The Vegas strip sure has had some great stage shows over the years, Elvis the King, Frank Sinatra, Ziegfied and Roy and and and more recently Elton John and Cilone Dion, but the most specatacular and talked about show at the moment would have to be the breathtaking Cirque du Soleil “Love” set to the Beatles greatest hits at the Mirage Casino. Beatles Love is the latest Album released by what many regard as the best band of all time. It originally started as an idea by George Harrison and his friend Guy Lalibert, one of Cirque’s founders. After years of planning original Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his son Giles went to work on remastering and remixing many of the Beatles greatest hits, while the circus was developed resulting in and amazing specticle. A special theatre was even built to house the elaborate set, called the Love theatre it houses 2013 seats and an amazing 6341 speakers and one of the most technically advanced stages which sits centally in th theatre. The show has shown to packed houses ever since and looks like being on the Vegas strip for many years to come.
The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most recognisable structures in the German capital Berlin. Built just north of the parliament The Reichstag it was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II as a sign of peace and was built between 1788 and 1791. The gate is huge, it is 26 metres high and 65 metres wide and 11 metres thick. The centerpiece of the gateway is the beautiful sculpture on the top which shows Viktoria the goddess of victory driving a Quadriga of horses. The Brandenburg gate has been an important symbol of Berlin and has been used as the focal point of many historic events; The Nazis used the gate as their symbol when they ascended to power. Strangely it was one of the few structures in the Pariser Plaz during the bombing raids of World War II. US President John F Kennedy visited the gate in 1863 and was confronted by huge Soviet banners preventing him looking into the east. In 1987 the then US President Ronald Regan spoke at the gate demanding its opening and then two years later the Brandenburg gate symbolized the revolution of 1989 which saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the chancellor of West Germany Helmut Kohl greeted the East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow. Now after a 2000 restoration the Brandenburg gate will stand proudly and no doubt be the centre point of Berlin’s history in the future.
We have featured a lot of weird and whacky attractions and things to see around the world on Tripandom but this one even shocked us! It’s a supermarket in China which has a rollercoaster like ride built around the isles of the supermarket where people can just reach out from the little car and pick up their groceries. No longer do you have to fight your way through dozen’s of chatting people with kids and trolleys, you just hop on this system and cruise around the supermarket. The only problem if you forget toothpaste you cant go backwards you have to go around the supermarket again- but who cares, it’s more fun. One report we read said the trip around the supermarket took about 2 hours on the ride, so it might not be the most practical place to go for a loaf of bread. The supermarket is located in Shenyang, which is is the capital city of Liaoning province in Northeast China with a population of about 7.2 million residents about 500km north east of Beijing. Lets hope the big supermarket chains take note and start installing them everywhere.
Piazza San Marco or St. Mark’s Square as we like to call it, is probably Venice’s popular tourist destination, not only for people but also for pigeons, they seem to out number people 10 to 1. With Venice’s narrow streets and maze of canals there is little open space in Venice, the Piazza San Marco is Venice’s largest area and principal square. The square dates back to the 9th century, and the piazza hasn’t changed since 1810 when a new wing to the Procutatie Nuove which was converted into a royal palace for Napoleon during the French occupation. Today other than a lot of souvenir carts, thousands of people and pigeons everything is how you would have seen it hundreds of years ago, other than a few much needed restorations and touch ups. Being the lowest point in Venice the square is often flooded from storms and high water and planks are used to move across the square. Around the piazza are some of Venice’s most spectacular and important buildings including Doge’s Palace, St Mark’s Basilica, St Mark’s Clocktower, and Procuratie Vecchie, many have some of the most beautiful sculptures and artwork seen in Europe, and inside the Basilica and palaces it is even more spectacular, it’s no wonder people queue for hours for their chance to visit.
Nagoya was the home of Expo in 2005 and one of it’s most popular attractions were robots. So many of the robots featured at Expo and quiet a few others now make up Japan’s first Robot Museum in Nagoya. The two story complex has a huge range of robots and many interactive displays, including manufacturing robots, toy robots and the next big thing helper robots. Already companies like Honda and Toyota are planning to produce robots which will live and assist around the home and be more than a futuristic gimic. The museum has over 1000 exhibits and a gift shop which is just as big with plenty of toys and gizmos to empty your wallets. Click our more info link to visit the official website- the Japanese cartoons are really fun.
Komodo National Park includes the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Mota, Nusa Kode and Pada and is now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There park is very rich in animal, plant and marine life but the highlight of the park is the Komodo Dragon which are found nowhere else on earth. The dragon is the largest and fiercest of the monitor lizards and can grow to a length of over 2.5 metres and weigh well over 100 kg. They have become very rare and it is estimated there are little more than a thousand of these magnificent reptiles in the wild. Diving in the area is also very popular with dugon, sharks, manta rays, whales and dolphins all calling the surrounding waters home, not forgetting the coral and reef fish.
We were doing a bit of a search and came across the Guinea Pig Restaurant in Dublin and thought – oh thats just so wrong. How could you eat fluffy, well much to our relief the Guinea Pig doesn’t have fury rodents on the menu just great fish. The restaurant has become quiet an institution in Dublin opening in 1957 and was a favorite dining venue for some fairly famous people including Peter Ustinov, U2’s the Edge and Bono and even Sir Cliff Richard, and looking at the menu you can see why it looks delicious. Monk Fish, Sea Bass, Salmon and even honey roast duck not forgetting some tasty lamb and free range chicken, and no Guinea Pigs!
Harbin is located in north east China, it lies east of Mongolia an just below Siberia and at this time of the year it is freezing, during the day expect -2f on a good day and -19f during the night. But what better way to celebrate the icy conditions than to have an ice festival. The festival is great fun with ice rides, ice bars and some amazing sculptures. At night the ice becomes magical with a kaleidoscope of coloured lights. This YouTube video gives you a great insight into the fun and the clever artists who create these works of icy art.
Well we thought we had seen it all but this takes the cake and it is in Germany of all places. It is a huge airship hanger which has been transformed into an amazing tropical island. Germany was the world leader of Airships during the first part of last century and built many huge hangers, but after the war and the horrific Hindenburg Zeppelin disaster, airships fell from popularity and development of planes took over. The country had quiet a few huge hangers, this one is monstrous, it is in fact the second largest indoor space in the world, after the Boeing Factory. Inside there is a forest, pools, walking tracks and everything you would expect to see on a Polynesian Island. The centre has bars, restaurants and even special shows. Being just 60km South of Berlin Tropical Island is a very popular weekend get away where it is 25 degrees all year round and 28 in the ‘sea’. Weekdays are cheaper and less crowded, ticket prices are around the 20 Euros for general admission and yes you can get a suntan there- the dome is UV penetrable.
If you are a regular reader of Tripandom you have probably noticed we have a soft spot for ‘Big Things’ and we have found another, and guess what it’s in Australia (they seem to have their fair share of big things). This time its a giant Murray Cod it can be found in Swan Hill in North Western Victoria along the mighty Murray River. The fish is 11 metres in length and 6 metres wide, it was actually built as a move prop for a film called ‘Eight Ball’ and the locals liked it so much and found a home for it. Swan Hill is the gateway to inland fishing in Australia and their is no mightier fish to catch than the Murray Cod which lives along the fallen river gums on the Murray.
