Caesars Palace is probably the best know of the huge theme hotel casino complexes in Las Vegas. Opening in 1966 as a 680 room resort the hotel now has over 3300 rooms and has nearly 15500 square metres of gaming area and has resident performers including Bette Midler, Elton John and Cher.The exterior and interior of the huge complex is themed in classical Roman style with huge statues, marble floors, triumphal arches, mosaics the whole works, its so easy for your mind to escape and think you are in Rome thousands of years ago- it is that authentic- except for the bling bling and ching of thousands of gaming machines.
It’s Vegas week here at Tripandom and we thought we’d start with one of our favorites the Paris casino situated on the Las Vegas Strip. The casino features a 5/8ths scale replica of the Eiffel Tower (they wanted to build a full size one but the airport was too close), a neon sign in the shape of the Montgolfier balloon, a two-thirds size Arc de Triomphe and a replica of La Fontaine des Mers. The front facade of the building imitates the Paris Opera House and the Louvre. The tower contains a french restaurant between the top of the legs as well as an elevator that takes you to the top of the tower for a fantastic view of the strip. The legs of the tower go down into the casino floor where a bar sits between them. The complex is home to around a dozen restaurants and cafes all with a French or European theme so it’s a great place to go if you want to get away from the American burger or Vegas buffet. Read the rest of this entry »
The Southern Star is a new observation wheel that has recently opened in Melbourne’s Docklands. The 120-metre high revolving structure rotates at 11 metres per minute and is the only observation wheel in the southern hemisphere. The wheel houses 21 fully-enclosed, air-conditioned cabins with huge floor to ceiling glass windows and are reminiscent of London Eye’s cabins. The wheel is part of new development at docklands that brings a lot of outlet shops to the the area. Melbourne’s Docklands is part of an urban renewal project that has been underway since the late 90’s with compleation expected to come around 2015. The video above is of the wheel under construction, hit up the link below for more info and a webcam over at their official site. Read the rest of this entry »
The Golden Gumboot is a large boot shaped tourist attraction in the town of Tully in Queensland. Tully sits between Cairns and Townsville, so its right in the Australia’s tropics, hence the reason for the gumboot as the town’s average annual rainfall exceeds 4000mm. A bit of a rivalry exists between Tully and Innisfail and Babinda on who has the most rain with a gumboot given to the wining town each year. Tully is also know for its gumboot festival that is held each September as well as being Australia’s answer to Roswell, with more UFO sightings in the town than any other place in Australia. The Golden Gumboot stands at stands at 7.9m tall and represents the record rainfall received in 1950 at Tully, a spiral staircase leads visitors to a lookout at the top of the boot. Read the rest of this entry »
Crown Casino in Melbourne is Australia’s largest entertainment precinct being home to the one of the world’s biggest gaming facilities, the city’s best restaurants, clubs, bars and exclusive shopping. Another huge attraction is the nightly fireball or Gas Brigades show which explode into the night sky every night between dusk and midnight (except for bad weather). The huge flames explode out of eight 10 metre high towers and the gas flame can reach sizes of 7 metres in diameter and are the largest ever created in the world all programed with a state of the art computer system. Crown Casino is currently planning the biggest Australian hotel to accompany it’s already huge complex. The $300 million dollar project will feature another 658 rooms bringing the Casino’s rooms to more than 1600 and will feature new convention facilities, bars, restaurants and a huge new retail showcase. It is hoped the new wing will open in May of 2010 in time for the $140 million dollar refurbishment the Casino is currently undertaking. Read the rest of this entry »
Airlie Beach in Far North Queensland is the gateway to the magnificent Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. Airley Beach is a town of about 3000 and growing rapidly with some of the most beautiful beaches, scenery and access easy access to the larger cities of including Mackay it is not hard to see why. The town is a very popular destination for backpackers and travellers wanting to experience the reef and all it has to offer. The town has a vibrant centre with great dining and plenty of bars and entertainment areas for visitors. Nearby Shute Harbour offers boarding points for the many ferries and water transport to the nearby islands while the rural ‘Beef’ town of Prosepine is only 30 minutes away offers access to air service to the larger east coast cities and regional Queensland centres. Read the rest of this entry »
There is no shipwreck more popular than the Titanic so its only fitting there are a few museums that are devoted to the ship that would be nearly 100 years old today. Recently Belfast announced a £100 million plan for a Titanic museum on the shipyards where she was built, that is due to open on the sinking’s centenary in 2012. There is also a travelling Titanic exhibition that we have seen in a few places as well as this interesting one in Branson, Missouri. Shaped like the front bit of the Titanic in half scale, the museum claims to be the worlds largest museum attraction The museum looks cool with recreations of the grand staircase as well as other parts of the ship, an iceburg and a bit of memorabilia. We understand the reason for Belfast building their museum but we just wonder who come up with the idea to build a ship shaped attraction in the landlocked state of Missouri. A TV ad for the museum is above that should give you an idea what its grand staircase is like. Read the rest of this entry »
Tasmania is a pretty cool place that the rest of Australia often forget about especially when drawing a map of the country, often annoying the Tasmanians, Recently Tasmania has fought back with a clever ad campaign that mimics the trailer for the Baz Luhrmann film Australia. The movie has been hyped a fair bit as being the next big thing with tourist operators hoping it will attract a bit of extra coin into the country. Watch the Tassy ad above and you can check out the trailer for the movie via the link below. Read the rest of this entry »
The Hiroshima Castle which is now sometimes fondly called the Carp Castle dates back to the 1590’s but was rebuilt after the atomic attack of 1945 in 1958 and today serves mainly as a museum of the city’s history prior to the war. The castle stands in beautiful gardens with moats full of carp and the odd turtle. In the late 1500’s and 1600’s the castle was an important seat of power in the Western Japan region and was built for Lord Mori Terumoto. Many Japanese castles were destroyed during the Tokugawa era in the late 1800’s but it took the events of 1945 to destroy this structure. The original castle was made primarily of pine and stone, where today the castle has reinforced concrete behind its lovely facade.
Ueno Park is one of the larger parks in Tokyo and home to many of Tokyo’s cultural attractions including the Ueno zoo, Tokyo National Museum, National Science Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The centre of the park is home to the Shinobazu Pond, which has a magnificent temple dedicated to the goddess of Benton on an island in the centre. It it truly beautiful when the lotus flowers are blooming late summer, but the park is probably more popular in the spring when the cherry blossom blooms thousands flock to see the flowers. The park is only a minutes walk from the JR Ueno Railway station making it easily accessible from all parts of Tokyo.
