Top ten historic hotels from around the world

Hotel price comparison site www.trivago.co.uk has put together a list of ten historic international hotels and the famous individuals that stayed in them.

The lineup includes some of the most beautiful hotels from around the world and was compiled using reviews submitted to Trivago, booking.com, hotel.info and others.

The top ten lineup is:

1. Palace Beau Rivage, Lausanne, Switzerland

2. Hotel Copernicus, Krakow, Poland

3. Las Casas De La Juderia, Seville, Spain

4. The Willard, Washington DC, USA

5. Reid’s Palace, Funchal, Portugal

6. Steigenberger Grandhotel Petersberg, Bonn, Germany

7. Le Plaza, Brussels, Belgium

8. Grand Hotel Rimini, Rimini, Italy

9. The Cadogan, London, United Kingdom

10. Grand Hotel de Cabourg, Cabourg, France

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National Archives to ban photography

Tourists at the National Archives will no longer be able to document their visit, once a ban on photography inside the building goes into effect.

About a million people visit the National Archives each year and though flash photography is already banned inside because of the damage the ultraviolet radiation can cause to the old documents, it’s estimated that 50,000 flashbulbs still go off each year (according to USA Today).

The National Archives, located in Washington, DC, houses important documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

The ban on photos will go into effect on February 24. After that date, those who want a souvenir of their visit can obtain a replica of one of the documents from the gift shop, for a fee of course.

Titantic memorial cruise announced for 2012

History buffs and travelers with a sense of the macabre take note! 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and to commemorate U.K. based Miles Morgan Travel is planning a cruise that will follow the same path as that iconic vessel. Presumably without the iceberg.

On April 8, 2012, a chartered ship named the Balmoral will set sail from Southhampton, England, just as Titanic did 100 years earlier. The ship will have its first stop over in Cobh, Ireland, which is also a port of call on the original voyage. From there, it is out on to the open water of the Northern Atlantic, where, on April 15th, the Balmoral will visit the exact spot of the sinking of Titanic, exactly a century after the fact. The passengers and crew will then hold a memorial for those that were lost on that tragic day, before proceeding on to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they will visit three cemeteries, where passengers of Titanic found their final resting place. Finally, the voyage will finish up in New York City, the same destination that the “unsinkable” Titanic was bound for on that fateful journey.

The Balmoral can hold 1350 passengers and sails with a crew of 510. The luxury liner will serve a menu that matches the one from a century before, and live bands will play music from that era as well. Passengers can attend special historical lectures while en route and enjoy a cruise that will be a bit like stepping back in time. Prices start at $3900 and each of the 710 cabins is expected to be sold out.

For more information on this very unique cruise or to book your own cabin, go to BortonOverSeas.com, the company in charge of taking reservations for the voyage. Their Titatanic Memorial Cruise page has everything you’ll need to know before you follow the famous ship into history.

Own a piece of Paris: Eiffel Tower stairs, other artifacts up for auction

Want to own a piece of Paris? You’ll have a chance when historic pieces of the City of Lights go up for grabs on December 14. At the “Paris Mon Amour” (Paris My Love) sale, 18th century tourists maps, antique street benches, and a public phone box from the 1950’s will be sold at auction along with street lamps from the Champs Elysees and a staircase from the Eiffel Tower.

The 40-step section of stairs from the Paris landmark is is just one piece of the original staircase and is expected to fetch €60,000 to €80,000. The Tower’s steps were removed during a renovation in 1983, cut into 24 parts, and sold to collectors around the world. Since then, they’ve been on the auction block only a few times, most recently in 2007 and 2008. The company that manages the Eiffel Tower oversees each auction and apparently, they don’t want pieces of the Tower changing hands too often.

I couldn’t find much information on how to get in on the auction action. But chances are, if you’ve got the cash to drop on stairs from the Eiffel Tower, you’ve also got connections that can get you in.

The auction is part of the celebration of Paris’ 120-year anniversary, which took place this year. Other events scheduled throughout the year included special fireworks displays and exhibits of photos that chronicled the history of the structure.

Epic round-the-world cruise follows in the wake of famous explorers

In March of 2010, an adventure cruise of epic proportions will get underway from Singapore that will send travelers on a round the world expedition, following in the footsteps of some of history’s most revered explorers.

Cruise West’s Voyages of the Great Explorers will send 120 luck passengers on a 335 day cruise aboard the Spirit of Oceanus, the flagship of the Cruise West fleet. Departing from Singapore on March 6, 2010, the ship will sail west, and eventually return to its starting destination on February 3, 2011. In between, passengers will be treated to 24 individual voyages, encompassed by six defined “chapters”.

Each of these six chapters correspond to a historical figure who explored the world by sea. The first chapter follows the path of Marco Polo, while the second takes the route of Odysseus and the Phoenicians merchants. Subsequent chapters follow the adventures of Lief Eriksson, Christopher Columbus, James Cook, and Ferdinand Magellan. Each cruise within each chapter will follow historical routes and offer insights into what the explorers experienced as they went about their own voyages.

Through the course of the cruise, travelers will experience 242 ports of call spread across 59 countries. They’ll aslo visit 85 UNESCO World Heritage sites, cross 14 seas and oceans, and traverse the Suez, Corinth, and Panama Canals.

So how much will this epic cruise set you back? Good question! You can book any single cruise or combination of cruises starting at $4995. But if you want to do the whole thing, spending all 335 days circumnavigating the globe, it’ll set you back a cool $233,995. I wonder what Marco Polo would think of that.

For more information on the cruise read the press release here.