By TIM BLAIR

NORTH AMERICA

FALL RIVER
In August 1892, an event occurred in Massachusetts which so intrigued the world it was even incorporated into children's rhymes: "Lizzie Borden took an ax..." A court found that Lizzie hadn't given her father and stepmother 40 whacks, but most students of the infamous double murder have since concluded that Borden was guilty. Examine the scene yourself: the Second Street site of the killings is now the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, where you can spend a night in the room where Abbey Borden's body was found and eat a breakfast identical to the one consumed by Andrew and Abbey the morning they were killed. You'll dine in the room where autopsies on the couple were performed. Rates range from $165 to $220 per night.

EUROPE

PARIS
Experience sight, sound, touch, smell and taste as the ultra-rich do in the Palais de la Decouverte's latest, interactive exhibition, "Theater of the Senses." Organized by the Comite Colbert, an association of French luxury-goods companies, the show exposes each of the five senses to an overwhelming array of upmarket stimuli. Silk Hermes scarves await your touch; a meringue tower and bottles of Chateau d'Yquem dominate the section devoted to taste; and follow the scent of Chanel to the exhibition's gallery of odors. The sight display includes three-dimensional renderings of precious jewels and a Christofle vase; computers allow exploration of the senses via the Internet. Admission is $5. Through January 1999.

LONDON
The trip from London's West End to Heathrow airport usually takes almost an hour by road. Now, following the opening of the $750 million high-speed Heathrow Express rail line, the journey has been cut to just 15 minutes. It is estimated that six million passengers a year will use the 14-train, 160 km/h service, but not everyone is happy. Critics point out that, with a one-way ticket costing $17, the 400-seat train is more expensive per kilometer than the Concorde. At least the countryside has been catered for: the ventilation shafts of a tunnel built for the train are craftily disguised as barns. The Heathrow Express departs every 15 minutes from Paddington station.

ISLANDS

ANTIGUA
One of the most famed West Indian festivals is the raucous Antigua Carnival, which begins every year in late July and pounds out reggae and calypso rhythms for 10 days. The carnival ends with a parade--your chance to toast the event's Carnival Queen and Calypso King--and final "street jump" on the first Tuesday of August. Revelers who tire of steel bands and rum may seek quiet on Antigua's near-undeveloped sister island Barbuda, about 50 km south, where shipwrecks and reefs offer spectacular diving zones; the island's northwestern lagoon features a sanctuary housing more than 5,000 elegant Fregata magnificens (frigate birds). Call the Antigua and Barbuda Tourist Office in London on +44 171 486 7073.