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Chicago Tribune
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Turn up the air conditioners; we don’t want Liberace to melt. Madame Tussaud’s is opening in Las Vegas. Come July — no firm opening date, yet, but admission is $12.50 — you won’t have to go to London to visit wax reincarnations of the famous. The likes, or rather likenesses, of David Copperfield, Wayne Newton, Wolfgang Puck, Don King and Madonna will have a permanent venue in the top two floors of the St. Mark’s Library building, part of the new Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino. Madame Tussaud’s Las Vegas will feature close to 100 celebrities in five themed environments covering 30,000 square feet. Say, do you think that’ll be enough room for Oprah and Jerry Springer?

FAMILY FARE

Set sail from New York’s Pier 78, and the day-long Sleepy Hollow Cruise will carry you up the Hudson River to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow to visit Sunnyside, home of Washington Irving. The 7 1/2-hour cruise, which departs Saturdays, Sundays and holidays through Nov. 7, also stops at Phillipsburg Manor, a 17th Century Dutch colonial farm that’s a popular spot with children. Better make reservations for these outings — $38 for adults and $19 for kids. (800-533-3779)

FREE STUFF

You ought to see this picture of the Rudas Bath. Light filters through stained-glass windows in the domed ceiling to illuminate the steam rising from a 400-year-old pool. The water is turquoise. The bathers soak in dovelike serenity. In Budapest. In the Hungary Travel Planner 1999/2000. (212-355-0240) . . . Here’s where to stay and eat and what to see — all with a nice pull-out map — of York County, Pa., in its Visitors Guide & Calendar of Events. (888-858-YORK) . . . Did we mention that there are nearly 800 public golf courses in Michigan and that you can find out about some of them in the Golf Michigan guide for 1999? (888-78-GREAT)

GOLF

Guaranteed tee times. That’s the beauty of “The Old Course Experience Programme” at St. Andrews. And even though every golfer knows where St. Andrews is, the paper likes it when we give the location for the benefit of those who maybe haven’t heard that St. Andrews is in St. Andrews, Scotland. Anyway, the package combines two nights’ lodging, a welcome dinner, lunch with drinks each day, transfers from the hotel to the club house and, of course, admission to the British Golf Museum, souvenir merchandise, a video of yourself playing the 1st and 18th holes, and guaranteed tee times at The Old Course and a round at The New or Jubilee Championship Course. Package rates vary by the season, and the lodgings, ranging from a June/July/August high of 1,195 pounds (about $1,925) at the Old Course Hotel to an April/November low of 705 pounds (about $1,135) at St. Andrews Golf Hotel. There’s even a rate for non-golfing travel companions. Get used to converting prices. When you call the 800 number that follows, it’ll connect you directly to The Old Course itself, which keeps track of the package’s guaranteed tee times — and quotes prices in pounds. (888-390-1811)

Tour prices generally are per person, based on double occupancy.