The parks and gardens of New York City are full of fury critters like squirrels and chipmunks, we take a look at some squirrels playing on the lawns.
Our First Video
Check out our first video. This one is of New York City’s South Street Seaport
New York’s South Street Sea Port
Amongst the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan tucked in on the Lower East Side is the South Street Seaport, one of the New York City’s thriving heritage villages. The precinct was once an important trading port between the 1820 and the 1860’s but like most cities around the world modernisation and the need for more space moved the port facilities away from the heart of the city.
In 1967 the South Street Seaport Museum was founded and helped remind people of the important heritage and value of the area. Then in 1998 a 12 square block historic district was designated by Congress forming “America’s National Maritime Museum”. This protects the area for ever and the South Street Sea Port is one of New York City’s great treasures.
The precinct now houses museums; libraries craft centres and dozens of galleries, boutiques and some great dining including bakeries, breweries and marketplaces.The centrepiece of the seaport is Pier 17 which is a huge shopping and entertainment complex with lots of tourist based shopping, river view dining and a large festival food court with great selection of cuisine.
In the area around Pier 17 there is a wonderful collection of historic ships, this collection is the largest privately owned historic fleet in the USA and has as its centrepiece the Peking which is a four masted barque built in 1911. Other notable sea craft include the Wavetree which is a rigged cargo ship dating back to 1885, the Ambrose a 1908 lightship a 1900 Tugboat called Helen McAllister.
Cow Up A Tree
One of the more interesting pieces of art in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct is ‘Cow Up A Tree’. Sculptured by artist John Kelly the cow was designed for a sculpture exhibition in Paris on the beautiful Champs Elysees for the millennium in 2000. The Cow up a Tree sculpture was later installed overlooking Victoria Harbour in 2003 and has become a much loved icon of Melbourne’s thriving Docklands precinct. The cow itself is made of bronze and painted black and white, and depicts a surreal image of a cow based on an Australian flood image. The cow is caught upside down in an Australian gum tree after the flood. The cow itself is designed as a tribute to Australian painter Sir William Dobell who began painting stylized cows during the Second World War as a decoy for airfields. The cow features a quirky long neck and very square body with some interesting camouflage like markings.
Catalina Island Casino
Catalina is a small island off the coast of Long Beach California, and its most famous landmark is the magnificent Art Deco Casino which sits on Avalon Harbor. The casino was built by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr, who owned much of the island in May of 1929. It was not a casino in the usual form with no gaming, it was actually a theatre designed for the first talking movies. The theatre has seating for 1154 people and there is also a ballroom which can cater for around 6000 making it the world’s largest circular ballroom, it has a whopping 55metre round dance floor. The interior of the casino was restored a few years back returning the building to its former glory with amazing fresco walls and murals, incredible plasterwork and ornate lighting. Read the rest of this entry »
Spend the night at a nazi resort
A bit of a follow up on the Prora Resort story we did back in 2008, to recap the Prora resort was built by the Nazi’s under Hitlers Kraft durch Freude (strength through joy) program to provide a cheap holiday to 20,000 workers at a time. To try and convince the public that all his plans were great, Hitler liked to use a fair bit of propaganda and grand projects to win support from his people. At almost 5klm long the Prora complex was the largest hotel in the world at the time it was constructed and further plans were on the drawing board for stadiums to seat 20,000 people, pools and a wharf for his cruise ships. Construction halted around 1940 and no one has ever got to take their holiday at the complex and it has been mostly been derelict in recent years apart from a small visitors centre. Recently it has been reported a section of the complex will be renovated into a youth hostel so for the fist time in over 60 years you will be able to stay at the Prora resort. While we are interested in the history of the building we think it might be a bit too creepy to spend the night at nasty old Hitlers holiday home. What’s your thoughts? hit up our comment form below, and check out the interesting video above. Read the rest of this entry »
The Petronas Towers
The Petonas Towers in the Malasyian Capital of Kuala Lumpur were the world’s tallest buildings between 1998 and 2004 until the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan took the crown. Including antennas the towers both stand at 451.9 metres. Unlike many of the other huge towers around the world that are open to the public, the tower’s viewing platform isn’t on the top floors, it is actually on the suspended skybridge between the two buildings on the 41st and 42nd floors. The towers both have 88 floors and they are serviced by 78 elevators, with tower one being fully occupied by Petronas which is the Malaysian Government owned oil and gas company. The second tower has a host of different organisations as tenants. Designed by Argentine American architect Cesar Pelli the tower’s design is rich in Muslim heritage with much of its detailed design being inspired by Islamic art. The exterior shape of the structure is based on the Rub el Hizb which is a Muslim symbol consisting of two overlapping squares. This design becomes more evident towards the top of the towers when the design becomes a series of overlapping stars.
Now for vistors wanting to visit the tower, you can not book but must visit early as only so many free tickets are available daily.
Friedrichstadt Palast in Berlin
The Friedrichstadt Palast is one of the most famous of Berlin’s revue theatres and is located in the heart of the Mitte district of the city. Opening in 1867 the theatre has gone through various rebuilds and transitions and the current building dates back to 1984. The theatre hall houses 1895 people and boasts the largest stage in the world spanning a massive 2854 square metres. The space can even feature a pool with 140000 litres of water and an ice surface making it ideal for a host of performances. As the change in entertainment changes with time, the theatre has also evolved and played host to some of entertainments biggest names as well as huge productions including huge fashion launches and award shows. The centre has a behind the scenes tour for visitors see their website for details. There’s also a very chic bar called La Diva which worth a visit to see the amazing décor alone.
Singapore Zoo’s orang utans
The Singapore Zoo is one of the world’s great zoos, set in lush rain forest it is one of this small island country’s biggest tourist attractions. The zoo has a huge array of animals from all over the world but by far the most popular is the beautiful orang utans. The Singapore Zoo has 24 of these amazing orange primates making it the largest display in any zoo around the world. The orang utans are part of a huge social group which have a huge been successfully bred in the zoo, to date they have bred 35 and many of them have been sent to zoos around the world to help grow the numbers of this highly endangered ape. The orang utans live in a huge free range enclosure complete with natural jungle with plenty of places to swing and play with others or and get some quiet time. The exhibit gives the visitor a chance to see them in a close to natural environment with some great platforms and viewing areas where you can really get up close to them without disturbing.
Motat
Motat is a fascinating museum of transport and technology located in Western Springs a suburb of Auckland. It has an amazing collection of historic vehicles of all types and plenty of heritage and history which will entertain delight and fascinate visitors for hours. The large property is beautifully themed with many heritage style buildings and artefacts to give you a real feeling of what New Zealand was like years ago. There are some incredible vehicles on display from cars, trucks, planes, trains and trams, in-fact the tram is a working exhibit offering trips around the complex and to the nearby annex exhibition which houses many of the aircraft exhibitions. The site was once home to a huge pump which serviced Auckland’s water supply, today this incredible piece of Victorian machinery has been restored and is housed in an beautiful brick building looking more like artwork than a piece of machinery, it is really an incredible sight. Motat also features a historic village with many small cottages all decked out with their heritage fittings and furnishings, they are very interesting and give you a real feel of how people lived years ago.
