LONDON: THAT'S BOND, JAMES BOND
James Bond fans aren't going to want to miss a new exhibit opening in London this month marking the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth. For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond explores the author's life including his early work as a journalist and, no kidding, travel writer. Items on display include the blood-splattered shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale; prototypes of Rosa Klebb's flick knife shoes in From Russia With Love; Halle Berry's bikini from Die Another Day and Goldfinger's golf shoes.
Details:For Your Eyes Only runs through March 1, 2009 at the Imperial War Museum, on Lambeth Road. Admission is about $15.75 for adults, $7.85 for children; www.iwm.org.uk or (011-44-207) 416-5320. More info on travel to Great Britain at www.visitbritain.us or 800-462-2748.
TURKEY: ISTANBUL GETS HIP
W is opening its first European hotel this month in Istanbul. The chain -- which has 17 hotels in the United States and others in Montreal, Mexico City, the Maldives and Seoul -- is scheduled to open its Istanbul hotel Tuesday with 134 guest rooms, a spa and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market restaurant. It's located in a historic building at the end of the Akaretler Row Houses in the Besiktas district, which date to the 1870s but have been newly redeveloped. The site is near the Bosphorus Strait and the trendy Nisantasi neighborhood.
Details: W Istanbul, 22 Suleyman Seba Cad, Akaretler. (011-90-212) 381-2121; www.whotels.com. Rooms from about $430.
-- Associated Press
PENNSYLVANIA: NEW GETTYSBURG MUSEUMThis is consecrated ground, and while commercial development has encroached on the fields and hills where the pivotal battle of the Civil War was fought, for the nearly 2 million people who come each year to the Gettysburg battlefield, the experience has been basically the same for generations. That all changed last month with the opening of the Museum and Visitor Center. The complex is the centerpiece of a sweeping campaign designed to restore key portions of the battlefield to their 1863 appearance and enhance educational opportunities for visitors. The heart of the museum is contained in 11 galleries that explain the events that sparked the Civil War, how that brought about the Gettysburg campaign, and the aftermath of both.
Details: Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park (1195 Baltimore Pike) is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free, though tours and some programs carry fees (adults, $4-$29.95). 866-889-1243 or www.gettysburgfoundation.org and www.nps.gov/gett.
-- Boston Globe
MICHIGAN: YOU BE THE BOSSEvery year, thousands of visitors make their way to the tip of the scenic Old Mission Peninsula to see Traverse City's picturesque 1870 lighthouse above the rocky shoals of Grand Traverse Bay. But although the lighthouse is part of a public park, it's been closed to the public except on rare occasions. That will change this summer, when the lighthouse will be open to visitors on a regular basis for the first time in its 138-year history. But even better, for $800 a month volunteers will be able to live and work in the lighthouse, doing light maintenance work, answering visitors' questions and operating a soon-to-be-opened gift shop. Such a deal!
Details: Admission to the lighthouse, $4 adults, $2 children; 800-TRAVERSE or www.visittraversecity.com
