As tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of Elvis’s death we thought we play tribute to the King of Rock n Roll and visit the old Las Vegas on Tripandom. Elvis was one of the entertaining pioneers of the Vegas entertainment circuit, now he is immortalized in the amazing light show covering the roof of the Fremont street downtown district. Called Viva Vision- after one of the King’s trademark songs the 20 odd million dollar display contains over 12 million LED modules and pumps out a whopping 555,000 watts of sound, its the length of five football fields and 90 feet up in the air. The show gets about 20 million visitors a year and is 100% free. There are different shows and they start nightly at dusk and go through to midnight happening about every half an hour.

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Checkpoint Charlie was the major crossing between Soviet controlled East Berlin and US controlled West Berlin during the Cold War. During its time several serious stand offs between the Russian and US forces occurred which threatened to escalate into war between the two nations. Today like the Berlin Wall it is one of the symbols of the separated Berlin and remains as of a reminder of the horrors of war and the 30 odd years of the stand off between East and West. Checkpoint Charlie was removed soon after the wall was torn down but a copy of the booth and sign was returned to the site as a memorial, the Mauermuseum a museum dedicated to Checkpoint Charlie is close by. Read the rest of this entry »

Every hour on the hour thousands of tourists flock to the Old Town Hall in Prague to see the magnificent old Astronomical Clock. The clock dates back centuries and was painted by Joseph Manes. Every hour as well as the beautiful chimes chickens, 12 marionette apostles dance around the clock which also features the solar system complete with planets, moon and sun and the zodiac. Much of the clock dates back to the 14th and 15th Century but the marionettes and some other features have been replaced due to wear and tear and damage sustained during wartime. Read the rest of this entry »

Shepparton is in central Victoria in the Southern State of Victoria and is known for its fruit growing and more recently its painted cows. The city has come alive with plastic cows all painted in different styles and colours by local and some quite famous artists including Ken Done and indigenous artists Kevin Atkinson and Melinda Solomon.

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When most people think of holidaying in Florida they think of the theme parks in Orlando but only an hours drive away is the home of the Kennedy Space Centre. This is the place where the missions to the moon and the space shuttle were launched and is an amazing place you shouldn’t miss if visiting Florida. Here you can see first hand some of America’s amazing space technology with an amazing collection of artifacts, spacecraft and information on America’s space exploration but the highlight will be the informative trip through the swamplands to the actual launching grounds of these amazing space vehicles. If you are really lucky you might even see the space shuttle being prepared for its next flight or even see it launch. The tour takes you up close to a full size Apollo and Saturn Rockets. The centre also has Imax theatres a full size space shuttle mock up to explore and is home to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. This attraction will fascinate young and old

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On the banks of the Thames housed in the old Bankside Power Station the Tate Modern is one of London’s newest and most popular attractions. Here there are 88 galleries displaying a huge collection of modern art. The Tate has some of the worlds most precious modern art pieces including works from Dali, Matisse, Rothko, Picasso and Warhol. Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych which was painted in 1962 is one of the more popular of the artworks. For book lovers the centre also has a book shop which claims to have more books than any other store in London, they have over 10,000 titles on hand, but many believe Waterstone’s in Piccadilly has thousands more. The best thing about the gallery is it is free except for special exhibitions.

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How’s this one kids, a huge rocking horse, well it doesn’t really rock unless its pretty windy but is sure is cute. This great family attraction can be found in the Barossa Valley in South Australia’s wine country at Gumeracha about 40 minutes drive from Adelaide. After a few of those beautiful wines you might think you are seeing things but this horse is real. It is actually the outside a toy factory which manufactures a range of wonderful wooden toys. The rocking horse is a very popular attraction with thousands climbing it every week- and what’s even better you can get a certificate of achievement award for climbing this monstrous pony and the views of the rolling hills are great.

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The best way to see Venice is by water, but unless you our out to impress your lady the Gondola ride can be an expensive way to get around, with prices anything from 50 to 200 Euros. For something less romantic but just as good try one of the small ferries which travel around the larger canals, tickets are only a few Euros and you can even get a cheap day pass for only a little more. Sometimes the ferries are busy but you always get a great view of the canal city. The most magical time to travel is around sunset when the lights come on in the palaces and the long shadows stretch along the canal. Read the rest of this entry »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skPo_FIcMvY

Pleasure Beach is an amusement park in the popular holiday town of Blackpool UK, it is most well known for its huge rollercoaster the Pepsi Max Big One. The imaginatively named “Big One” was opened in 1994 and at the time it was the tallest in the world but has since lost the title to two other coasters in Rust, Germany and Fujiyama, Japan. The coaster was featured in the TV series “engineering at the cutting edge”. Sitting on the edge of the beach it takes a bit of foundations to get the thing to stay where it is, reportedly costing as much as the coaster itself. Along with Pleasure Beach, there are many tourist attractions and amusements in Blackpool which is well known as a popular UK holiday destination. Read the rest of this entry »

The Tower of London on the north bank of the Thames River has had a very colorful life over its 930+ years of existence. IT was originally built as a fortress and has been used as a royal palace, prison, a mint and observatory a treasury building and even a zoo. Today it is the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and one of London’s most popular tourist attractions.
The Tower is guarded by the Yeomen Wardens or Beefeaters as they are more popularly know and the ravens. Ledged maintains if the ravens were to leave the tower the British monarchy would tumble. Read the rest of this entry »