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Winter tours

Stuck for winter fun ideas? Here are two possibilities from Meyer Group Travel.

• One is to take a Christmas cruise on the Main and Rhine rivers Dec. 21-28 at almost half price. The cost, per person, double occupancy, is usually $2,000 but is available now for $1,047, including port taxes.

The cruise begins in Nuremberg, where you can visit its Christmas market before setting off. Stops along the way include Hassfurt, with a bus tour to Bamberg; Würzburg; medieval Miltenberg, with a walking tour and bus trip to Wertheim; a choice between Mainz and Rüdesheim, or Heidelberg; Cochem-Zell with a visit to Reichsburg Castle and a wine tasting; Bernkastel-Kues; and finally, Trier, Germany’s oldest city.

The price includes seven nights in an outside stateroom (double occupancy), meals on the cruise with unlimited wine at dinner, daily sightseeing program, special programs such as lectures and theme dinners and services of a cruise director.

• The other is a trip 95 miles north of the Arctic circle to the resort village of Levi, Finland, from Jan. 15-19 for a taste of a Lapland winter.

After an overnight in Helsinki, fly to Kittila and travel by bus to Levi. The next day includes a ride through snow-covered forests and over frozen lakes in a snowmobile, and then a reindeer sleigh ride. The following day includes a visit to a husky dog farm with the opportunity to either drive or ride in a dog sled. The third day is a trip to Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle to visit the Arcticum Museum and Santa Village. There also is free time for swimming, spa visits, skiing and night dancing.

The cost is $1,199 per person, double occupancy, and includes round-trip flight from Helsinki, one night in a Helsinki hotel, three nights in the Lapland hotel (each room with private sauna), all excursions, some meals, motor coach transportation and a tour director. The flight to Helsinki is not included.

For details on either tour, contact Katie Meyer by telephone in the States at (916) 786-3708 or by e-mail at meyerfr@juno.com. Or contact Kirsti Maki for the Lapland trip by e-mail at kirstimaki@yahoo.com. The Meyer Group Travel Web site is www.meyertravelgroup.com.

Eiffel Tower light show

Happy 120th anniversary, Eiffel Tower!

On May 15, 1889, the famous landmark opened to the public in Paris as part of the Universal Exposition, and it has been a popular tourist site since. To mark the tower’s 120th year, the City of Light is putting on 17-minute light shows at the tower that uses the latest in multicolored LED spotlights to highlight its structure and simulate movement as the lights revolve from level to level.

The daily shows are at 8, 9, 10 and 11 p.m. They began this month and will continue through the end of the year.

For more information on the shows plus practical information on the tower, see its English-language Web site, www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/index.html.

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