Ellis Island to Reopen as Gateway to Our Past

It took six years and cost $156 million, but Ellis Island in New York Harbor finally is ready to reopen to the public as America’s National Museum of Immigration.

After a week of official ceremonies and special events, the museum will be open starting Sept. 10. It can be reached by ferry from the Battery. Shuttle services are available to the Statue of Liberty daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Soviets Can’t Lick This Problem: Moscow, which often boasts of having the world’s best ice cream, has a shortage in these waning days of summer.

Ice cream kiosks on street corners and in city parks have been displaying “no ice cream” signs, although they continue to sell souvenirs, marshmallows, chocolates and other candies.

Ice cream is still available at foreign outlets, such as the Baskin-Robbins stores in the Rossia Hotel and on the Arbat pedestrian mall, or the Soviet-Swiss joint-venture Pinguin.

But lines are long and prices are high for Muscovites who have always taken pride in their own ice cream, which they buy in paper-wrapped slabs or on sticks, rather than in cones.

Officials said the shortage has been caused by two of the three ice cream-making factories in Moscow being closed for repairs this summer.

Jerusalem Anniversary: Israel’s national museum celebrates its 25th anniversary Monday with the opening of the $11-million Nathan Cumings 20th-Century Art Building, the latest of more than 20 pavilions, galleries and gardens that bestride Jerusalem’s Hill of Tranquility.

The Israel Museum receives about one million visitors a year, with the famous Shrine of the Book housing the Dead Sea Scrolls being perhaps its most well-known exhibit.

Happy Valley Again: Hong Kong has succeeded in reversing the decline in tourism it suffered as a result of neighboring China’s massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in June, 1989.

According to figures compiled in the British colony, tourism dropped 4% to 5.4 million visitors last year. In the first four months of this year, however, there has been a 1% increase in the number of visitors compared to the same period a year ago, and overall growth is forecast to be 8% to 10%.

Climbing the Scaffold: After two years of repair and restoration, a 16th-Century fresco by Correggio has reopened to the public in Parma, Italy.

The work, accomplished between 1520 and 1524, can be found in the dome of the abbey at San Giovanni Envangelista church. Until Sept. 30, groups of about 20 visitors are being allowed to climb to the 100-foot-high dome on scaffolding to see the painting up close.

Egyptian Reassurance: Egyptian tourism officials are going to great lengths to assure would-be visitors that they will be safe and that the situation in Egypt is stable despite the Middle East crisis.

“Despite the tension and current circumstances in the Middle East at present, Egypt is still enjoying a normal influx of tourists from all parts of the world, with the exception of the countries directly involved in the conflict,” said Hamdi Saad El-Din, director of the Egyptian Tourist Authority.

“We feel it is extremely important to inform the public that the U.S. State Department has not issued any travel advisories warning citizens against traveling to Egypt.”

From Cowbell to Liberty Bell: Swissair has inaugurated daily direct service between Zurich and Philadelphia, bringing to nine the number of gateway cities in the United States served by the airline.

Fees Take a Hike: As of Sept. 1, California’s Department of Parks and Recreation has hiked the cost of campsites, day use, boat rentals and other services in the state parks system.

Most fees will be increased by $2 and will place a greater portion of the cost of state park operation on park users rather than the taxpayers as a whole.

Fallout From Pompeii: Travelers headed to New York City in the next two weeks have the chance to combine it with a visit to Pompeii, if they feel so inclined.

Care to see the skeleton of a woman clutching coins that bear the date AD 79 (the year Pompeii was buried)? How about a video simulation of the eruption itself? Or a look at more than 200 objects unearthed at the doomed city within the past two years?

They’re all part of an exhibit at the Midtown IBM Gallery of Science and Art that runs through Sept. 15. The gallery, on Madison Avenue at 56th Street, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.