A new attraction has opened in the West Rim of Grand Canyon, a about 2 1/2 hours drive from Las Vegas and is sure to be a huge hit with tourists. Its a glass skybridge which horseshoe like walk is suspended 4000 feet above the Colorado River. Over 200,000 visitors have walked the bridge since it opened in March this year and now other tourist facilities are popping up to cater for the visitors to the area.
The skybridge has met with mixed reation, some people love it while others think it the $75 enterance fee and no camera policy stinks expecially when the only photo you can get of you on the bridge costs $25. For more information: www.grandcanyonskywalk.com Read the rest of this entry »
What is a “Horizontal Lift” you may ask? Well it a unique subway station design only found in St Petersburg, Russia. St Peterburg’s subway system was built in the late 1950’s when the city was known as Leningrad and Soviet Russia was in the middle of the Cold War. The cities subway system is not only one of the most beautiful in the world but also one of the deepest with 53 of its stations being deep level. At the time of building, Leningrad pioneered the use of platform screen doors, but with a design known as the “Horizontal Lift”. Basically the station’s platform looks like a large room with lots of lift doors in it, the first time you are aware of a train being on the other side is once the large steal doors open up reveling the insides of the train. While the design has some good ideas, it was not popular and only about 10 stations were built like this. Today platform screen doors made of glass are becoming more and more popular around the world, so check out the video above to see how the original “Horizontal Lift” works. Read the rest of this entry »
Like most hot tourist spots there is always someone out to scam the unwary, well New Orleans is no exception. There’s a troupe of scam artists out and about usually found down riverside or in Bourbon street who round up the tourist with the line “I bet you i know whe’ you got yo’ shoes” No these guys aren’t psychic they don’t know which department store or shop you bought them. They do a deal for some cash and then they scam you with the answer yo’ got them on your feet.- just as you think you’ve been scammed and decide to walk off the guy usually points out his huge mate down the road. Only a game person would not pay him.
ASIMO the amazing walking robot built by Honda is one of the feature exhibits at the Miraikan Emerging Science Museum in Odaiba the futuristic city in Tokyo Japan. ASIMO or the ‘Advanced Step in Innovative MObility” robot is an incredible humanoid robot which can even walk up stairs. It is hoped that with constant upgrades one day the robot will be able to take visitors on guided tours around the museum.
The museum has an amazing array of technological feats, many of them Japanese, including robotics, interactive displays featuring the Linimo Maglev 300km plus train, space and mining exploration and plenty of hands on interactive educational entertainment for people of all ages.
Stuttgart is not only the home of Mercedes Benz and Porsche it’s home to the annual Cannastatter Volksfest- the second largest beer festival in Germany (or the world for that matter) after Munich. The centerpiece of the festival is the huge Ferris Wheel and 24 metre basket of fruit. The festival dates back to 1818 and now attracts over 3 million people to its two weeks of celebration. There are huge beer tents but they are not as big as that found in Munich, but its much easier to find a beer here as things are not quiet as busy.
Geelong, Australia moments ago became home to the 2007 Australian Rules Football Premiers. Geelong is a beautiful bayside city about an hours drive south west of Melbourne. Only minutes from some of the world’s best surf beaches this town has a year long calendar of events, great attractions and shopping. But today the focus on Geelong is football and the Geelong Cats have just been crowned the best in the land!
We know what it’s like when you go on holidays, the diet goes out the window, you have a few extra beers and large meals. Well, Check out this restaurant in Hofheim, just outside Frankfurt Germany. Called Waldgeist this restaurant specializes in XXXL meals all washed down with the German favorite a supersized beer. The snitzels here don’t even fit on the plate correctly and 4 people could eat the one burger and still be full! Hit the next page for their website, its in German but the pictures and all the XXXL’s across the menu should give you an idea if you cant be bothered translating it via bablefish. If you are near Hofheim make sure you detour to Waldgeist and if you are on a diet just have one beer, a 2 litre sized beer.
Shomben Yokocho or Piss Alley as it is better known is a interesting collection of small huts and restaurants squeezed between train tracks and the huge Odakyo Department store in Shinjuku Tokyo. It’s not the most beautiful lane way you will come across but is still a far cry from how it looked before a tragic fire in 1999 which destroyed much of the area. But the atmosphere and the aromas still remain and it is one of Tokyo’s best hidden treasures for great food. The area was once a notorious area with illegal activities including sex, gambling and dodgy booze deals but today only about 50 metres of the strip remains. The restaurants are no larger than a standard lounge room and the food is cheap and sure is good, with some of the city’s best yakitori. The area got its lovely nickname due to the lack of sewerage in the area, but fortunately things have changed and plumbers have cleaned up the area. For those after a bit of a alcoholic treat when visiting the area try a Karai Shochu its a vodka like drink which has extremely hot chilli peppers dissolved in it… only a brave person will go back for seconds.
Got a few Euro spare change kicking around in your pocket and got the munchies in Amsterdam, well a croquette shop will do the trick. Scattered through the Dutch city are great croquette shops full of stainless steel vending machines. Choose the tasty croquette you want to eat, whether it be meat, curry, vegetable cheese or some other tasty morsel, pop your Euro in the slot and simply open the door to a hot and steaming crumbed croquette. They are delicious! The staff works behind the vending wall of vending machines and all the service is automatic, that is unless you want to try the tasty Dutch version of potato chips, Pommes- complete with mayonnaise which can be bought from a staff member and is usually served in a clever paper cone.
Although the Ute or Utility was invented by Ford in Geelong Australia in the 1930’s, Deniliquin in New South Wales holds the title of the Ute capital of the World. Deniliquin is on the edge of some of the driest and flattest land on earth a farming and grazing region and home to the annual ute muster. In 1999 Deniliquin wrote itself into the history books with the largest parade of registered utes with 2939 vehicles taking place, and since then the number has grown to 6211. People bring their utes from all over Australia to attend and some even transport them from overseas for this huge event. This years event is on this weekend and it promises to be bigger than ever. To celebrate this feat the town has even erected a WB Holden Ute up a pole in all its glory. Read the rest of this entry »
