April 25, 2003, 2:34PM
Culture and fun
92. www.culturefinder.com.
Browse by city to find contact information and Web links for more than 3,000 arts
organizations worldwide. The site also has a section listing Broadway and off-Broadway plays
and musicals.
93. www.festivalfinder.com.
Access information on more than 2,500 music festivals in North America. Browse by date,
location, performer or festival name. Or click on the type of music you prefer, from blues
and jazz to eclectic and classical.
94. www.playbill.com. If you're
looking for complete listings of Broadway and off-Broadway musicals and plays, the current
schedule for London's West End, or an itinerary of touring or summer stock productions
nationwide, this is the place. Ticket information is included. You'll also find articles and
interviews, and dozens of news items are posted daily.
95. www.eventsworldwide.com.
This is an excellent resource for learning about special events that may coincide with
-- or inspire -- your vacation. Thousands of events worldwide are listed, along with a
monthly "Top 10." A separate section lists events for kids. Browsers are invited to review
any event.
96. www.musee-online.org. This
directory links Web sites for 37,000 museums worldwide. Search by topic (art, science,
sports, zoos, aquariums) or alphabetically (African-American, agriculture, air and space,
anthropology). A separate section details children's museums. Registration is required to
navigate the full site, but it's free.
97. www.thebathroomdiaries.com. This site's home page suggests, "When nature
calls, even intrepid travelers prefer a comfortable reply," and the main objective is to
alert travelers to the best -- and worst -- public facilities in the world, from Antarctica
to Zimbabwe. Texas restrooms are well-represented (the Dallas Zoo gets a "good" grade;
restrooms at Neiman-Marcus in that city are judged "excellent"). Who does the ratings? We
do. Anyone is encouraged to submit a report and supply a grade. Lots of travelers offer
essays, too, and these are categorized as "True Tales of Tawdry Toilets."
98. www.dumblaws.com. We'll bet you
didn't know that it's illegal in Texas to shoot a buffalo from the second floor of a hotel.
Or that state law maintains that when two trains meet at a railroad crossing, each shall
come to a full stop and neither shall proceed until the other has gone. Who knows if all
this site's claims are true. But Dumblaws.com, which covers all 50 states and many foreign
countries, is all but guaranteed to give you a chuckle.
99. www.hauntedplaces.com.
You won't find hokey ghost stories here; organizers are seriously dedicated to their
cause, with separate sections on paranormal investigations, movies and TV programs,
workshops and tours. In case you do confront a ghost, another section focuses on
ghost-busting equipment.
100. www.houstonchronicle.com/travel. You didn't think we'd leave out this
site, did you? We hope you'll clip the resource pages in this Travel section for
trip-planning assistance, but we'll post plenty of phone numbers and Web sites online, too.
Other features include a Houston day-trip planner and regional reports on Texas
destinations. Subscribers can search the Houston Chronicle archives for travel-related
information.
Several guidebooks provide Web listings that cover hundreds of pages. It's important to
purchase a new or recently updated volume, because the Internet remains a fast-evolving
tool. One of the best and newest publications is You Are Traveling With Johnnyjet.com
(Yahbooks Publishing, $14.95) by Eric Leebow with John E. DiScala.
| 
