The Washington Post – Coming & Going: New travel destinations and tourist attractions for 2012

What’s new — or newly reopening — in 2012? So much. Here’s a short list.

Egypt’s minister of state for antiquities recently announced the partial reopening of the Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor, which had been closed for renovations. The department will unveil a 500-foot stretch of the 1.7-mile avenue, lined with hundreds of the mythical creatures, in mid-March.

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium debuts Jan. 21, with 40-plus tanks swimming with sand tiger sharks, native brook trout, piranhas, madtom catfish and more. The attraction is in the FirstEnergy Powerhouse on the west bank of the Flats.

Practice those Spidey skills on the new SkyPoint Climb on Australia’s Gold Coast. The country’s highest external building walk starts on Level 77 of the residential Q1 tower and mounts nearly 300 stairs to the summit, almost 900 feet above sea level. Tours by day or at twilight begin Jan. 14.

The Mob Museum, alias the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, makes its mark in downtown Las Vegas on Feb. 14. Housed in a former federal courthouse, the attraction focuses on the colorful and contentious history of organized crime and law enforcement.

LeMay — America’s Car Museum rolls out the hot wheels June 2. The Tacoma, Wash., venue will feature a four-story museum and up to 500 cars, trucks and motorcycles, including the LeMay collection, which earned a Guinness record for amassing more than 3,500 vehicles in the mid-1990s.

A few to watch for in New York: The Museum for African Art will move to a new location on the Museum Mile; the Museum of Mathematics, at 11 E. 26th St.; the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, set to open at the World Trade Center site on that unforgettable date.

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