May, six people had died this year.
Many of the dead mountaineers are buried in Zermatt's downtown cemetery. Don't join that club.

Casinos or culture? Singapore seeks tourists

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- What makes a successful tourist destination? Casinos, theme parks, and Bollywood films -- or a mix of historic sites and local culture?
As Singapore reduces its dependence on electronics exports it wants to boost its tourism industry -- currently about 5 percent of gross domestic product -- and is betting on casinos and other imported entertainment to lure millions more visitors.
"Artificial tourist creations can work," said Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the Lonely Planet guides.
"Disneylands all over the world seem to pull in the crowds. And the casinos, given the propensity for the Chinese to gamble, will probably be a success."
Perhaps Singapore's biggest handicap is its lack of famous sights: it has no Angkor Wat or Taj Mahal. For many years, it prided itself on its innumerable shopping malls, and promoted its annual "Singapore Sale".
Abroad, it is often better known for its authoritarian ways -- it canes vandals, executes drug offenders, crushes political opposition, and bans the sale of chewing gum. Culturally, its development has been crippled by restrictions on freedom of expression and censorship of films and plays.
But with an eye on the newly affluent Chinese, Indians and other Asians who increasingly travel overseas, Singapore has begun work on several new attractions, including two big casinos, a Universal Studios theme park, and a ferris wheel, even though none of these is particularly Singaporean.
Bollywood blockbusters
In a bid to generate more "buzz" abroad, it has opened clubs such as Ministry of Sound and is even pitching itself as a film location, eager to emulate New Zealand's success with hits such as Lord of the Rings. By "starring" in Bollywood blockbusters such as Krrish, Singapore hopes to entice more Indian tourists.
Earlier this month, Singapore snagged the rights to host Formula One racing, which it hopes will raise its profile abroad. Citigroup expects the race to generate S$150-200 million a year.
"They want to send a message that Singapore has changed," said Christopher Wood, CLSA's regional strategist.
"They have to have more than shopping centers. Formula One is a brilliant idea. But nobody in Asia does culture well. Japan is the only place in Asia that has it. There's nothing cultural happening here now, zero."
The government wants to double the number of visitors to 17 million a year by 2015, while nearly trebling tourism receipts to S$30 billion. Its new attractions could well succeed in pulling the crowds, economists say, particularly given Macau's experience.
After the former Portuguese enclave of Macau opened up to the big U.S. casino firms, it proved so popular that its annual gambling revenues hit US$7 billion last year.
Macau had a record 22 million visitors last year, up 17 percent from 2005, and could have as many as 35-40 million a year by 2010, Goldman Sachs said in a research report this month.
Inspired by Macau, Singapore scrapped its decades-long ban on casinos and is now building two gambling resorts, due to open in the next three or four years, at a cost of nearly $7 billion.
One of those casinos will include a Universal Studios theme park. That too could attract millions of visitors from the region, given that the one in Japan had 8.7 million visitors in the year ending March 31, up 4.6 percent from a year ago.
Sleepy backwater
But some Singaporeans have their doubts.
"The Formula One is a lazy way to get cheap publicity," wrote Ng Weng Hoong in a letter to Business Times, as the government's money would be better spent promoting the use of solar energy.
"Singapore should not be hypocritical, pretending to care for energy savings and the environment -- and then coming up with a wasteful, has-been event like the F1."
Thousands of Singaporeans signed a petition objecting to the casinos, citing fears about the social impact and risk of crime.
"It's wrong to think that by putting up a casino that will attract tourists. It will attract a niche market - gamblers," said Hans Hoefer, who founded the Insight Guides. "I haven't seen a tourist in Las Vegas, I've only seen gamblers."
Paul Theroux, the novelist and travel writer, once wrote that it was Singapore's image as "a hot, sleepy backwater, full of colonial relics, crumbling houses, and old habits" that lured him to the city-state in the late 1960s.
"They're burying the old Singapore. It will be gone soon," he lamented in his book My Other Life. While Theroux portrayed the city-port's raffish side with its pimps and prostitutes and seedy nightclubs in his novel Saint Jack, much of that was torn down or scrubbed clean in Singapore's frantic rush to modernize.
Bugis Street, once the haunt of transsexuals, is now lined by unremarkable, could-be-anywhere shopping malls, while many of the old shop houses in Chinatown were demolished to make room for modern office blocks and apartment blocks.
While westerners and writers such as Theroux want history and culture, Chinese and Indians see Singapore as a beacon of modernity and efficient infrastructure, in stark contrast to many of Asia's chaotic cities, says tour guide Geraldene Lowe.
"All they want to see is a modern city," said Lowe, whose walking tours take in Singapore's historic quarters and craftsmen such as those who make wood carvings for the temples, or paper statues for traditional Chinese funerals.
"The government builds these ferris wheels and (gambling) resorts that you can get anywhere. Why not promote the culture we do have?" said Lowe.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

How not to climb the Matterhorn

ZERMATT, Switzerland (AP) -- One sheer drop-off to the right, another eight feet to the left. A switchback ridge so steep that three steps brings you to the next turn. Rope handholds to clutch when the mountain trail shrinks to less than a foot wide.
What am I, a goat? It was time to consider a panic attack.
A summer day hike, my husband said. A glorious saunter up a flower-filled meadow to one of the world's most famous Alpine huts. Look, families with little children are in the gondola line with us. Don't forget your sunglasses, it's so bright.
Which is how, three hours later, I was shivering in a surprise July snowstorm en route to Hoernlihuette, the Matterhorn base camp, wearing capris and sneakers with no tread.
At 14,690 feet, the Matterhorn is not even the highest mountain in Switzerland -- but it surely is the most photogenic, rising up on four elegant faces to a craggy peak along the Swiss-Italian border. Walt Disney even borrowed its silhouette for Disneyland, debuting the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride in 1959.
At the real mountain's base lies the car-free Swiss town of Zermatt. There is no offseason here; it's nearly always packed with tourists riding trains and gondolas up the mountains, hiking on the alpine trails, walking along picturesque streets lined with traditional chalets, and eating at restaurants decorated with the ubiquitous, huge Swiss cowbells. Utterly charming or tourism gone mad, depending on your point of view.
Hoernlihuette, at 10,696 feet, has been on the flank of the mountain in some version since 1880. It's where the guys and gals with ice picks, ropes and crampons eat, drink, sleep and use the outhouse before launching their pre-dawn summit attempts. When the weather is bad and no one sits on the patio, you can also inhale the wet socks and sweaty shirts of manly men who disdain deodorant.
About 4,000 people a year stay here during its brief summer season (July 1 to September 30), with 3,000 of them seeking glory on top of the Matterhorn. But I was of the lesser beings, daytrippers who gasp for breath up to the stone refuge, throw themselves exhausted upon its sturdy wooden benches and need a beer -- or maybe two -- before they can face the trials of going back down.
We set off for Hoernlihuette on a crisp sunny morning, after a brief walk around Zermatt and a stop to pick up water and munchies. Then we were off to the Schwarzsee cable car, which whisked us 3,000 feet up to a restaurant and pond above the tree line, where families with children picnicked.
For hikers, it was time to get started, at 8,474 feet.
After 45 minutes across a stony meadow, we reached Hirli, a lone building a few hundred feet up. My, how time flies on a mountain. You can see where you are going, yet it takes forever. To match my plodding pace, my husband photographed about 10,000 alpine flowers from every direction.
Then the wind turned brisk, the blue sky ashen gray. Temperatures fell about 20 degrees. We broke out the windbreakers, which held off the freezing rain for five to six minutes tops. I longed for gloves and a hat.
It took about 10 steps for the landscape to turn from alpine meadow to crumbling lunar rock face. As the sleet turned into stinging hail, the trail disappeared altogether.
The snowstorm struck when we were totally exposed on the switchback ridge. By then I was hyperventilating about the sheer cliffs on either side. I decided it was better to stare at the wet stones beneath my feet.
Ironic, is it not, that we seek out these sweeping mountain vistas, yet when we are there, a glance in any direction sends our hearts racing in fear?
Yet the mind is a marvelous thing. Since the storm limited visibility to six feet, all of a sudden I could not see the plunging cliffs. Death might be a step or two away, but I was oblivious. That's when the fear disappeared.
We somehow made it to Hoernlihuette. Fortified by gemuesesuppe (vegetable soup) and heisse schokolade (hot chocolate), we left the steamy camp about 3:15 p.m., just as the next day's summiteers were checking in for the night. There's nothing like a one-inch layer of sleet and a pea soup-thick fog to really make a mountain descent interesting -- I thanked God again and again for my two adjustable hiking poles.
As we drew near to Schwarzsee, we heard a shout. A climber with a fully loaded expedition backpack was practically dancing down the mountain, leaping from rock to rock, his ice pick swinging. We flattened against the cliff to let him pass. A minute later, another. Then six, then a dozen.
"Maybe they are racing," I mused.
We soon found out why, as we watched the gondola operator lock up his office and ride the last one down, despite our own shouts from 100 yards away. We had misread the 17:15 p.m. closing time as 7:15 p.m. In fact, 17:15 p.m. is 5:15 p.m. We arrived at 5:21 p.m., six minutes too late. Believe me, he did not care.
Now we had 3,000 feet more to go, or 2 hours and 35 minutes to Zermatt, according to a trail sign.
A word about those Swiss hiking times posted at every crossroads. Would you ask a Kenyan how long it takes to run to the nearest village? I think not. Swiss grandmothers could beat you up the mountain carrying their day's groceries, so why would you believe their time estimates?
You can't. Try adding 25 minutes for every hour. Then add another 35 minutes because it is dark and you have to stick to the winding road instead of hitting the steep yet enticing trails through the woods that you know could save you miles. Memo to self: Buy a hiking head lamp.
After three more hours, my thigh muscles began to twitch uncontrollably. Nearly frozen, we arrived back in the dark, utterly exhausted, about 9 p.m.
What did we learn?
Zermatt and the Matterhorn are must-see destinations.
Mountain expeditions in capris and bald sneakers are bound to end in disaster.
The Swiss are nothing if not punctual -- do not miss the last tram.
Over 500 people have died climbing the Matterhorn since 1865, and Swiss tourism authorities say deaths now average about 12 annually. (WHAT? WHAT? A dozen each year? Could someone have mentioned this sooner?) As of early May, six people had died this year.
Many of the dead mountaineers are buried in Zermatt's downtown cemetery. Don't join that club.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Tiny island nation seeks tourists

BOMBOM, Sao Tome and Principe (AP) -- Flying into the tiny island of Principe off Africa's west coast brings a sense of traveling back in time.
Seen from over the Atlantic, the dense tropical jungle coats the volcanic terrain down to a turquoise sea and golden beaches reachable only by boat. It looks like a prehistoric land that time forgot.
Principe is one of the poorest spots on Earth in dollar terms. But in terms of virgin tropical landscapes it is one of the wealthiest, says Rombout Swanborn, a Dutch businessman and conservationist.
Swanborn recently purchased two hotels on Principe and, backed by local authorities, aims to plug this island of about 6,000 people into the ecotourism boom now spreading across West Africa.
Ecotourism took off in eastern Africa in the early 1990s. Underdeveloped countries such as Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya discovered they had what vacationers from developed countries sought -- raw wilderness rich in animal life.
Now the business is gaining traction in the western part of the African continent, too.
Ecotourism is flourishing in Gabon and Ghana. Angola and Nigeria are also signing up. Sao Tome and Principe, a twin-island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, aims to become the latest.
"The people here are sitting on a pot of gold," said Swanborn, who also operates four ecotourism developments in Gabon.
The Madrid, Spain-based World Tourism Organization in October described Africa as the industry's "star performer." Growth in visitors is predicted to be around 10 percent this year, more than double the world average.
"One can safely say that the growth we observe in Africa ... is mainly based on ecotourism growth," Eugenio Yuris, head of the WTO's sustainable tourism section, said.
The United Nations and international conservation bodies such as the World Wildlife Fund are backing the ecotourism trend. They view the development of sustainable tourism as a way of wedding local needs and care for the environment.
There are potential pitfalls, though.
Neel Inamdar, a senior adviser at Washington, D.C.-based Conservation International, a nonprofit organization, points out that Kenya has fought hard to recover from the damage wrought by high-volume, low-cost ecotourism.
"You need a strong regulatory environment, with bodies that will stand up to the industry," Inamdar said.
Principe island, just north of the equator, fits the bill of a tropical paradise.
Just a few hundred people live in its seaside capital, Santo Antonio. The rest are scattered across small communities of clapboard houses and tumbledown former plantation buildings where they scrape a living from farming and fishing.
The jungle spills down to beaches where you can spend an entire day and the only footprints in the sand are your own.
The thick Atlantic rainforest is sprinkled with colorful birds, including rare species, and waterfalls. In certain seasons, sea turtles lay eggs on the beaches and whales come within view of land.
Despite its charms, this country is not all that it could be as a vacation destination. There are few international-standard hotels.
But tourism development is gathering pace.
Portugal's Pestana Group, which runs a resort on Sao Tome island, is building a development in the capital, also called Sao Tome, that includes a five-star hotel, a casino and villas.
Arlecio Costa, local director of the Falcon Group, is developing a huge project on the northern tip of Sao Tome island called Lago Azul with South African investors.
The $380 million development, still at the planning stage but scheduled to open in five years, includes a quay for cruise liners, an 18-hole golf course, a conference center and a hotel with a health spa.
"It looks like a dream," Costa said.
The project will leave a large footprint, but Costa insists its biggest selling point is the area's natural beauty, especially the nearby Obo National Park whose conservation activities are supported by the United Nations.
Sao Tome and Principe was a largely overlooked country until it found major oil reserves, estimated at 11 billion barrels, in its offshore waters a few years ago. That discovery brought foreign governments and international oil companies knocking at its door.
Costa, though, reckons tourism is the way forward.
"The oil will run out one day," he said. "Tourism can be forever, if you take care of it."
IF YOU GO:
SAO TOME:
National tourism Web site: http://www.saotome.st
TRAVELING TO SAO TOME: Foreign passport holders require visas and a yellow fever vaccination to enter Sao Tome. Flights leave from Lisbon, Portugal (TAP Air Portugal); Luanda, Angola (TAAG); and Gabon (Air Sao Tome). Air Sao Tome flies from Sao Tome island to Principe island.
WHEN TO GO: The equatorial islands have a steady temperature between 22 and 30 C (72 and 86 F). The October-May rainy season brings sporadic heavy showers and higher temperatures. It is mostly cloudy between June and September.
WHERE TO STAY: There are just a handful of international standard hotels, though the national tourism Web site lists some other local places to stay.
In the capital, Sao Tome, there are two main hotels. The Marlin Beach Hotel - http://www.marlinbeach.com - is on the bay and the Hotel Miramar -http://www.sao-tome.com/hmiramar/index--english.htm - is located in the city's embassy area.
On the Ilheu das Rolas, an islet off the southern tip of Sao Tome island, the Pestana Equador Hotel -http://www.pestana.com/hotels/en/hotels/africa/SaoTomePrincipeHotels /Equador / Home/ - offers beaches and diving.
On Principe island, the Bombom Resort - http://www.bom-bom.com - has beachside bungalows and organizes trips into the rainforest.
TIPS: Portuguese is the official language. Few speak English; more can speak French. The local currency is the dobra, though euros can be widely used. There are a few taxis, and visitors renting vehicles are advised to choose four-wheel-drive jeeps because the roads are poor. The streets are safe and the people are friendly and welcoming. Sao Tome, with international aid, has greatly improved its problems with malaria in recent years, but visitors should take the usual precautions against mosquito bites.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Disney World hotels ban smoking

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) -- Smoking will be banned as of June 1 at all 22 Disney World hotels and time-share resorts in Florida.
The ban permits smoking at designated outdoor areas. The transition to become smoke-free will allow Disney to better accommodate the increasing number of guests requesting nonsmoking hotel rooms, the theme park's spokesman Jacob DiPietre said.
The ban follows a 2000 measure that restricted smoking throughout Disney's theme and water parks, limiting smoking to designated areas, DiPietre said.
"We're focused on responding to what our guests are asking for and our guests are overwhelmingly asking for smoke-free rooms," DiPietre said. "The number of guests requesting smoking rooms has declined dramatically in recent years."
DiPietre could not provide figures tracking the decline, but said it has been "significant."
Less than 4 percent of Disney's more than 24,000 hotel rooms are currently smoking optional, DiPietre said.
Guests caught smoking after the ban could face cleaning surcharges as high as $500, DiPietre said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

High Museum unlocks 'Gates of Paradise'

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- When the artists of Florence, Italy, swung open the doors of the Baptistery of the Duomo (cathedral) now known as the "Gates of Paradise" in 1452, a new world was waiting on the other side.
Twenty feet tall and weighing three tons, this single work is considered the gateway to the Italian Renaissance, an upheaval so fundamental to how we see our world and think of ourselves that centuries later no Western culture is left untouched by it. ( See an audio slide show with curator Gary Radke )
Legend has it that Michelangelo himself is the one who dubbed these doors the "Gates of Paradise."
And as the High Museum of Art opens its exhibition of three of the doors' 10 gilt panels on Saturday, the conservation effort that brought them here will have lasted 25 years -- just two years less than it took to make the work itself. ( See a gallery of images from the set-up of the High Museum's exhibition )
Once the High showing closes on July 15, the exhibition travels to the Chicago Institute of Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The panels -- depicting the biblical stories of "Adam and Eve", "Jacob and Esau", and "David and Goliath" -- then will be moved back to Florence to be reassembled in the original doorway for permanent, hermetically sealed display at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. They are expected never to travel again.
Exhibition curator Gary Radke of Syracuse University says that the special alloy of bronze developed in the 15th-century workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti for the doors had resulted in a corrosion that had dulled the dull surfaces of the square relief-sculptures and other gilt ornaments on the doors.
The danger in trying to reclaim such works, of course, is that chemical treatments can damage the bond between the gold and bronze and take away more priceless, irreplaceable material.
So it's thanks to a specially developed laser-and-distilled-water technique that what you now can see on display is not a restoration -- not new gold leaf added, or reconstructed bronze modeling -- but the same metals Ghiberti worked with himself.
"These 'Gates of Paradise,' think about it," Radke says. "They're on the doors of the Baptistery in the center of downtown Florence, where you have walking by every day, people like Michelangelo, people like Donatello, people of all important eras, going, going there. And they (the doors) are really the school of the Florentine art of the mid-15th century, of the Renaissance. ... They're there, all day, every day, at night, under the moonlight, under the sunlight.
"Think of how many people have been through that piazza and have seen these doors. I remember them being relatively clean -- I went as a student, then went as a newlywed and thought what was on the work was dirt.
"We found out it wasn't just dirt but was actually chemical reactions between the surfaces of the gold and the bronze."
The genius of the master metalworkers of Florence had caught up with their work at last and intervention was required to save them.
Ghiberti ("gee-BARE-tee," pronounced with a hard "G") is, in a way, the artist behind the masters. Born in 1378, he won a competition to create the north doors of the Baptistery at a time when Radke says Florence was spending more money on its cultural expansion than its military endeavors.
By the time that commission had led to the "Gates of Paradise" job, Ghiberti's workshop had become the place in which Donatello, Masolino, Uccello and other key artists of the era would be trained. Ghiberti died in 1455 -- 20 years before the birth of Michelangelo.
One-time U.S. tour
Now housing the reliefs in special transparent oxygen-free cases -- so no humidity can generate a galvanic reaction among the salts in the metals -- the display at the High Museum is designed not only to give you a very close look at three of the 31.5-inch square panels themselves, but also a sense for context.
Patrizio Ostricresi of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence has worked closely with the chief conservatory on the project, Annamaria Giusti. While overseeing the assembly of the protective cases for the priceless pieces in Atlanta, he points to the "David and Goliath" panel's patches of brown that show through the gold.
"Look at this," says Ostricresi. "The mountain in this scene, the helmets" on the centurions in the crowd scene, "and the David, himself. You see how the gold has been rubbed off? Removed? I will show you why."
He walks over to the full-size photographic replica of the doors the High has produced for the display. "You see, the 'David' panel was placed by Ghiberti here, at the bottom of the door. This is why the Florentines could take the gold. It was low. Within reach. But if you look at the 'Adam and Eve' panel? Perfect. It has lived for 500 years up high on the doors. Too high to reach."
And when High Director Michael Shapiro looks at the "Adam and Eve" panel, what he notices is a feat of astonishing relief work. "This angel's wing," he points out, "comes right out of the piece."
Sure enough, there's light behind the central part of the wing on one of the many angels feathering the skies over Ghiberti's glowing Eden.
Shapiro has become known in the industry for his liaisons with European art centers. Still in its first of three years, the Louvre Atlanta series of exhibitions currently is on view, its latest additions the "Decorative Arts of the Kings" show and the recent arrival of "Et in Arcadia" painting of Nicolas Poussin. ( Read more about the High's decorative arts show from the Louvre )
And in 2003, Shapiro brought Verrocchio's "David" to the museum, the first effort in the particular laser conservation technique deployed in the "Gates of Paradise" reclamation.
As might be expected, that effort in conservation involves the international cooperation and study of many experts. The High convened a special workshop in February 2006 in Florence with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (which also underwrote the show's catalog) and resulting in a commission to have the digital-art library ARTstor create a major photographic study of the "Gates."
The completion of the restoration of the bronze doors has been facilitated by special funding from a non-profit organization, the Friends of Florence.

50 years since debut of 'Europe on 5 Dollars a Day'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Arthur Frommer first saw Europe in 1953 from the window of a military transport plane.
He'd been drafted and was headed to a U.S. base in Germany. But whenever he had a weekend's leave or a three-day pass, he'd hop a train to Paris or hitch a ride to England on an Air Force flight. Eventually he wrote a guide to Europe for GIs and had 5,000 copies printed. They sold out at 50 cents apiece, and when his Army stint was over, he rewrote the book for civilians, self-publishing "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" in 1957. (Read excerpts)
"It struck a chord and became an immediate best-seller," he recalled.
On the 50th anniversary of the book's publication, Frommer is still being credited with helping to change leisure travel by showing average Americans that they could afford a trip to Europe. And while the dollar-a-day series is finally ending this year after selling millions of copies, the Frommer brand remains strong, with a new series from Arthur's daughter Pauline carrying on the tradition.
More important, Frommer's original approach -- a combination of wide-eyed wonder and getting the best value for your money -- has become so standard that it's hard to remember how radical it seemed in the days before discount flights and backpacks.
"If you go back to the 1950s, most people who traveled were wealthy," said Pat Carrier, owner of The Globe Corner Bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "If they went to Europe, it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. Today, my kids think they should be in a foreign country as part of their every-year experience. Arthur did for travel what Consumer Reports did for everything else."
Anne Sutherland, a professor at the University of California at Riverside who studies tourism as a global phenomenon, used "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" on a six-month trip in 1965. "When I read the title, I said, 'I can do Europe on $5 a day? I'm going!"' she said. "And I really did live on $5 a day. For my generation, that really made a difference. Without that guidebook, we couldn't have known we could do it."
Bertram Gordon, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, California, recalled sitting in a cafe in Paris in the mid-1970s where "it looked like every third person passing by was carrying a Frommer's." But Gordon, who teaches a course on the history of European travel, noted that many factors contributed to Frommer's success, including the affluence of post-World War II America, adventurous baby boomers, and the rise and ease of jet travel.
"Frommer was catching a wave," Gordon said. "This is not to take anything away from him, but when his books started coming out, there was an audience."
That wave continues today. Americans now "look upon the entire world as a possibility for their next vacation," Frommer, 77, said in an interview. "You go to a party nowadays and people say, 'Shall I go to Miami or London? Shall I go to San Francisco or Shanghai?' The whole emphasis has become international travel, which was not the case 50 years ago."
In the 1950s, he added, "you traveled to Europe with a steamer trunk. You were told by the entire travel industry that the only way to go to Europe was first-class, that this was a war-torn continent coming out of World War II, that it literally wasn't safe to stay anywhere other than first-class hotels."
Then as now, Frommer insists, "budget travel is a preferable method of travel because it leads to a more authentic experience. You meet people imbued with intellectual curiosity -- teachers, students, artists, normal people, people from all over the world -- who want to have a genuine experience, rather than an experience whose aim is to make you physically comfortable and let you enjoy the pretentiousness of flaunting your wallet."
In the 1960s, when inflation forced him to change the title of the book to "Europe on 5 and 10 Dollars a Day," he said "it was as if someone had plunged a knife into my head." Thanks to the weak dollar, the final editions were titled "Europe from $95 a Day."
"The dollar a day concept doesn't make sense when it costs $100 a day if you're lucky to find a hotel room," said Michael Spring, Frommer's publisher at Wiley Publishing Inc.
Carrier, the Globe Corner Bookstore owner, credited Spring with greatly improving the Frommer's guides in the past 10 years. Carrier said they remain especially useful for food and accommodations. But he added that the Frommer's "brand is diminished today in terms of its reach across all age groups. I don't think anyone could have anticipated 15 years ago that Lonely Planet would explode the way it did." Lonely Planet books are geared to backpackers and a younger, more adventurous traveler.
Frommer's still publishes comprehensive guides to many destinations, but is trying to broaden its appeal. Last year the brand launched MTV Travel Guides, geared to trendy 20-somethings; Frommer's Day by Day guides to help time-pressed travelers pare down their options; and Pauline Frommer's Travel Guides, for adult budget travelers, emphasizing alternative accommodations and offbeat experiences like volunteer vacations. "Pauline Frommer's New York City" won the 2006 best travel book award from the North American Travel Journalists Association.
Pauline began traveling with her father and mother, Hope, in 1965 when she was four months old. "They used to joke that the book should be called 'Europe on Five Diapers a Day,"' Pauline Frommer said.
Her father still rails against gourmet meals, five-star hotels, private jets and other trappings of luxury travel, and Pauline shares his tastes. He noted that she recently booked round-trip tickets for herself, her husband and two daughters to fly round-trip to England this summer on Virgin Atlantic for $595 apiece. "She saved close to $1,000 for her family," he said approvingly.
"I never fly first-class," he added. "It's an incredible waste of money."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Nudist camps reach out to the young and buff

WOODSTOCK, Connecticut (AP) -- Here's the naked truth about nude recreation: The people who practice it aren't getting any younger.
To draw 20- and 30-somethings, nudist groups and camps are trying everything from deep discounts on membership fees to a young ambassador program that encourages college and graduate students to talk to their peers about having fun in the buff.
"We don't want the place to turn into a gated assisted living facility," said Gordon Adams, membership director at Solair Recreation League, a nudist camp in northeastern Connecticut that recently invited students from dozens of New England schools to a college day in hopes of piquing their interest.
The median age is 55 at Solair, where a yearly membership is $500 for people older than 40, $300 for people younger than 40 and $150 for college students.
The Kissimee, Florida-based American Association for Nude Recreation, which represents about 270 clubs and resorts in North America, estimates that more than 90 percent of its 50,000 members are older than 35.
"If a young person is enlightened enough to go to a beach or resort, they'll find that they're outnumbered by people who are not like them," said Sam Miller, 32, a medical student in Riverside, California, who is helping to plan a youth ambassadors workshop being held next month in Orlando, Florida. "Oftentimes they won't go back for that reason."
No one is quite sure why nudity, at least the organized version promoted by the AANR and similar groups, is such a tough sell for younger people.
"I think people think that we're all hippies," said Laura Groezinger, 22, of Billerica, Massachusetts, who grew up visiting Solair with her family. "Other people, I don't know the right way to say this, but they think it's more sexual, kind of. They don't understand just the being free with your body and being comfortable."
Money is also an issue. As nudist resorts become increasingly upscale, catering to baby boomers and retirees with plenty of disposable income, they're less affordable for college students and young families.
"There's a financial barrier, and I think it's important for resorts, if they want young people around, to recognize that and cater to them with discounts or free days," Miller said.
Only a handful of students attended Solair's recent college event, held on an overcast 60-degree day that prompted many to bundle up in sweaters rather than shed their clothes. But camp members such as Robyn Maguire, 27, of Manchester, Connecticut, said they plan to try again.
"I hope to get the word out to younger people that hey, it is OK, and here's a safe place to be, a very accepting place," Maguire said. "Unlike any other place in life, people actually look at you when they talk to you."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Cyprus to tempt tourists with saints' bones

NICOSIA, Cyprus (Reuters) -- The bones of martyred saints and somber shrines may not be at the top of every tourist's must-see holiday wish list.
But the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, better known as a major European sun-and-sea spot, is determined to delve into its rich cultural heritage and exploit the budding -- and more wholesome -- market of religious tourism.
"We are more than just a sand and sea and sex destination," said George Michaelides, chairman of the Cultural and Special Interest Tourism Association.
Industry officials say about 100,000 of the island's 2.5 million tourists already come for the cultural and religious monuments and the market has seen a boost since Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" made religious quests popular.
"Cyprus has always been associated with religion. In earlier times there was no ship going to the Holy Land without stopping at Cyprus. We are known as the island of saints," Michaelides said.
According to the World Tourism Organization, 300 to 330 million pilgrims visit the world's key religious sites every year. Cyprus is eager to take a big bite out of this growing market and boost the island's main industry.
In cooperation with the powerful Church of Cyprus and tourism officials it is launching religious tours for the first time this summer.
"Cyprus packs a huge amount of monuments in such a small space," said Vakis Loizides, a tourist officer at the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO). "The island's special relationship with saints, like Lazarus and Helen, make it very attractive."
Visitors can go on a tour tracing the footsteps of Saint Paul, who traveled from Antioch to Cyprus in 45 AD, and visit the pillar in the town of Paphos where he was tortured and, according to his second epistle to the Corinthians, given "forty bar one lashes" for preaching Christianity.
Or they can visit the church of Saint Lazarus, who church tradition says came to Cyprus after his resurrection by Christ, and served as a bishop on the island.
Most of his bones were sent to Constantinople in the 9th century but the faithful can see his skull, on display in a glass-topped box in the church.
Da Vinci Code
"We are seeing an increase in demand," said Angelos Mylonas, manager at Mantovani Plotin Travel. "After 'The Da Vinci Code', there is an interest from people to see Greek Orthodox churches."
Scattered over the Troodos mountains, Cyprus's 10 medieval timber-roofed churches, listed as UNESCO world heritage monuments for their stunning wall paintings, are at the top of many religious tourists' lists, he added.
"Tourists already know where they are going and what they want to see. They are extremely well read, they know places not even we are aware of," Mylonas said.
A 300,000 Cyprus pound ($700,000) tourist office campaign part-funded by the European Union and the Cypriot government is aimed primarily at travelers from Greece and Orthodox nations of the former communist bloc like Russia, but also at Orthodox communities in the United States, Britain and Australia.
The CTO is publishing religious tourism guides in several languages and a traveling exhibition of Orthodox artifacts is also planned.
Religious tolerance
Officials say that apart from the large number of shrines spanning millennia, Cyprus's comparative advantage is that it houses monuments of different religions, including one of Islam's most important mosques, the 648 AD Hala Sultan Tekke in the town of Larnaca.
"Cyprus is tolerant to various dogmas. Tourists can see Muslim and Orthodox monuments co-exist. This is very special," Loizides said.
He said the Church, originally skeptical about anything to do with tourism which it associates with lewd behavior, is now eager to promote "religious culture tours". It is cooperating in planning festivals and ceremonies so tourists can attend them.
"There is international interest in religious tourism. Given the violence and wars in the world, there is a belief that if developed properly, it can lead to a dialogue between cultures," he said.
Others in Cyprus see the development of religious tourism from a more practical perspective.
"This will help diversify the product of the island, change its image," Michaelides said. "These people come off-season and stay longer than the average tourist. They are better spenders, who go around and not just from the hotel to the pub."
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Boeing vs Airbus: Battle for the skies

LONDON, (England) CNN -- Last month Airbus began painting the Singapore Airlines livery on its first A380 superjumbo, due for delivery in October this year, while Boeing continues to receive healthy orders for its 787 Dreamliners.
Yet the real battle for the skies is happening on terra firma, between the two major players in the aviation industry.
Each has their backers and each their detractors in a mire of politics, power, money and influence. One thing is for sure though, from the smallest plane to the biggest it is one mighty struggle between the two.
"It's a major contest. Can Airbus sell the A380 against all the Boeing range of planes? There is also the fight for the medium-sized market -- there's going to be a titanic struggle between the 787 Dreamliner and Airbus' A350, which it also got into difficulty with," Kieran Daly, of Air Transport Intelligence told CNN.
"I also think we're just seeing the very beginnings of the biggest contest of all -- who will replace the smaller narrow-bodied planes, like the 737s, which are everywhere you look."
Orders for new planes tell part of the story. For the best part of a decade, Airbus held the lead while Boeing struggled with a painful and lingering restructuring.
But the tables have turned. While delays to the A380 led to some airlines canceling orders of the planes, Boeing enjoyed an almost record-breaking year with 1,050 on its books in 2006, compared to Airbus' 790.
Technical problems with the A380 are symptomatic of a broader ideological malaise at Airbus. At the end of February, Europe's plane-maker is embarked on its own restructuring program, called Power 8.
By reducing aircraft development times by two years, from eight to six, the airline hopes to streamline productivity and regain their market lead. It won't be a smooth ride -- there will be job loses within the company and industrial action has already been threatened.
It is in the airline boardrooms, however, that the fate of Airbus and Boeing will be decided.
Most carriers embark on a rolling program of renewals. Not so British Airways. It is opting for a block replacement of its fleet and that's got the plane manufacturers salivating at the prospect of a truly gigantic order.
So will BA stick with Boeing or go for Airbus?
"If you're Willy Walsh looking at Boeing, all your pilots are trained for their aircraft, so there's an incumbent advantage. However I don't think that's necessarily a done deal. BA will be looking at the future shape of the industry," Andrew Fitchie, an analyst for Collins Stewart told CNN.
In February the airline hinted at the path it may take with an order of four Boeing 777s, with an option for four more.
"There will be certain routes that the A380 will be more suited to on BA's global network. What is interesting is that BA is looking to do the whole fleet and expansion in one, which will give them considerable bargaining power with manufacturers."
Who wins between Airbus and Boeing can only be judged over a large number of years, but one things for sure. Once you are squashed back into seat 36F, it's still going to seem like a very long flight.

Capital gains: D.C.'s dining scene has come of age

(Travel + Leisure) -- The meal began in a rush of tiny tastes. A chocolate truffle oozed foie gras. New-wave bar snacks -- pork rinds in maple syrup, sweet lotus chips in star-anise dust -- gave way, in a spray-bottle spritz of mojito, to an endless procession of astonishing bites. What were those specks on pineapple slices that crackled at the back of the mouth? Pop Rocks? Riceless sushi rolls were filled with blue cheese and apple.
Cantaloupe juice, treated before us in a chemical bath, became semisolid miniature fruit bombs. Zucchini seeds had the texture of caviar. There were flavored airs, savory jellies, warm foams, hot and cold in the same little cup. "Guacamole" was avocado-enshrouded tomato sorbet. Lobster came next, a plump hunk pierced on a liquid-filled pod ("bite down and squeeze," the menu specified), followed three courses later by "Philly cheesesteak" -- a slim two-inch-long hoagie with white-truffle slices and rare Kobe beef. (Watch highlights of the D.C. restaurant scene )
After three hours and some 35 courses the final creations arrived: saffron-scented gummies, cocoa-dusted corn nuts and a mentholated cough drop transformed into a wafer-thin after-dinner mint. And the most amazing thing about this dinner? It can be ordered most nights of the week on a once-sketchy block in downtown Washington, D.C.
Spanish chef José Andrés, Washington's answer to Willy Wonka, has built an empire on the once-underestimated promise of the capital palate. His wildly experimental Minibar, where I consumed this cutting-edge feast -- six sushi-bar seats at the heart of Café Atlantico, a high-volume restaurant -- is but a couture test run for a much more ambitious stand-alone place. And Andrés, of course, is only one chef.
It seems our nation's old-boys' meat-and-potatoes club has become one of the most exciting restaurant cities on the Eastern Seaboard. Actually, Washington today is reaping the benefits of a gastronomic coming-of-age that began in the early years of the Clinton White House, when a new generation of chefs began to imbue fine dining with the city's own local character (I cooked at the time as an apprentice chef at then newcomer Citronelle). You'll still find cigar-munching political lifers working back-room deals in dining rooms as entrenched as Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate, but Washington restaurants, like the politics of this town, are not what they once were. (Vote on your favorite American cities)
The locals
If there can be said to have been a food revolution in Washington in the last decade, Jeffrey Buben and Robert Kinkead are the two local chefs who began it all. At Buben's Vidalia and Kinkead's namesake restaurant, their hugely popular long-running flagships, the chefs forged for the first time what could truly be called "D.C. cuisine." With the exception of Senate bean soup, the city has few classic specialties to call its own. Buben and Kinkead, starting in the early nineties, looked just beyond the Beltway for ingredients (Maryland seafood, Virginia ham) and inspiration, cobbling together their own sophisticated regional repertoire. They paved the way for a new generation to begin tinkering with local flavors.
Taking up the mantle were chefs like Todd Gray at Equinox (818 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202/ 331-8118; http://www.equinoxrestaurant.com/; dinner for two $120), a modestly appointed restaurant one block from the White House. Gray had worked under Roberto Donna, for many years the city's top Italian toque, but embraced more eclectic regional flavors when he set out on his own. The restaurant underwhelms at first glance -- the dining room, packed midday with blue-blazered bureaucrats, has all the appeal of a dentist's waiting room. But Gray's robust, flavorful food rises above its surroundings. Dishes like pan-roasted Chesapeake oysters in a buttery caper-and-pineapple meunière or mustard-sauced bay scallops with grilled frisée are the sort that beg to be sopped up with crusty bread.
Elsewhere, the Buben-Kinkead influence extends to more than just food, inspiring the mixing of homeyness and high-level cuisine. At Palena (3529 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202/537-9250; http://www.palenarestaurant.com/; dinner for two $130), a six-year-old spot north of the National Zoo, the very low-key vibe masks some of the city's most heartwarming food. Palena is actually two restaurants in one: in the boisterous front room, house-made hot dogs and a much-lauded burger are the principal draw, while at the hushed tables in back, far more refined globe-trotting creations get the reverence they merit. The duo in the kitchen met while cooking at the Reagan White House, which might explain their versatility. There are detours through Italy (house-cured salumi, pillowy wild boar-dressed gnocchi) and side trips to France (foie gras-squab boudin blanc). One main course featuring pork three ways deliciously combines tastes of Germany (smoked loin), Argentina (chimichurri sauce), and Italy (cotechino sausage) on the same plate.
The icon
Some 28 years ago Frenchman Yannick Cam gave Reaganites the glamour they craved. At Le Pavillon, the city's introduction to nouvelle cuisine, Cam sent out diminutive, painterly portions that became all the rage. After the restaurant closed, in 1990, the eccentric Cam bounced between kitchens before vanishing from the scene altogether. In 2004, the city's most iconic French chef made his splashy return just steps from the Mall. Le Paradou (678 Indiana Ave. NW; 202/347-6780; http://www.leparadou.net/; dinner for two $110) has the sort of starched-shirt formality that's gone out of vogue of late. The spare, spacious dining room is among the city's most attractive, swaddled in pale blond wood and featuring a Robert Custer glass sculpture. Beneath a ceiling sparkling with tiny faux stars, beautiful dishes emphasize old-fashioned French flavors using a modern, light touch. One oversize plate frames a checkerboard of dramatically sauced girolle mushrooms under garlic-infused escargot; on another, scallops and sea bass dance round a spattered puddle of bouillabaisse-channeling bright yellow sauce.
The old-timer
Citronelle (3000 M St. NW; 202/625-2150; http://www.citronelledc.com/; dinner for two $170) is by now an institution, a restaurant mentioned in the same breath as many of the country's finest. A few years after opening it in Georgetown as an outlying appendage of his Los Angeles-based Cal-French empire, chef Michel Richard ditched the West Coast to stay in D.C. full-time. The dining room, with its woozy color-shifting glass wall, is unrecognizable from my days there searing fish. But the high-wattage clientele is still the same (evidenced by the Secret Service entourage spied in the driveway). The waiters, in black suits and crisp white shirts, are as properly stiff as any at JFK's favorite French spots, but Citronelle is not your grandfather's French restaurant. Richard's food is as vivacious as ever: bracing creations like cuttlefish fashioned into "fettuccine" and showered in trout eggs and beets, or his Technicolor "oyster shooter" amusebouche-a narrow glass layered red (aspic-encased tomato confit) to white (oysters in brine) to green (cucumber gelée) to black (caviar)-are dazzling both to look at and to consume.
The renegade
Neither Richard nor Andrés has a lock on creativity here. At Maestro (1700 Tysons Blvd., McLean, Va.; 703/821-1515; http://www.ritzcarlton.com/; dinner for two $200), in the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner, in the Virginia suburbs, 33-year-old Fabio Trabocchi filters his exquisite Italian food through a Felliniesque lens. Despite the steepest dinner prices in the Washington area --and its far-flung locale about 20 minutes outside the city -- the restaurant is consistently packed. As if the food weren't erotic enough, the dining room's Versace opulence (along with the possibility of a room for the night) makes it ideal for a nostalgic Clintonesque dalliance. Trabocchi is a perfectionist, equally comfortable working in a traditional idiom (superb risotto) or creating something brand-new (Kobe beef carpaccio rolled around tofu). Five- or seven-course meals can be mixed and matched from among his classical dishes ("La Tradizione") and his most outlandish ("L'Evoluzione"). Or the truly adventurous can put their entire evening in this young wizard's capable hands. Raw fish might come first, a gorgeous mosaic of caviar-slathered tuna, hamachi, salmon and conch, with vitello tonnato expressed as a sauce. There might be lobster plumped into a pasta pouch, tortellini filled with duck confit, or loin of Virginia lamb photogenically shrouded in goat cheese mousse and pistachio crumbs.
The emperor
Minibar (405 Eighth St. NW; 202/393-0812; http://www.cafeatlantico.com/; dinner for two $170) auteur José Andrés is a force of nature, launching, it sometimes seems, a new place every week. His burgeoning empire began, naturally enough, with the small-plate food of his native Spain. In 1993 he reimagined tapas at the original Jaleo (there are now three), a restaurant gamble in a neighborhood-abutting Chinatown -- that had seen better days. Since then a new sports arena and a shopping mall have replaced the pawnshops and check-cashing stores. Officially known as the Penn Quarter, the spiffed-up area might easily be billed "Andrés-town." Within a single block the chef runs three of the city's most popular restaurants: along with Jaleo, there's the Latin American-influenced Café Atlantico, which houses the four-year-old Minibar; just up the block is Zaytinya, a high-ceilinged showpiece devoted to the flavorful mezes of Turkey, Greece, and the Middle East.
With Oyamel (401 7th Street NW; 202/628-1005; http://www.oyamel.com/; dinner for two $60), Andrés's newest place, he steers the small-plate concept south to Mexico. Vibrant, authentic flavors Andrés researched in Mexico are interpreted with his characteristic whimsy, like a dried fruit-stuffed quail in rose-petal sauce that's a fragrant homage to "Like Water for Chocolate." Other great nibbles include compulsive mole-doused french fries, cheesy rice with huitlacoche -- the corn fungus more gently described as "black mushrooms" --and tequila-drenched queso fundido with made-to-order

Views, festivals and villas in Italy's Ravello

RAVELLO, Italy (AP) -- Here along the Amalfi Coast, dramatic panoramas of rocky cliffs hanging over the sea are everywhere.
But the views from the town of Ravello -- perched above the gulf of Salerno -- feel like a shortcut to paradise.
Getting to Ravello, which has a rich history dating back to the sixth century, is an adventure in itself. The town remains virtually untouched by the swarms of tourists who visit nearby Capri and Ischia. Perhaps it is the hairpin bends that drop off into ravines that keep away all but the most determined. The town is also closed to traffic; cars must be left in parking lots near the main square.
Still, visitors find their way here to relax, sample limoncello liqueur in local cafes or listen to the renowned open-air concerts that are offered each summer as part of the Ravello Festival. Over the years, the town has hosted many celebrities, including Richard Wagner, Arturo Toscanini, Miro and D.H. Lawrence.
Cobblestone alleys, steep lanes and staircases lead to breathtaking views from terraced villas, like the one at Villa Cimbrone, a well-known local attraction that is also an upscale hotel. Here statues, temples, fountains, epigraphs, an ancient cloister, natural grottos and exotic flowers and trees lead the way to the breathtaking "Belvedere of Infinity."
The view from the balcony is so wide that the American writer Gore Vidal -- who owned a nearby villa -- once defined it as "the most beautiful in the world." White-marbled statues guard you as you lean out, overlooking the coast. The place is incredibly quiet, even in the high season. Only a few tourists, speechless, take pictures of each other as the sea and the sky merge on the horizon.
Villa Cimbrone dates back centuries and is a fascinating mixture of styles and epochs, ethnic and cultural elements and antique finds. Its name derives from the rocky ridge on which it stands, which is known as "cimbronium." An Englishman, Lord Grimthorpe, bought the villa in 1904, and it quickly became a meeting place for English visitors to the Amalfi coast, including the famous London Bloomsbury set.
A nearby villa called La Rondinaia was built by Grimthorpe's daughter and for many years, it was owned by Vidal. La Rondinaia, which means swallow's nest, was built into the side of the cliff, with six stories and multilevel terraces wrapped around it in a labyrinth of stairs and balconies. Vidal , who has had a prolific career as a playwright, essayist, scriptwriter and novelist, did much of his writing here. Celebrities who visited the villa over the years included Tennessee Williams, Rudolf Nureyev, Paul Newman, Hillary Clinton and Brad Pitt.
La Rondinaia is now owned by Vincenzo Palumbo, who bought the property from Vidal for a reported euro14 million (US$18) million. Palumbo, who also owns several local hotels, is renovating the property and said he plans to turn it into a niche lodging for jetsetters. The details were still being worked out, but Palumbo said he hopes to rent the villa out later this summer. With six bedrooms, including suites, two studies and five fireplaces, he said it will accommodate 12 to 18 people at a time.
Palumbo added that Vidal's studio, where he did his writing, will remain untouched and will be part of a small museum inside the mansion.
La Rondinaia is not now open to the public, but I was offered a peek inside on a recent visit to the Amalfi Coast with my parents.
We found the gate in the corner of a narrow alley, anonymous, with no sign or plaque. The black gate was half-open, beckoning. We silently entered the wild garden and wandered past umbrella pines, olive and cedar trees. Paths reached out in every direction.
The scene, with no other sound other than our own steps, was dreamlike. We walked past an empty swimming pool and a natural 70-meter-long (230-foot-long) cave, and there it was, the stunning, almost gravity-defying villa, towering above the sea and clinging to the side of the mountain.
Palumbo, who grew up in the area and visited La Rondinaia as a child, awaited us at the main door. Inside, the living room still seemed to echo the sounds of the parties held there, with its three balconies, four armchairs, cushions on the ground and a fireplace. Old magazines, a dusty sofa and an old typewriter in the studio are suggestive of the many nights Vidal spent shaping novels like the historical "Burr" or the polemical "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace."
Vidal took some furniture and many books back to the United States. But otherwise, everything in the study where he once wrote gives the sense that he just left.
We followed Palumbo to the terraced mansion's upper floors through an opulent staircase. The first terrace seemed to drop off into nothingness. When you peep out over the edge, it feels like you are flying.
It's a sensation that I have never quite felt anywhere but in Ravello, where the views are so expansive you almost feel like you can touch the heavens.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.