ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9606280011
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: travel tidbits
* There will be no spectator parking at Olympic venues, so the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority bus and rail system will provide transportation in and around Olympic sites July 19-Aug. 4. They will add more than 1,000 buses for the festivities. On the days that you have event tickets, you can ride free. For a free information packet that includes a "How To Ride Guide" and rail map, call 404-848-4711.
* If you plan to drive a car to a MARTA parking lot, get there early for a free space - the 25,000 available spaces are expected to fill up every day by 6:30 a.m. If those lots are full, look for Olympic Games Park and Ride lots, marked by colorful directional signs. These spaces cost $10 per day.
* In metropolitan Atlanta and around the state, 130 7-foot kiosks will offer free updates on weather, traffic, directions, transit schedules and special events. They will be at the airport, rail stations, hotels, malls and state welcome centers.
* To help visitors move easily through Atlanta, certain car rental companies will be equipping cars with "Global Position System" devices. The systems can display maps, directions and detours to accommodate changing traffic conditions.
* If you want to explore the city, the Atlanta Preservation Center offers guided walking tours through neighborhoods such as Druid Hills, the setting for the movie "Driving Miss Daisy." Tickets are $5, $4 for age 60 and above and $3 for students. For more information, call 404-876-2040. |- STAFF REPORT
Plantation Days at Ash Lawn-Highland
Plantation Days at Highland, a celebration of July Fourth and a commemoration of President James Monroe's death on July 4, 1831, will be held July 6 and 7.
The two-day event - at Ash Lawn-Highland, Monroe's restored Charlottesville home - will include opportunities for visitors to join a militia, learn Scottish dancing, play children's games or make soap and do laundry Colonial-style.
Living history interpreters will be around to lead the merriment.
Admission is $8 for adults, $4 for children ages 2 to 11 and $7.50 for those age 60 and older.
For more information, call 804-293-9539. |- STAFF REPORT
Baltimore Book Festival in September
The Baltimore Book Festival will open a new page in the city's literary history on Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sept. 29 from noon to 6 p.m.
The outdoor festival, held at Mount Vernon Place, will feature storytelling, poetry readings, children's activities, author signings, literary walking tours, books for sale, local publishing companies, book binding demonstrations, live music and food.
Several authors and poets will participate. Among them are: Anne Tyler, John Barth, Taylor Branch, Madison Smartt Bell, Sharon Olds, Roland Flint and Stephen Hunter.
The festival will take place rain or shine. Admission is free.
For more information, call 410-837-4636 or 1-800-282-6632. Or visit the festival's home page at http://www.baltimore.com/bookfest. |- STAFF REPORT
Queen Elizabeth 2 getting spruced up
The Queen Elizabeth 2 will undergo an $18 million renovation that will remove the cruise ship's less-desirable inside cabins - reducing the number of berths by 15 percent to 1,500 - while making other changes aimed at improving the ambiance of luxury. The ship's owner, Cunard Line, also said it plans to raise prices and eliminate ``trans-Atlantic class,'' the ship's least-expensive cabin category. Work on the QE2 is expected to be completed during a routine maintenance period in late November and early December. In late 1994, the ship ran into problems when it departed on two cruises with incomplete refurbishment work, leading some passengers to sue the cruise line, which later reached a settlement.
Cunard also said that next year the ship would start using a calmer, more southerly transatlantic route, crossing in six days instead of five. |- KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Plan OK'd to build rail line to JFK airport
New York City's port authority has approved a plan to build a $1 billion rail line between Manhattan and JFK International Airport. The plan calls for work to begin by the end of the year and be in service by 2001.
Many previous schemes to build such a link have come and gone, usually because of political differences and lack of funding. This time, supporters say, there is money from airport passenger user fees, as well as political agreement that transit to JFK must become easier or the airport will continue to lose ground to more convenient airports, such as Newark International. Traveling the congested roads between Manhattan and the airport, in southeast Queens, is often an ordeal for area residents and visitors alike, with the 15-mile drive sometimes taking an hour or more. |- KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Passport office appears to be unclogged
The U.S. passport office seems to have recovered from the backlog of applications created by the government shutdown late last year that was compounded by bad-weather closings in the Northeast. The passport office normally tells applicants to expect a three-week wait between application and arrival of their documents, but a New Jersey resident recently reported a passport arriving in two weeks.
Quick takes
* American Historic Inns, which publishes bed-and-breakfast guidebooks, has announced its most romantic inns for 1996. The top 10, in no particular order: Rose Inn, Ithaca, N.Y.; Manor House, Norfolk, Conn.; Mainstay Inn, Cape May, N.J.; L'Auberge Provencale, White Post, Va.; the Inn at Depot Hill, Capitola-by-the-Sea, Calif.; Maison Fleurie, Yountville, Calif.; Ann Starrett Mansion, Port Townsend, Wash.; Durham House B&B, Houston; School House B&B Inn, Rocheport, Mo.; and St. James Hotel, Red Wing, Minn.
* A recent kelp-cutting ceremony marked the opening of San Francisco's newest waterfront attraction: the 707,000-gallon Underwater World. The Pier 39 facility takes visitors on a 400-foot-long journey through a transparent tunnel that offers views of marine life indigenous to the local rivers, coastal wetlands and ocean waters.
* For a free copy of ``The Trencherman's West Country,'' a guide to ``32 top restaurants'' in southwest England (can there be more?), call the British Tourist Authority, (800) 462-2748.
LENGTH: Long : 117 linesby CNB