Category Archives: Travel

I May Be Going to Spain on My Next Vacation

Seville

 
I have never thought that I was ever going to consider going to Spain. I dated a South American girl in college, and it didn’t end all that well. After we broke up, she moved to Spain with the new boyfriend. I was upset for a long time after that and the last place I wanted to spend my hard earned money and precious time was there. But I have spoken with people who have spent their holidays in Spain, and I am told that the country is absolutely gorgeous. There is several hundred years of history there that helped shape architecture and the like.

I have recently picked up contact with the ex girlfriend, and we decided to let bygones be bygones. It also helped that she dumped the guy she moved there with :). Now I am considering to take some time off and let her show me around the country. I know I would have a good time. The Spaniards are famous for being laid back and fun-loving. That’s how I like to kick it.

There are few places I like to check out, and I don’t want to spend a lot . I have found this really cool website that had really reasonable rates on Malaga Hotels, Granada Hotels, Seville Hotels and more.

I really don’t think I would want to try to start something back up with my ex gal, though. Just too much history, know what I mean? I am still convinced that it would be a good time, though.

Posted 29 January 2008 † korneld § ‡ Comments (0) °

Las Vegas Shows Ranked And Rated

 
Las Vegas shows are the cream of the crop of Las Vegas entertainment. Having lived in Las Vegas, well in Henderson, NV - a suburb of Sin City, for four years, I have experienced the wide variety of entertainment of the city first hand, everything from the really waste of time ones through the sleazy to the really classy, quality ones. If you are a local like me, you will learn over time what’s worth the time and money and what’s to avoid. My friends from out of town have greatly benefited from my residing in Las Vegas. If you decide to spend a few days in town, I really suggest you take the time and dedicate the funds (the really good ones can be pricey) to catch one or more of the permanent shows on the strip.

At the top of my list are the five Cirque De Soleil productions. I consider them must see Las Vegas shows. Mystere is located at the TI or Treasure Island, Ka is playing at the MGM Grand, Zumanity is at the New York, New York, “O” is located at the Bellagio and the latest edition to the bunch Love is at the Mirage, which is based on the music of the Beatles. People have their favorites, but I have heard no one who didn’t like these shows. Over 90 percent of all people are crazy about them. No other stand-alone show or franchise comes even close to this. ho would have thought, though. Circus as a form of entertainment was pretty much dead until the Cirque De Soleil guys came along. The acts are basically the same even though they have some remarkable twists to them. There is a story, the customers and make up are out of this world and they are all very cleverly done from start to finish. and if you were to return to see the same show again some time in the future, you can be sure you will see some new stuff every time. The reason being that, one, they want you to come back, so they do everything in their power to keep it fresh, and two, the acts largely depend on the performers, their abilities and creative input. People will come and go, and so will the acts within a particular show. I know this for a fact, because I have friends who are in “O.” Bare none, they are my most favorite Las Vegas Shows. Tickets are between $70 to &150, but they are well worth the money if you got it.

There are more great shows in Las Vegas, and one that stands out is the Blue Man Group. It is wacky and very creative display of colors in the form of paint and music.

There are some Las Vegas comedy shows you might want to check out like Gordy Brown at the Venetian. I haven’t seen it yet, but I heard it’s good. The Amazing Jonathan, a comedy/magic show, is at the Riviera. There are some purely magic oriented shows too, but I don’t like magic so I have never seen one.

There are some nude revues for both man (check out Fantasy at the Luxor) and the ladies: Thunder From Down Under is a bunch of buff Australian guys putting on a great show (it was voted as the best male revue on the Strip - that’s ahead of the Chippendales). They are at the Excalibur.



Cirque De Soleil In Las Vegas - More amazing video clips are a click away

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Posted 01 September 2007 † korneld § ‡ Comments (0) °

Ruins From The Roman Empire

The ancient city of Aquincum was located on the North-Eastern border of Pannonia province, which it was the capital of within the Roman Empire. The ruins of the city can be found today in 3rd District of Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

Much of the remains of this piece of the Roman Empire was bought to light by archaeologists already, although, there are still parts that remain covered by vegetation and need their attention. Some of the most impressive parts of the ruins, namely the aqueducts the Roman Empire is credited for inventing are flanked by a busy highway on both sides. It hurts to think about what they must have ruined to have that built. To gain a closer look at them, one must drive in either direction down the roadway as there is no direct access to the site.

It was originally a Celtic settlement, Aquincum served as a military base (or castrum in Latin). It was part of border protection system of the Roman Empire called “limes”. Around 41-54 AD, a 500 strong cavalry unit was stationed here, while a Roman legion of 6,000 men was sent there around 89 AD. The city gradually spread around the fortress. Pannonia was later reorganised by the Roman Empire in AD 106 and Aquincum became the capital city of Pannonia Inferior. The city had around 30-40000 people living in it by the end of the 2nd century, and covered a major part of the area today known as the Óbuda district within Budapest.

Subjects of the Roman Empire living in the settlement enjoyed such technological achievements as central heating in the houses, public baths, palaces, or amphitheatres for social events.

The following video was shot among the ruins of Aquincum. Enjoy.



Ruins From The Roman Empire - Click here for another funny movie.

Posted 28 August 2007 † korneld § ‡ Comments (0) °

Tallest Drop Roller Coaster

The tallest drop roller coaster is called SheiKra (pronounced shee-krah) is a vertical drop or dive roller coaster at the Busch Gardens theme park Tampa, Florida. It is located in the Stanleyville section of Busch Gardens Africa. SheiKra was the very first dive machine roller coaster in the United States and even in all of North America. It is in a tie with Six Flags’s Goliath in Georgia for the tallest roller coaster in the southeast. SheiKra was opened in May ‘05. A couple of years later, it was converted into a floor-less configuration.

After the vehicle leaves the station, there is 47-degree climb up a 200 foot lift hill. Next, they make a U-turn and the holding break kicks in and the drop holds the trains 3-5 seconds. Next, the track drops 90 degrees down and into an Immelmann loop. After that, the trains shoots into an upward turn into the mid-section of the course slowdown before the 2nd 81 degree drop. This time it’s 138 feet tall. Then the train travels on to a turn around into a water brake (there is a huge splash) and a final helix into the final brake run.

In 2007, the roller coaster was converted, which left the passengers’ feet dangling. The area most affected by the work done on the ride was the station. In the beginning stages of the conversion, the roller coaster was left open for business while crews worked on it at night.

While closed for a period of three weeks the trains received their floor-less upgrade. The new trains make use of original hardware. The wheels, bogies, seats and harnesses were removed then installed again on a new floor less chassis. The down time was also used for loading new upgraded software into the ride’s computer systems to accommodate the floor-less operation. Next followed extensive testing to make sure all of the rides safety systems were in perfect working order followed by the training of employees on new ride’s operation and do in an emergency situation, if the the roller coaster came to a stop and people needed to be escorted off the ride.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, Busch Gardens Tampa Executive Vice President and General Manager, Dan Brown and other big wigs took the first official ride on the new floor-less roller coaster.

The following video was done by the Discovery Channel. They mounted a camera in front of the guy taking the ride. While you only get some idea of the intensity of the roller coaster’s two drops due the the fixed nature of the view, it is priceless to watch the man’s reaction to it all. It is also curious that instead of a long, two-seats-next-to-each-other configuration they opted for a wide one. There are 8 seats next to each other and a total of five rows. This thing is wide!



Tallest Drop Roller Coaster - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Posted 21 August 2007 † korneld § ‡ Comments (1) °

Paris Las Vegas Hotel And Casino Video And Review

The Paris Las Vegas Hotel And Casino is located in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. It is pretty darn near the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard - also known as “the Strip” - and Flamingo Road wedged right in between Bally’s Casino and the former Aladdin now known as Planet Hollywood Casino.

At the bottom of this article, there is a short video of the Paris Las Vegas to give you a taste of what it’s like - inside and out.

The Paris Las Vegas is one of the newer hotel in town, only e few years old, but not the most expensive one. It’s charm is not in it’s size, but what they have done with the idea. There are a lot of so-called “themed” casinos in Las Vegas, but a few of them live up to the expectations and deliver more than just having its intended theme anywhere else, but in it’s name. The Paris Las Vegas is one of the few of these hotel/casino combos, if you will, that actually wow you when you enter it. One can tell that worked hard to recreate the streets of Paris with it’s shops and little cafes where you can sit “outside” (the blue sky is painted on the ceiling), and you do feel like you are outside as opposed to the inside of a building.

On the outside, you will find architecture that are again a very good recreation of the original. This even includes a scaled-down version of the Arc de Triumph and the round about around it, which serves as the main entrance to the hotel.

But, of course, the main attraction of the Paris Las Vegas is the replica of the Eiffel Tower. While, again, it’s smaller than the original, it is one hundred percent steel, has a restaurant in it and you can take an elevator to the top. The greatest idea the architects of the Paris Las Vegas had was to not have the Eiffel Tower as a separate structure from the hotel itself, as one would expect it, bit to make it an integral mart of it. Get this: only two legs of the tower are outside of the building. The other two you will only be able to see, if you enter the casino section. It is quite a sight to have those large structures on the inside.

The Paris Las Vegas is also a great hang-out place. You go there to have a good time, and it’s not just about gambling.



Paris Las Vegas Hotel And Casino - Click here for more free videos

Posted 19 August 2007 † korneld § ‡ Comments (0) °