Electronic Passports

The United States has been issuing electronic passports since 2007, which should make international travel easier and secure for travelers.

A computer chip embedded in the back cover stores data that is visually displayed on the photo page of the passports. This includes a digital photograph, which allows biometric comparison of the digital photograph with the actual person traveling using facial recognition technology. Anti Fraud and security features have been added as well.

Any country using the Visa Waiver Program with the United States, according to the U.S. Congress, must use the integrated circuit with at least a digital photograph included. Many other countries also have begun issuing electronic passports. Passports issued before the chips were installed may still be used until the expiration date.

As in prior passports, if one is lost or stolen, it must be reported, and a new one issued by the Department of State.

The Electronic Passport advantages include:

• Automated identity verification.
• Faster Immigration inspections.
• Greater border protection and security.

The electronic passport is developed to make travel more secure and faster for travelers. Do travelers even know they are using an electronic passport? Have any travel agents heard any unusual reports or circumstances using the passport?

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Data thieves target hotels and resorts

If you're a business traveler who books hotel rooms via the Internet, you may be at higher risk of being victimized by computer hackers and identity thieves.

Insurance claims for data theft worldwide jumped 56% last year, with a bigger number of those attacks targeting the hospitality industry, according to a new report by Willis Group Holdings, a British insurance firm.

The report said the largest share of cyber attacks — 38% — were aimed at hotels, resorts and tour companies.

That could spell trouble for business travelers who submit credit card numbers and other personal information to hotel websites, said Laurie Fraser, global markets leisure practice leader for Willis.

Fraser said large hotel chains are most vulnerable because hotel management companies may not be able to monitor how data is collected and stored at dozens or even hundreds of properties throughout the world. Independent contractors who work for individual hotels can also open the door to hackers and computer viruses, he said.

"There are various ways hackers can get into a hotel system," Fraser said.

Sherry Telford, a spokeswoman for InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world's largest hotel companies, said InterContinental continually reviews its security?measures.

"For obvious reasons," Telford said, "we cannot expand further upon the security measures in place."

‧ A tax windfall for airlines

It's not like the Internal Revenue Service to forgive and forget, especially when it comes to uncollected taxes.

But that's what the federal tax collecting agency is doing about the two weeks when the Federal Aviation Administration stopped collecting taxes on airline tickets.

The FAA could not collect taxes from June 23 to Aug. 8 because its funding authority expired and feuding lawmakers in Washington could not agree on a new budget for the agency. Congress finally adopted a temporary funding deal that took effect Aug. 8.

The FAA collects 7.5% tax on the base ticket prices, plus $3.70 per person, for domestic flights. It charges higher per-trip rates for international flights.

Passengers who booked tickets before June 23 and flew on or after June 23 were charged federal taxes even though the FAA stopped collecting taxes. In a statement, the IRS said those passengers are not entitled to a refund.

As for those taxes that were not collected during the two-week tax holiday, the IRS said it won't ask airlines to pay the taxes retroactively.

That's a big win for the airlines, because most carriers increased their airfares to match the drop in taxes, generating about $28.5 million per day in extra revenue, according to industry experts.

‧ TSA gets very few complaints

Talk to veteran travelers, and many will have an airport-screening horror story to tell. But it seems very few air passengers actually file complaints against the Transportation Security Administration.

In June, the TSA screened about 58 million airline passengers and 46 million checked bags.

During that month, the agency received 325 email or telephone complaints about the way TSA agents treated passengers, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Transportation Department. That's a fraction of 1% of the traveling public.

The number of complaints about the overall screening procedures was even lower: 33, according to the federal agency.

Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a consumer group in Washington, said there are so few complaints because travelers don't know how to file them with the TSA and don't want to bring unwanted attention to themselves.

Complaints can be submitted via email to TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov or by phone at (866) 289-9673.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

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Top tips for traveling with children

By Myscha Theriault, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

11:24 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2011

From pre-teen power meltdowns to hungry toddlers, being on the road with children requires additional planning and flexibility. Throw in a food allergy or two, and having your parental ducks in a row becomes critical. I asked three road warrior moms for their top family travel tips. They had plenty of advice.

Infants: Social media consultant Linsey Knerl (www.1099mom.com) is frequently on the road with children in tow. A recent addition to her growing family has resulted in a number of strategies for surviving business travel with an infant. Her top tip? Bring a sling. There are plenty of situations, says Knerl, where a stroller simply falls short. Airport security lines and uneven urban terrain are two such examples. Knerl also favors healthy powdered drinks for older infants as a way to deal with TSA restrictions on liquids. She simply uses the free water offered by the airlines to mix up baby beverages in an empty bottle after her flight takes off.

Toddlers: Single parent and day-tripping telecommuter Debbie Dragon, co-founder of the content development firm Trifecta Strategies, dishes out high praise for dual-screen portable DVD players. On long road trips where she serves as both driver and navigator, Dragon straps one monitor to the back of each front car seat. Her two boys sit in the back and enjoy movies on personal viewing screens. According to Dragon, this avoids boundary drama and leaves her free to coordinate travel logistics from the front. She also recommends staying somewhere with separate bedrooms, a living area and kitchen facilities. This helps keep the family schedule on track and avoids the stress of finding restaurants that can deal with food sensitivities night after night.

Teens: When Catrell Cooney and her husband Mike (www.cooneyworldadventures.com) took their three teenage sons around the world, their agenda was to teach them survival skills and self reliance. To accomplish this, they allowed the boys to solve certain family issues by themselves. When arriving at a new location, Cooney would turn the boys loose to find a place for the family to eat that evening while she and her husband secured accommodations. They would rendezvous later at an agreed-upon time and location, and move on with the next portion of the evening. To allow for independent activity time, Cooney turned the boys loose to explore desired venues that hadn't been included on the family schedule whenever she and her husband were busy planning subsequent legs of their adventure.

———

Theriault is the best-selling co-author of the book "10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget," and founder of TrekHound.com, a website for independent travelers. She also founded TheLessonMachine.com, a website for teachers.

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Judging Mackinac fudge

Dear Mackinac Island,

I write as a native Michigander, so please don't take offense when I say: You need to diversify. When I walk down the main drag on Mackinac Island, I pass Ryba's Fudge and Joann's Fudge and Murdick's Fudge. And maybe Murray's Fudge too. I walk another block, and I pass Ryba's Fudge and Joann's Fudge and Murdick's Fudge. Walk another block, and … I've already seen the town. Your business district is a continuous loop of fudge shops with a few restaurants, souvenir stores and a haunted theater thrown in.

That's why we recently staged a fudge-off, a contest pitting slabs of classic chocolate fudge from three of Mackinac Island's most ubiquitous shops: Ryba's, Joanne's and Murdick's. Based on what we found, I fear a fudge-based economy is not a sustainable one.

Ryba's Fudge Shops, also found on Navy Pier and in McCormick Place, calls itself "Mackinac Island's favorite." We had to agree. Ryba's fudge had the deepest chocolate flavor of our three samples. The plastic knife met the right amount of resistance as it dragged through the slab, leaving tooth marks along the way.

Joann's Fudge was our runner-up. It was creamy but ultimately too soft: It would've made a lovely cake frosting. This is fudge for people who like to lick the spoon when they bake.

Murdick's, founded in 1887 and the island's self-proclaimed "original," disappointed us. Its chocolate was weak, its texture was grainy and its sugary wallop made our teeth hurt. Perhaps we should've tried the peanut brittle.

Overall, we were surprised by how sweet all of the samples were. The sugar content seems to rival that of saltwater taffy, detracting from what we thought would be a rich, chocolate treat. Frankly, we expected more from you, Mackinac Island: You are a beacon at the nexus of two Great Lakes. There's no need to pander to crowds with tawdry Atlantic City-style treats.

In the end, the fudge that carried the day wasn't chocolate at all. It was maple. The maple varieties had a leg up on the chocolate ones for one very good reason: Maple syrup is synonymous with sugary goodness. So its fudgy cousin is less jarringly sweet — and even better when cut by the earthiness of a handful of nuts.

So perhaps, Mackinac Island, it is not time to abandon fudge but time to reinvent it. By definition, fudge need not be flavored with chocolate, just as cars need not be powered by gasoline. But with all your horse-drawn buggies, you've already got that part figured out.

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Lost on a 14,000-foot mountain: Let us pray

SAN ISABEL NATIONAL FOREST, Colo. — The map taunted me. Its squiggly elevation lines — invisible markers of humiliation — pointed to both my failure in reaching the summit of 14,196-foot Mount Yale and my even more disastrous efforts to get my girlfriend and me off the snowy wind-swept slopes.

I checked my compass. We were too far east, having lost the trail in the seemingly infinite patches of unmelted snow.

I glanced at my watch. 11:30 a.m. Not desperation time — yet. Tara and I strapped on our snowshoes and trudged west, breaking fresh trail with each step. I yelled back encouragement to Tara, who was getting wobbly from the altitude, still above 12,000 feet.

But I was more honest with myself, saying silently, "Please, Lord Jesus, get me off this mountain." Then my footing gave way, and I began sliding.

About seven hours earlier, at 4 a.m., Tara and I awoke to a starlit night at our campsite along the Arkansas River. I had been looking forward to the day for months.

As an East Tennessee native, I've always loved the mountains. And after several months in Dallas, where the High Five highway interchange qualifies as elevation, the prospect of summiting my first fourteener — as they call peaks higher than 14,000 feet — seemed magical.

About 500,000 people hike one of Colorado's 50-odd fourteeners each year, according an estimate by the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, a group that works with the U.S. Forest Service to protect and preserve those majestic peaks.

Tara and I packed, ate a quick breakfast and drove to the trail head 10 miles west of Buena Vista. The sun was just beginning to rise as we unloaded and checked our supplies.

We weren't taking any chances. Time and time again, we had been reminded of the mountains' dangers by everyone from hikers posting trip reports on the website 14ers.com to the man who rented us gear at The Trailhead in Buena Vista:

High altitudes that test the lungs and fog the mind. Bears and other wildlife that roam the woods. Swollen creeks and avalanches that threaten to overtake the trail. Weather that changes in an instant.

Ten people died climbing fourteeners last year; already this year, four had perished, according to the fourteeners initiative.

Tara and I set off around 6 a.m., just below 10,000 feet. Fueled by adrenaline and the cool, early June temperatures, we flew through the initial, timber-covered stages of the 8.75-mile round-trip hike. The path was strenuous but pleasant.

After breaking through the tree line, we got our first good look at Mount Yale. The peak towered over us, stately and unyielding.

For the first time, I wondered if summiting was realistic. Stops became more frequent as Tara and I tried to navigate the confusing snow trails winding through the alpine scenery above 12,000 feet.

But at long last we reached the final, brutal ascent to Yale's summit ridge.

Then we turned around to take in the world from 13,000 feet. The sky, the mountains, the woods went on forever. It was pure, primal, even liberating. And we decided we had come far enough.

After a quick break to celebrate, we started what we hoped would be an uneventful descent. But now everything was different. Everything was the same.

Every random pile of rocks began to look like the cairns that marked the path. Swatches of dry ground and unmelted snow swirled together to form an impenetrable mosaic. The trail vanished, seemingly for good.

I tried to remain calm, but minutes quickly turned into an hour. I knew we could follow gulches and streams back to the trail head along Denny Creek. But that could take hours, and it would only push us farther off course. We needed to get to a lower elevation — and fast. The altitude was hitting Tara hard.

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Fish, corals from remote, restricted Northwestern Hawaiian Islands come to Waikiki

HONOLULU (AP) — Hundreds of rare fish and coral pieces from one of the most remote parts of the planet have arrived in bustling Waikiki.

The Waikiki Aquarium's newest permanent exhibit, opening on Thursday, showcases specimens gathered from the pristine atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — an area so well-protected it's generally off-limits to everyone but researchers and Native Hawaiians performing cultural rites.

It promises to be a special treat for scuba divers and fish enthusiasts only rarely able to see species like the white-and-black-colored masked angelfish or table corals — corals that spread out like tabletops around a central stem.

It should also appeal to those curious about the 1,200-mile long string of atolls so highly valued the United Nations named them a World Heritage Site last year and then-President George W. Bush designated them a marine national monument in 2006.

"Given the challenges in getting to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the vast, vast majority of people, this will be their only chance to see a taste of some of the wonders that exist up there," said Andrew Rossiter, the aquarium's director.

The islands are all so small they're inhospitable to human settlement. But this has also meant people have mostly left them alone and in their natural condition.

The limited signs of human presence include ancient Hawaiian heiau, or shrines, lining the top of a ridge running along the spine of Mokumanamana island.

The Navy once had a base at Midway Atoll — the site of the famous 1942 battle between the U.S. and Japan that turned the tide of World War II — but turned the island over to the Fish and Wildlife Service for a wildlife refuge in 1993.

Today, the atolls have thriving coral reefs accounting for nearly 70 percent of all coral under U.S. jurisdiction. Experts say the robust reefs are what the rest of Hawaii's reefs looked like before they were damaged by coral mining, runoff from land, overfishing, and other human activity over the years.

Sharks — which have been overfished in many other parts of the world — are richly abundant there. Life also comes in unusual forms: 25 percent of the 7,000 marine species in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are found nowhere else in the world.

"This is a really, really unique place — nothing else like it in the world. And it's exactly how a coral reef should look, and this is how it was once around here," Rossiter said during an interview in his Honolulu office.

Fish and coral from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have been on display before, in limited circumstances. The Waikiki Aquarium has a small, existing exhibit, as does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's discovery center in Hilo on the Big Island.

But the aquarium's new display sets a new standard. The tank occupies about 10 percent of the aquarium's exhibit space, and will boast some 30 different fish species and 20 coral varieties. Altogether, the exhibit will feature 225 fish and 200 coral fragments.

The masked angelfish will allow researchers to observe how the unusual sex-changing fish behave and interact. Around the main Hawaiian islands the fish lives in deep water that's impractical for extended human observation. But scientists watching the aquarium tank may watch the fish for hours or days at a time.

The species is notable in part because they're all female when they're a certain size. Then one member of the group gets a little more aggressive, dominates the others, and changes its sex to male. The newly male fish uses the remaining females as his harem.

Scientists will not only be able to observe this process, but perhaps begin to understand why some of the fish change sex and others not, Rossiter said. The exhibit will have five to start with, and the aquarium will add four more by mid-September for a total of nine.

Aulani Wilhelm, superintendent of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, said the aquarium is offering people a way to connect to a place that by necessity must be appreciated from afar.

"These are atolls, these are fragile places," Wilhelm said, noting even well-intentioned or well-regulated travel would inflict harm on the islands. "There's only so much visitation a place like that can handle before it's changed."

___

If You Go...

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Exhibit: Stars Aug. 18 at the Waikiki Aquarium, 2777 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu; www.waquarium.org or 808-923-9741. Adults, $9; children ages 13-17 and people with disabilities, $4; children ages 5-12, $2. Special rates for military and Hawaii residents. Open daily, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. except Christmas Day and Honolulu Marathon Sunday.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects exhibits opening day. Previously sent on Hawaii state lines. AP Photos.)

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If an airline downgrades your ticket, you have recourse

Question: I was astounded to read in the July 24 "On the Spot" column ["Enjoy Your New Seat"] that an airline can reassign a confirmed seat to allow passengers with children to sit together. Suppose I have booked a seat in business class because I can't physically fly in coach. If there's an equipment change and there are fewer seats in business class, can airlines downgrade me to coach and refuse to refund my purchase?

Mary-Lynne Fisher

La Crescenta

Answer: Yes, airlines can downgrade your seat, but they should refund the difference between the cost of the original seat and the new one.

But I was astounded to hear Jonathan Harriman, an attorney with Anolik Law Corp., a Bay Area company that specializes in travel law, say this: "You don't have a seat till you're sitting on it on the plane." So who really has the upper hand?

Advantage: airlines.

But you do have some "friends" who can come to your rescue if you're unseated.

First is the airline's contract of carriage, which says what the airline can and cannot do. Quickly now, answer this: If there's a snowstorm in Chicago and you miss your connection there on a United flight, does the airline have to find a hotel for you? If you have the contract of carriage handy, you'll know that. You can read it ahead of time, print it out or download an app. (A new app, The Plane Rules, from contracts expert Terry Trippler, is helpful. Here's what it says in answer to that question: The "rule reads that United's only liability for delay, cancellation or misconnection [in case of weather] is to refund the unused portion of your ticket." (Good luck finding a place to sleep.)

Advantage: consumers. Sort of.

Second is 49 United States Code 41712, the "Unfair and deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition" law, which says: "On the initiative of the secretary of Transportation or the complaint of an air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent, and if the secretary considers it is in the public interest, the secretary may investigate and decide whether an air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent has been or is engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice or an unfair method of competition in air transportation or the sale of air transportation. If the secretary … finds that an air carrier, foreign air carrier or ticket agent is engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice or unfair method of competition, the secretary shall order the air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent to stop the practice or method."

Advantage: consumers who know the law.

Third is the Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the Department of Transportation. If you think the airline is not adhering to rules and regulations, you also can file a complaint with the DOT. Call (202) 366-2220 or go toairconsumer.dot.gov/CP_AirlineService.htm to record or file a complaint online, respectively. Note that the recorded message at the start of the hotline says that airlines are really in the best position to resolve service issues. (Right. Everybody who believes that, stand on your head.)

Advantage: consumers who know how to complain effectively.

In many of these cases, intent may be key, Harriman says. Let's say you have that business-class ticket and you paid $3,000 for that seat — the last one. The plane is sold out. But here comes a guy who will pay $5,000 for the ticket, so the airline decides to dump you. The airline "shouldn't be doing this as a way to screw people out of their money to make a little bit more money…. That's a wrongful act," Harriman says.

Advantage: consumers, although the passenger really would not have a way to find this out. Still, the passenger should be given the difference between his fare and the coach fare, if he's downgraded. And, Harriman says, you need to be told that you can get cash for this, not just vouchers. (Airlines love to give vouchers, which, if you're angry enough, you'll probably never use.)

And what if you've bought a coach ticket that can be upgraded and you use miles to buy a business- or first-class seat but you get moved back to coach? Isn't that deceptive?

No, Harriman says. On most airlines' websites, those kinds of purchases don't come with guarantees. Here's what American says about its awards flight upgrade: "You will have a confirmed seat, as long as award seats are still available for the award you are using when you make your reservation. However, all accommodations are subject to availability at the time reservations are made." Which means they can take them away whenever they wish.

Advantage: airlines.

If you do lose your upgrade, "You should get your miles back and you should battle for bonus miles," says Trippler, who spent part of his career working for the airlines. Sometimes, he says, airlines will give you miles to go away and quit complaining.

Advantage: annoying consumers, which many airlines consider most of us to be.

Have a travel dilemma? Write to travel@latimes.com. We regret we cannot answer every inquiry.

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'Save' money by staying out of town?

A reader recently asked, "With Manhattan hotel prices so high, would I be better off staying somewhere else and commuting when I visit New York?" I've heard the similar question from other readers about other expensive city centers. And, as with so many apparently simple questions, the answer can be complicated.

My take is that the decision to stay outside the city center rests on how you might answer several main questions:

-- How important is the city center to what you plan to do?

-- Do any nearby areas offer less expensive accommodations?

-- How good is the public transportation?

-- How inviting and interesting are the outlying areas, themselves?

Here's how I would apply those questions to a few of the world's top visitor destination cities:

NEW YORK. You visit New York for a combination of reasons -- theater, other cultural offerings, museums, shopping, and restaurants. No other area can match Manhattan's theater or museum access, so if those are your real focus, stay in Manhattan regardless of price. For other interests, some of you might find a good alternate spot in Brooklyn, where lots of new hotels have opened in the last five years, including several budget options. Brooklyn enjoys its own lively cultural life, it is emerging as both a restaurant and shopping mecca, and public transit to Manhattan's theaters and museums is pretty good. Long Island City is also enjoying a mini hotel boom, and offers a wide range to funky and inexpensive cuisines as well as good Manhattan access. But I don't recommend Hoboken/Jersey City unless you're heading for games at the Meadowlands; there isn't much local action, and access to Manhattan is fiercely expensive by cab and difficult by subway.

CHICAGO. The Windy City presents the opposite picture. Just about everything you might want to see and do is concentrated between McCormick Place and the Near North. Suburban areas around O'Hare and strung out along I-94 are flourishing as business centers, with lots of budget hotels, but there's almost nothing to do and getting into town is a drag.

SAN FRANCISCO. The main theaters and cultural action is in the city center, as are many great and many budget restaurants, and if you want to enjoy the city's midsummer "natural air conditioning" fog, you have to be in the city. However, surrounding areas Berkeley/East Bay and San Jose/Silicon Valley also boast lots of restaurants and their own cultural activities; Berkeley gets the nod for easy access to downtown San Francisco, and Silicon Valley for being its own lively center.

LONDON. As with New York, if London's main magnets are theater, museums, and shopping, stay in central London. Although you can find many modern budget hotels outside the city, schlepping in from such suburban areas as Heathrow and Richmond can be dreary and time-consuming, and you didn't really want to spend three or four hours every day riding the Underground, did you? On the other hand, if you have other interests, you might consider the newly developed Docklands area, which features good access plus its own activities and lots of local restaurants.

PARIS. As with Chicago, the visitor action is highly concentrated -- in this case, within the Boulevard Peripherique -- so you want to be there, too. Also, you won't find much of local interest in business-centered La Defense, and the rest of Paris' inner suburban ring is really not visitor-friendly.

Over the years, I've tested the "stay outside and save" system several times and been disappointed in each. Testing a great hotel deal in Newark, for example, required at least two daily round-trips to Manhattan with multiple subway rides. Ditto staying in Richmond for London: Even though I found some good local Richmond restaurants, the District Line still took far too much of my time. And my experiments around Paris were worse -- seemingly eternal train rides. On some future New York trip, however, I might be enticed to Brooklyn or Long Island City.

Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Perkins' new book for small business and independent professionals, "Business Travel When It's Your Money," is now available through www.mybusinesstravel.com or www.amazon.com

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Kids are welcome at some California wineries

NAPA, Calif. (AP) — You might think kids would be about as welcome at a winery as cork taint. But happily for those who didn't lose their palates when they became parents, there are wineries that welcome all in the family.

Want to tour a castle, picnic under the trees or take a quick dip in a pool? Those are some of the options available, part of a trend that has seen more wineries expanding the visiting experience to include much more than tasting.

At Raymond Vineyards in St. Helena, owner Jean-Charles Boisset has more than a passing interest in making a place for children. He's a new father to twin girls with wife Gina Gallo.

Raymond, which is in St. Helena, has a grove where you can start up a game of croquet or bocce as well as a fruit orchard to explore. A Theatre of Nature is under construction that will feature sheep, goats, chickens, a sensory garden and more and is aimed at explaining the winery's natural approach to wine-growing.

There are ultimately plans to have a child room where children can do art or watch a movie for 45 minutes while their parents taste wines. Meanwhile, for people who want to do some serious wine-tasting minus the small fry, there are other areas of the winery that are for adults only. The idea is to make sure that "everyone has a good time," says Boisset.

It bears mentioning that visiting a winery with children requires planning. You'll know best how long your child can stay entertained and with what. One child might be perfectly happy playing with toy boats; another might be moved to get in touch with his inner Blackbeard.

In general, check first to make sure you're visiting a winery with a child-friendly attitude and look for places that have extensive grounds with features that could amuse a child such as fountains. And be prepared to provide intense supervision. Even the most family-friendly of wineries isn't going to take kindly to toddlers running amok among the stemware.

One place to visit is the Sterling Winery in Calistoga, where you take a short gondola ride up the side of a mountain to reach the winery. Sterling is also close to another wine country attraction that's popular with families, Calistoga's Old Faithful Geyser, a small but reliable water spout.

Here are a few more places in the Napa Valley and neighboring Sonoma County that can be good options when you're traveling en famille.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WINERY: A true resort, this winery near Healdsburg in Sonoma County has a lifeguard-staffed pool and a restaurant, Rustic. Families can rent towels and the use of a small cabine with a shower. Poolside drink service available. There's live music in the Pavilion on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Coppola is a pioneer in welcoming children. His Rubicon Estate winery (recently renamed Inglenook) in the Napa Valley has wooden sailboats children may sail in the fountain outside Mammarella's cafe. It was after seeing children begging their parents to let them jump in the fountain, which is discouraged, that he got the idea of putting in a pool at the Sonoma county property.

CASTELLO DI AMOROSA: And now for something completely different . how about a tour of a 107-room castle built in the style of 13th-century Tuscany. Castello di Amorosa, built by Napa Valley vintner Dario Sattui, has turrets, towers, dungeons and more. Children of all ages are welcome at the castle, which is a real working winery, although you must be 5 or older to take the 60-minute tour or the horse-drawn carriage tours available on Saturdays. Also available, a Family Room where children can color, accompanied by one adult, leaving other adults in the party free to taste wines. The kids get Muscat of Alexandria grape juice, a nonalcoholic product made at the winery. Sattui's other winery, V. Sattui Winery on Highway 29 in St. Helena, is another good choice for families because of its extensive picnic grounds and deli.

___

If You Go...

NAPA VALLEY VINTNERS' FAMILY FRIENDLY WINERIES: http://www.napavintners.com/wineries/family_friendly_wineries.asp

RAYMOND VINEYARDS: 849 Zinfandel Lane, St. Helena, Calif; http://www.raymondvineyards.com/ or 707-963-3141. Open daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tasting fees start at $15.

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA WINERY: 300 ViaArchimedes, Geyserville, Calif.; http://www.franciscoppolawinery.com or 707-857-1400. Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Wine tasting 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Swimming pool 11 a.m.-6 p.m., 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Pool passes including towel: Adults, $15; kids 3-15, $10; children under 3 free. Cabines $75, includes two adult pool passes, two kids or seniors pool passes and four towels. Cabines can be reserved in advance.

CASETLLO DI AMOROSA: 4045 N. St. Helena Hwy, Calistoga, Calif., http://www.castellodiamorosa.com or 707-967-6272. Open daily 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. March-October. Tour and tasting starts at $32 per adult. Entrance fees for children ages 4-20, $7, under 3 free. Tour fees for children, ages 5-20, $22, includes juice and entrance fee.

V. SATTUI WINERY: 1111 White Lane, St. Helena, Calif; http://www.vsattui.com or 707-963-7774. Open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Tastings start at $5. Picnic grounds open only to guests who buy food, drink from the winery.

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Improved search systems include European railroads

Now that high-speed trains have taken over so much of European short-haul travel, adding rail options to an airfare search system seems like a no-brainer. Ditto allowing for a preference for "premium economy" in a fare search. Surprisingly, only a few search engines have so far applied their brains to these options.

TripAdvisor just added European rail to its regular search function. Although the rail capability is still in beta, it's already fairly robust, and it's fully integrated with its airfare search system. If you enter a "flight" from London to Paris, for example, the resultant display contains Eurostar as well as airline prices and schedules, with rail properly ranked by price and clearly identified. You get the same result on a search from Paris to Lyon, where TripAdvisor clearly adds and ranks TGV trips. TripAdvisor pulls data from RailEurope, Deutsche Bahn, and possibly other rail sites, and it appears to be able to access local rail prices, including discount fares, in much of Europe. It includes rail in the U.K., too: A check of travel from London to Glasgow shows Virgin Trains as an alternative. For the curious, a ticket for a date in mid-September costs $77 on Virgin Trains, a dollar more than an air ticket on EasyJet, but a much cheaper trip when you factor in airport access costs.

Although the beta version is robust regarding getting the lowest fares, it still has a way to go on stations. At this point, the "airport choice" pull-down menus do not show rail stations as alternatives, so the system doesn't work if you want to go to/from specific rail stations. An inquiry for a rail trip from Paris Charles deGaulle to Lyon/Satolas (the only option available for Lyon) returned mainly trips from Paris/Gare du Lyon to Lyon's main downtown rail stations, but not to/from the airport stations. Presumably, TripAdvisor will adjust to this problem in due time.

Kayak also includes Eurostar on cross-channel searches. But so far it does not include rail services wholly on the continent or in the U.K. And none of the other sites I checked so far includes rail options.

Overall, kudos to TripAdvisor for advancing the state of the search art. Presumably, other sites will follow. Certainly, in Japan as well as Europe, rail is here to stay as a primary option for trips under 300 miles -- often the preferred option. As to Amtrak in the U.S., forget it, for now -- check again in maybe 10 years.

Meanwhile, slowly but surely, search engines are beginning to include "premium economy" as a search option. Both TripAdvisor and Kayak do so, as do Expedia and Vayama, but several important online agencies, including Orbitz and Travelocity, still do not provide this option.

Interestingly, the online agencies that do provide for a premium economy search do not include "semi-premium economy" options on such lines as KLM and United that provide extra legroom but still only the regular, ultra-narrow standard economy seats. When you ask Kayak for a premium economy flight from New York to Amsterdam, for example, the display returns a connecting premium economy flight on Air France but only a much higher business class fare for KLM. It's heartening to see this degree of accuracy.

Travelers increasingly rely on these search systems to locate their best deals. Overall, they do a very good job with airline tickets, and they're starting to get it with rail options in Europe. For now, the biggest omission is in hotel prices. No sites I know require that hotels add in any mandatory "resort," "housekeeping," or other separate fees in their all-up quotes. At best, you get some sort of "extra fees may apply" notice that doesn't help anybody -- except, possibly, the agencies' lawyers. Clearly, the omission of mandatory add-on fees seriously distorts the price comparison process. The OTAs can and do provide all-up, fee-inclusive quotes for rental cars, and I can't see any reason why they don't do the same for hotels. Let's hope for some progress in this area soon.

Send e-mail to Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net. Perkins' new book for small business and independent professionals, "Business Travel When It's Your Money," is now available through www.mybusinesstravel.com or www.amazon.com

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Scuba diving with Dad in Curaçao

Reporting from Westpunt, Curacao—

We all marveled at the hideous thing, trying not to gasp through our regulators.

It was black, striped and about the size of a bass, fins fanning out in all directions. Scuba divers see a lot of weird-looking things but appreciate them all the same. But our dive masters told us that there were bounties on these lionfish, ugly creatures that destroy reef-cleaning fish populations. No one knows where they came from or how many threaten Curacao's marine park.

I had come to this small Caribbean island, 35 miles off Venezuela, in June with my father, Matt, a small-business owner. The last few years had been rough on him, and after a period of reflection, he had made a bucket list, and at the top was becoming a certified scuba diver.

I was already certified, and my dad deserved a break. We were also long overdue for some father-daughter bonding. The trip was as much a chance for me to learn about his new perspective on life as it was for him to learn to dive. But let's be real — a father-daughter trip involving two stubborn yet adventurous souls equipped with only swimsuits, oxygen tanks and fins could be a dream vacation or a total disaster.

As it turned out, Curacao is an optimal place for new divers, with dozens of reefs at 60 feet or less, plenty of clear, calm water and a plethora of patient, professional dive masters. The Netherlands Antilles Coral Reef Initiative wants to slowly replace Curacao's chief economic engine, an offshore Venezuelan oil refinery, with marine tourism. It hopes that its educational workshops and lobbying for enforcement of laws against dredging and illegal fishing will put the island on the world's stage for scuba diving.

Dad and I had done a trial run together when he completed his open water dives as part of his scuba diving course. I went along for practice and moral support. We camped with his eclectic classmates, united by a sense of adventure, at a lake in southwestern Virginia. Dad was nervous as he completed an exercise that required him to remove his face mask, put it back on and extract the water from it while anchored in the sand 15 feet below the surface. He finished the course with flying colors. The first hurdle had been mastered.

Our first dive together was at Beacon Point reef, on the southeastern coast of Curacao, where Dad was flailing about, pointing excitedly at the lionfish. Movement can quickly deplete your oxygen.

When our tanks were about two-thirds empty, we were supposed to alert the dive master so she could lead everyone to the surface. Dad's oxygen gauge was dangerously low, so we signaled to the dive master. Dad switched his regulator (mouthpiece) with her spare one, often a last resort. At the surface, we received a firm but uncondescending lecture from the dive master about the importance of never letting that happen again. Ever.

I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about not keeping a closer eye on my father. For years, he had kept an eye out for me. It was weird. We became extra-cautious now in Curacao, studying the rough currents of Director's Bay and the prickly reef at Lost Anchor, where I encountered a moray eel big enough to take off my hand.

Dad became a stickler for rules after his incident. If I drifted away from him but was still visible, he'd gently scold me when we got back on the boat. Once, I led him to see a creature, so we surfaced a little later than the rest of the group. "Are you trying to kill your dad?" he asked. It had been several years since I had moved out of his house, and we still had our quarrels. But I brought him here because we share an insatiable curiosity and fearlessness about trying new things. For the most part, he'd been more relaxed than I'd seen him in a while.

One of Curacao's prized dive sites is the Mushroom Forest, off the southwestern side of the island in water up to 65 feet deep. The site is full of vertical coral that have been eroded by the water into mushroom shapes. They burst with shades of violet, green, blue and yellow and sway gracefully with the movement of the currents. We didn't see many exotic fish or turtles on our dive, but it was one of the most intriguing dive sites we visited.

Afterward, we had lunch at Jaanchie's, a Creole restaurant that's a short bike ride or drive from our suite at the Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club on the western end of the island. Jaanchie himself will tell you to lock up your significant others after eating his iguana stew specialty (it is a legendary aphrodisiac). My dad and I spent the last couple of nights on our back patio, looking at the bright stars and rehashing the day's events over a bottle of wine.

During a break from diving one day at the Blue Cave, a small swimming hole tucked along the southwestern coast where the Caribbean's reflection turns the inside sapphire blue, I looked out at the bright sea and paused. This had been one of the most memorable trips I'd ever taken: My dad had learned to scuba dive, and I had learned that his adventurous spirit had not died. For the last few years, Dad, an entrepreneur, had tried to keep his head above water. But all he really needed was a chance to sink.

travel@latimes.com

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Teen hiker is latest to die after Yosemite fall

A teenager died Thursday after suffering head injuries sustained when he fell four days earlier at Yosemite National Park, making him the latest victim in an increasingly deadly year for the park.

Kao Kue, 17, was taken by air ambulance to Doctor's Medical Center in Modesto after falling on the park's popular Mist Trail on Sunday. He died Thursday, the Stanislaus County coroner's department confirmed, though a cause of death was not released. Park officials wouldn't comment on the incident because Kue was a minor.

Though Kue's death won't count toward the number of fatalities at Yosemite this year because he did not die inside the park, the number of fatalities at Yosemite is higher than it normally is at this time of year. Yosemite usually sees five or six deaths by the end of July, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said. This year, there have been 14, most recently a 26-year-old San Ramon woman who fell while trying to descend Half Dome on July 31.

The number also accounts for incidents that occur in the park, such as heart attacks, car accidents and deaths attributed to natural causes.

Cobb was quick to point out that though the numbers are high for this point in the calendar, it doesn't mean 2011 is the park's deadliest year. Fifteen people died in Yosemite in 2010, and if the remainder of 2011 goes by without incident, Cobb said, the year's total would be lower. Even if another fatality should occur by the end of the year, the 2011 total wouldn't be abnormally high, she said.

Park officials have attributed the uptick in fatalities to a general increase in visitors as well as intensified water conditions caused by a larger-than-normal snowpack, raising water levels and lowering temperatures in the park's rivers and streams. Cobb stressed that visitors should be aware of the risks when hiking in the park and take appropriate precautions.

"Their safety and the risks associated with hiking the park are completely up to them to mitigate," Cobb said. "It's up to them to make the appropriate decisions to make them safe. We have signs on our most popular trails that tell visitors about some of the risks, and it is up to them to heed them."

The Mist Trail was also the site of a fatal incident in May, when a man drowned after he slipped on the trail and fell into the Merced River. In June, three hikers died when they climbed over a guardrail and were swept over the park's popular Vernal Fall, which is at the end of the Mist Trail.

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Do flight attendants really hate their passengers?

When, exactly, did flight attendants stop caring about us?

I ask for two reasons: First, because of the luscious new trailers for the upcoming TV show "Pan Am," which depicts svelte young stewardesses -- yes, that's what they were called back then -- serving passengers.

Hard to swallow, that one. But yes, they served passengers back in the day.

And second, because of the preponderance of horror stories from readers like you that suggest things have gone too far in the other direction -- from the "coffee, tea, or me" stereotypes of pre-deregulation air travel to modern-day flight attendants who may actually hate us.

Well, "hate" may be too strong a word. How about "strongly dislike"?

Consider the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index numbers. Here are the 10 worst-performing companies, according to the survey. The score you see next to the company is on a scale of one to 100.

1. Pepco Holdings (54)

2. Delta Air Lines (56)

3. Time Warner Cable (59)

4. Comcast (59)

5. Charter Communications (59)

6. United Airlines (61)

7. US Airways (62)

8. American Airlines (63)

9. Continental (64)

10. UnitedHealth (65)

That's five airlines in the top 10. You have to work pretty hard to pull in that kind of performance, and it can only happen with the full cooperation of your employees.

But it's the stories from passengers like you that make me wonder if the love has turned to hate. And I'm not even talking about the headline-grabbing reports like flight attendant Steven Slater's meltdown on JetBlue Airways.

Lea McFall was flying from India back to the U.S. on American Airlines when one of her friends started feeling a little ill. The likely cause was her final meal in Delhi. She had a severe case of food poisoning.

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Resort-wide illness prompts call for credit

Q: My partner and I have recently returned from a six-day vacation at Barcelo Puerto Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. While we were there, many guests were afflicted by a serious illness. We began hearing about it soon after our arrival, and within two days, we were both violently ill with vomiting, diarrhea and fever.

For the last four days of our trip, we were barely able to eat or drink and wouldn't dare take the chance of leaving the resort for any excursions.

Judging by the large number of complaints posted online, many other guests were also affected. Several even required hospitalization.

Because our annual vacation was ruined by this outbreak, we'd like to be reimbursed or offered some level of incentive for a future trip at another Barcelo property. We've written to the hotel but haven't heard back. Can you help us?

-- Daniel Vosburgh, Chicago

A: Barcelo should have answered your complaint, explaining what went wrong at its Puerto Vallarta property while you were there and offering an apology, at a minimum.

It's important to understand that this hotel is an all-inclusive resort, meaning it's designed to be the kind of place you never have to leave. Every meal, every drink, every snack is included in the price of your room. So when there's an outbreak of a mysterious illness, it could potentially affect many guests.

That's what appeared to happen here. If you read the reports of this outbreak, which happened during spring 2010, you'll see there was speculation that it could be anything from the flu to a gastrointestinal virus. In a response posted online by the hotel's management, Barcelo claimed that tests of its water and food came back negative, and ultimately, it blamed the sickness on pollution in a nearby river.

While it's laudable for Barcelo to respond to these problems in a public forum, I think it's equally important to deal with the outbreaks on a case-by-case basis from customers. Why didn't the hotel bother answering you? You sent your email to the president, marketing department and the press office of the company, which undoubtedly routed it back to the property. It may have fallen between the cracks.

I might have started with a simple email to the hotel outlining your problem before going straight to the appeals process. Actually, I probably would have mentioned your illness to the hotel while you were there and asked if there were anything Barcelo could do by way of compensation. Even though, according to the hotel, it wasn't responsible for the illness, it should have been concerned that you weren't having a good vacation.

I contacted Barcelo on your behalf. A representative called you and offered you a complimentary weeklong stay at the Barcelo Puerta Vallarta.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and a co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers. Read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org.

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Virginia Museum of Fine Arts displays Faberge treasures

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Ornately jeweled Easter eggs designed by Karl Faberge for the Russian royal family are among hundreds of Faberge objects on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

"Faberge Revealed" includes imperial Easter eggs and other pieces from VMFA's own collection, along with sculptures and other works loaned from three private collections, making the exhibit the largest public Faberge collection in the United States, said Geza von Habsburg, a Faberge expert and the exhibit's guest curator.

A standout piece is the Imperial Lilies of the Valley Basket sculpture, which represents all aspects of Faberge's artistry in one work, Habsburg said.

"One can see the jeweler's art in the pearl buds and little rosebud diamonds; the stonecutter's art in the nephrite leaves, which seem to be alive; and the goldsmith's art in the gold basket," he said. "And the moss, it's utterly amazing."

It was presented to Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna in 1896, the year of the coronation of her husband, Nicholas II,Russia's last emperor. The work was her favorite, displayed on her desk until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The couple and their children were executed the following year.

The exhibit, which ends Oct. 2, includes six eggs Nicholas presented to his wife and mother as Easter gifts, including the 1903 Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg, the 1912 gold-and-lapis lazuli Imperial Tsesarevich Easter Egg and the 1912 gold-and-green enamel Imperial Napoleonic Egg.

Commissioned to mark the bicentennial ofSt. Petersburg, the Peter the Great Egg is crafted of gold, platinum, diamonds, rubies, sapphire and enamel with miniature watercolors on ivory. Inside is a miniature replica of Falconet's Bronze Horseman statue of the 17th-century emperor that rises when the egg is opened.

An imperial egg can fetch $25 million to $30 million at auction, Habsburg estimates. Russian oligarchViktor Vekselberg bought nine imperial eggs from the Forbes collection in 2004; the Imperial Coronation Egg's purchase price, for example, was estimated between $18 million and $24 million, he said.

Faberge's company became supplier to the Imperial Court after he sold a piece of gold jewelry to Czar Alexander III's wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, in 1882. He then started his series of Imperial Easter eggs, which subsequently made him famous and forever linked him with the opulence of the Russian dynasty's final days.

With his four sons and his brother, Faberge employed a 40-person design studio in St. Petersburg and 500 craftsmen and other workers to create 150,000 unique objects, distinguishing the House of Faberge as the leading jeweler of the period.

"Each piece was one-of-a-kind, meaning there were no repetitions," Habsburg said. "That sets him aside from any other craftsman or jeweler of his time."

Alexander gave his wife 30 eggs, and Nicholas II, Russia's final emperor, gave 20 to Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

The Bolsheviks destroyed most of the Faberge pieces during the revolution, melting the metal and selling the jewels and stones. Only a few hundred objects remain in Russia, Habsburg said.

The royal family's imperial eggs were confiscated, and eight disappeared during the revolution. Ten are in the Kremlin Armory Museum in Moscow. The Bolsheviks ordered the others sold between 1925 and 1933 through a government agency in charge of art sales; 42 eggs survive and are in both public and private collections.

Because he was a symbol of artistic decadence in the run-up to the overthrow, Faberge and three of his sons fled the country in 1918. A fourth son who remained in Russia was imprisoned. After Faberge's death in 1920, the sons tried unsuccessfully to revive the brand in Paris, Habsburg said.

"But if you think what the '20s were, it was the Art Deco period of flappers and jazz, so Faberge's beautiful things in the French 18th-century style were no longer in demand," he said.

The doomed Russian imperials fascinated many Americans, including Virginian Lillian Thomas Pratt, whose collection was bequeathed to VMFA after her death in 1947. Pratt, the wife of aGeneral Motors executive, scrimped during a slumping economy to purchase items from 1933-45 with the help of New York art dealer Alexander Shaffer. She acquired the Imperial Peter the Great Egg in 1939, and was allowed to chip away at the $16,500 bill in monthly installments from 1942-44, museum accounting logs show.

She also acquired some of her objects from the businessman and art collectorArmand Hammer, but some since have been determined to be knockoffs, Habsburg said. The exhibition also displays some of what he calls "Fauxberge" items, including hardstone animal figurines and floral pieces.

___

If You Go...

FABERGE REVEALED: Exhibit open through Oct. 2 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,Richmond, Va., http://vmfa.state.va.us or 804-340-1400. Open Saturday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Adults, $15; children 7-17, seniors 65 or older and students with ID, $12.

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The grand castles of Mad King Ludwig

Touristic, glorious and romantic, some of Germany's best attractions are in Bavaria. My favorites are three of King Ludwig II's castles: stocky Hohenschwangau, his boyhood home; the nearby and fanciful Neuschwanstein, his dream escape; and Linderhof, his final retreat.

Ludwig was just 19 when he became king of Bavaria in 1864. Rather than live with the frustrations of a modern constitution and a feisty parliament reining him in, he spent his years lost in Romantic literature and Wagnerian operas. From his bedroom in Hohenschwangau, Ludwig trained a telescope on a ridge to keep an eye on Neuschwanstein as it was being constructed.

On my last visit, I peered through that telescope at Neuschwanstein Castle (which inspired another boy, named Disney). I could relate to the teen-king Ludwig. As a kid bound by schoolwork and house rules, and with a stretched-out turtleneck and zits rather than crowns and composer friends, I too had built a castle: a treehouse with a shiny roof. It was the envy of other little kings in my neighborhood.

Then, at age 18, I made my first independent trip to Europe. I toured Ludwig's postcard-perfect Neuschwanstein and saw firsthand just how big, dramatic and over the top a "real" fairy-tale castle could be. Ludwig's extravagance and romanticism earned him the title Mad King Ludwig.

With towering turrets in a striking setting, these castles are a huge hit with sightseers. Every tour bus in Bavaria converges on Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, while tourists pour in each morning by train from Munich, two hours away. Like the wave of a magic wand, a handy reservation system with set admission times sorts out the chaos for smart travelers (ticket-center-hohenschwangau.de).

Ludwig put his Neuschwanstein on a hilltop not for defensive reasons but simply because he liked the view. The castle, which is about as old as the Eiffel Tower, is a textbook example of 19th century Romanticism. After the Middle Ages, people disparagingly named that era "Gothic," meaning barbarian. Then, all of a sudden, in the 1800s, it was hip to be square, and neo-Gothic became the rage. Throughout Europe, old castles were restored and new ones built, wallpapered with chivalry.

The lavish interior, covered with damsels in distress, dragons and knights in gleaming armor, is enchanting. Ludwig had great taste for a "mad" king. Germany became a single united country only in 1871. As if to bolster its legitimacy, the young nation dug deep into its murky medieval past. These heroes and legends inspired young Ludwig in decorating his fanciful castles.

Sitting at the foot of the hill, Hohenschwangau Castle is more lived-in and historic, offering an excellent look at Ludwig's life (with fewer crowds). Originally built in the 12th century, it was ruined by Napoleon. Ludwig's father rebuilt it, and you'll see it as it looked in 1836. The walls of the beautifully painted rooms are slathered with the epic myths and exotic decoration of 19th century Romanticism.

The homiest of Ludwig's castles is the small and comfortably exquisite Linderhof, set in the woods 15 minutes from Oberammergau, the Shirley Temple of Bavarian villages (a 45-minute drive from Hohenschwangau). Surrounded by fountains and sculpted, Italian-style gardens, it's the only place I've toured that actually had me feeling palace envy.

Ludwig lived much of his last eight years at Linderhof. Frustrated by the limits of being a constitutional monarch, he retreated here, inhabiting a private fantasy world where his lavishness glorified his otherwise weakened kingship. He lived as a royal hermit; his dinner table, pre-set with dishes and food, rose from the kitchen below into his dining room so he could eat alone.

Beyond the palace is Ludwig's grotto, a private theater for the reclusive king to enjoy his beloved Wagnerian operas; he usually was the sole member of the audience. The grotto features a waterfall, fake stalactites and a swan boat floating on an artificial lake. The first electricity in Bavaria was generated here, to change the colors of the stage lights and to power Ludwig's fountain and wave machine.

My preferred home base for exploring Bavaria's castles is Reutte, actually in the Austrian district of Tirol. If you have a car, this area offers maximum charm and good value. Fussen, in Germany, is a handier home base for train travelers.

Ludwig was king for 23 years. In 1886, fed up with his extravagances, royal commissioners declared him mentally unfit to rule Bavaria. Days later, he was found dead in a lake. People still debate whether it was murder or suicide. But no one complains anymore about the cost of Ludwig's castles. Within six weeks of his funeral, tourists were paying to see the castles, and they're still coming.

Rick Steves (ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.

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