Travel Briefs

Naypyidaw, the new capital city of Myanmar that was built at the behest of the military ruling party, was opened to journalists for an Armed Forces Day parade in March.

Two years of construction have produced a military complex plus ministry buildings, hotels and apartment blocks for government workers. Employees who have been forced to relocate to the new city, about 300 miles north of the old capital, Rangoon, have complained about the lack of stores and restaurants.

Starting in the Renaissance, European royalty began assembling Kunstkammers, collections of “curiosities and wonders” from both the natural and man-made worlds.

One such collection, started by Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol in 1553 and carried on by his Habsburg descendants for three centuries, was displayed in the Vienna Kunsthistoriches Museum (Maria Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna, Austria; phone +43 1 525 24 0), but the space has been closed for renovation since 2002.

In December 2012, the collection of 3,000-plus objects will be open to the public again in a newly...

For smartphones or mp3 devices, 12 self-guided audio tours of Jerusalem’s Old City can be downloaded for free at www.jerusalem-oldcity.org.il. Among them are “Via Dolorosa,” “The Herodian Quarter” and “Marketplaces in the Old City.” Most tours take two to four hours (depending on walking speed); five are handicapped accessible.

Each tour download includes maps, written descriptions of the sights in four languages, and audio and video tracks. Brochures of the tours are available in city hotels and tourist offices. For info on Israel, visit www.goisrael.com.