We thought we would stay in Vegas again today and talk about the Wynn and Encore Las Vegas which are two of the most luxurious resort hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. These golden shiny towers are both part of the Wynn Resort which holds more 5 star awards than any casino resort anywhere in the world. The luxury and detail is second to none. The Wynn was the first hotel to open in 2005 and the Encore followed in December of 2008. Together the total resort employees around 5300 people.  The two hotels are connected by a luxurious shopping arcade with all the big brands including a Ferrari dealership where you can actually purchase a car. As well as extensive gaming facilities the resort has its own golf course, pools and some of Vegas’ best clubs and dining.  The hotel rooms are another luxurious feature of these two towers, all have huge flat panel TVs, marble  bathrooms and plenty of modern automation. The huge windows with great views of the golf resort or the strip are another feature which cant be bet anywhere in Vegas.    For more info on Las Vegas visit:  http://whatshotinvegas.com/

The Bellagio is one of the biggest and most luxurious of the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip and features a huge eight acre lake in front of it facing the strip. The lake is home to an amazing water display which is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Las Vegas strip. The water display consists of more than 1200 nozzles and more than 4500 lights which combine to create a spectacular show night and day. The fountain show was estimated have cost $40 million to produce and takes place every half hour during the afternoon and every 15 minutes from 8 pm til midnight. The fountains are choreographs to various tunes, from famous Vegas Show tunes to classical arrangements. The largest nozzles can shoot water as high 140 metres in the sky which makes for one amazing show. For more on Las Vegas visit http://www.whatshotinvegas.com/

The goldfields city of Bendigo in Victoria Australia is home to one of the country’s finest cathederals, The Sacred Heart Cathedral.  Built using a Gothich Revival style and designed by William Tappin the groundbreaking was in 1897 but the cathederal was not completed for some 80 years in 1977. The Roman Catholic church. The sandstone for the building was mined from near Geelong (the home of Tripandom). Sacred Heart Cathedral is 75 metres long and has a ceiling height of 24 metres. The main spire is 87 metres high and was the last piece to be constructed using a lighter steel frame and masonary veneer than the original plans had specified to cut weight and cost. Another highlight of the cathederal is the large pipe organ, built by Bishop & Son of London, was installed in 1905.

The Carnival Liberty was launched in 2005 and is a huge 110 thousand ton liner which carries around 3000 passengers on each cruise. We took this photo as she gracefully entered the Italian city of Venice where she looked absolutely magnificence. The ship has all the luxury you would expect from a liner of this size and plenty more. One of the special features of the liner is a 3.7 metre by 6.7 metre outside LED screen where people lazing on the decks can watch movies or special events. There are waterslides, casino, night clubs, spas and plenty of shopping and lets not forget the pampering, while travelling on this amazing ship you are really moving on a floating city.

A spectacular landmark in the Austrian city of Innsbruck is the Bergiselschanze ski jump on the Bergisel Hill. The huge concrete and glass structure was built in 2001 and the current form was designed by Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid at a cost of €15 million. The actual Bergiselschanze dates back to the 1930′s. There is a cafe at the top which offers amazing views of Innsbruck and the surrounding villages on a clear day. The jump hosts the annual prestigious Four Hills Tournament’ third leg and the mountain has played host to two Winter Olympic Games, the 1964 games and the 1976 games. The Bergisel can be easily reached by the Stubaitalbahn from Innsbruck.

The thought of beer and sausages yesterday made me want to do another Munich story today. So thought I would talk about the National Theatre building which is on Max-Joseph Platz 2.  Used as an Opera House it has seating for 2100 people complete with a royal box and circular auditorium. The theatre is home to the Bavarian State Ballet and Bavarian State Opera who hold regular performances at the magnificent venue. It was destroyed in World War II bombing but rebuilt and the current building opened in 1963.  The opera house has had a huge list of world premiers including works by Wagner, Strauss to name just two.  For visitors not able to take in a show the theatre has hour long tours of the venue which happen most days at 2pm. It is a great chance to see one of the finest opera houses in the world so rich in history and tradition.

Just a short distance from the Munich’s main square the Marienplaz is a fantastic open air market callde the Viktualienmarkt. This market is basically a food market selling all sorts of fresh foods including fish, meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. But the market is also a great meeting place to enjoy the sausages and beer. And belive me Munich has the best sausages and beer you will find anywhere in the world. It is imposible to stop at one as the they are just so delicious.  The market has penty of seating so you can enyoy the festivities, food, drink and atmosphere for hours- not a bad way to fill in a sunny afternoon in Munich.  The market opens 6 days a week being closed on Sundays.

A result of the cold war’s technology rivalry when the Soviet Union they copied many things the west made including the some pretty impressive technology including the Space Shuttle. Another of their copies was the Concorde, they produced a pretty similar supersonic get which they called the Tupolev TU-144. But they didn’t really pull it off to good and the plane was never certified to fly passengers. They had a bit of a media disaster at the Paris Airshow in 1973 where a TU144 fell out of the sky, break up and crash. They ended up using the plane for mail runs across Russia, then a second one crashed in 1978 followed by you guessed it a third a bit later and this was out of a fleet of 22 which included a prototype. The US ended up buying a few in the mid 90′s and refit them for testing of a future supersonic project. Today one of the remaining TU-144 is on display in Germany at the Auto & Technikmuseum at Sinsheim. Interestingly the craft is on display right next to a Concorde it is interesting to see how similar the aircraft are. For more information:  http://www.gizmohighway.com/history/tu-144.htm

San Francisco is known around the world for its fantastic China Town but not many people are aware of its Japan Town which is just as fascinating and a great place to visit.  The whole precinct makes you feel like you are in Japan, the paving the landscaping and even the architecture is very Japanese.  The precinct centres on a large shopping and exhibition plaza which is full of Japanese stores, from nick knacks, clothing, music and DVD and plenty of eateries.  The food is sensational, whether you want a simple piece of sushi or a full Teppanyaki experience. The area has a huge five tiered pagoda which although made of concrete is pretty impressive.  Like Japan the area is very popular during the cherry blossom season when the whole area comes alive with blossoms.

Underneath the streets of Seattle lurks another Seattle, Seattle from the past. Pretty much a whole precinct of Seattle has been built onto of an older precinct and today it lurks underneath full of dust, rats and reported spooks and ghosts. Fire destroyed much of the area in the late 1880′s and it was rebuilt using stone and brick two stories above to avoid flooding. In 1965 a local citizen called Bill Speidel started taking people on tours through this old world Seattle, and 40 odd years later it is one of the city’s more interesting tourist attractions. In the early years of last century the underground was used for a lot of illegal activities in the city with gambling halls, opium dens and sex trade. Today it serves as access to buildings above and home for a few rats and spirits, but a great experience to any visitor.

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