Florence’s Uffizi Palace to Reopen Next Sunday

Florence’s cherished Uffizi Palace, which was badly damaged by a car bomb two weeks ago, will reopen two days later than first reported, next Sunday rather than Friday, according to Francesco Sisinni, director general of Italy’s culture ministry. The 400-year-old museum, home to one of the world’s greatest collections of Renaissance art, was damaged by a May 27 bomb that killed five people. The Mafia is among the suspects in the bombing, but police admit they have few good leads on who is responsible for detonating the explosive device in a parked car outside the west wing of the museum. The first corridor of the eastern wing, which houses works by the Italian masters Sandro Botticelli and Piero della Francesca, and the Buontalenti stairway, the museum’s badly damaged main exit, are expected to be repaired by the announced opening date, but a few other areas will not. Three minor works were destroyed in the blast, but protective glass shields saved several more famous paintings. The bomb also damaged another 30 works of art, including several sculptures. The cultural heritage ministry has estimated $1.4 million will be needed to restore all the art work, and has pledged $21 million for the restoration of the Uffizi building itself.

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Travel Quiz: Name the primary national park located in Montana.

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More Tours to Buckingham: Two more companies are offering reserved-ticket access to Buckingham Palace, which is open to the public for the first time this August and September. Waiting lines are expected to be significant for visitors without reserved tickets, which sold out to the general public almost immediately. A British sightseeing company called Take-a-Guide Ltd. has organized day tours that include 90 minutes inside the palace along with visits to a variety of London locations popular with, or historically significant to, the Royal Family. The price tag may sound very significant--$85 per person for travel via minibus or $650 for a limo with space for five passengers--but it is actually lower than other packages that include palace visits but require overnight stays in London hotels. (For information: from the United States, telephone 011-44-81-968-8007 or fax 011-44-81-964-0990.) A thriftier $44 tour, by the New York branch of Edwards & Edwards, the London-based ticket agency, is selling out quickly, according to a company spokesman. That 2 1/2-hour tour includes 90 minutes inside the palace along with a guided walking tour of London. (For information: 800-223-6108.)

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Quick Fact: The Four Seasons Hotel in New York--which opened Wednesday--claims to be the most expensive hotel ever built in North America. Cost of construction: approximately $1 million per room.

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More Pleasure Than Business in Mexico: Business visits by foreigners to Mexico were up 16.4% in 1992 over the previous year, according to the official news agency Notimex, which cited government figures. In all, foreigners visiting Mexico on business made some 337,000 flights to the country last year, the department said. But more foreigners still see Mexico as a vacation spot than as a place to do business. There were 4.5 million pleasure-related flights--more than 10 times the number of business flights--made by foreigners to Mexico last year, according to the ministry’s figures.

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Car Rental Safety Advice: The American Automobile Assn. is advising travelers renting cars to reject vehicles that display the name of the rental car company or in other ways identify the vehicle as a rental car. The advisory is a response to recent carjackings and robberies of motorists driving marked rental cars in and around Miami, according to a AAA spokesman. Rental-car signage may include bumper stickers, promotional license plates, license plates that contain letters or numbers that designate them as rental vehicles, small stickers attached to windows, and license plate frames that display the company name.

Until recently, 11 states had required, or allowed, rental car companies to indicate rental or leased status on their license plates. But a bill has just been signed by the governor of Florida that eliminates that state’s special license plate requirement. New York and Colorado also just decided to make unmarked plates available to rental car companies and will do so within the next few months. Illinois allows the voluntary use of special plates, but does not require them. Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming have not changed their requirements. Since some recent crime victims were first involved in deliberately caused accidents, AAA also is recommending that motorists who believe they have been struck deliberately not stop, but motion to the other driver to follow and then drive to a well-lighted public area before summoning police.

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Flying to Aspen Festival: United Express will begin Thursday-through-Sunday nonstop jet service--the only such service--between Los Angeles and Aspen, Colo., on June 24, to coincide with the beginning of the world-famous Aspen Music Festival. The festival closes Aug. 22, but the seasonal flights will continue through Labor Day. A variety of packages that combine air/lodging and event admission are available for the festival, which will present more than 150 music concerts and events, ranging from orchestral to chamber to jazz performances.

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Free for San Diego: When the Star of India sets sail twice along the San Diego coast--Aug. 14 and 22, during America’s Finest City Week--it will be only the fifth and sixth times the 130-year-old ship has left San Diego Bay since it arrived in 1927. This event and others, including parades, concerts and sporting events, are chronicled in the free summer “San Diego Arts, Activities & Attractions” guide. For a copy, write: San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, Dept. 700C-93, 1200 Third Ave., Suite 824, San Diego 92101-4190, or call (619) 236-1212.

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Comparatively Speaking: Cost of a liter of vodka in Singapore, $35.54; in London, $22.82; in Toronto, $16.69; in Milan, $9.12; in Sao Paulo, Brazil, $4.65. (Source: Runzheimer International.)

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Quiz Answer: Glacier. (A small part of Yellowstone also is located in Montana.)