Lunch is served on bamboo dining tables set in a few inches of crystalline running water from the falls. The experience of dining on delicious local dishes with the sparkling waterfalls as a backdrop with clear spring water running over your feet is a truly singular and memorable experience only Villa Escudero can offer.
Marina Beach is an urban beach in the city of Chennai, India, along the Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean. The beach runs from near Fort St. George in the north to Besant Nagar in the south, a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi), making it the longest natural urban beach in the country and the world's second longest. The Marina is primarily sandy, unlike the short, rocky formations that make up the Juhu Beach in Mumbai. The average width of the beach is 300 m (980 ft), and the width at the widest stretch is 437 m (1,434 ft). Bathing and swimming at the Marina Beach are legally prohibited because of the dangers, as the undercurrent is very turbulent. It is the most crowded beach in the country and attracts about 30,000 visitors a day during weekdays and 50,000 visitors a day during the weekends and on holidays. During summer months, about 15,000 to 20,000 people visit the beach daily.
Marina beach is a major tourist attraction of the city. People visiting Chennai make a point to visit the beach. It is also the main place for the local people to escape from the summer heat. The beach is popular for its shops and food stalls run by about 500 shops run by about 1,212 vendors. The memorials and statues, morning walk, joggers' track, lovers' spot, aquarium, and the like make it a hangout for people of all ages. Kite flying and beach cricket are common sports at the beach, and there are also facilities for pony rides. Beach cricket at the Marina dates back several decades. However, Chennai City Police has banned it at different points due to its interference with traffic and beach walkers. The sea is generally rough and waves are strong. There are fishermen colonies present at both ends of the beach. There are also joyrides, merry-go-rounds and mini giant wheels along the stretch, although they are installed without permission from any government agency.
Transportation
Kamarajar Salai, a six-lane road and one of the arterial roads of Chennai City, runs alongside the beach providing a sea view starting from the Victoria War Memorial near the Cooum River delta till the lighthouse to the south. The road extends further south beyond the lighthouse where it is known as the 'Santhome High Road', running away from the sea but parallel to the beach tillSanthome. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation has a terminus called the 'Anna Square' terminus at the northern end of the beach, Triplicane Terminus near Kannagi statue/Pycrofts Road, Vivekananda House (Ice House) Terminus and Foreshore Estate terminus. Railway stations alongside the beach include the Chepauk, the Tiruvallikeni and the Lighthouse MRTS railway stations.
There was a plan to build a 9.7-km elevated road along the beach connecting the lighthouse with the East Coast Road in the south at a cost of 10,000 million. However, the plan was dropped due to opposition from the public such as the 'Save Chennai Beaches' campaign.
In the small western Austrian village of Terfens, Polish Architects, Irek Glowacki and Marek Rozhanski have unveiled a house that is literally upside down, both inside and out – It’s now open as a tourist attraction.
Although there’s been many fictional portrayals of upside down homes, this one is particularly unique because unlike others, the actual house itself, including the foundation, appears to be fully turned on it’s head – as opposed to those who simply place items in an otherwise normal house onto the room’s ceiling.
Inside, the rooms have an anti-gravity effect. As visitors romp around on the ceilings, each personal effect of the home is kept in place. The fantastical family that “lives” in the upside-down house presumably has young children. Toys dot the outside of the house, and are strewn in the family living and dining area. Stools hang at head height, poised against a counter top.
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a railway in Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908, and was initially operated by the Madras Railway. The railway still relies on its fleet of steam locomotives. NMR comes under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Salem Division. In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to theWorld Heritage Site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the site then became known as "Mountain Railways of India."[3] After it satisfied the necessary criteria, thus forcing abandonment of the modernisation plans. For the past several years diesel locomotives have taken over from steam on the section between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam. Local people and tourists have led a demand for steam locos to once again haul this section. The famous Hindi song Chaiyya Chaiyya from the film "Dil Se" featuring Shahrukh Khanwas shot on the roof top of NMR.
The 'Nilagiri Passenger' train covers a distance of 26 mi (41.8 km), travels through 208 curves, 16 tunnels, and 250 bridges. The uphill journey takes around 290 minutes (4.8 hours), and the downhill journey takes 215 minutes (3.6 hours) It has the steepest track in Asia with a maximum gradient of 8.33%.
Mettupalayam Station
Mettupalayam(Coimbatore) - 0 km (0 mi), 1,069 ft (325.8 m) above sea level - Junction with the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) (Indian Gauge) line from Coimbatore city railway station. Passengers cross the platform to board the Nilagiri Passenger train (NMR). There is a small locomotive shed here and also the carriage workshops for the line.
Leaving Mettupalayum, the line is adhesion worked and actually drops for a short distance before crossing the Bhavani River, after which it starts to climb gently.
Kallar Station
Kallar - 8 km (5 mi), 1,260 ft (384 m) - Closed as a passenger station, this is where the rack rail begins. As the train leaves the station, the gradient is 1 in 12 (8.33%).
Adderly Station
Adderly - 13 km (8.1 mi), 2,390 ft (728.5 m) - Closed as a passenger station but is still a water stop.
Hillgrove Station
Hillgrove - 18 km (11.2 mi), 3,580 ft (1,091.2 m) - Block post and water stop, also has refreshments for passengers.
Runneymede Station
Runneymede - 21 km (13 mi), 4,612 ft (1,405.7 m) - Closed as a passenger station but is still a water stop.
Kateri Road Station
Kateri Road - 25 km (15.5 mi), 5,070 ft (1,545.3 m) - Closed as a passenger station, trains do not stop here.
Coonoor Station
Coonoor - 28 km (17.4 mi), 5,616 ft (1,711.8 m) - main intermediate station on the line at site of the locomotive workshops as well as the top end of the rack rail. Trains must reverse a short distance before continuing their climb to Ooty. It is normal for the locomotive to be changed here with diesel traction, being normal for all trains to Ooty.
El Caminito del Rey is a walkway, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in the province ofMálaga, Spain.
The walkway is one metre (3 feet and 3 inches) in width, and rises over 100 metres (350 feet) above the river below. Constructed of concrete resting on steel rails supported by stanchions at around 45 degrees into the rock face, it is currently in a highly deteriorated state and there are numerous sections where part or all of the concrete top has collapsed. The result is large open air gaps that are bridged only by narrow steel beams or other support fixtures. Very few of the original handrails exist but a safety-wire runs the length of the path. Several people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years and after two fatal accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed both entrances.
In June 2011, the regional government of Andalusia and the local government of Málaga agreed to share costs of restoration (including car parking and a museum) of €9 million. The project will take approximately three years to complete. Many of the original features will remain in place and the new materials that are used will be in keeping with the old design.
The Ice hotel opened on New Year's Day in 2001. For its first year it was located in Montmorency Falls Park, which is on the outskirts of Quebec City, with plans right from the beginning to move to the nearby Duchesnay resort for its next year, where it has been built ever since.
The hotel is located 5 km north of Quebec City, on the first slopes of the Laurentian mountains, in the Charlesbourg borough. It is the first ice hotel in North America and is built each December for an opening date in early January. The hotel has a four-month lifespan each year before being brought down in April. It had 22 beds when it first opened in 2000. In its last iteration it had 85 beds, all made of ice but lined with deer furs and covered with mattresses and Arctic sleeping bags. Only the bathrooms are heated and located in a separate insulated structure.
It takes about a month and a half to build with 60 workers. The Hotel makes its own snow using a special mixture to adjust the humidity. It is built with metal frames, it is allowed to harden for a few days, and then the cranes are removed. The hotel is made of 15,000 tons of snow and 500,000 tons of ice and the walls are up to four feet thick.
The hotel is usually made (the architecture and size may vary from season to season) in arches over rooms with 16 foot (5 m) and larger and higher spaces for one art galleries a club dubbed the N'Ice Club, an "Ice Café" and a 60-foot slide. The walls are over 4 feet (1.2 m) thick on average. All furniture is made of ice. In addition to using ice glasses as in the Kiruna ice hotel, the bar (and room service) also serves cold cuts on ice plates.
Amenities include a nightclub, movie theater, indoor heated washrooms and outdoor hot tubs.
The hotel has been described as a "tourist hotspot" and is backed by Quebec's tourism department. For its first year, it costs $350,000 to build, including $125,000 from the Quebec government.
There is a chapel where weddings are celebrated. The Ice Hotel has been described as one of the "10 dream wedding locations.
Eighteen weddings were conducted for the 2003 season, and the Ice Hotel had its first same-sex wedding in February 2005, after same-sex marriages became legal in Quebec in April of the previous year.
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places. The Giant's Causeway is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.
Ole Scheeren, a German architect based out of Beijing, China designed a floating movie theater to give viewers a truly unique experience while watching films. By using local lobster fisherman rafts with tires, Scheeren created a floating screen and a separate platform for the audience to sit back, relax and enjoy the show. The screen was placed in front of two beautiful rocks in the archipelago in the Bay of Bengal for a film festival called “Film on the Rocks Yao Noi.” After the film festival concluded, the rafts were given back to the fisherman and life as usual went on in the small villages of the region. It may be brought back for next year’s festival.
The Cocoon Tree Tent is one part tent, one part hammock, as it gently bounces in the breeze and rocks its inhabitants to sleep.
The interior features a 2.4 meter circular bed with a custom sheet that can comfortably fit two guests with room to spare. The frame is constructed with a series of ribs that create the shape of the Cocoon sphere and hold the bed in place. Each rib has a hook for a rope or cable that can connect it to nearby trees just like a typical hammock but with more support.
10,000 million. However, the plan was dropped due to opposition from the public such as the 'Save Chennai Beaches' campaign.
