Green Animals Topiary Garden

The Green Animals Topiary Garden, located in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. The 7-acre (28,000 m2) estate overlooks the Narragansett Bay. It contains a large collection of topiaries including eighty sculptured trees. Favorites include teddy bears, a camel, a giraffe, an ostrich, an elephant and two bears made from sculptured California privet, yew, and English boxwood. There are also pineapples, a unicorn, a reindeer, a dog and spot a horse with his rider. There are over 35 formal flowerbeds, geometric pathways, rose arbor, grape arbor, fruit trees, and vegetable and herb gardens. A greenhouse is used extensively to provide seedlings used on the estate. The 1859 Victorian Brayton house museum contains a small display of vintage kids toy and the original family furnishings. Ribbons for prize-winning dahlias and vegetables, dating from about 1915, line the walls of the gift shop. The Preservation Society of Newport County maintains it.

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Victoria's The Twelve Apostles

The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction. Originally the site was called the Sow and Piglets. Muttonbird Island near Loch Ard Gorge was the 'Sow' and the smaller rock stacks the 'Piglets'. The name was changed in the 1950s to present name recalling the biblical The Twelve Apostles. This was done to lure more visitors to the state. Despite the name there are not twelve individual stacks visible in any one location.

The stacks have been formed by erosion, and are all different heights and thicknesses. A number have fallen over entirely as waves continually erode their bases. A 50-metre tall Apostle collapsed on July 3, 2005. Although it was initially thought that one of the Twelve Apostles fell on September 25, 2009 it was later revealed that it was one of the smaller stacks knowns as The Three Sisters. Other well-known features in Port Campbell National Park created by erosion are the London Arch, Loch Ard Gorge and the Island Archway. The rate of erosion at the base of the limestone pillars is approximately 2 cm per year.

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Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls

(Video Credit: TheZambiaOdyssey)

The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The World Heritage List recognises both names. The falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view the Victoria Falls. While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1,708 metres (5,600 ft) and height of 108 meters (360 ft), forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls' maximum flow rate compares well with that of other major waterfalls.

By the end of the 1990s, almost 300,000 people were visiting the falls annually, and this was expected to rise to over a million in the next decade. Unlike the game parks, Victoria Falls has more Zimbabwean and Zambian visitors than international tourists as they are accessible by bus and train and therefore comparatively inexpensive to reach.

Devil's Pool

(Video credit: lindspiper)

A famous feature is a naturally formed pool known as the Devil's Pool, near the edge of the falls, accessed via Livingstone Island. When the river flow is at a safe level, usually during the months of September and December, people can swim as close as possible to the edge of the falls within the pool without continuing over the edge and falling into the gorge; this is possible due to a natural rock wall just below the water and at the very edge of the falls that stops their progress despite the current.

Borde Hill Garden

Borde Hill Garden is a garden located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Haywards Heath, West Sussex in southern England. It features over 200 acres (80 ha) of garden, park and woodlands accompanied by spectacular views across the Sussex High Weald. This garden is planted in distinctive "living garden rooms", each offering a different character and style. It is home to many fine and rare shrubs: from rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias to roses, as well as numerous trees including one of the best collections of champion trees in a private property in Britain.

Wikipedia

Cotton Castle

Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Province. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.

The ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) long and 160 metres (520 ft) high. It can be seen from the hills on the opposite side of the valley in the town of Denizli, 20 km away.

Tourism is and has been a major industry. People have bathed in its pools for thousands of years. It has been badly damaged in some areas, and so there are now efforts to restore the springs.

Pamukkale is a tourist attraction. It is recognized as a World Heritage Sites together with Hierapolis. A few other places in the world resemble it, including the Mammoth Hot Springs in the USA and Huanglong in Sichuan Province of China (another UNESCO World Heritage Site). Hierapolis-Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site in 1988.

The underground volcanic activity which causes the hot springs also forced carbon dioxide into a cave, which was called the Plutonium meaning place of the god, Pluto. This cave was used for religious purposes by priests of Cybele, who found ways to appear immune to the suffocating gas.

Tadpoles can be found in the pools.

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World's Deepest Swimming Pool

Nemo 33 is a recreational scuba diving center in Uccle, Belgium near Brussels that is home to what was once the world's deepest swimming pool. The pool itself consists of a submerged structure with flat platforms at various depth levels. The pool has two large flat-bottomed areas at depth levels of 5 m (16 ft) and 10 m (32 ft), and a large circular pit descending to a depth of 33 m (108 ft). It is filled with 2,500,000 liters of non-chlorinated, highly filtered spring water maintained at 30 °C (86 °F) and contains several simulated underwater caves at the 10 m depth level. There are numerous underwater windows that allow outside visitors to look into the pools at various depths. The complex was designed by Belgian diving expert John Beernaerts as a multi-purpose diving instruction, recreational, and film production facility, and opened in 2004.

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Amazing Water Bridge in Germany

The 918-metre Magdeburg Water Bridge is a navigable aqueduct water bridge in Germany, completed in October 2003. It bridges the River Elbe to connect two important German shipping canals; the Elbe-Havel Canal and the Midland Canal. The canals meet near Magdeburg on opposite sides of the river and lead to German's industrial heartland in the Ruhr Valley.

The bridge site is open to visitors and includes a parking lot, bicycle and pedestrian paths and informational signs detailing the history and construction of the bridge. The bridge itself is located outside of Hohenwarthe near the city of Magdeburg and is known locally as the Wasserstrassenkreuz Magdeburg.

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Cook Islands

Map of Cook Islands

The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean, north-east of New Zealand, between French Polynesia and Fiji. There are fifteen (15) major islands and divided into two distinct groups: the Southern Cook Islands, and the Northern Cook Islands of coral atolls. The islands were formed by volcanic activity; the northern group is older and consists of six atolls (sunken volcanoes topped by coral growth).

The 15 islands and two reefs are grouped as follows:

Southern Cook Islands:
Nga-pu-Toru (Three Roots, the group name for the easternmost islands of Southern Group comprising Atiu, Ma'uke and Mitiaro)
Atiu (Enua Manu or Island of Birds)
Ma'uke (Akatokamanava)
Mitiaro (Nukuroa)

Remaining Islands of the South are:
Aitutaki (Araura Enua)
Mangaia (Auau Enua)
Rarotonga (Tumutevarovaro) and also with the capital, Avarua.
Palmerston Island (Pamati) (sometimes grouped with the Northern Group)
Manuae
Takutea
Winslow Reef (submerged)

Rakahanga atoll

Penrhyn atoll

Manihiki atoll

Northern Cook Islands:
Manihiki (Te Fuinga O niva)
Nassau
Penrhyn Island (Tongareva or Mangarongaro)
Pukapuka (Te ulu o te watu)
Rakahanga (Tapuahua)
Suwarrow also called Suvorov
Tema Reef (submerged)

Hanging Temple

The Hanging Temple or Hanging Monastery is a temple built into a cliff (75m Above the ground) near Mount Heng in the province of Shanxi. The closest city is Datong, 65 kilometers to the northwest. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is unique not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements. Hanging Temple is an architectural wonder. A unique mechanical theory was applied to building the framework. Crossbeams were half-inserted into the rock as the foundation, while the rock in back became its support. Inside, Hanging Temple provides the same scene as other temples. Why build a monastery like this? Location is the first reason; building a monastery on the cliff could shield it from floods. The mountain peak protects it from rain and snow; and the mountain around it also diminishes damage from long-time sunshine. The second reason is that the builders followed a principle in Taoism: no noises, including those from rooster crowing and dog baying; so from the upper ground, all noises drop away.

The World's Most Unusual Museums

The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets is a collection of artifacts and displays celebrating the inexorable rise of one of the world's most essential - yet least celebrated – household furnishings, the humble lavatory. At Sulabh International's premises in Delhi the company runs the museum dedicated to the history of sanitation and toilets. It is situated in New Delhi, India.

Sulabh International is an Indian based social service organization which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education. The organization counts 50,000 volunteers.

The Tallest Vehicular Bridge in the World - Millau Viaduct

The Millau Viaduct is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by the structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one mast's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft) - slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004, inaugurated the day after and opened to traffic two days later. The bridge won the 2006 IABSE Outstanding Structure Award.

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Hydropolis Underwater Hotel and Resort

The Hydropolis Underwater Hotel and Resort is a planned hotel, designed by Prof. Roland Dieterle which will be the world's first underwater luxury resort. It's situated 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf, just off Jumeira Beach in Dubai. Reinforced by concrete and steel, its Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings will enable guests to see fish and other sea creatures. It is basically divided into three sections: the land station, where guests will be welcomed; the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel; and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex. It will cover an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London's Hyde Park, and will cost an estimated £300 million. It is self-acclaimed to be a 10-star hotel and will be charging circa $5,000 per room per night. The hotel was scheduled to open in late 2006; however, due to the engineering and environmental difficulties of constructing an underwater hotel, the project is currently delayed and there is no sign of construction beginning anytime soon.

Architects working on Hydropolis have had some difficulty selecting a suitable position for the complex, as concerns have been repeatedly raised about the displacement effect of building a 260-hectare underwater structure. If their calculations are incorrect, tides and sea levels off the coast of Dubai could be severely affected, rendering vast tracts of coast uninhabitable due to chaotic tides, flooding, unpredictable wave patterns and a high possibility of whale and other sea-mammal beaching.

Disney corporation are reportedly in talks with the developers of Hydropolis to bring a fully underwater production of The Little Mermaid to the hotel's lobby. World-standard free divers are allegedly to play the lead roles and sophisticated animatronics are to be used for background/non-speaking characters.

Extended Hydropolis Trailer

Source: Wikipedia

Some Interesting Heritage Hotels in Jaipur

Jaipur was founded in 1727 a.d. by one of the greatest rulers of his time - the astronomer, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh and designed by architect Vidyadhar Bhattacharya. Jaipur also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital of Rajasthan state, India.

The Rajmahal Palace was built in 1729 A.D. by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur for his favorite Maharani. From 1821 onwards, the palace was used to house the British resident at Jaipur. This Palace has played host to several VVIP's like Queen Elizabeth and Jacqueline Kennedy. Set amidst 15 acres of well-maintained lush green lawns, the Rajmahal Palace was converted into a hotel in 1979. The palace has spacious suites with high ceiling, chandeliers and period furniture. Beautiful paintings and antiques have been carefully preserved and are reminiscent of the royal past.



The Bissau Palace is an elegant and traditional hotel built by Rawal Raghubir Singh in 1909. Situated in the heart of pink city, this hotel is amazingly gracious and calm untouched by the hustle-bustle of city life around it. Visitors are treated to a fascinating collection of royal portraits, old silver and armory dating back to the 17th century. Its spacious and comfortable rooms, the lounge and the wood-paneled library with its collection of rare books, all these wear the charm and grace of a golden era in history.



The Jai Mahal Palace was built in the 18th century by Hargovind Natani in a typical palace style with high domes, chhattries and cupolas with intricate lattice work done in the Rajasthani tradition. It was taken over by the Taj Group in the early 80's. The palace has been painstakingly restored to its former glory. The palace has most of the rooms overlooking a rooms overlooking a beautiful garden that replicates an 18th century garden laid out by a Mughal Emperor, 200 kms east of Jaipur. The interiors have been tastefully done. The elegant and luxurious suites have very interesting 19th century imprints of Rajput Architecture by Sir Swinton Jacob. Other interesting features in the palace are old crystal mirrors and chandeliers, miniature paintings and tapestries, stained glass panels and marble inlay work. Other special events here are the cultural programmes organized by the hotel in the evenings. A beauty parlor, a solar heated swimming pool, a bar and a lounge that serves tea, coffee and snacks are among the other facilities available.



The Rambagh Palace is one of the most beautiful palaces in india. It was constructed in the 19th century originally as the garden house of a royal maid. After the death of the maid Kesar Badaran, Sir Swinton Jacob, a British Engineer was given the task of converting the garden house into a guest house cum hunting house. Rambagh Palace later became home to one of the most beautiful women in the world, Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. The palace played host to several royal visitors of India and abroad including queen Elizabeth and prince Philip. Several lavish banquets and celebrations were held here. Events of interest include tours to the city and nearby places of interest. The hotel is well equipped to organize meetings, conferences and theme parties. Tennis, squash, cultural programmes, indoor swimming pool, coffee shop and a bar are the other attractive features.

Source: Wikipedia and Indiatourinfo

A Village Called Giethoorn

A village called Giethoorn is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, about 5 km southwest of Steenwijk. Giethoorn used to be a carfree town known in the Netherlands as Venice of the North or Venice of the Netherlands. A carfree town is an area of a city or town in which automobile traffic is prohibited. They are instituted by communities who feel that it is desirable to have areas not dominated by the automobile. Converting a street or an area to car-free use is called pedestrianisation. It became famous, especially after 1958, as the Dutch film maker Bert Haanstra made his famous comedy Fanfare there. Therefore, Giethoorn is an internationally well-known tourist attraction in the Netherlands. In the old part of the village, there were no roads (nowadays there is a cycling path), and all transport was done by water over one of the many canals. The lakes in Giethoorn were formed by peat unearthing.

Derinkuyu Underground City

Video thanks to TravelChannelTV

Derinkuyu Underground City is located in the homonymous Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province, Turkey. It is on the road between Nevşehir and Niğde, at a distance of 29 km from Nevşehir.

It was opened for visitors as of 1969 and to date, only ten percent of the underground city is accessible for tourists. Its eight floors extend at a depth of approximately 85 m.

The underground city at Derinkuyu has all the usual amenities found in other underground complexes across Cappadocia, such as wine and oil presses, stables, cellars, storage rooms, refectories, and chapels. Unique to the Derinkuyu complex and located on the second floor is a spacious room with a barrel vaulted ceiling. It has been reported that this room was used as a religious school and the rooms to the left were studies.

Between the third and fourth levels is a vertical staircase. This passage way leads to a cruciform church on the lowest level.

The large 55 m ventilation shaft appears to have been used as a well. The shaft also provided water to both the villagers above and, if the outside world was not accessible, to those in hiding.

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Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas

The Freedom of the Seas is the largest cruise ship ever built. She is called an Ultra-Voyager because she is an extension of the Royal Caribbean International (RCI) Voyager of the Seas class. The Freedom of the Seas is larger than the Voyager and carries 500 more passengers. The ship's extra length and size has enabled RCI to include lots of exciting options never seen on a cruise ship before such as a surfing pool.

The Freedom of the Seas left Aker Finnyards shipyard in Turku, Finland on 24 April 2006. With gross tonnage of 154,410 tons, they surpassed Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2 as the largest ships in the world even though they are five meters shorter than the Queen Mary 2. The Freedom of the Seas includes two new features: the Flowrider and the H2O Zone for kids. The Freedom of the Seas continues the traditions of the Voyager Class Ships with a 400-foot (120 m) mall named the Royal Promenade, featuring pubs, shops, arcades, bars, and a 24 hour Cafe Promenade.

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Corbett National Park

The Jim Corbett National Park, located in the foothills of the Himalayas, is a primal jungle as Rudyard Kipling put it. It is named after the hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment - is the oldest national park in India. Despite extensive tourism, the park has managed to retain its primeval ambience, where man must walk timorously, in awe and with a strong sense of his own insignificance. Home to a variety of flora and fauna, it is famous for its wild population of Tigers, Leopards and Elephants.

The park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park. The park spans across some 920.9 square km at an altitude of 600 to 1100 metres about the foothills of the western Himalayas in the districts of Nainital and Pauri Garhwal in the state of Uttaranchal (formerly part of Uttar Pradesh). In its eventful 64-year life, it has grown considerably in size and now includes the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary as a part of its 1,319 sq km of reserved forest area.

Pictures via corbett-national-park

Floating Swimming Pool

This is the Badeschiff or "bathing ship" in Berlin, Germany - an old barge or cargo container which has been converted into an outdoor swimming pool. Beached on the shoreline in the East Harbour section of the River Spree, the Badeschiff allows citizens to swim in a safe and sanitary environment in their river, at least in a figurative sense. The Spree itself is far too polluted to permit safe bathing.

The Badeschiff opened in the summer of 2004 as an art project organized by the Stadtkunstprojekte (City Art Project Society) of Berlin. It was created by local artist, Susanne Lorenz, to enliven city life along the long-neglected Spree. The facilities have proved highly popular as it has allowed Berliners to swim (at least in a figurative sense), in the long polluted and unsanitary Spree.

The 32 metre-long pool also has a bar with DJs until midnight. Disc jockeys commonly spin records outside the pool entrance where there is also a bar. It is open to the public daily from 8am to midnight and even open all-year-round.

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Christmas Island Red Crab

The Christmas Island red crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, is a species of terrestrial crab endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. Although restricted to a relatively small area, it is estimated that up to 120 million red crabs may live there, making it the most abundant of the 14 terrestrial crab species on Christmas Island. Christmas Island red crabs eat mostly fallen leaves and flowers, but will occasionally eat other animals, including other red crabs if the opportunity arises. The annual red crab mass migration to the sea to spawn has been called one of the wonders of the natural world and takes place each year around November; after the start of the wet season and in synchronisation with the cycle of the moon.

Some of the Breathtaking Aquariums Around The World

Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta

World's Largest Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, features more animals than any other aquarium in more than eight million gallons of water. Through a path of more than sixty exhibits, the Aquarium tells a global water story, with features modeled after the greatest zoos and aquariums in the world. Each majestic exhibit is designed to inspire, entertain and educate.

Churaumi Aquarium

World's Second Largest Aquarium, Churaumi Aquarium, part of the Ocean Expo Commemorative National Government Park located in Motobu, Okinawa, Japan; capacity: 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water; one of the few places where visitors can see a great variety of sea creatures including sharks and manta rays.

UShaka Marine World

Largest Aquarium in Africa - UShaka Marine World, located on the strip of land between the beachfront and the harbor in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; a beautiful amusement park and at the same time the worlds fifth largest aquarium with 32 water tanks. The sea creatures found in the aquarium range from small sea horses all the way through to sharks and dolphins. The Aquarium is built to look like an old wreck.