Europe: Escape to London and Paris with hotel and air package

London will be rocking this summer, and Paris is always abuzz, but in the spring or fall? You get to see a city as a truer version of itself. This deal from Gate 1 gives you both cities at a good price.

San Francisco: City by the Bay is abloom with floral festivals

Talk about flower power. From February through April, San Francisco and environs, the historic home of hippiedom, busts out in blooms. Here are dates and details for several Bay Area floral displays and festivals:

Element hotels: Eco-friendly lodging has a wallet-friendly deal

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

The ethics of disaster tourism: What is the right thing to do? [Updated]

Removal of fuel from the Costa Concordia, which ran aground last month off Tuscany, began last week and officials say that after it’s gone, it may take seven to 10 months to refloat the ship.

Santa Fe, N.M.: A hotel package for chocolate fanciers

Chocolate fanciers visiting Santa Fe can savor a lodging package tailored to their passion at the Inn on the Alameda, a small, well-regarded hotel in New Mexico’s colorful capital.

Yosemite National Park: Major road to be closed for repairs

Here’s a traffic alert for California’s Yosemite National Park: A section of a major route there will be shut down for more than a month to repair damage caused by a Jan. 22 rockslide.

Offbeat Traveler: 79th annual Lemon Festival in Menton, France

If life gives you lemons, turn them into parade floats. Works for the city of Menton in southeastern France. This past Saturday, it kicked of its 79th annual Lemon Festival featuring floats and displays decorated with citrus fruits. The celebration is one of the French Riveria's most popular events and attracts about a quarter million visitors each year. Here's a look at some of the lemon-laced displays showcased in Bioves Garden at this year's festival.

Alaska: See glaciers, fiords, whales and more in less than a week

Five days hardly seems long enough to explore Alaska's Prince William Sound, but adventure travel company Greenloons offers a tour that hits the glacier and fiord highlights for those short on time.

Tuesday Travel Ticker: Yosemite road closing

Yosemite National Park's Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120) within the park will close for six weeks beginning Feb. 29, to repair damage caused by a large rockslide. The road will be closed between the Foresta Road Junction on the Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120) and the El Portal Road (Highway 140) junction.Yosemite Valley remains accessible via El Portal Road (Highway 140) coming from Merced/ Mariposa and via Wawona Road (Highway 41) coming from Fresno/ Oakhurst . . . . The National Steinbeck Center presents the 32nd Annual Steinbeck Festival, in collaboration with The Woody Guthrie Centennial, May 3-6. The event will take place at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, For more info, go to www.steinbeck.org . . . . The Live Oak Music Festival takes place in the hills above Santa Barbara on Father's Day weekend, June 15–17. For info, go to www.liveoakfest.org . . . . Don Rickles...

Pitchers, catchers (and fans) report

Players begin reporting to spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida this week, and the cities that surround Phoenix are ready to welcome fans with such new features as free trolley services and an inaugural spring training fest.  Exhibition games begin the first week of March and take place throughout the month, leading up to opening day April 4.

Presidents' Day: Meet the Mt. Rushmore four at the Nixon Library

Presidents' Day used to celebrate the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, but now all former leaders get a hail to the chief. The Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda marks the day by inviting the public to a free meet-up with America's early presidents.