Normandy American Cemetery, France.
This summer will mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings along with the Battle of Normandy, a turning point during World War II that commenced on June 6, 1944, and led to the eventual liberation of France by the Allied Forces. Normandy Tourism and others in the hospitality industry are planning events to commemorate the anniversary in ways that will be family-friendly and accessible to those who do not have access to official ceremonies.
The festivities will kick off on the evening of May 31, 2024, with a spectacle that includes a 30-minute sound and light show and 2,500 drones hovering over the five landing beaches, where the largest amphibious attack in military history took place. The D-Day Festival Normandy will extend for the following two weeks, taking place across the entire coast of Normandy and featuring parachuting, parades, concerts, historical re-enactments, fireworks, exhibitions and much more. Normandy Tourism recommends booking accommodations as early as possible.
Interested in visiting France? Check out these 2024-2025 guided vacations:Treasures of France with Normandy and WWI and WWII Battlefields
Saint Mark's Square, Venice
getty images
Faced with too much of a good thing, Venice is attempting to reduce the effects of over-tourism by requiring day-trippers who visit the city on peak weekends this spring to pay a fee. Imposed as a test that will last for 30 days, the fee will initially be 5 euros and will not apply to overnight guests, people who commute to work or study in Venice, live in the metropolitan region, or are under age 14.
For Venice, the crowds of day visitors adding to the crush of pedestrian traffic at popular sites, such as St. Mark’s Square, has reached a saturation point, reducing the quality of life for overnight tourists and local residents alike. Those concerned about preserving the integrity of this fragile destination are urged to consider visiting midweek and avoiding Carnival and the summer months.
Peruvian seafood platter, Lima
While best known for Machu Picchu and other stunning archaeological sites, Peru is increasingly winning recognition for what it offers as an overall tourism destination, especially its distinctive cuisine. Peru was honored recently with several World Travel Awards, including South America’s Leading Culinary Destination and South America’s Leading Cultural Destination.
In Lima, acclaimed new restaurants operated by renowned local chefs include El Huarique de los Cuchitos, known for seafood and emblematic Peruvian cuisine; Otto, popular for drinks and dining with a view; and Rocco, a trattoria with a twist on Italian cuisine. In Cuzco, Mauka uses modern techniques to capture ancient heritage by integrating native crops, grains and seeds in haute cuisine.
"Black Belt" by Archibald J. Motley, Jr.
Estate of Archibald John Motley Jr./Bridgeman Images/Courtesy Hampton University
The 1920s through the 1940s saw a flowering of Black art and literature in New York and other cities in a movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. From Feb. 25 through July 28, 2024, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a groundbreaking exhibit, “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism,” featuring 160 works that explore the far-reaching ways Black artists portrayed everyday life in the communities to which they moved, notably New York’s Harlem and Chicago’s Southside, during the Great Migration, when millions of African Americans left the segregated South.
A significant portion of the exhibition’s sculpture, paintings and works on paper are from the extensive collections of several Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.
Annie Leibovitz Unveils New Museum Commission
Annie Leibovitz, Self Portrait, Brooklyn, New York, 2017
© Annie Leibovitz
For the first time in her career, photographer Annie Leibovitz accepted a museum commission, the work from which, plus others, is on display at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, now through Jan. 29, 2024. Leibovitz had come to the small city to photograph Alice Walton, an heir to the Walmart family fortune and founder of Crystal Bridges, when the museum offered her the chance to make new work—essentially whatever she wanted—for its collection.
“They didn’t ask what I wanted to photograph or where I wanted to go. I realized that I wanted to update my work,” Leibovitz said.
That commission resulted in “Annie Leibovitz at Work,” a new exhibition of portraits that includes some of her iconic shots for “Rolling Stone,” “Vanity Fair” and “Vogue” as well as 25 new works made expressly for Crystal Bridges.