Traveler's Advisory

By Sinting Lai

NORTH AMERICA

U.S. All aboard -- where you still can. To save $10 million yearly, Amtrak, the national train passenger corporation, has cut service on three long- distance runs around the country. The Pioneer, which used to operate daily between Chicago and Seattle via Denver and Portland, has been reduced to three trips a week west of Denver, as have runs south of St. Louis on the Texas Eagle, which connects Chicago with San Antonio and Houston. Eliminated is the River Cities, linking St. Louis and Carbondale, Illinois; instead passengers en route to New Orleans have to take a bus to Centralia, Illinois, where they can board the City of New Orleans. Ticket offices have been closed at 15 stations across the U.S., including Delray Beach, Florida, and Amsterdam, New York. Trains will still stop at these locations, but tickets must be purchased at other Amtrak stations or travel agencies.

MEXICO. Travelers headed for Mexico should check their wallet before entering the country: visitors bringing in the value of 30,000 new pesos (about $10,000) or more in cash, traveler's checks or foreign currency must now declare the assets to customs officials upon arrival. Failure to report, or a false statement, can result in a fine or jail term.

ISLANDS

ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. Five centuries after the event, the U.S. National Park Service has dedicated a park at the only documented site now part of the U.S. where Christopher Columbus' crew landed on the explorer's second voyage to the New World; the date was Nov. 14, 1493. A 370-hectare enclave on this island's north shore, the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve has the largest remaining mangrove forest in the Virgin Islands. The park harbors a wide variety of endangered flora and fauna, including giant swamp ferns and bottle-nosed dolphins, and includes an underwater canyon filled with coral reefs, caves and grottoes, open to scuba divers. Camping is not allowed on park grounds, but travelers can stay at hotels in the nearby town of Christiansted.

EUROPE

LYONS. The Musee des Beaux Arts is one of the best museums outside Paris -- all the more since the reopening of 16 restored rooms in the north wing of the Palais Saint-Pierre. Among the 150 paintings, 70 sculptures and 250 objets d'art on display are medieval French ivories, enamels and goldwork; 10th to 14th century Islamic ceramics, arms and copperware; and Italian Renaissance sculpture, including Andrea Della Robbia's Virgin and Child and Mino da Fiesole's bust, St. John the Baptist. Seven of the rooms are devoted to painting: 17th century French works by Stella, Le Brun and Jouvenet, as well as Golden Age Dutch and Flemish canvases by Rubens, Jordaens, Rembrandt, Ter Borch and Jan Brueghel. A research facility is available for the study of 8,000 Italian, French, German and Flemish engravings and drawings that span the past four centuries. Newly opened as well is the Art History Library, with 30,000 volumes and paintings by artists including Matisse and Gericault.