Bewitched Statue

Salem Massachusetts USA is the home of the witch, being home to the witchcraft trials in 1692. Many women were thought to be witches and were hanged at public hangings. Today Salem is cashing in big time on the whole which thing especially around Halloween. There are witch everything, haunted houses, wax museums, witchcraft stores and plenty of places to have spells created and fortunes told. Salem was one of the most important seaports in early America and has a magnificent historic waterfront. The town itself has many historic buildings and is a great day trip for anyone visiting nearby Boston which is less than an hours drive away. Read the rest of this entry »

Gondola ride in Vegas

You no longer need to travel to Italy to see the wonders of Venice they are all available in Las Vegas- there’s the Grand Canal complete with gondola ride, the Rialto Bridge, St Marks Square- the statues the artwork and even St Mark’s Campanile and Doge’s palace. The detail is just amazing and inside are just spectacular. As for the casino and hotel it is one of the biggest on the Las Vegas Strip. There are over 4000 suites and a new tower is under construction. The gaming halls have over 100 different games and there are 17 dining experiences, and we mean experiences with some of the world’s best chefs cooking up a storm. If it’s entertainment you want, well the Blue Man Group and Wayne Brady have shows and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s classic musical Phantom of the Opera also shows at the Venetian performed in a theatre to resemble the famous Palis Garnier in Paris. There’s nightclubs, bars, 5 acres of pools and decks and huge spa club and if that’s not enough there is nearly 2 million square feet of convention and exhibition space. An amazing building for an amazing city. Read the rest of this entry »

Replica of Henry Ford Building

Greenfield Village is in Dearborn, Detroit USA and was the brain child of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford. Recognised as a National Historic Landmark and is the largest outdoor museum in the United States. The area covers some 240 acres and is home to nearly 100 historic buildings, many of them once owned by famous Americans and moved brick by brick to the museum. Amongst the highlights are Thomas Edison’s Laboratory, The Wright Brothers bicycle shop, Henry Ford’s birthplace and the Logan County Courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. The land has been turned into magnificent farmlands and park to reflect the USA of yesterday and many volunteers wear period costume and perform tasks of the day. Horse drawn carriages, vintage cars, trains and other machinery ride the streets beautiful tree lined streets. The most amazing part of this museum is there is no commercialism or advertising-even the gift shop is outside the gates. The park is part of the amazing Henry Ford Museum- we will do a feature on the Museum in coming weeks.

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The CN Tower - Toronto Canada

The CN Tower in Toronto is the tallest structure in North America standing at a huge 553 metres, and was the tallest structure in the world for 31 years until the monstrous Burj Dubai building went higher last year. The tower is basically a communications tower used for broadcasting TV and the like and opened to the public as a the world’s highest lookout in 1976. The tower has two visitor levels one at 346 metres and another one 100 metres higher at 446 metres offering amazing views of the surrounding city and lake, and on a good day you can even see into the USA and Niagara Falls. One highlight of the tower is a glass bottom floor where brave people can see nothing below their feet- it really is a weird feeling. The tower is a member of the Federation of Great Towers and was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

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Staten Island Ferry New York

You don’t get much for nothing in this world without a catch- well here’s one and the the catch is one of the best views in the world. The ferry carries some 20 million people a year between Staten Island and lower Manhattan, which is about 60,000 a day. The ride takes about 25 minutes and you get a very good look at the majestic Statue of Liberty and the amazing skyscrapers of New York City and New Jersey. Weekdays there are over 100 trips a day with a few less on weekends, avoid the peak hours for the journey. Bus and Train are easily available from both ferry terminals to explore more of either Manhattan or Staten Island. Read the rest of this entry »

A Big Boy Restaurant

Our big donut story the other day reminded us of another restaurant we recently visited that was also parodied in the Simpson’s. Big Boy is a chain of restaurants across part of the USA who’s signature burger is a bit similar to a Big Mac. The similarities with Mc Donalds end there with big boy having table service a salad bar and even a gift shop where you can by your own small version of big boy himself. In the Simpson’s Halloween special VI Homer steals a giant donut from a character who looks just like Big Boy but is named Lard Lad, the story of the episode is titled “Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores” as giant advertising mascots wreak havoc on Springfield after Homer upsets Lard Lad. Read the rest of this entry »

Every wanted to visit Japan but thought it was just too hard? well Happy Jappy is the website that can make your trip easy and most of all enjoyable. The website has a wealth of information, major cities, things to see even customs and some of the tasty food to try. Japan is one of the friendliest places you can visit and with Happy Jappy’s help it can be a great adventure and not cost you the earth. There’s some great tips on having a great time without spending heaps of money.

http://www.happyjappy.com

The Big Donut

Randy’s Donut is a large donut atop a donut bakery located not far from LAX at 805 West Manchester Avenue in Inglewood California. The building and its huge donut must be one of the most photographed and filmed fast food restaurants in the US and has featured in dozens of movies and music videos and was even parodied in the Simpson’s episode “Marge vs the Monorail”. The building was built in 1952 as part of the big donut drive in chain but was later sold off to the family of the current owners. Being originally part of the big donut chain there are a few other similar big donuts around LA operating under different names but Randys has become the most popular with filmmakers. By the way, we tried a few of Randys donuts when we took this photo last week, and we must say they are very, very tasty indeed. Read the rest of this entry »

Papaya King Drink and Frankfurter

The Papaya King is a landmark New York restaurant that dates back to 1932. Originally located on the corner of Third Avenue and 86th Street the restaurant has since expanded to several locations across the city. The restaurant is best known for its Hawaiian themed Papaya Drinks and hot dogs that according to the numourous signs around the walls are tastier than Fillet Mignon. They must be doing something right as the restaurant has also spawned other similar papaya drink restaurants across the city and has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s TV show “No Reservations” as well as being mentioned in “Seinfeld”, “How I Met Your Mother” and was also used as a location in the film “You cant mess with the Zohan”. If you are heading to New York and want to sample some Papaya King goodness make sure you head to the origional Payaya King location on 86th Street as this one has a cool 50’s charm about it compared to the other locations. Read the rest of this entry »

The Big Chicken

We are continuing this week featuring a few of the more interesting restaurants that can be found across the USA, and they dont get much more interesting than the KFC Big Chicken. Located on the corner of Cobb Parkway and Roswell Road in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. The chicken was built in 1963 over the top of a chicken shop that was later to become a KFC franchise. It was part of a wave of Novelty architecture that swept the States in the 60s that led to other famous buildings being built across the country shaped like big donuts, big hot dogs and big tee pees. These big structures were originally designed an advertising gimmick to get the car loving American to pull off the freeway into their business rather than the shop down the road. The gimmick worked and what some may consider a very tacky building has become a much loved part of the community. When the chicken was damaged due to a storm in 1993 KFC was forced to rebuild the chicken due to the local communities response. Read the rest of this entry »