The Space Needle in Seattle is one of the world’s most recognisable towers and was built for the World Fair in 1962. Like the Eiffel Tower which was built for the Paris fair it was only meant to be a temporary structure but the people liked it so much it stayed. Standing at 184 feet the tower isn’t huge on today’s standards but is still a much loved icon of this Washington city.  The trip to the top takes about 43 seconds and when there you will see some spectacular views over Seattle and the bay, it’s a great place to start your trip to Seattle as you get your bearings. On a nice clear day you can see as far as Mt Rainer and the Cascade Mountains.  For a special evening in Seattle why not try revolving restaurant which offers not only tasty food but magnificent night views of Seattle.

Last year the Canadian city of Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympic Games and had a pretty impressive Olympic  Cauldron which held the flame. Ten metre high flame was made of steel and glass resembled huge ice pillars. After the games the city decided to put the beautiful sculpture on display in the city for all to see as a legacy of a fine Winter Olympics.    The cauldron has been installed in downtown Vancouver at Jack Poole Plaza not far from the convention centre and international cruise liner terminal, so it is in very easy reach of tourists wanting a photo. Read the rest of this entry »

No aliens have not landed in San Francisco, but someone passing the bayfront along The Embarcadero might think otherwise. Standing at 40 foot the Raygun Gothic Rocketship is a pretty impressive piece of artwork on display in the bay city. 

Some say the Raygun Gothic Rocketship (RGR) is an 80 year old vessel that has a duty of scientific discovery and exploration. Reports say she has crash-landed on the frozen seas of Mars, gathered specimens from every last one of the 400 volcanoes of Io and charted the caves of Mongo. While others might try and diffuse the myth by saying shiny silver retro themed rocket ship is the work of dozens of bay area artists, but we like the earlier.  Hope they brought back some cheese from the moon! Read the rest of this entry »

Portland in Oregon USA has an amazing Saturday market for anyone visiting this great city. It holds the record of the longest continuous running outdoor market in the USA, starting in 1974/ It is jam packed with some great arts and crafts, there’s clothing, jewellery, sculptures painting you name it. The market features plenty of great music and performance art too. The market is located on SW Ankeny St + Naito Parkway and around the Ankeny Plaza. IT. The market runs from the 1st weekend in March til Christmas, on both Saturday and Sunday. Don’t forget to try the food too, there are some very tasty offerings at the food vendors, and look out for the beer tents where you can taste some of Portland’s delicious microbrew beer- it is amazing. We tried the IPA from the Rogue Brewhouse and couldn’t stop at one. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people think Reno in Nevada USA is all one arm bandits and giant buffets, well you are pretty well right but there are some very good attractions in and around this “Biggest Little City in the World”. One fantastic attraction that any car lover should visit is the National Automobile Museum which is located right in the heart of the city.  The museum was originally founded to display the dozens of amazing cars owned by Bill Harrah of the Harrah’s hotel and casino chain.  The museum has some pretty cool stuff, there’s one of Elvis’s tanks, a gold plated DeLorean as seen in the photo, cars from John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and even Al Jolson. But it’s not the celebrity cars which are the most fascinating, it is the breath of the collection. There are over 100 years of history with plenty of cars you just won’t see anywhere else.  The museum also has a great collection of period costumes and artefacts and there is some great memorabilia and artwork. There are four main halls all themed and good gift shop which has a whole range of great products. Read the rest of this entry »

When you think of trams in the beautiful US Pacific city of San Francisco you think of the old cable cars that head up and down the steep streets. Well there is another very unique tram travelling the streets of San Francisco, the Tram or Street Car as they are known. The cars returned to the streets of San Francisco in 1979 and have now grown to quiet a fleet. Many of the street cars have come from cities around the US where they are no longer in use. Some have even come from overseas including Melbourne Australia, Kobe and Hiroshima in Japan and Blackpool in the UK. After painstaking restoration, and painting usually in the original city’s colours the trams have been returned to service. Read the rest of this entry »

Darwin’s Parliament House is home to the Northern Territory Legislature and is one of the city’s more striking pieces of architecture. Opening in August of 1994 this building has been designed to suit Darwin’s tropical and sometimes harsh environment. The huge facade screens up to 8-% of the direct sunlight to the interior of the building and specially selected interior features including Tasmanian timbers and special fittings also help keep the building suitable for the many office workers and ‘most importantly’ the politicians. The building is open for self guided tours most days and there are guided tours certain times of the year. School tours are very popular and are a great way for the young to understand how and why the parliament operates. The building overlooks the beautiful Darwin Harbor and is located on land which was once occupied by the Larrakia Aboriginal People. To the west of the parliamentary building is Speaker’s Green which is a very popular place for weddings in Darwin. Just about every weekend you will see newly weds having their photographs taken or taking part in their ceremony. Towards the southern end of the green you will find Government House which amazingly survived both the bombing of Darwin in World War II and the horrific Cyclone Tracy of Christmas Day 1974. The lush gardens and tropical architecture make this one of the jewels of Darwin.

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Ha Long Bay meaning the Descending Dragon Bay is one of the most beautiful and tranquil sights of the South East Asian country of Vietnam. Located a few hours drive north east of the capital Hanoi the area covers around 120km of coastline and some 2000 islands or rock outcrops. Just over 330 square kilometers of this is made up of a UNESCO World Heritage Site which includes 775 of the islets. Local legend tells that the gods sent a family of dragons to help the Vietnamese people fight off the Chinese invaders years ago. The dragons spat out jewels and jade, as they would, and they turned into the islands and smaller islets we have today forming a great wall against the nasty invaders. The dragons are now believed to live in the area where they are joined by the dragon children overlooking the Ha Long region. The islands and rock outcrops offer great shelter and fishing for the people of the area and the biodiversity of the tropical dense forests are incredible with some incredible plant life including some very interesting endemic flowers. The forests are home to many varieties of bat and some beautiful bird life, lizards and even deer and monkeys. Most of the islands are not inhabited but the two biggest islands Tuan Chau and Cat Ba do have people living there and are home to tourist facilities including some beautiful beaches. A must for any visitor is to see the floating islands which are home and workplace to many of the fisherman of the area. People live in houses which are floating on huge barges where they farm fish in the beautiful clear warm waters.

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The burnt orange Golden Gate Bridge is San Francisco’s best known and loved icon. Spanning 4200 feet across San Francisco Bay the bridge built in 1937 carries six lanes of US 101, 67 metres above the water. Construction started in January of 1935 and cost 35 million dollars to complete, taking just over four years to complete and it remained the longest suspension bridge until 1964 when it was surpassed by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which links Brooklyn with Staten Island. The bridge colour is officially called International Orange and was painted this colour to stand out in the thick fog which San Francisco harbor readily sees. Around 120,000 vehicles use the bridge on any given day which is controlled by a toll. Pedestrians and cyclists are permitted to use the bridge on the eastern side which faces the city during daylight hours. The walk is about 1.7 miles long and can get busy especially on sunny weekends when it is a very popular pastime. Just remember it might be a nice day but it’s sure to be windy crossing the bay and the fog can roll in very quick. Many tourists visit the historic Roundhouse which houses a giftshop and historical information centre. There are a wealth of books, memorabilia and other interesting items on the Golden Gate Bridge which make great souvenirs. The Roundhouse can be found on the southern side of the bridge. The northern side of the bridge also has a popular and moving tribute, The Loan Sailor Memorial located near the Vista Point parking lot is an important US Navy Memorial.

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Saint Basil’s or the Cathedral of Intercession of Theotokos on the Moat is probably the most known piece of architecture in Moscow. This magnificently coloured cathedral with its onion like domes is one of the world’s great religious buildings. The church celebrates Russian Orthodox and its beginnings date back to 1555 although the vivid colours and architecture were not a feature until the 1680’s and happened in stages over nearly 200 years. The building is meant to be inspired by a bonfire and its architecture is so unique there were no known similarities to it anywhere. It is rumoured that the architect Postnik Yakovlev was blinded by Ivan the Terrible so he would not design anything as magnificent ever again. The building today is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site which includes the two other major Moscow landmarks Red Square and the Kremlin. The cathedral has been pretty lucky to survive until today. Napoleon was so taken with the St Basil’s that he wanted to dismantle it and move it to Paris but legend tells he didn’t have the technology or manpower to do it. Unhappy with Russia having it and not Paris he then decided no one should have it and ordered it to be blown up. The story goes a sudden shower extinguished the gun powder fuses and the cathedral was saved. St Basil’s was nearly lost in the 1930’s too. Stalin’s Red Square development team planned to knock the structure down to make way for a new grand square luckily the plan didn’t come to fruition. Read the rest of this entry »