48 hours in Paris

Got 48 hours in Paris? The city of revolution and love has endless things to do. If it's the end of a busy business week and your first time then throw yourself into the heady mix of heritage, culinary delights and entertainment.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most out of a visit to the French capital.

FRIDAY

5 pm - So where best to start than overlooking the city. Perched 130 meters above Paris, Montmartre in the north will give you ample scope to build your appetite. From Pigalle metro wander up to the Basilique de Sacre Coeur, a Byzantine-inspired cathedral originally planned as a memorial for the lost soldiers of the Franco-Prussian war. The views from the top will give you a taste of what the city is all about. Head north to Place du Tertre to encounter artists sketching away, bustling cafes and a rabbit warren of cul-de-sacs with aging edifices.

7 pm - At the steps of Montmartre in the red-light district of the boulevard Clichy, lies the infamous Moulin Rouge. While a little touristy these days, the once favorite hangout of French society has a pricy menu that includes foie-gras trimmings, the finest bubbly and, of course, the famous dancers.

SATURDAY

8 am - It's an early start, but how often are you in Paris? Exit your hotel, enter the first bakery, pick-up a mix of croissants, pain aux raisins and a brioche and take a seat in a cafe. Enjoy a creme or noisette with people-watching.

9 am - It will be a long day, but well worth it. Take a metro to Bir-Hakeim. Book your ticket online to avoid the hordes of tourists at the Eiffel Tower and then, be it by lift or foot, head up the 324-meter high structure. Originally supposed to be a temporary fixture for the Universal Exhibition in 1889, the tower remains the emblem of France.

11 am - Time for a cruise along the Seine river. Pick your transport. The options depend on your level of laziness: City bikes (Velib) are spread across the city and are much like a hop-on-hop-off system. The Batobus or traditional Bateaux Mouches moored by the quay at the foot of the tower stop at major sites along the river. Or go on foot to give yourself versatility to roam.

11.30 am -Head along the river's edge by the Quai Branly. The museum of the same name on the right hand side and a pet project of former president Jacques Chirac offers collections from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Wander about 10 minutes further down on the right to Les Invalides. The complex of buildings houses museums and monuments relating France's military past, including the tomb of Corsica's most famous son Napoleon Bonaparte.

Continue along the Quai d'Orsay past the Foreign Ministry and the Assemblee Nationale (Parliament) before turning left and crossing over the Louis 16th-built Pont de la Concorde on the Right Bank. From here enter the Jardin des Tuileries and amble through the gardens leading up to the Louvre Museum.

If you fancy a slight shopping detour, turn left at rue de Castiglione. The Westin hotel has an antique-styled courtyard for a tea or a glass of fine wine, while a bit further down toward the Place Vendome and rue Saint Honore the fashion conscious have a chance to experience the likes of Christian Lacroix, Hermes or Pierre Cardin first hand.

If shopping isn't your thing, then carry on through the gardens to the Louvre and its controversial glass pyramid. Remember queues are often long and it's best to pick one or two exhibitions of the time or select a specific collection such as the jaw-dropping ancient civilizations of the Near East.

Favorites such as the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo will mean hours of queuing no matter how early you get there and for many De Vinci's smiling 'La Jaconde'is often a disappointment.

3 pm - Time for a late lunch. Cross the Pont des Arts at the end of the Louvre, where the lovestruck often attach padlocks on to the bridge showing their deepest affections. You're now in the St Germain des Pres area. Stroll along the river and then turn right heading toward the Notre Dame metro.

On rue Saint Andre des Arts is the Creperie Saint-German. A cozy atmosphere with an eclectic selection of music welcomes you to a world of sweet and savory pancakes and a goblet of cider.

4 pm - Cross over Paris' oldest bridge the Pont Neuf dating back to the early 17th century and made famous by the film Les Amants du Pont Neuf starring Juliette Binoche. It takes you on to l'ile de la Cite, one of two mini islands home to some of Paris crown jewels.

About 200 meters ahead on the left is Sainte Chapelle with its unforgettable stained glass windows, while on the right is the Cathedral of Notre Dame tracing its history back to the 12th century. Behind the cathedral, its gardens lead to the second island l'ile Saint Louis where often the bridge linking the two islands will have accordion players and a raft of free entertainment. Have a seat and soak in the atmosphere.

From here head north into the Marais district. The heart of Paris' Jewish community includes the Picasso museum, lots of trendy craft and fashion boutiques and an increasingly vibrant Chinese community. Once at the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, turn left toward rue Rambuteau and the futuristic Pompidou Center. The vibrant Beaubourg area is a den of restaurants, cafes and bars so the choice is vast for an evening out, but for dinner why not try something completely different on the rue Quincampoix - Dans le Noir? (In the dark?). The restaurant, bar and lounge offers top notch food served entirely in the dark. The waiters are blind and without their help you're not allowed to move anywhere within the restaurant.

SUNDAY

9 am - A trip to France wouldn't be complete without seeing the finest food on display. Take the metro to Denfert Rochereau in the 14th and amble through rue Daguerre. From oysters to horsemeat and the fruits of the season, some of the freshest foods are delivered to this market street often ahead of their local communities. Try some of the delicacies.

11 am - A stone's throw away from rue Daguerre is the entrance to the underground Catacombes, an ossuary that fills a section of caverns and tunnels that once were Paris' mines. Skulls, bones and tombstones adorn kilometers of passages.

1 pm - Keeping to the same theme, once out of the Catacombes take the metro to the north east to Pere Lachaise. Paris' biggest cemetery is home to the likes of Oscar Wilde and Doors lead singer Jim Morrison and its multiple alleyways offer the odd pastime of tomb-spotting. Just a few hundred meters away on rue du Chemin Vert is a little Kurdish restaurant Zagros. It offers simple, but tasty food from a family whose offspring starred in the 2009 film "Welcome" about a Kurdish refuge looking to swim across the English channel to reach his El Dorado.

4 pm - One last port of call -- the world's most famous avenue the Champs Elysees. Why not drop into the Citroen showroom, the first new building on the road in more than 30 years. If cars aren't your thing, then fight the hordes to get into Laduree to taste the creative pastries of some 40 chefs and where most walk away with at least a box of macaroons.

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Poll: Spill will not impact Florida tourism

The BP oil spill that spewed millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is unlikely to deter travel to Florida and Louisiana for the rest of the year, a new poll showed.

Bookings to the Sunshine State are strong and Orlando and cruises to the Caribbean are the most popular domestic and international destinations according to the survey by Travel Leaders, a leading corporate travel management company.

"While business throughout the Gulf coast region has been severely impacted all summer by the devastating oil spill, our survey demonstrates that there is real hope for the entire region in the upcoming months when tourism there perennially begins to rise," said Roger E. Block, the president of the Travel Leaders Franchise Group.

Eighty percent of the 450 travel franchise owners questioned in the poll said there was no impact on their autumn Florida bookings and 90 percent said the same about Louisiana.

Despite the sluggish economy, nearly three quarters of the travel experts expressed optimism about the remainder of 2010.

When asked where most travelers were going, 52 said Orlando, while slightly less named Las Vegas. New York City, Honolulu and Kahului, both in Hawaii, rounded out the top five destinations.

For people traveling abroad after Caribbean cruising, Cancun and Riviera May in Mexico, cruising in the Mediterranean and Rome were top choices, followed by London and Montego Bay in Jamaica.

Many franchise owners credited the stronger dollar for the increase in international bookings.

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Online bookers beef up mobile offerings

Travel suppliers and the online agencies that sell their bookings are targeting a new breed of jet setter who cannot be bothered booking trips in advance.

These travellers are relying more on their mobile smart phones — the iPhone, BlackBerry or Android — to negotiate, book and manage trips they have already begun, perhaps even from the parking lot of a hotel where they hope to stay.

“They are booking at the last minute. They are booking near where they are located,” said John Caine, the senior vice president in charge of mobile development at Priceline.com . “I think they’re staying shorter because they have flexibility.”

Priceline says 82 percent of its customers with smart phones book their hotel rooms within one day of arrival, compared with 45 percent of the customers who do not have mobile devices. Fifty-eight percent of Priceline customers with mobile devices were within 20 miles of their hotels when they made a reservation.

This shift in consumer booking habits extends the trend in online travel buying that has put many brick-and-mortar travel agencies out of business over the last decade.

The top U.S. online travel agencies — Priceline, Expedia Inc, Orbitz Worldwide, Travelocity — all have some kind of mobile access to their websites to let travelers with the appropriate gadgets book trips while en route.

Priceline’s popular Apple iPhone app allows users to book reservations from the road. An app is a software application that can be downloaded to a mobile phone. Expedia offers an iPhone app called TripAssist, which is similar to Priceline’s.

Orbitz Worldwide, the smallest of the three publicly traded U.S. online travel agencies, launched a mobile version of its flagship travel site Orbitz.com in 2006.

An Orbitz spokesman said the company is seeing more transactions in the mobile space and plans to unveil a ”comprehensive mobile strategy” later this year.

THE CUTTING EDGE

For years, travellers have used mobile phones to access the Internet where they can check flight schedules or rental car availability.

More recently, however, online travel agencies have ramped up their mobile offerings to allow more extensive planning. That effort took flight with the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the opening of Apple’s App Store in 2008.

Meanwhile, airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers also have begun launching mobile applications.

AMR Corp’s American Airlines, for example, has an iPhone app that lets travelers check departure times and play games such as Sudoku while they wait at the airport. It also has tools that enable users to book flights.

Delta Air Lines Wednesday launched its own iPhone app that allows customers to check in for flights and check a flight’s status. The world’s largest airline said the app would eventually let travelers book flights.

Companies do not generally disclose what they spend to develop their mobile capabilities. But Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Forrester Research, said it is becoming a much bigger part of the business.

Forrester data show that 21 percent of U.S. leisure travellers who use the Internet also own a smart phone, up from 13 percent a year ago.

In some ways, a travel company’s courtship with smart-phone users reflects its market savvy, Harteveldt said.

“If you insist on forcing everybody to your website, you look out of date,” he said. “You’re not in touch with how your customer is thinking and how they’re living their lives.”

Harteveldt noted, however, that currently, relatively few people use mobile devices to make travel bookings. But the number is growing, he said.

“Managing the trip — getting information about where the traveler may be and nearby points of interest and things like that — is important,” he said. “We expect in the next year that it’s going to change as apps get easier and people get more comfortable with their devices.”

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Springfield a slam-dunk destination

Maybe this isn't Bart Simpson's Springfield, but it's certainly Dr. Seuss's.

And Michael Jordan's.

Springfield, Mass., birthplace of basketball and of Dr. Seuss creator Theodore Seuss Geisel, pays tribute to the children's author with a memorial statue garden featuring some of his most beloved characters, including the Cat in the Hat, and to basketball with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

While Canadians have no claim on Dr. Seuss, except maybe for the fact Jim Carrey made an awesome Grinch, we do have a claim on basketball, a fact not promoted at the hall of fame.

The game's inventor, James Naismith, was from Almonte, Ont., and was working in Springfield at the YMCA in 1891 when he was asked to come up with an indoor game to occupy young people during the winter. He grabbed a ball, hung some fruit baskets high on the walls and the result was basketball.

A statue of Naismith holding a fruit basket has a prominent spot at the entrance to the History of Game gallery.

There's little passive about this hall of fame. A basketball court for visitors is its focal point. An honour ring of hall of fame lines the top of the court complex.

Inside the various galleries, fans become part of the game by testing their throwing, dunking and even TV broadcasting skills.

And the history of the game -- the NBA owes its professional roots to hockey team owners who wanted another sport to fill their arenas -- is duly chronicled with some truly uncomfortable looking uniforms, absurdly large shoes and heavy, awkward looking balls.

Its connection to basketball and children's literature is not all that makes Springfield a town for tourists.

Downtown, a pleasant and spacious museum features a complete collection of the once famous Springfield Indian motorcycles. Until the Second World War, Indians were a two-wheeled rival to Harley-Davidson, competing for the loyalty of American motorcycle enthusiasts and competitors. Despite enjoying a heyday, Indian motorcycles fell from grace and disappeared as a brand by the 1950s. Ill-conceived innovations such as a "suicide switcher" to change gears by hand instead of with a foot may have played a role in the company's demise.

Springfield for a time was also home to an assembly plant for Rolls-Royce cars. A single owner Springfield-made Rolls-Royce was donated to the museum in 2005 by a wealthy benefactor from Connecticut who also chipped in with $1 million to expand the museum complex.

The city can also lay claim to producing board games (Milton Bradley) and Gee Bee airplanes.

Unfortunately, Springfield missed out in 2007 when towns and cities called Springfield competed to host the premiere of the Simpsons Movie. The Springfield up the line in Vermont won.

Invigorated by the five colleges in the area, the Pioneer Valley and Berkshires have some of the most liberal towns and cities in the United States.

Northampton, for example, home to the liberal arts Smith College, features a thriving, lively downtown filled with independently owned shops and restaurants. Talented street performers dot the sidewalks and a "scramble" pedestrian crossing at the main intersection where all traffic stops so people can walk every which way amuses visitors.

Suzanne Beck of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce says the city is proud of its entrepreneurship and welcoming attitude and points out Northampton is a popular destination for the gay and lesbian community.

It's also a place for cyclists as an extensive network of former railway tracks has been transformed into a bicycle trail network.

Author John Villani named Northampton his "No 1 small arts town in America" and AmericanStyle magazine called it one of the top 25 arts destinations in the U.S.

Staying close to the downtown scene and bicycle trails is easy as the historic Hotel Northampton, with its sidewalk-facing conservatory bar and ample parking, is located in the core. Wiggins Bar, which is part of the hotel, dates to 1786 while the hotel itself was built in 1927.

Looking for other towns in western Massachusetts to explore?

Try Greenfield in Franklin County. But be warned staying in a place like Brandt House bed and breakfast (with rooms eclectically numbered for when they were created and not in any logical sequence) or dining in the packed-with-locals Hope and Olive Restaurant (named for the street corner) may start you thinking about relocating to this idyllic community.

There's a large stock of gorgeous old New England homes awaiting reinvestment and careful restoration.

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Alternative tours draw travellers to Mexico

While most travellers flock to Mexico to sip margaritas on white-sand beaches, a hardy few choose lesser-known tourist sites where they are chased down by immigration agents or risk their lives in dangerous slums.

Escalating violence in Mexico's war on drugs may be prompting some would-be tourists to think twice about Mexico, but agencies offering alternative tourism are thriving among those seeking not just a break, but a break from the ordinary.

Innovative tourist agencies offer trips to remote mountain areas home to leftist Zapatista rebels and to the most crime-ridden neighborhoods of Mexico City.

It is uncertain whether the trend can provide a boost for Mexico's tourism sector, which accounts for about 9 percent of Latin America's second-largest economy.

But foreign tourists, mostly from Europe, are signing up for undercover tours in Tepito, a sprawling market area in Mexico City notorious for drug deals, underage prostitution and pirated goods, said Cesar Estrada, head of Universal Travel.

Another community center runs what they call a 'safari' in this historic area, where many Mexicans refuse to set foot for fear of being robbed at gunpoint.

"We tell visitors to dress simply. If they want pictures, our guides take them discreetly," Estrada said.

Donata Von Salviati, a German tourist, said she prefers such tours because they provide the kind of insight into the real Mexico one could not get in a beach resort like Cancun.

"Things like this don't exist in Germany," she said.

Domestic tourists are taking to reality tourism in the central state of Hidalgo, where one agency run by local residents simulates the dangerous trek Mexicans and Central Americans undertake as they cross the U.S. border illegally.

NO FOOD OR WATER

Tourists pay about 200 pesos ($15) for a nocturnal trek through a state park where they struggle to keep up with guides posing as "polleros" -- ruthless traffickers charging thousands of dollars to usher poor would-be migrants across the border.

In order to help tourists understand migrants' plight, guests are prohibited from carrying food and water as they wade through a river in the darkness and hide in bushes to elude the "migra," or U.S. immigration authorities.

The tour ends quickly for those who don't run fast enough -- they are thrown in the back of a mock border patrol truck.

The trips began six years ago in a bid to draw attention to the plight of undocumented immigrants -- nearly 7 million Mexicans lived illegally in the United States as of January 2009.

Originally offered in northern Mexico, they were moved to the center of the country as security deteriorated in northern Mexico.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in drug violence since President Felipe Calderon declared war on powerful cartels when he took office in 2006.

Global Exchange Reality Tours, a U.S.-based tour operator that seeks to educate tourists about social conditions in developing countries, brings travelers to meet with leftist rebels in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas.

There, tourists visit remote mountain areas that are home to members of the Zapatistas, the rebel group that spurred a largely bloodless peasant revolt in 1994 in support of indigenous rights.

Travellers may not get a glimpse of the Zapatistas' elusive leader, the iconic Subcomandate Marcos, but they get acquainted with the food and culture of Mexico's indigenous south.

"People want to see the Zapatista movement personally," said Sneh Rao, regional director of the Global Exchange.

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Lazy days on the Rideau Canal

KINGSTON -- The dawn quiet at Newboro Lock, between Kingston and Ottawa on the Rideau Canal, was broken by the irregular bark of distant gunfire, igniting the raucous cries of crows and competing with the chants of the chickadees and the creaking of the wooden pier. The waterway was built to counter an American invasion, and finally, 178 years after its completion, it seemed the fighting had started.

But we thanked the distant explosions for waking us to stumble out on deck and appreciate the horizontal yellow early morning light pushing through the brilliant green of the trees as our cube-shaped houseboat wallowed gently in the wake of other passing early risers.

In fact the only Canadian targets in American sights were geese, and the hunters were later seen happily consuming hearty maple-syrup-laden breakfasts at the Stirling Lodge Hotel, a short walk from the lock.

At its completion in 1832 the Rideau Canal was the most expensive construction project the British Empire had ever undertaken in any of its colonies. Lt.-Col. John By of the Royal Engineers arrived in 1826 to supervise construction, and 202 km of waterway, 47 locks, 52 dams, and six years later had managed a truly Olympic-scale overspend. At around Ј800,000, or roughly $90 million at today's prices, the canal cost almost five times its original budget.

Conceived to secure supply routes and bring troops rapidly in case of an American invasion, the canal also proved to be the Empire's greatest white elephant. The invasion never came, and neither did a forecast boom to the Kingston economy.

Today those with their own craft can sail the canal's entire length, but we began a long weekend's exploration in the middle at small and sleepy Portland, where at Big Rideau Lake Boat Rentals we hired what some in sleeker vessels later described dismissively as a Winnebago with floats, or a house on an ice tray.

It was called Santa Maria, which was probably what experienced boaters said under their breath when watching our clumsy attempts to dock near their own craft.

The Santa Maria boasted every convenience, including beds, a bathroom with ashower, stove, microwave, CD player, barbecue, and even a fly-swatter. After a detailed and careful introduction to navigation, safety, and operation of the vessel's simple controls, we set out westwards along the south shore of Big Rideau Lake.

Lt.-Col. By would have been used to the constricted arterial waterways of Britain, only navigable by pencil-shaped narrowboats. But here he linked together existing and man-made lakes, providing large stretches of open water.

These give modern-day boaters plenty of room to manoeuvre, but also much more scope for getting lost, although our houseboat came laden with charts, and channel markers are numerous. But in surroundings of such beauty there was little need to hurry, and getting lost for a while was all part of the pleasure.

Our route snaked round tiny islands bristling with pines and looking exactly like toothbrush heads. Kingfishers dived from waterside trees, and occasionally holiday cottages peered out from the greenery. Prettier still were the narrow winding passages of true canal leading to the locks, but whereas nothing seemed to happen very quickly out on open water, here mild alarm set in at the need to manoeuvre the boat more precisely into a lock and next to other craft. The flat sides of the Santa Maria acted like sails often leading to multiple failed approaches before the vessel was safely tied up.

The locks themselves were slightly intimidating, with vast gates swinging ponderously on high towers of stone, the waters controlled by various mechanisms involving chains and pulleys, and much cranking and clanking, luckily all managed by lock-keepers rather than boaters themselves.

The keepers were also welcoming to those frankly reporting themselves as completely incompentent. They issued clear instructions and caught lines thrown to shore, helping to haul the boat snugly against the slimy walls of the broad lock basins. We looped lines fore and aft round rubber-coated cables running vertically up the lock walls, and used them to keep the boat to its side of the lock as the waters filling it surged round the basin.

The locks were the cause of some of By's overspend. He saw the originals planned were too small to cope with the then newly invented steamboat, and his own construction was both on a far larger scale and of a very high quality, so that much of the stonework and mechanisms in use today are original.

The canal's route was through wild territory thinly populated even now, although at lock stations neatly mown lawns, tubs of flowers, and benches next to the well-maintained original lock-masters' houses add an air of domesticity to spots that may still be a long drive down a dead-end track from any other habitation.

We continued west along the north shore of the Upper Rideau Lake to Westport, a small grid of quiet streets lined with clapboard houses whose big porches were home to rocking chairs and children's toys. Here there was the opportunity either to shop for supplies or to take the easier option of pan-fried pickerel fillet at a water-view table at the Cove Country Inn, before doubling back and swinging south to Newboro for the night.

The next day, gradually growing more confident in operating the boat, we worked south through Clear Lake, Indian Lake, and Opinicon Lake, to the prettiest point of all: The winding, narrow approach to the steeply dropping staircase of four locks at Jones Falls. We moored beneath a hammering woodpecker and scattered foraging squirrels as we walked down to the elegant Hotel Kenney, originally opened in 1877 and run by the same family ever since. We sat in front of a roaring log fire, dined well, and walked back through darkness for a night of utter peace.

The squat stone lock-masters house at Jones Falls is now a museum, having been more or less restored to its condition at construction in 1841. Kitchen, living room, and bedroom are all furnished with period items and seemed cosy. But with stone walls and metal roof to resist fire if under attack, the house was in fact far from comfortable. Loopholes for rifles had wooden blocks but no glass until one lock-master fitted it at his own expense.

The site was sufficiently remote that a smithy was also constructed to help maintain the locks' metal parts. It was now open again with a working blacksmith demonstrating the traditional skills involved, producing regular clang of metal on metal that drifted across the water.

The 19th century has bequeathed modern times an engineering marvel and watery playground that has now been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. And if the Rideau Canal now draws invaders in rather than helping to keep them out, everyone agrees the British money was well spent.

MORE INFORMATION

For details of travel to Ontario visit Ontario Tourism at ontariotravel.net. The website rideau-info.com details canal routes between Kingston and Ottawa, as well places to fish, bike and hike. Big Rideau Lake Boat Rentals of Portland has comfortable vessels of all sizes. Contact bigrideaulakeboatrentals.com or 613-272 2580.

Dining and accommodation options include Westport's Cove Country Inn (coveinn.com), the Stirling Lodge at Newboro Lock (stirlinglodge.com), the Opinicon Resort Hotel at Chaffey's Lock (theopiniconresorthotel.com), and the Hotel Kenney at Jones Falls (hotelkenney.com).

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Munich ready for Oktoberfest

Although the name might suggest otherwise, Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany will kick off Sept. 18, when the lord mayor of Munich will tap the first keg of beer.

The annual beer festival runs until Oct. 4 with several events, including beer tents, a parade, entertainment, dancing and firecracker shooting. See oktoberfest.de/en/ to learn more.

Can't make it to Germany this year? Oktoberfest in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. runs October 8-16 and also includes lots of beer, concerts, and events at local festhallens. Visit oktoberfest.ca for details.


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