The futuristic city of Odaiba in Tokyo is know for it’s weird and amazing architecture and the Fuji TV centre is right up there with the best. The centre houses their offices and studios for many of their live shows and dramas. The Iron Chef which has a huge cult following was filmed at the centre between 1993 and 2001. Today huge shows like Ainori a dating program, Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi the Fantastic Deer man and 1 litre of tears are filmed there along with countless game shows, news and sport programs. The studios have a little blue dog you might see on some Japanese programs his name is Laugh, if you are really lucky when you visit you might get to see this fury critter mascot greeting the crowds. You can take a self guided tour of the complex and even visit the huge spherical lookout at the top, and on many weekends there are live shows and events being held in the court yards around the complex so you will have hours of fun. You might even be able to get yourself into the studio audience of one of the zany Japanese game shows.
The Galerie Rudolfinum is the home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra who are regarded as one of the world’s finest. Beautifully set on the banks of the Vltava amongst lovely manicured gardens the building was once home commercial operations but the Czech Savings Bank bought the site in 1874 and decided to utilize the building as a house of arts to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Located in-between the Old Town and Lesser Town the Rudolfinum is in short walking distance to other prominent Prague galleries and performing arts centres including the Academy of Decorative Arts, and Facility of Philosophy. The beautiful neo renaissance building also houses a art gallery which focuses on contemporary art and shows exhibitions from many new and emerging artists. The building was also home to the provisional seat of Parliament of the Czechoslovak Republic from the 1920’s but after the second World War the Czech Philharmonic were given the facility back again and in the 1990’s it was rebuilt and modernized to suit their purpose and restore many of the original features for many years to come. Read the rest of this entry »
Westminster Abbey or as it is really know the Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster is London’s most important churches. With a history dating back to 616 the abbey was built during the 1500’s with construction commissioned by Henry III in 1245. The church has become an important coronation and burial site for many English monarchs over the years. The abbey is today recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is still used as one of London’s most important churches. The beautiful gothic western towers as seen on our photograph were built between 1722 and 1745 and were constructed out of Portland stone which is the same limestone used on Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral it is mined from the Isle of Portland in Dorset. Inside the Abbey is some of England’s most beautiful treasures, artworks, sculptures and magnificent tile work and stained glass windows make this abbey astonishing. Over a million people visit the Abbey each year and thousands come each day to worship, details on guided tours and opening times can be found on the official website.
The Gendarmenmarkt in the heart of Berlin would have to be one of the most beautiful plazas in Europe. It is home to the Schauspielhas Theatre which is now a concert hall and the Franzosischer Dom and Deutscher Dom which are both cathedrals. The Deutscher Dom or German Cathedral was built in the 1700’s but was completely destroyed by fire in 1945 and was rebuilt in the 1990’s and now is a German history museum. The Franzosischer Dom or French Cathedral is nearly an identical copy of the Deutscher Dom and was built early in the 1700. The Dom now houses a Huguenot museum, a restaurant on the top floor and a viewing platform where spectacular views of the area can be seen. Recently luxury hotels and the Friedrichstadt Shopping Arcade have been built near the square which has only made the precinct more popular.
The Trans Siberian Railway is one of the world’s great railroad journeys linking Moscow to Beijing via 9,288 kilometres of track that spans eight time zones. The project to build the rail was one of the most expensive in Russian history at the time the first stage was opened in 1916. Technically the Trans Siberian Railway ends at Vladivostok but branch lines continue to North Korea and via the Trans Manchurian line or Trans Mongolian line to Beijing. The video above has a few good shots of the wonderful Russian landscape, it’s no surprise watching this one that this rail journey is so popular. Read the rest of this entry »
In the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee USA at Pigeon Forge lies one of America’s best family theme parks, Dollywood. Owned by country music superstar Dolly Parton the family friendly park has over 125 acres of rides and attractions, shops, dining and a whole array of music and entertainment. One of the highlights of the park is the magnificent Dollywood Express steam train. This authentic 110 ton coal fired steam engine takes visitors on an amazing five mile journey through the foothills of the great Smokey Mountains and into the adjoining farmland. Here visitors can see some of the USA’s most scenic countryside and even see a critter or two. For visitors planning a trip to Dollywood in the warmer months you better plan a couple more days because Dollywood’s Splash County theme park has just opened next door to Dollywood and is becoming one of the region’s biggest hits.
If you were an Iron Chef and wanted to deck out your kitchen stadium the best place to go for kitchen equipment would be Kappabashi in Tokyo. Kappabashi is Kitchen Town and it lies between Ueno and the electronics mecca of Asakusa. Here you can buy anything you would need to start up a kitchen from chopsticks, to uniforms to plates and saucers even those amazing plastic food models you see everywhere in Japan. There are hundreds of shops many specializing in different types of kitchen goods, for example Hashito sells chopsticks, and a shop called Tanaka sells lacquerware, and then there Kamata who sells knives. The plastic food shops are amazing, one good one is Maizuru, you can virtually find any type of food here all in resin, from noodles to steak, from sushi to eggs and even full seafood platters and buffets- the range is amazing- but they don’t come cheap some costing thousands of yen. But for the tourist there are some smaller affordable ones, and they have a good range of novelty fridge magnets and the like. The easiest way to visit Kappabashi is catch the Ginza line train and get off at Tawaramachi Station then its only a few blocks walk from exit 3. Most of the shops are open six days a week being closed on Sundays.
The Trocadero is a huge sandstone monument on across the river from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and is one of the best places to get some magnificent photographs of the tower. The Trocadero was originally built in 1867 for the World Fair, along with the Eiffel Tower, originally to commemorate the Battle of Trocadero which was in Southern Spain back in 1823. The building was replaced with what we have today in 1937 which was also built for an Expo, the Exposition Internationale of 1937. The building uses a modern classical style, with a hint of art deco it was designed by architects Louis Hippolyte Boileau, Leon Azema and Jacques carlu and features two wings which form a wide arc, which actually sit over the original foundations. The building is features some magnificent sculptures and artwork and inside is home to a naval museum (Musee national de la marine), the Musee de L’Homme which is a ethnology museum on the right wing while the left wing has the Musee national des monuments francisas and the Theatre national de Chaillot. One chilling piece of Paris’s history was the Trocadero was the place Adolf Hitler was photographed during his tour of the city after it fell to the German’s during the Second World War. Read the rest of this entry »
The Frauenkirche or the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady is one of Munich’s most recognisable and magnificent landmarks. The two monstrous red brick towers were built in 1525 and is the largest church in the Bavarian capital located right in the heart of the city at Frauenplatz 1. Visitors can climb the 100 metres of the south tower for magnificent views of the city and through to the alps on a fine day. The church received some very nasty damage during the Second World war with the roof collapsing and one of the towers very badly hurt but major restorations over the last 60 years has brought this building back to its former glory. Inside the cathedral there is room for over 20,000 people and it features an amazing collection of 14th to 18th century artwork including works by Jan Polac and Ignaz Gunther. One of the church’s highlights is the Teufelstritt or Devil’s footstep at the entrance, ledged has it that it is the place the Devil stood to ridicule the church and the builder. Read the rest of this entry »
The Hiroshima Castle or Carp Castle as it is affectionate known was once the home of the Damiyo or the Feuda Lord of Hiroshima. The original castle was constructed in he 1590’s but was destroyed by the atomic attack of the Second World War but was rebuilt to the original but with new materials with a lot of concrete structure in 1958. Today the castle is a museum which features much history of the city prior to the war. The perimeter of the castle is surrounded by moats which are home to giant carps and turtles which bask in the sun. The original castle was declared a national treasure in 1931 and today although rebuilt the people of Hiroshima are very proud of this lovely structure.
