Travel Briefs: Gettysburg, Rome, cycling
The public will be allowed into the new museum and visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park starting April 14. The Gettysburg, Penn., facility is part of a $125 million project that also will preserve the park's artifacts, archives and battlefield.
A three-day re-enactment of the battle is slated for July 4-6. Tickets are available at www.gettysburgreenactment.com or by calling (717) 338-1525.
Rome's archeological officials have ended a decade-long policy of free visits to the Roman Forum and have started charging entry to the city's ancient power center.
Access will be included in a single $16 ticket that visitors already pay to enter the nearby Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Officials say proceeds will go to increased security and restoration works at the Forum and other sites in Rome.
Nestled in a valley between the Colosseum and the imperial residences on the Palatine, the Forum has remains of several key buildings from Roman times, including the Senate, the basilica built by the Emperor Maxentius, and temples and other monuments.
After cycling around the world in 195 days, Mark Beaumont says he's ready for a break. Beaumont, a 25-year-old Scottish cyclist, arrived in Paris on Feb. 15 at the end of a trip he hopes will set a new world record once it is evaluated.
Beaumont cycled 18,400 miles on a path that took him across Europe, Asia and the United States. A spokeswoman for Guinness World Records said the group was awaiting documentation from Beaumont. The record holder is Steven Strange of Britain, who circled the globe in a little over 276 days in 2004 and 2005, she said.
The Netherlands' Rijksmuseum, or national gallery, will not reopen until 2013 at the earliest due to construction delays, the education ministry said.
AP