Balcony Where MLK, Jr. Was Shot Will Open to the Public For the First Time

With less than a month to go before the official end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012, a new museum focused on Mayan history has opened in Cancun. The Maya Museum of Cancun is a $15 million project that includes 350 ancient Mayan artifacts it took more than 30 years to collect. Designed by Alberto Garcia Lascuráin and showcasing three 4,400-square-foot exhibition halls, the museum features 14,000-year-old Mayan remains discovered in the underwater caves of Tulum, the 10,000-year-old remains of La Mujer de las Palmas (The Woman of the Palms) discovered in a nearby cenote 10 years ago, and a room full of tools and other artifacts the Mayans once used in daily life. Sculptures by artist Jan Hendrix are also on display, as is a 26-foot-tall Great Pyramid inside the main building and displays of ancient dwellings, altars, and mural paintings. Next door to the Maya Musem is the archaeological site of San Miguelito, also included in the $5 admission price. The museum's official website is currently only in Spanish, but an English-language version is in the works (the Cancun tourism board's website has information in English as well). The Mexico Tourism Board has been promoting "end of the world" tourism all year through Maya Mundo 2012. The site focuses on places up and down the Yucatán Peninsula of historical significance, information on how the Maya understood the world, and the real meaning behind the countdown to December 21, 2012 (in other words, it's not a scary end of the world scenario, but the end of old beliefs, and the era of new understanding that will begin). If all this has got you thinking about taking a trip, check out our travel deals to Mexico and Central America, because odds are the sun will rise again on December 22nd, and you've still got some traveling to do.

Avoid the tourist traps with these seven recommendations for where to stay, shop, eat, and play in New Orleans. Carousel Bar & Lounge This watering hole at the historic Hotel Monteleone more than lives up to its name: The 25-seat circular bar revolves under a circus-like gazebo, making a complete cycle every 15 minutes. But its festive look belies serious literary cred. Heavy-weights such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and Truman Capote all regularly went along for the ride. 214 Royal St., hotelmonteleone.com, sazerac $9.   Royal Blend Coffee & Tea House In New Orleans, coffee often plays second fiddle to sugary beignets. Caffeine addicts should head to this java den deep in the Quarter, where exotic, single-origin roasts share the menu with the city's signature chicory coffee. 621 Royal St., royalblendcoffee.com, chicory coffee $3.50 per pound. Fleurty Girl This isn't your frat brother's T-shirt shop. NOLA native Lauren Thom sells design-forward gifts like voodoo doll pins, red-beans-and-rice cufflinks, and sweet-tea-scented soap. 632 St. Peter St., fleurtygirl.net, sweet tea soap $6. Librairie Book Shop So, books are going digital? This hole-in-the-wall never got the memo. Sift through rare, used, and hard-to-find tomes on topics such as the history of The City That Care Forgot (that's New Orleans, for the uninitiated) or the poems of Arthur Rimbaud. 823 Chartres St., 504/525-4837, used books from $2. Hotel Provincial Once the home of a Confederate hospital, this hotel is said to be haunted by ghostly infantrymen. They probably still recognize the spot, thanks to its ante- bellum trappings, such as antiques-filled rooms and an ivy-lined cobble- stone courtyard. 1024 Chartres St., hotelprovincial.com, from $119. Coop's Place Don't mistake the people in line for tourists. This is where locals indulge their Cajun cravings for red beans and rice, rabbit and sausage jambalaya, and seafood gumbo. And don't skip the fried chicken. It puts the city's homegrown Popeyes chain to shame. 1109 Decatur St., coopsplace.net, cup of jambalaya $5. The Spotted Cat Music Club This smoky dive in the Faubourg Marigny district is the city's premier jazz club-funky, eclectic, and refined. And that's just the clientele. The music ranges stylistically from cool jazz to zydeco-and lasts long into the night. 623 Frenchman St., spottedcatmusicclub.com, live music free.

The first phase of the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai opened this week in a 72-story tower—high enough to be the tallest hotel in the world. Much qualification goes into these types of distinctions. At 1,164 feet, the JW Marriott is the tallest building that is used solely as a hotel. The Armani Hotel is in the Burj Kalifa, which—at 2,716 feet—is the tallest building in the world (and also located in Dubai). But the hotel only takes up 15 lower floors of the 160-story building. The Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong is still the world's highest hotel because of it's location on the 102nd to 118th floors of the International Commerce Centre, which also has commercial space and shops and restaurants. So there you go. There are now 804 rooms available at the JW Marriott Marquis, as well as three restaurants. The second building is set to be completed in January, bringing the total to 1,608 rooms, nine restaurants, and five bars. The hotel is still in a soft-opening phase and advertised rates start at $327 in late-November.

When workers go on strike in Europe, travelers usually feel it the most at the airport (French airport workers even went on strike earlier this year to earn the right to strike). But the latest battle against austerity measures across the E.U. are also taking place at the ports, and that means diverting cruise ships or forcing them to stay at sea. So far the strikes have been mainly at ports in Spain and Portugal. Cruise companies knew the strikes were looming and scrambled to change itineraries. According to an article in USA Today, Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas replaced a call to Lisbon, Portugal with a stop in the smaller Spanish town of Lanzarote while the Seaborn Pride stopped in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Monday instead of Wednesday to still allow passengers time at the port before the strike commenced. The strikes were planned to end later this week, but check with your cruise line if you have a European cruise scheduled this month. And don't expect compensation for skipped ports of call. Labor strikes typically fall under the "circumstances out of the company's control" rubric (same goes for airline tickets).