The Distillery District in Toronto is the hippest and most happening place in the city. Jam packed with boutique shopping, galleries, artist studios, some of the city’s best dining and plenty of entertainment this place is really going off. The pedestrian only village is a huge collection of preserved Victorian era industrial buildings including the Gooderham & Worts Distillery which was founded way back in 1832 by James Worts and William Gooderham. The distillery ceased producing alcohol in 1990 development of the 15 acre area began in 2003. When visiting make sure you go on an empty stomach, there are some amazing dining experiences to try including Pure Spirits Oyster and the best pastries you have ever tried from Grand Piano Pastries, they are mouth watering. Read the rest of this entry »
Las Vegas is known for excesses and things larger than life, well this fantastic free attraction is no exception. M&M World on the famous Las Vegas Boulevard offers four floors of chocolate mayhem with all the cute brightly colored characters from one of the world’s most popular chocolate snacks. M&M World is a great escape from the casino’s and buffets (and probably better on your waist line) and the kids will love it. The first floor is basically the gift shop with heaps of M&M merchandised goods to buy. Second floor guess what more things to buy, and the third floor has all the collector stuff. There’s even a M&M guitar or some European M&M crystal to purchase. On the top level there’s guess what, another shop where you can buy M&M house hold furniture and a really cool replica of the Kyle Busch race car. For some added choclatey fun make sure you catch the great 3D &M film- it’s full of colour and plenty of funny M&M guys it’s interestingly titled “I lost my M in vegas”. The M&M World is easy to find, it’s right next door to the massive MGM Grand Hotel Casino at the corner of Tropicana Avenue. Just as an added treat a new M&M world has just opened in Orlando, so if your off to Disneyworld drop in . Read the rest of this entry »
Vinales is about 150 kilometres to the west of the Cuban capital Havana and is one of the most beautiful regions of Cuba. Set amongst huge mountain and lush forests the fertile red ground is used for farming including the famous tobbaco plantations. The quaint townships consists mainly of one story wooden houses with porches and colourfully painted,which give the impression of a relaxed an tranquil place to enjoy after a hard days work on the land. Read the rest of this entry »
The Library Hotel in New York is kind of a theme hotel based on the dewey decimal system where each of its 10 floors is catergorsied into one of the standard library catergories with each room devoted to a particular subject. An example is that the room one on the seventh floor would have an “architecture” theme while the second room would have a “paintings” theme as the seventh floor is part of “the arts” catergory. The book Lemony Snicket’s The Penultimate Peril had a hotel in it called the Hotel Denouement that was modeled after the Library Hotel. Interestingly the owners of the Dewey Decimal System trademark once sued the Library Hotel for trademark infringement, now the Library Hotel is allowed to use the system in its hotel and marketing in exchange for making a donation to a nonprofit organization promoting reading and literacy among children. 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.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the world’s most spectacular buildings, designed by Frank Gehry who also has designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain and the Dancing House in the Czech capital Prague to name a few of his exciting projects. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is wrapped in stainless steel sheeting which give of spectacular reflections of light. Inside the building is just as amazing with theatres being home to the Los Angeles Philharamonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The centre opened in 2003 after over ten years of construction and delays, the project was launched with a 50 million dollar cheque from Walt Disney’s widow Lillian and ended up costing $247 million to complete.
The Hall was spoofed in a Simpsons episode where the town of Springfield had Frank Gehry design a new Concert Hall for the town. The Concert Hall was then transformed into a jail by Mr. Burns. Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine a shopping mall as big as a small country, well the West Edmonton Mall in Canada is bigger than Vatican City- hows that. It’s huge with over 350,000 square metres of shopping and entertainment. The huge complex employs around 23,000 people and has anything up to 150,000 people shopping, dining or having fun there every day. Along with over 800 shops the centre has a monstrous entertainment zone which would rival any theme park with an icerink, waterpark with wave pool and huge waterslides. An aquarium which is home to sea lions, and a submarine ride which had more submarines than the Canadian Navy until recently. Roller coasters, golf, theatres, a casino and even a replica of Christopher Columbus’s ship the Santa Maria. There even a huge nightclub and restaurant district called Bourbon street which has comedy clubs, rib houses, bars and some great pizza. There’s a China town and even a flash new Europa Boulevard which sells the latest European fashion- and I must mention the flock of pink flamingos, the shooting range and the cinemas. The place is just amazing. You need at least 2 days if not an entire week to really absorb the place and you probably need just as long to find your car in the 20,000 car carpark. There are plans to make the place even bigger, they are not to happy about being knocked off as the biggest by a new centre in Dubai and another huge place being built in Beijing. Read the rest of this entry »
Stephen Spielberg’s classic film Jurassic Park still holds the title of one of the world’s biggest grossing films of all time. In Florida, California and in Osaka Japan Jurassic Park has come to life in the form of a spectacular theme park adventure ride. Jump aboard a boat and travel 65 million years back in time and come face to face with some of the most amazing creatures that have ever walked this earth including the a scary encounter with a giant T Rex before dropping 85 feet down a waterfall. Universal Studios is going through a worldwide expansion and new parks are planned for Dubai, Singapore and South Korea it is hoped this great attraction will also be seen there soon. Read the rest of this entry »
Way back in 1853 a Bavarian immigrant called Levi Strauss and his tailor Jacob Davis designed his first pair of riveted blue jeans. Little did they know they were making what would become the most recognisable and one of the most loved clothing brands of all time. Today Levis is sold in over 160 countries and are the no 1 brand for jeans and casual pants, and the company is still privately owned by descendants of Levi Strauss. On Battery Street, San Francisco, the home of Levis is the Levi Strauss visitors center. The complex has six pavilions each showing a different aspect of the companies business. The display was opened to celebrate the company’s 150 anniversary and has proved very popular. The centre houses many historic jeans including many very rare and historic examples. There is heaps of advertising material including print, film and video from the 150 plus years of trading and a great insight into how jeans are made. The best thing about this centre is its free.
Idaho not only holds the proud title of the 13th Largest State in the U.S. it is home to the worlds first nuclear reactor and you can visit. It is located about 15 miles from Arco which was the first city to be lit by atomic energy way back in July of 1955. The reactor opened in 1951 and was also the site of the first nuclear meltdown, but Idaho dosn’t mention that on it’s world firsts lists. The tours of the complex are self guided and you get a good insight into the early nuclear age, you can even see the famous hot cell where the plutonium 239 was produced behind 34 layers of oil seperated glass which is about 29 inches thick. One cool place to visit is the reactor core where you can actually stand on a platform and view into the huge stainless steel core tank. There’s a few control desks you can sit at and pretend to be Homer, so bring your own donuts.
