Heart sculptures in the city by the bay

Heart sculpturesin the city by the bay
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Tony Bennett's not the only one who left his heart in San Francisco.
The city's streets are being decorated with 5-foot-tall Fiberglas hearts painted by local artists.
The hearts will make San Francisco the latest city to display themed Fiberglas sculptures outdoors. Chicago had cows, Seattle had pigs and San Jose had sharks. But San Francisco isn't associated with any particular animal, so organizers decided on hearts.
Union Square and the Civic Center were chosen as locations for the first batch of hearts, with more due to be put up around town throughout the summer.
Visitors are flockingto river museum
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) -- The number of visitors to the new National Mississippi River Museum & amp; Aquarium is outpacing expectations, and crowds are expected to get even bigger when a river flotilla comes through in late June. The target for the museum was 270,000 visitors for the first year, but 250,000 passed through the doors just in the first 10 months of operation, said museum director Jerry Enzler.
Tens of thousands more are likely to visit June 27 through the morning of June 29 as the Grand Excursion flotilla anchors at the Port of Dubuque. The flotilla features riverboats and pleasure craft making their way up the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities to the Minneapolis area.
Bargain guru offersadvice on Web site
EDMONDS, Wash. (AP) -- Free travel advice from Rick Steves is just a click of the mouse away.
The travel-bargain guru is offering a free 64-page "Travel Newsletter" on Europe through www.ricksteves.com, along with a "Best Travel Tips 2004" guide. Advice includes itineraries for a three-day trip to a European country versus a five-, seven- or 10-day trip; how to find a cheap hotel; staying safe and avoiding scams; and a guide to discount passes.
Jazz festival to runfor 12 straight days
MONTREAL (AP) -- New Orleans and Newport aren't the only North American cities to host major jazz festivals. The Montreal International Jazz Festival features 500 concerts -- including more than 350 free shows -- and is expected to draw nearly 2 million attendees.
For 12 consecutive days, from June 30 to July 11, dozens of concerts a day will be held on 18 stages, noon to midnight, over four blocks of downtown Montreal. Guests include Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Wynton Marsalis, George Benson, k.d. lang, Ibrahim Ferrer, Oliver Jones and Oscar Peterson.
Face-painting, street performers, a playground, diaper-changing areas and twice-daily performances for children called "The Little School of Jazz" make the event family-friendly.
For details, visit www.montrealjazzfest.com or call (888) 515-0515.
Countries vow to fightexploitation of children
NEW YORK (AP) -- More than 50 tour operators in 13 countries have signed a "code of conduct" that UNICEF hopes will diminish the exploitation of children in the global sex tourism industry.
"The travel industry is critical in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said.
UNICEF estimates 2 million children are involved in the multibillion dollar commercial sex trade, and 25 percent of the sex tourists outside the United States are believed to be American.
By signing the code, tourism organizations and operators pledge to establish a corporate policy against child sex tourism. That includes training their employees to spot and report incidents to proper authorities.
For details on the code, visit www.thecode.org.