Did you Know?

Officials in Italy are sick of slow-moving tourists looking for a place to sit on public monuments.

This week, Rome announced that visitors can now be fined €400 ($450) for sitting on the city’s historic Spanish Steps, which for decades have served as a crowded picnic, drinking, and resting spot for hordes of travelers looking for a free place to lounge after sightseeing. Officials also approved an even greater fine of $500 for anyone who attempts to swim in the Trevi Fountain.

How will Rome enforce the new no-sit rule amid the throngs of tourists at the Spanish Steps? According to reports from the area this week, police will sharply blow whistles two times in the direction of anyone who attempts to sit down and shoo them away. As one city official told the New York Times: “You couldn’t walk around the Metropolitan Museum snacking on food and slurping a Coke,” he said. “We expect the same for the center of Rome.”

Officials in Italy are sick of slow-moving tourists looking for a place to sit on public monuments.

This week, Rome announced that visitors can now be fined €400 ($450) for sitting on the city’s historic Spanish Steps, which for decades have served as a crowded picnic, drinking, and resting spot for hordes of travelers looking for a free place to lounge after sightseeing. Officials also approved an even greater fine of $500 for anyone who attempts to swim in the Trevi Fountain.

How will Rome enforce the new no-sit rule amid the throngs of tourists at the Spanish Steps? According to reports from the area this week, police will sharply blow whistles two times in the direction of anyone who attempts to sit down and shoo them away. As one city official told the New York Times: “You couldn’t walk around the Metropolitan Museum snacking on food and slurping a Coke,” he said. “We expect the same for the center of Rome.”

Rome’s announcement follows last month’s news that officials in Venice had expelled two tourists from the city (and fined them more than $1,000) for brewing coffee near the Rialto Bridge. Even with Rome’s new policies, the capital has a long way to go to match Venice’s strictures. Currently, visitors to the floating city face fines for everything from standing still on bridges to buying from street traders, and dipping their toes in the canal. And it’s not just Italy’s cities that are cracking down. German supermodel Heidi Klum is currently facing a fine of more than $6,000 for swimming in Capri’s famous Blue Grotto underwater cave on her honeymoon this summer.

Ever since they served as the backdrop for Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck’s whirlwind romance in Roman Holiday, the Spanish Steps have been a must-see destination for travelers to Rome. If anything, this week’s law means the steps will now look more like they did in the movie and less like an outdoor airport terminal. If you’re traveling to Rome and find you need to rest your legs, check out our list of the city’s greatest eateries instead.

Link: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/you-could-be-fined-dollar450-for-sitting-on-romes-spanish-steps

Happy World Tourism Day.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has celebrated World Tourism Day on September 27 since 1980. The purpose is to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide.

For anyone who wants to feel like a modern day Marie Antoinette

The Palace of Versailles has long served as a popular tourist attraction, but a new luxury hotel set in its lavish grounds means visitors will now be able to stay there.

Airelles Château de Versailles will open in spring 2020 – the first hotel to have a home within the perimeters of the Palace grounds. The 14-bedroom property will be designed in an 18th Century style, with architect and interior designer Christophe Tollemer in charge of its aesthetic.

Although few details have been released about the hotel, it will boast a private spa and a restaurant led by Alain Ducasse, who is one of only two chefs to hold 21 Michelin stars throughout his career. Guests will also enjoy exclusive access and experiences at Chateau de Versailles.

Luxury hotel group Airelles owns a number of properties around France, although its Versailles opening is expected to be the jewel in its crown and one of the most anticipated travel launches of 2020.

Link: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/travel/a29202865/luxury-hotel-to-open-inside-the-palace-of-versailles/

What could be more romantic than a Parisian wall declaring love in over 250 languages?

Designed by Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito, this outdoor art installation features the words “I love you” written 1000 times in over 300 languages. Le mur des je t’aime (the wall of I love yous) is located in the Square Jehan Rictus in the Place de Abesses area of Montmartre.

Emirates is once again pushing the boundaries of technology, becoming the first airline outside America to receive approval for biometric boarding from the US Customs Border Protection (CBP). Soon, customers flying from Dubai to any of Emirates’ 12 destinations in the US will be able to choose facial recognition technology at the departure gates, reducing the time taken for identity checks to two seconds or less. No pre-registration is required, and customers may also choose not to use the technology. Emirates does not store any biometric records of its customers – all the data is managed securely by CBP.

The technology was piloted at the departure gates of Emirates’ flights from Dubai to New York and Los Angeles through the peak periods in July and August. The airline expects to make biometric boarding available for all its US destinations by year-end, once the equipment is in place.

Dr Abdulla Al Hashimi, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emirates Group Security, said, “Biometric boarding is one more step in streamlining processes at our hub using digital technology, saving our customers time and giving them peace of mind.”

John Wagner, Deputy Executive Assistant Commission, Office of Field Operations, US Customs and Border Protection, said, “By comparing a traveller’s face to their passport or visa photo that was previously provided for the purpose of travel, we have streamlined identity verification that further secures and enhances the customer experience.”

Open your Google Maps and click the menu in the top left corner. See the “Your Timeline” link? If you’re anything like the editors in the Traveler office, you’ve probably never used the feature, which keeps a log of everywhere you’ve been with your smartphone in hand, creating a historical path for your day.

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Timeline has existed for more than a year now, but last week, Google Maps announced it had updated the feature. It’ll now not only keeping track of all of the places you stopped into during your day, but also divide them in categories like restaurants, hotels, shops, and attractions, to make rediscovering them even easier. From there, you can easily add them to your Google Maps starred lists (which Traveler editors meticulously use to keep track of where we’ve been, and where we want to go) so you can access them at any time. It comes in handy when you’ve strayed from your itinerary for a spontaneous shopping spree, neighborhood exploration, or general wandering, and want to remember the exact places you’ve been.

But the real perk comes in the new sharing feature. Now you’re able to export customized lists from your Timeline, selecting specific places you’ve visited on your tracked route with added notes, for when your friends or family ask for your well-traveled advice. Those very lucky people can then download your list directly to their Google Maps as a layer of starred destinations. The exact scenario a Google spokesperson gave us during a demo? That Timeline could replace that email you forward endlessly when someone asks your recommendations. (We have outboxes full of them over at Traveler.)

Back to the location privacy: to get access to the feature, Google Maps doesn’t have to always track your location. You can turn your location history on and off as needed for vacations, and delete certain date ranges of your location history data from within your app’s settings under “Activity Controls.” (If you turn it off, your existing Timeline places will stick around on your phone.) Location history is only turned on when you opt in, so if you haven’t used your Timeline before, it’s likely turned off. If you’re curious about what location data Google keeps, and what it doesn’t, check out the dedicated location history FAQ page.

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