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Archive for May, 2007

Nearly 40 million tourists from around the world visit New York City every year. What they find is a bustling metropolis, dense with museums, parks, theaters, shops, famous buildings and inhabitants as diverse as themselves. Read more… »

Why is New York so famous? After all, the weather is terrible, the city is overcrowded, and even the buildings are second to many others elsewhere. The cigar-shaped strip of land called Manhattan is difficult to access with bridges crowded with cars, streets clogged with buses and taxis. Read more… »

Whether you’re looking for great jazz, comedy, booze, coffee or just plain wild, New York’s clubs are among the best in the world. All decors, price ranges, ambiance and kinds of acts are here in abundance. Read more… »

One of the world’s most famous bridges, who could think that a steel roadway could engender such controversy and passion? Yet, that’s the history of the Brooklyn Bridge since before its construction began to the present day. Read more… »

Since it first opened its gates in 1899 the Bronx Zoo has been the world’s premier destination for viewing animals from the world over. Read more… »

On a slender island crammed with taxis, buses, people and buildings a long string of innovators has managed to create both a major business center and a tourist paradise. All within easy reach by subway, bus or taxi. Read more… »

With all the property acquisition of famous buildings over the last thirty years there is still, thankfully, one that has retained its original name: The Chrysler Building. Read more… »

Along Broadway in Manhattan there are more things to do and see on one street than in many large cities. This long avenue runs north-south, mostly, and its deviations are appropriate to its role in the life of New York. Broadway is home to business, theater, dining, shops and a host of famous buildings. Read more… »

For over 100 years, Carnegie Hall has been the mutual destination of musicians seeking the highest level of their profession and those who want to experience their efforts. Read more… »

Park Avenue through the 1930s was known as ‘the street where the rich people lived’. To have an apartment there was ‘to have arrived’. When you arrive you’ll see fewer apartments and a new kind of ‘rich people’ – multi-national corporate headquarters. Read more… »

It’s rare to find an oasis of calm in frenetic New York City. The lights of Broadway, the zooming taxis and the throngs of people all suggest what New York is: a bustling, modern metropolis. Even lush Central Park is a buzz with skaters, Frisbee tossers and the odd car crossing from east to west. Read more… »

Welcome to the ‘city within a city’ – Rockefeller Center. Begun in the 1930s, partially as an antidote to the effects of the Depression, the 19 building complex sits on 11 acres between 48th and 52nd Streets and between 5th and 6th Avenues. Read more… »

The heart of New York City in so many ways, this neon-lit district is the Las Vegas of Manhattan. For nearly twenty years, apart from Broadway shows, the area was almost unbearable owing to the seedy inhabitants and shops. No more. Read more… »

New Yorkers are famous for many things, not least of which is a sense of irony. One more instance of that can be found in the fact that Wall Street, by which most people really mean the New York Stock Exchange, isn’t located on the street called Wall at all. It’s actually at 20 Broad Street. Read more… »

The center of Manhattan in a dozen ways, Fifth Avenue bisects the city from below 23rd Street to the north end of Central Park and beyond. Read more… »

Beginning the day at Madison Square Park, on Madison and 23rd is just about the most peaceful start possible in this beehive of a city. Read more… »

The Empire State Building in mid-town Manhattan has justifiably been called the eighth wonder of the world. No longer the tallest building in the world, it remains one of the largest office buildings and is currently the tallest in New York at 102 stories. Read more… »

At 38 stories, the CBS building in New York isn’t anywhere near the tallest. Its location at 52nd St and 6th Avenue isn’t special. Even its design and construction were not – as buildings go – controversial. Read more… »

Few museum buildings can justifiably claim to be works of art in their own right. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim museum of modern art is in that sparsely populated class. Read more… »

Completed in 1873, Central Park is among the world’s great urban innovations. Bound by 5th and 8th avenues on the east and west respectively, and from 59th Street on the south, 110th Street on the north, these 843 acres encompass a lot to see and do. Read more… »

Completed in 1868, Prospect Park is Frederick Law Olmstead’s second masterpiece – and easily the rival of his first, Central Park. Read more… »

Geographically, New York City is divided into five boroughs or districts: Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx. Interestingly, each houses a botanical garden and deciding which is the best is an exercise we leave to experts. Read more… »

Las Vegas, City of Dreams made real. Once upon a time there was gambling and top-notch musical entertainment. Now there’s that and a whole lot more. Read more… »

Not too many years ago, using the word ‘dining’ in relation to Las Vegas would have elicited laughter from any gourmet. True, you could get a steak for $2, but it was barely edible. Read more… »

Vegas is naturally associated with gambling. Then came the inexpensive food, in order to get people to stay near the casinos to… gamble. Later came shows to attract people to the casinos to, well, gamble. Read more… »

With all the new shopping centers, restaurants and entertainment offered by Las Vegas these days it’s easy to forget about the casinos. But they are still the center of attraction for many. Read more… »

Home of the famed Cirque du Soleil show O, the Bellagio Hotel has this and much more to offer the Las Vegas guest. Opened in 1998, this luxury hotel is patterned after a Roman extravaganza, but offers everything for the modern traveler. Read more… »

One of the oldest hotels in Las Vegas still standing, first opened in August 1966, Caesars Palace has never gone out of style. Recently renovated, it is still the Emperor of the city. Read more… »

MGM has a long and glorious tradition as an entertainment company. Some of the most treasured films of the 20th century were produced by this motion picture enterprise. Read more… »

Owned by MGM Mirage, this Hawaiian-themed, 3,000 room hotel is as much an entertainment complex as a place to stay. Over 40 years ago it was known as Castaways. But it’s as up-to-the-minute fresh as any place in Vegas now. Read more… »

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino contains everything listed in its name, and a great deal more. Once upon a time on its site stood the legendary Sands Hotel. But Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack were long departed from the scene by the time the venerated structure was demolished to make way for The Venetian. Read more… »

Every city in America has a main street. Many European cities do, too, but as many of them are round it’s sometimes hard to tell which it is. Read more… »

The Star Trek Experience inside the Las Vegas Hilton is one of the more unusual ‘rides’ a visitor can take anywhere, even taking Disneyland into account. Read more… »

The Stratosphere is not the largest hotel, nor does it have the biggest casino. But it’s got something that is nowhere else in Las Vegas or anywhere else: The Stratosphere Tower. Read more… »

At 755 East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas resides one of the more unusual museums that visitors to this wild city can view. Considering that we’re talking about Vegas, that’s saying something. Read more… »

Imagine Las Vegas and you have images of neon lights, casinos and maybe a spectacular show. But Vegas has much more to offer than the expected modern pleasures. Read more… »

The astounding Cirque du Soleil is an enormous acrobatic act… and so much more. If you have an image of the old time circus with clowns and acrobats, be prepared for a shock. Cirque du Soleil has this, and much more, but in a form that is wildly different. Read more… »

January 26, 1788. The first British settlers arrive in Australia, on the western side of Circular Quay in Sydney. They arrive at an area now known as ‘The Rocks’. Read more… »

Whether your taste runs to the modernist or whether you prefer classical, Sydney’s Historic Houses Trust has a sample that will enlighten and entertain. Read more… »

The Sydney Harbor (technically, Port Jackson) offers a number of stunning views. But how much more delightful to see them from a different angle on the water, while moving at top speed in a jet boat, or cruising along on a sailboat. Read more… »

Officially known as Port Jackson, Sydney Harbor reaches 20km (12mi) inland, where it joins the mouth of the Parramatta River. But on the ocean side of the harbor is a much more interesting sight: the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Read more… »

As the natives say, the ANMM is chock-a-block full of things to see and do, all relating to Australia’s relationship with the sea. The contents are no big surprise, considering that 90% of the descendants of European ancestry that settled this island live within about 60km of the shore. Read more… »

Established in 1827, the Australian Museum was the country’s first major collection of natural artifacts. First opened to the public in 1857, the Australian Museum is Sydney’s premier offering in the arena of Natural History. Read more… »

The gallery is as individual as the country of Australia itself. Housing every style from 16th century landscape to the latest fad-with-no-name, this Sydney museum offers something for every taste. Read more… »

The Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia has a long and glorious history. Set on over 50 acres since the turn of the 20th century, the Zoo looks out over the magnificent harbor. Views of the old bridge and the new Opera House dazzle the eye, along with the green hills and blue sky. Read more… »

A part of Sydney for over 125 years, the Powerhouse Museum has housed science and technology exhibits at the present site since 1988. Read more… »

Located on the eastern side of Darling Harbor, the Sydney Aquarium displays more than 650 species in a unique setting. Read more… »

Like many large public projects, the building of the Sydney Opera House was bathed in controversy. But the final result is nonetheless breathtaking. While the interior has many flaws, such as the stage being blocked from portions of the seating area, inside and out it’s an architectural marvel. Read more… »

Just a short walk from Sydney’s world-famous opera house is the equally impressive, and much older, Royal Botanic Gardens. Read more… »

The oldest astronomical center in Australia, the Sydney Observatory has a long and glorious history of scientific endeavors. Now converted to a museum and educational facility, it’s officially part of the Powerhouse science museum complex. Read more… »