America Zoom

“Niagara’s Fury” is a hi-tech virtual reality show which tells the 10,000 year formation story of biggest natural wonder of the world - Niagara Falls. And where is this virtual history being recreated? At Niagara Falls itself! Niagara Falls’ Table Rock complex of restaurants and shops at the edge of water front underwent renovation; the revamp has cost the place some $38 million and out of which $7 were invested to create this virtual reality super show. This is expected to be a biggest tourist attraction at the Canadian Falls.

Niagara Falls gets nearly 6 million visitors every year. The Canadian tourism industry is on decline. So some extravagant experience has been planned to attract these visitors to Table Rock.

The hi-tech show begins with animation and geological history of Niagara Falls and then the time lapse 10,000 year history lesson is recreated through special effects and hit-tech imaging. Visitors have full fury experience with complete glacial snow, pelting rain and rumbling erosion. They live through it all to see creation of biggest natural wonder. This family friendly Fury is different from all amusement parts on the American side of the falls. This will be a great hit with genX who enjoy a mix of fun, travel, study, adventure, special effects and real- life virtual experiences.

Much technology and research has been sourced from Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, Europe and parts of North America to create this technological wonder next to one of the Seven Wonders of the World. No guesses for which one ends up as more crowd-puller!

Source: usatoday

The U.S. Library of Congress is going to display the first map to use the name ‘America‘, created by ancient German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller.

This world map is the first document to indicate the western hemisphere and label the Pacific Ocean. The cartographer drew this map in early 1507. Later the map was lost in a library of a German castle for 400 years and was rediscovered in 1901. Ultimately in 2003 US Library of Congress purchased the 12 sheets of 4-ft by 8-ft document for 10 million US dollars from Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg. Now the Library is going to display this precious treasure of cartography in public.

This map has drawn lots of attention not just because of its antique value but also for some unsolved doubts and confusion,that it has created among the research scholars and specialists. The map maker displayed the Pacific Ocean as its own body of water long years before it was found. He had also portrayed South America almost seamlessly. Before sketching the map Waldseemuller collected lots of information from the famous explorers like Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and some other unknown Portuguese and Spanish resources. But John Hebert, Chief of the Geography and Map division of library believes that as the way Vespucci described,it was almost impossible to draw such a near-perfect sketch of America. Library of Congress said that the map represents a total contemporary view of the world. Another doubt is also troubling the specialists. They are busy finding the reasons why the German scholar stopped using the name ‘America’ in the next maps. Rather he started indicating this land as ‘terra incognita‘ or ‘unknown land’. Afterwards he also gave misgivings as he first mistakenly named that new territory as ‘America’ after Vespucci’s first name, thinking that he [and not Columbus] had discovered that.

The researchers believe that the map may disclose some more unknown facts. However, for the time being, the library has decided to exhibit it in its specialized display casing from December 13, 2007.

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This is the first hotel in US to customize its facilities for motorcycle enthusiasts and travelers. Scheduled to open in March 2008, in Milwaukee, home to the manufacturing unit of the legendary motorcycle Harley Davidson, Iron Horse Hotel is the country’s first modern luxury boutique hotel with a separate facility for the large and growing segment of motorcycle enthusiasts.

Announcing the hotel’s special biker suites and facilities Tim Dixon spokesman for the Iron Horse Hotel said,

Today’s motorcycle riders are senior executives, CEO’s and successful entrepreneurs. These are weekday business travelers accustomed to luxury hotels. We’ll offer this customer the business services they expect along with features and amenities that address their needs as riders.

Everybody in the world knows that Dinosaurs lived, walked and thrived on earth some millions of years ago. But there is very little evidence to prove their era. Few skeletons here and there, few fossilized remains in various museums across the world. But, ever heard of a place where one can actually see fossilized Dinosaur footprints and find fossils of creatures that lived 250 million years ago!

For long, Europe knew about luxury train travel on the Orient Express. The opulence of Orient Express has been recreated in the USA with the GrandLuxe Rail Journeys. Six 1950s railway cars are attached to Amtrak’s California Zephyr that passes through some of the most historic and picturesque locales of USA.

On boarding the luxury train butlers escort the guests to the wood-paneled ‘vintage Pullman’ room, 5 feet wide and 7-feet long with a 4 inch wide closet and two drawers. A beaming butler will show the passenger how to fold down the Pullman’s tapestry-upholstered seatback to become a bed and how a nozzle serves as a shower in the 2 feet by 3 feet toilet. There are guidebooks for every passenger that explains the detail and historical importance of every stop.

Walt Disney has been busy making cartoons and long animated movies. Lately, they seem to keep themselves busy with the idea of U.S. tourism promotion. How so? Well, the movie that they made on popular U.S. landmarks is supposed to attract foreign visitors to the country. Also, it will hopefully put a friendly perspective to the often sad and depressing business of foreigners traveling to the U.S.

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is trying to make things cooler and present the U.S. as a friendly country to the foreigners, in order to promote international tourism. The post nine eleven era resulted the U.S. tourism to take a nose dive. So, the Disney short is just the Federal govt.s effort to attract international visitors.

The movie hardly has any dialog whatsoever, except a meager welcome. The movie does a pretty good job of showing all the popular tourist destinations in the country. It will be shown at all the popular ports of entry in the U.S. Statistics tell us that the international travel to U.S. has dropped by 17% not including the Canadians and Mexicans.

The Department of Homeland Security needs to put in more effort on U.S. tourism development. I think before anything else they need to make the folks in smaller towns more aware of other cultures and societies. Unfortunately, a greater percentage of Americans are geographically challenged.

Disney should make more movies on foreign culture and society for the Americans. An interesting aspect about this particular movie is that it shows the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Movies can do so much to boost tourism. The rest of the effort lies on the economy. The decreasing dollar in the international market is the only hope of U.S. tourism going up.

Image Credit: Go

When it’s fall in U.S., it is the season for cranberry harvesting in Massachusets. Not only is Massachusets famous for the Great American revolution, but also for the cranberry bogs. The U.S. state even has the Cape Cod Cranberry grower’s association. As a matter of fact about 27 percent of world’s cranberry’s originate from Massachusets.

These berries might be a little fruity for you, but they do make a pretty tasty snack. Personally, I feel that the Cranberry harvesting process is quite interesting. Here’s a quick glimpse at the process. Once the bog is flooded, the harvesters will go around in their vehicles knocking those berries off the vines. This allows the cranberries to float in the bog.

The harvest season is only about six to eight week long. So the cranberries can only be picked up by the end of October. I am sure they will be great for some cranberry juice. Although, I seriously doubt that none of the cranberry juice manufacturers use 100% cranberries for their product.

The red cranberries floating in the bog are quite picturesque indeed. ’tis the season for a trip to Massachusets. So, if you are planning a weekend visit to somewhere in fall, might as well try Massachusets. Come on down and check out the spectacular cranberry harvesting.

Image Credits:asergeev[1], [2]

If your idea of a perfect holiday is to be with your loved ones on a mesmerizing tropical island where nature’s whispers and murmurs are the only chatter you can hear, then head to Little Whale Cay, a private island in the Bahamas.

Little Whale Cay can perfectly be described as nature’s own paradise, where the palm-fringed, white sandy beaches surround pristine water and exotic birds, butterflies, and foliage on the turquoise lagoons create a picturesque scenery.

For the tourists in Bolivia, there is a new kind of attraction - salt desert. Mostly known as Salar de Uyuni, this desert has become popular lately after it was listed as the top 25 wonders of the world. Before this, Bolivia didn’t really have any star attraction.

As of now, about 60,000 tourists visit the 1100 kms. of salt flat a year. So you can well imagine the tourist boom. But, how’s the weather in the weird salt desert?

Here’s an example. A typical weather condition in this part of the world would call for about freezing night temps. and scorching heat during the day.

Tired of football, basketball or other boring sports? Well, here’s real sports news. Every year, an exciting sport event popularly known as Wife Carrying Championship takes place in Maine. You’ll be surprised to know what men get if they win the contest. Men earn their wife’s weight in beer plus five times the partner’s weight in cash and a chance to compete in the World Championships in Finland. Sounds amazing!

If Las Vegas is a place you have added in your travel destination list then I’ll suggest you to check out MGM Grand Detroit. Raising the city’s hospitality offerings to unparalleled heights, the new MGM Grand Detroit debuted last week. Billed as the first Vegas-style resort in one of the major metropolitan area, $800 million MGM Grand includes 400 rooms and suites and its 18-story hotel has electronic concierges in each room.

If you’ve been anxiously awaiting a tour of the Canyon Lake Gorge, get ready as the Gorge Preservation Society (GPS) has opened once a month. Said to be formed in just three days, Canyon Lake Gorge was till date open just only to researchers since the 2002 flood but GPS now plans to share the beauty and wonder of this natural phenomenon with the public.

If you are in the United States and looking for something fun to do, come down to West Virginia.

The rail tours are the best way to explore parts of West Virginia. Inside the Monongahela national forest, the Shay locomotive takes pride in making it’s turns.

Well, who on earth would know that there’s a museum devoted to the great spies? None other than LATimes. The International spy museum is all about the greatest spies and the spy related activities.

The Operation spy package at the International spy museum lets visitors become a spy! — at least for an hour. The Spy museum is located at Washington D.C.

Auguste Renoir is as famous as Van Gogh. Renoir’s paintings were recently exhibited on a three city tour. The paintings went around from London to Ottawa, Canada and then moved to their last stop: Philadelphia, in US. About 60 paintings were put together for this particular show.