Tourist

PETRA, Jordan--After four days of difficult Middle East diplomacy, President Obama headed home Saturday after playing tourist at the elaborate ruins of Petra, an ancient city carved from sheer rock faces of surrounding mountains. The remains of monasteries, burial tombs and baths from the Nabatean civilization more than 2,000 years ago are the pride of Jordan, Obama's final stop in the region. The archaeological park attracts half a million visitors a year, and Obama, dressed in khaki slacks and a Navy windbreaker, seemed as awestruck as any other tourist.

What will Apple name the next version of OS X? We may have the answer, and we approve. The tech giant is keeping a lid on the name of the next operating system, expected to be announced in June, but trademark filings discovered this week and revealed on multiple news sites may include it. Apple is continuing a theme, begun with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, that's hard to beat: California. For more than a decade, the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant named its Mac computer software after big cats, including Cheetah and Mountain Lion.

A 600-year-old statue residing in a museum in Florence, Italy, has one fewer finger on its right hand thanks to an American tourist who came in contact with the artwork and broke off a digit. The tourist, whose name has not been reported, allegedly broke off the right pinky finger of the statue while attempting to measure it. The incident is thought to have been an accident, but officials in Italy questioned the American and are weighing what action to take. Reports have described the tourist as a 55-year-old man from Missouri.  PHOTOS: Hollywood stars on stage The statue, which is thought to depict the Virgin Mary, dates from either the 14th or 15th century.

MEXICO CITY - A powerful earthquake shook a wide area of Mexico on Friday, terrifying residents and sending many fleeing into the streets. There were no initial reports of serious injuries or major damage in the capital. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake, which occurred about 9:30 a.m., had a preliminary magnitude of 7.2, which would make it one of the stronger temblors registered in Mexico City in several years. It was 14 miles deep and was felt in nine of Mexico's 31 states, in addition to the capital, according to the agency, with the epicenter in the coastal state of Guerrero about 200 miles southwest of the capital.

Peek.com , a new site that helps tourists find and book activities, has added Los Angeles in its latest expansion. The site is trying to do for tourist activities what Expedia.com does for booking flights and hotels. The site went live in parts of California and Hawaii in October, but it added results for Los Angeles this week. Users traveling to Los Angeles or residents who are simply looking for something to do can go to the site and search for nightlife, sightseeing tours, restaurants, or arts and culture activities.

The Los Angeles Police Department plans to increase patrols in the Hollywood tourist district after the fatal stabbing of a woman earlier this week by a transient, Chief Charlie Beck said Friday. In an interview with The Times, Beck said he had discussed the situation along Hollywood Boulevard with incoming Mayor Eric Garcetti and incoming City Atty. Mike Feuer. In addition to adding more undercover officers and horse-mounted patrols, Beck said there has been some discussion about how to better deal with the aggressive panhandling along the boulevard.

As Christine Darlene Calderon strolled down Hollywood's Walk of Fame with her coworker just after sunset Tuesday, an amusing cardboard sign caught her eye. She pulled out her cellphone to snap a picture of men displaying signs asking for money with four-letter insults and a smiley face. Moments later, according to a law enforcement sources, one of the men demanded that she pay $1 for the pictures. When she refused, police say, two of the men allegedly pinned Calderon's coworker against a wall.

Japanese millionaire Daisuke Enomoto spent $21 million to become a space tourist but accuses the company that was supposed make it happen of brushing him aside with little more than "sorry, no refunds." A federal judge in Alexandria heard arguments in Enomoto's lawsuit against Space Adventures, which made its name brokering deals with the Russian space agency to put half a dozen "space tourists" in orbit for $20 million or more. Space Adventures wants the lawsuit thrown out, saying Enomoto was disqualified in 2006 because of a chronic kidney-stone condition.

Deep Ocean Expeditions offers the ultimate Titanic tour this summer: See the shipwreck firsthand from a tiny submersible during the 100th anniversary of its sinking. Despite the stiff $60,000 price tag, the Titanic dives became so popular among tourists that the company added a third trip. Now expedition coordinator Rob McCallum tells National Geographic News that Titanic dives planned for July and August will be the company's last. Deep Ocean holds the exclusive charter for Titanic dives.

When the doors of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas open to the public today, it will mark the launch of what is expected to be among the top five tourist spots in the Texas city. "It's a beautiful museum on a beautiful campus," Phillip J. Jones, head of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau , said Tuesday. He said he expects 300,000 to 400,000 travelers will be drawn to the center at Southern Methodist University . But it's not the only new tourism generator in town.

SAN DIEGO  - SeaWorld? Check. Balboa Park? Check. The zoo? Check. Most folks heading here for a vacation visit the usual tourist spots. Those are great, but there's more to the self-styled America's Finest City than a famous theme park, museums, and lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Why not add the city's outdoor art to the checklist? San Diego has a treasure-trove of dynamic, free outdoor art installations that the casual visitor might easily overlook. These pieces, by big-name artists as well as lesser-known talents, are easily reachable and, in some cases, just steps from tourist spots.

Spencer Davis was chatting up tourists on the Venice boardwalk when police officers pulled up in front of his display of plastic alien heads. Had Davis seen a man threatening people with a chain saw, they asked? "Not today," he quipped with a smile, assuming that the officers were joking. Then he turned around and saw police officers, their guns drawn, with a man holding a chain saw. "Just when you think you've seen it all…" Davis said. For all the gentrification, designer homes and tourist attractions, Venice is still that kind of place - where artists, the homeless, Silicon Beach hipsters, surfers, inline skaters and tourists come together along a circus-like boardwalk.

Trying to restore its luster as a tourist destination, this cozy harbor town is undergoing its most ambitious overhaul since chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. built the town's signature feature in 1929: Avalon Casino. More than half a dozen projects are underway or planned in the 2-square-mile community, including a museum, hotel, spa, aquatic facility, chapel and wine-tasting room. Renovations are planned for the island's golf course, and the oceanfront beach club is expanding.

A recent trip to Europe was an exercise in saving money. Here is some of what I discovered. Ground transportation: Taxis may seem like the most convenient and civilized way to get around, and sometimes they are, but sometimes they're expensive and annoying. They're also subject to all the traffic everyone else is sitting in. Subway systems are efficient and traffic-proof (unless there's a problem on a line). They can get you to most tourist destinations faster, and they are actually easy to use - easier than figuring out the rules for hailing a cab in the same city.

CORNUCOPIA, Wis. - On some days, Kevin Hunt stands at his Star North gas station in this eye-blink of a town on mighty Lake Superior, marveling at Mother Nature and his own dumb luck. Everywhere he looks: ice and people. Months ago, many warned him not to invest in a place where fair-weather tourists flee in the fall and the big lake's waters turn cold and storm-tossed, forcing the 100 or so hardy full-time residents of Cornucopia to hibernate for the winter. He'd be out of business by March, they said.

GRANADA, Nicaragua - I came to Nicaragua to climb a volcano, to listen to howler monkeys scream in the trees of a rain forest and to walk along a deserted beach, watching the sun flame out at the end of day, turning the sea and sky ablaze. I did all those things and more in this star-crossed Central American nation, a place where culture, history and nature combine to offer visitors some of the hemisphere's most diverse experiences. Nicaragua, which calls itself "the next Costa Rica," has much to commend it: large tracts of nature reserves; sleepy surf towns; dozens of volcanic peaks; rain forests rich with biodiversity; seemingly endless, undeveloped beaches; and charming colonial cities alive with culture.

On Monday evening, the summer crowds were thick on the Venice boardwalk. Up at Dudley Avenue, near the northern end of the bustling oceanfront strip, a crowd gathered for a vigil to honor the victims of Saturday's car rampage that injured 16 people and took the life of Italian newlywed Alice Gruppioni . The vigil would begin with 30 seconds of silence, then the crowd would move a block south to the spot where Gruppioni was hit....

I find it very sad that the letter about visiting Mexico [Letters, Nov. 23] was so angry. Although I would love to see Mexico solve its problems in fighting the drug war (fueled, sadly, by the U.S. demand for illegal drugs), I don't see how punishing the average Mexican citizen would benefit the cause. Tourism is an important part of the economy of Mexico. I have never felt unsafe there. As the Travel section always recommends, tourists must use common sense everywhere they go. Even in the U.S. Deborah Searle Chino

CAIRO - At least three people were killed Sunday and more than a dozen injured in a bomb blast near Egypt's border with Israel, according to Egyptian state media reports. The explosion occurred on a bus that was carrying 33 tourists from South Korea from the Egyptian city of St. Catherine to the Israeli border, state news agency MENA reported. The agency said at least three people were killed and 14 injured. The motivations of the attack were unknown. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the blast occurred a third of a mile from the Taba border crossing with Israel, which is near the Israeli resort city of Eilat.

CAIRO - A bomb blast ripped through a bus packed with tourists Sunday, killing at least four people near Egypt's border with Israel, security officials said, in an attack that threatened to damage the tourist economies of both countries. Three South Korean tourists and the Egyptian bus driver were killed, according to a statement from Egypt's Interior Ministry. No one has claimed responsibility, but several Israeli security experts said the location of the attack suggests it was directed at least in part at Israel.