In the Star Wars universe, Tattooine is the home planet of the Skywalker family, but it looks like Tunisia because that’s where many of the exterior shots were filmed. In fact, Tatooine got its name from the town of Tataouine in Tunisia. A lot of the buildings and landscapes you know from the films look pretty much the same today, and many of them welcome tourists. This photo is of a fisherman’s hut which was used as the home of an old hermit named Ben Kenobi. Read about more of these Tunisians locations at LosApos. Link -via reddit

Nisheisha lives in Jamaica, but there’s no chance you will find her home. I have learned from experience that you never trust directions given by children or by people who do not drive. I’ve also learned from experience that those are the people who will ask you for a ride. Oh, they may be able to show you where they live, but you’ll be past a turn before they tell you to turn “back there.” Go ahead, ask a child near you for directions to some nearby landmark! -via Cynical-C

Andy Lewis performed a slacklining routine during the Super Bowl halftime show, and amazed the audience. If slacklining is new to you, you can find out all about this extreme sport (or is it an art?) in an interview with climbing legend Dean Potter at National Geographic News Watch. Oh, yeah, that’s him in the picture, at Yosemite Falls. See a video of Potter’s trip across the abyss at NatGeo. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

The future of waste receptacle technology is here, and it has an LCD screen that can tell you how your stocks are doing today, how long it will take you to get home on public transit, and what the weather looks like for tomorrow.

It’s bombproof, offers a free Wi-Fi  connection, and it appears that the only thing that hasn’t improved is how it handles waste.

One hundred of these computerized trash bins are going to be placed in London’s financial district before the 2012 Olympic Games begin in July, so if you’re heading to London this summer you can stop by and say hi, then you’ll have a great story to tell your grandchildren!

Link

Aric S. Queen was on a quest to be the first person at the ancient Inca city of  Machu Picchu, Peru, on January first. However, that involves some high-altitude walking uphill first thing in the morning, and he despaired as other hikers passed him by. But at the gate, serendipity gave Queen the opportunity to go first.

Ten-plus years of travel, forty-plus countries, countless marvels, but this is the only place I cried at seeing.

One photo was snapped from my phone — those four seconds were the maximum amount of time I wanted to take my eyes off of it.

For 30 seconds, I sat in silence – not even realizing what I had just done.

It took the sound of footsteps behind me to bring everything back to the present. And it took the sounds of voices to realize that when I had first gotten up – there were none.

An estimated 1.2 million people this year, and I was visitor no. 0,000,000,001.

Read Queen’s story and see a video of the adventure at Intelligent Travel magazine. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Aric S. Queen)

Aliens may have been rating our planet as a travel destination all along! This set of reviews is from Matthieu Barrère’s webcomic Awful Drawings. Link -Thanks, Kim!

Your bread might get soggy, but the view is worth it. At the Villa Escudero resort in the Philippines, you can dine right next to a waterfall. Don’t bother wearing shoes because the water runs right through the dining and buffet area.

Link -via Bit Rebels | Photo: maryan54

Forbes Magazine took a look at 10 factors (including violent crimes, unemployment rates, and foreclosures) for the 200 largest metro areas in the United States to find the 10 most miserable cities in America. See if yours make the list:

Miami, Florida
The housing crisis has devastated Miami with 47% of homeowners sitting on underwater mortgages. Foreclosures have been rampant with 364,000 properties in the Miami area entering the foreclosure process since 2008 according to RealtyTrac.

Detroit, Michigan
Detroit has closed schools and laid off police in an effort to avoid a bankruptcy filing this year. Home prices are down 54% the past three years, worst in the U.S. The median price was $38,000 last year in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn metro division.

Flint, Michigan
Flint razed 775 abandoned homes in the year ending October 2011, to try and change the city landscape. The state of Michigan appointed an emergency manager last year to take over Flint's budget and operations. Crime remains a severe problem with the violent crime rate the third worst in the U.S.

West Palm Beach, Florida
South Florida has long been stained by corruption. One of the latest examples: Jose Rodriguez, the mayor of Boynton Beach (part of the West Palm metropolitan division) was suspended from his office last month by Gov. Rick Scott after he was arrested for allegedly using his position to obstruct a child abuse probe involving his wife's estranged daughter. Home prices in the West Palm area are off 50% since 2006.

See the rest at Forbes: Link (Photo: Shutterstock)

Wish there were words to describe how you feel while you travel the globe? The Lonely Planet blog coined some brand new travel-related words that may come in handy in your next journey:

automobilogic n.
The state of mind unique to road trips that convinces travelers that gummi bears and fried onion rings count as a daily serving of fruits and vegetables. Studies indicate that this may lead to automobesity.

bratpacker n.
Someone who believes they have a revolutionary system for packing luggage and insists on explaining it to anyone who will listen.

comeuppants n.
When an obnoxious person loses their luggage and has no change of clothes.

crankophone n.
Someone who tries to make themselves understood in a foreign country simply by speaking louder in their own tongue.

filibluster v.
To cause pointless delay by creating a scene in the airport security line to prove some point about personal privacy rights that no one behind you cares about.

Come to think of it, I know a few crankophones! Read more at the Lonely Planet Blog: Link

This ain't your neighborhood Barnes & Noble, that's for sure! Flavorwire has the gallery of 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world. (The one above is the El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Take a look, before Amazon puts them all out of business! Link

Mr Andhoy and three crew members have embarked on an unpermitted voyage to Antarctica’s Ross Sea, in defiance of both the Norwegian and New Zealand governments.

A previous trip he made to Antarctica almost a year ago ended in disaster when his yacht Berserk sank in a fierce storm and three men died.

Declaring himself “a Viking”, the Norwegian adventurer says he is seeking the wreckage of the Berserk, which was serving as a supply ship for an attempt to reach the South Pole on quad bikes.

New Zealand authorities, who co-ordinated an extensive search and rescue operation last year in which Mr Andhoy and a companion were airlifted to safety, are furious about his return voyage.

Authorities are looking for the Nilaya, which Andhoy has said does not have a locator beacon. It is assumed to not have adequate provisions for an extra expedition member, either. Link -via Arbroath

(YouTube Link)

If watching Return Of The Jedi left you with a longing for a life in the trees, a yearning for an Ewokian lifestyle that just won’t go away, then you’ll want to visit Oregon, where builder of dream houses Michael Garnier runs his Out ‘n’ About Treehouse Treesort.

The Ewok village inspired bed-and-breakfast is best described as “woodsy”, with nine treehouses connected by bridges and staircases and the ultra fun sounding zipline option, for getting around in a heroic hurry.

Enjoy the video tour, and see how treehouses can be an unusual yet fun vacation option.

Link  –via DesignTAXI

“We need your help, oh great citizens of the Internet! I’m writing a book with former Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump, and we’re looking for some old photos for it that you may have in your collection. We’re looking for stuff from his time at Disney (such as Adventureland Bazaar in 1963, Tower of Four Winds, The Enchanted Tiki Room in the 60s, It’s A Small World at World’s Fair, The Land in 1980s) and his outside work (like Bear-y Tales at Knott’s Berry Farm, Circus World, and Busch Gardens). Anything that Rolly has brought to life, we’d love to see your photos of it. We will gladly give you credit AND a signed copy of the book if we use your images!”

I know some of you Neatorama readers have been visiting the park for decades, so here’s a good opportunity to take advantage of those old family vacation photos.

Link Via BoingBoing

Taman Negara in Malaysia is the world’s oldest rainforest. It has flourished since the land rose from the sea during the Jurassic era, around 130 million years ago. Even ice ages haven’t affected the forest.

Far outnumbering the human inhabitants are the flora and fauna of Taman Negara. Within the park boundaries there are tigers, Malayan tapirs, elephants, wild boar, various species of deer, leopards, sun bears, civets and wild ox, to name just a few.

Add to this between 200-300 species of birds and thousands of insects making their lives on the jungle floor. Taman Negara has one of the richest ecologies on earth, protected both by its impenetrability and Malaysian law.

Read more about Taman Negara at Environmental Graffiti. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user taylorandayumi)

New York comedian Mark Malkoff visited every Starbucks in Manhattan, raced a Big Wheel against a bus, and treated people to free cab rides. His latest stunt is to take a trip to Los Angeles and avoid hotel bills by bunking at various celebrity’s homes. Thirteen of the people he contacted said, “Sure!” -Thanks, Mark!

Chinese steamed buns stuffed with meats or other delicious fillings are always a treat, but Japan might have just upped the ante with their new pizza buns found at the local 7-Elevens.While the reviewer at Serious Eats doesn’t seem to be too fond of the actual product, I think we can all agree that the idea has a lot of great potential.

What do you guys think? Yum or yuck?

Link

The plan is to build the unlikely amusement park on the site of the brilliant but doomed French leader’s final victory against the Austrians in the Battle of Montereau in 1814 just south of Paris.

The 1815 Battle of Waterloo, in which the Duke of Wellington ended Napoleon’s rule in France, could be recreated on a daily basis with visitors perhaps even able be able to take part in the reenactments.

They will also be able to take in a water show recreating the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, in which Lord Nelson scored a decisive victory over a French and Spanish coalition aboard HMS Victory but died in the process.

Link -via Samizdata | Image: Jacques-Louis David -via Direktor

Venice is sinking very slowly -only about two inches every 100 years. But worse, the Adriatic sea is rising around Venice as well. A proposed plan to save the Italian city involves “inflating” its porous foundation with sea water to raise the whole town about a foot. Forty billion gallons of water would need to be pumped! Read more about the plan at National Geographic News. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!

(Image credit: Jim Richardson/National Geographic)

Photo: Hugo!/Flickr

No, that's not a photo of a flooded village. Rather, it's of the city of Ganvié in the Republic of Benin, which calls itself "The Venice of Africa." Kuriositas has the details on the history of this curious city:

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the country was called Dahomey and was one of the most powerful states in West Africa. The major ethnic and linguistic group was the Fon and they had made a deal with the Portuguese. Rather than their own people being captured and sold in to slavery they made a contract with the Portuguese to hunt and sell tribes people from smaller ethnic groups.

The Fon warriors were numerous and powerful and there was little other groups of people could do to defend themselves against this onslaught. Then, someone among the Tofinu people came up with an idea. Their name is lost to history but one wise person realized that they could take advantage of the religious practices of their

The Fon were forbidden by their religion to advance upon and water bound settlement. Any groups of people who lived on water were, by the law of the Fon, safe. Lake Nokoué is simply immense. Ganvié was established as a means to escape being sold in to a lifetime’s slavery and shipped across the world in appalling conditions. No wonder its name means the collectivity of those who found peace at last. The alternative translation is the much more to the point We Survived.enemy.

Link - via Look At This

Yesterday marked 100 years since Robert Falcon Scott and the others of his expedition reached the South Pole. Photographer Herbert Ponting recorded images of the journey, although he did not personally accompany Scott all the way to the Pole.

Staying behind likely saved Ponting’s life: Upon reaching the Pole, Scott and his team discovered that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had gotten there first, on December 14, 1911. (Find out how Amundsen won the Pole, in his own words.) Then, weakened by extreme cold and dwindling supplies, Scott’s entire party died on the return journey, in late March 1912.

Ponting’s photographs survived as well, to this day. National Geographic News has a gallery of those historic images posted in honor of the 100th anniversary. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Herbert G. Ponting/National Geographic)

Worried about some pastry scarfing TSA agent “confiscating” your cupcakes for further analysis in their belly? Then get your hands on these TSA-compliant cupcakes from Silver Spoon Bakery, featuring posts with Richard Nixon saying “I am NOT a gel!”, and let them make a statement for you.

Let those hungry TSA agents know you’re wise to their cupcake stealing ways, or put a smile on their normally stoic faces when they get a load of what Tricky Dick has to say about it!

Link  –via Geekosystem

Image: Ivan Meljac

Where else but Iceland would you expect to find big chunks of ice on the beach, instead of sand? Behold the (brr!) beautiful beach of Jökulsárlón as photographed by French photographer Ivan Meljac, and featured in Quiet Moments in Iceland's Landscapes by Fotopedia.

Did you leave your phone at the hotel? Don't feel bad, because that ain't nothing compared to what some people left behind at Travelodge hotels!

The list of lost-and-found items compiled by the budget hotel chain include Frederick the Hamster and an 18-month-old baby.

Among the quirkier items left behind include a life-size Mr Blobby costume, a case full of 100 Duchess of Cambridge masks, and an urn containing the ashes of a guest’s late wife.

One careless visitor left a box contained £50,000 worth of watches and a newlywed bride nearly lost her Vera Wang wedding gown when her husband forgot to pack it.

Staff at Nuneaton Travelodge were even treated to a Christmas surprise when a couple left an entire Santa’s grotto is their room.

They appear to have held their own early celebrations, and left a whole Christmas tree with decorations, lights, a model reindeer, a Father Christmas outfit and a turkey dinner behind.

An 18-month-old boy was accidentally left behind in a Winchester Travelodge, after his busy parents each thought the other had placed him in his car seat.

They drove away to attend a wedding, before realising their toddler son was not in the back of their car moments later.

An energetic Roborovski hamster was also found in his cage in Knutsford, after his forgetful owner drove back to Bristol without him.

Link

When Douglas MacAyeal at the University of Chicago gave undergraduate science interns the boring task of digitizing satellite photos of Antarctic lakes, little did he know that he would stumble upon a neat geographical curiosity: the lakes don't stay put - in fact, they move rapidly along the coastline.

MacAyeal thinks the explanation lies in the unusual location of the George VI ice shelf, trapped as it is in a narrow channel between Alexander Island and the Antarctic mainland. As the ice sheet squeezes through the channel, its outer edges buckle into a series of crests and troughs. The lakes sit in the troughs. The ice shelf pushes into Alexander Island at an oblique angle, so the end of each trough tracks along the coast, dragging its lake with it.

Link

Many of the pools in this list are spectacular because of their location or view, but the pool at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas has a shark aquarium in the middle of it! The salt-water aquarium is separated from the swimming area, but only by glass -and they even have a water slide running through the shark enclosure! Link -via the Presurfer

You probably already know that China has a one child per couple policy, but you might not know how it is enforced or who is granted exceptions to the rule. The answers to these questions can be found over at Mental Floss and they are simply fascinating.

Provincial governments are responsible for enforcing the policy and do so through a mix of rewards and punishments doled out by local officials. In most provinces, having a an extra child gets you a fine, the amount of which varies across provinces. In some places, the fine is a set amount (usually in the thousands of dollars), and in others it’s based on a percentage of the violator’s annual income. In some provinces, policy violators can also have their property and/or belongings confiscated and lose their jobs.

Who knew they even can fire you from your job for having an extra baby?

Link

The Treehotel is a group of unusual tree houses in northern Sweden that guests can rent. All six sides of this one are mirrored, creating beautiful images as the sky and trees reflect on the surface. Others look like a bird’s nest and a flying saucer.

Link -via My Modern Met | Official Website | Photo: Peter Lundstrom

Oddity Central reports that Taiwan’s garbage trucks commonly play music in order to alert people of their arrival in a neighborhood. Among the more popular tunes is Beethoven’s “Für Elise.” They often switch to thematic songs during Christmas and the Chinese New Year. Which songs do you think would be ideal for garbage trucks?

Link

The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines was built decades ago, but was never put into use. The facility’s maintenance is quite an expense, but its owner, the National Power Corporation, has turned the site into a tourist attraction! You can take a tour of the nuclear reactor (something you certainly cannot do in the U.S.) and stay in a cabana on the beautiful beach nearby, which also serves as a turtle sanctuary. Relax, there is no uranium here! But if you can’t just pick up and go to Bataan, take a tour with a gallery of photographs and information from National Geographic News. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!

(Image credit: Jay Directo, AFP/Getty Images)

Burger King

In Canada, poutine, fries covered in cheese curds and gravy, is offered at almost every fast food restaurant, but BK offers their own varieties that fit in with the rest of their food –most notably, the Angry Poutine with fried onions and peppers on top.

In Puerto Rico, mallorcas, sweet pastry buns, are a popular breakfast treat and Burger King takes full advantage of the popularity of these buns by offering the King Mallorca, filled with ham, eggs and three different cheeses. If you want something even more filling, you might want to try their Enormous Omelet, which isn’t an omelet at all, but actually one of the restaurant’s long hamburger buns filled with a hamburger patty, two eggs, bacon and cheese. Later in the day, you can always snack on some King Wings, which are buffalo wings marinated in honey –why aren’t these sold in America yet?

In many countries, including the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico, you can enjoy the deliciously fatty Cheesy Whopper, which features a deep fried disc of cheese on top of a standard Whopper.

Personally, I want to try the Hawaiian BK Chicken available in New Zealand, which is like all the other chicken sandwiches Burger King sells, only it features bacon and pineapple. Sign me up!

KFC

The variety of KFC’s international menus is simply astounding, as the American version exclusively limits itself to fried chicken and a few sides, while the international franchises seem to have no limits on what they serve. On the more standard side, there is the Fillet Tower Burger, which is available throughout Europe and other locations, which is essentially just a chicken sandwich topped with a hashbrown. On the other end of the spectrum is the menu from Thailand, which features stir fries, a tuna and corn salad, fish fingers (like chicken fingers, but fish) and a donut filled with shrimp meat. China offers a similarly strange menu compared to the standard KFC fare, as it includes corn salad, beef wraps, red bean porridge, shrimp burgers and an egg and vegetable soup.

Some of the desserts featured in other countries sound downright delicious, particularly those available in France. Some French KFC dessert selections include a banana and passion fruit tart, panna cotta with raspberry sauce and tiramisu.

As for unique dishes, the Cali Maki Twister, available in the Philippines sounds good but weird. It is a chicken wrap with mangos, cucumber and spicy mayo. Japan’s shrimp bisque pot pie also sounds pretty tasty, although the picture looks a little strange.

Pizza Hut

Naturally, Pizza Hut’s main offering around the globe remains pizza, but what does change is their topping selection. Depending on where you go, you can top your pizza with apricot sauce, asparagus, broccoli, calamari, capers, carbonara sauce, chicken fajita meat, chicken tikka, chorizo, clams, corn, crab, cranberry sauce, cream cheese, curry sauce, eggplant, goat cheese, hot dogs, kebab meat, mashed potatoes, mayonnaise, mint, mussels, potato chips, roast beef, salsa, satay sauce, seaweed, sour cream, shrimp, spicy Thai sauce, sweet corn, tandoori spices, teriyaki chicken, thousand island dressing, tuna or yogurt. And I bet some of you still think pineapple is a weird pizza topping.

As if that weren’t enough variations on your pizza, the restaurant also offers a variety of different stuffed crusts and cheesy bite fillings, including a stuffed crust with kebab meat inside and a cheesy bite crust with shrimp inside.

If you really want to see some different menu items at a Pizza Hut though, head to Hong Kong, where the menu reads more like a five-star restaurant than a crummy American pizza chain. A few highlights: escargot with mashed potatoes, lobster soup with puffed pastry, paella, squid in risotto with shrimp in a lobster sauce and crème brule. It would sound great if the sign on the restaurant didn’t still read “Pizza Hut.”

Image Via tangdersons [Flickr]

Taco Bell

Taco Bell’s international menus are perhaps the most similar to the American version, with a few exceptions. Most notably, in Spain you can order tater tot nachos with sour cream (yummy), and a Chocodilla, which is exactly what it sounds like –a chocolate quesadilla. Also, in India, many of the traditional Taco Bell items can be served with potato in place of meat.

McDonald’s

While McDonald’s is certainly the largest fast food restaurant in the world, I did neglect to include them in this list only because I already wrote about many of their international treats in this McFacts About McDonald’s article. Just in cast you’re feeling too lazy to click over though, here is a highlight:

Most Indian menus are largely different than those in America, as pig and cow products are not served outside of Southern India. The chicken and fish are also prepared in separate areas because or strict religious laws regarding the preparation of food for vegetarians. One of the area’s specialties is the Maharaja Mac, which was originally made with lamb meat but now is made with chicken. They also serve a dish called the McCurry pan, which consists of a bowl made from flakey dough filled with chicken in a tomato-curry sauce.

Naturally, there are plenty more international fast food menu options, but we’d be here for weeks if I actually described them all. If you do happen to live outside the U.S. and know of a local offering from a major chain restaurant, feel free to talk about them in the comments. Similarly, if you’ve tried any of the snacks included here, tell us what you thought about them.

Sources: BK.com, KFC.com, PizzaHut.com, Taco Bell Spain, Taco Bell India

(YouTube Link)

New York is the kind of place where anything can happen at any moment, and although that comes with plenty of bad, this video shows that there are also many instances of spontaneous goodness going down, even on public transit.

These strangers on a train, who both happen to have their instruments with them, break out in a soulful song,  much to the delight of their fellow riders.

Whether this chance meeting was truly by chance or not ceases to be an issue once you watch them play, and feel that energy that seems to be in the air that New Yorkers breathe.

–via AnimalNY

Think of them as snowy versions of the Weeping Angels. During the winter, you can find snow-covered trees in northern Japan. They are called juhyou and are known for a ghostly appearance.

Link -via Oddity Central | Photo: Casa di Cina

Martin Reisch said Tuesday a slightly annoyed U.S. border officer let him cross into the United States from Quebec after he presented a scanned copy of his passport on his Apple iPad. Reisch was a half hour from the border when he decided to try to gain entry rather than turn back and make a two-hour trek back home to Montreal to fetch his passport.

He told the officer he was heading to the U.S. to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend’s kids. He said that true story, the scanned passport and his driver’s license helped him get through last week.

He said the officer seemed mildly annoyed when he handed him the iPad.

“I thought I’d at least give it a try,” Reisch said. “He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas.”

Reisch was able to re-enter Canada on his way home using the same method. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Update: U.S. Customs denies it happened. Link

Photographer Kien Lam documented an epic round-the-world trip in this time-lapse video.

I quit my job last year and began backpacking around the world. To capture the spirit of the trip, I took time lapse photographs at practically every city I traveled to and compiled over 6200 photographs across 17 countries, during a span of almost a year to form one short video. Each 2 second scene is comprised of about 40-60 photographs.

If this visual tour goes too fast, you can read about Lam’s adventures at his website. Link -Thanks, Kien!

The Tridge (triple bridge) is a cute three-way foot bridge that provides access to all sides of the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Chippewa Rivers in Midland, Michigan. According to Kuriositas, it’s one of only twelve in the world.

Link | Photo: Fenton Low Altitude | The Tridge on Google Maps

Atlas Obscura took many readers on trips around the world without leaving their computers in 2011. They’ve compiled a list of their most popular places -to read about, if not to travel to- over the past year. Some you read about here; others may be new to you, but all are fascinating. Shown is Cactus Dome in the Marshall Islands, a concrete cover over a nuclear crater left after US weapons tests, just one of the ten places you can visit online. Link

For the ultimate experience in romantic getaways, try China’s Dinosaurs Fairyland. The city of Erlian is home to rich fossil beds, so you can find an appropriate theme park there. Among its attractions are enormous, concrete models of dinosaurs. This one should really be worked into a dystopian movie someday.

Link -via io9 | Photo: Asia Wheeling

In an effort to pull the old “I’m not up to no good! See, I can prove it!” routine, North Korea has released a FAQ page to answer all your questions about the dark and mysterious country, and alleviate any global concerns at the same time.

This fun, informative and easy to read page includes the following hits:

24. Is it true that all citizens of the DPRK work for the government?

Government and people are one. There is no distinction of them.

8. Can I travel to North Korea as a backpacker?

No. You must travel as a group only, even if you are the only participant you must be with Korean guides at all times.

…and many more hilarious answers to seemingly simple questions. Will it make you trust North Korea more?

Probably not, but you’re guaranteed to enjoy the circular logic and evasive answers, all while cracking up at the very thought of a country like North Korea having a FAQ page!

Link

Team, today’s stair running drill is going to be a doozy. Pictured above is Jacob’s Ladder, a staircase in the UK Overseas Territory of Saint Helena. Settlers built it as an inclined plane in 1829 to help bring agricultural products into Jamestown, the capital of the island. The staircase is now accessible to tourists, but the slope is really steep and not every portion has a railing, so do not look down. You can view several more pictures at the link.

Link -via Bit Rebels | Photo: Wikimedia user Deusdixital

I grew up during the Cold War, with an image of Moscow as a drab, grey, cold, Soviet citadel. But the Cold War has been over for 20 years! This video shows the city as beautiful and colorful, both historical and modern. -via Everlasting Blort

In 1968, the town of Gibellina in Sicily, Italy, was destroyed by an earthquake. Its residents decided to rebuild the town in a nearby (and hopefully more stable) location, thus turning the original site into a ghost town.

That's where art stepped in. Juergen of the travel blog for91days wrote

Between 1985 and 1989, a Sicilian artist named Alberto Burri used the old city’s ruins as the canvas for his most audacious work of modern sculpture. The resulting concrete cemetery is a bold piece of art, a comment on death, and a moving tribute to the devastated city.

Burri covered the streets of Old Gibellina with concrete, preserving the layout of the blocks. Walking around his monument is unsettling. You’re not just standing on the gravestone of a city, but actually tracing the lines of its corpse. Block after block of grey concrete rises from the concrete ground, like the ghosts of buildings. They’re high enough to peer over, so that the rest of the graves are always visible, along with the verdant valley stretching out into the distance.

See more pics: Link - Thanks Juergen!

Even if you don’t live in America, you’re probably familiar with our New Year’s Eve traditions, being as how they’re played on TV stations across the globe and portrayed in countless movies. That being said, there are tons more celebrations out there that don’t involve kissing at midnight, watching a ball drop and staring at fireworks in awe.  Here are a few New Year’s Eve traditions from around the world.

Image Via asterix611 [Flickr]

Bring Gifts to Neighbors

It’s always nice to get a gift from a neighbor, friend or family member, but in some countries, visitors bearing gifts are practically guaranteed on the first day of the year. The tradition is commonly known as First-Footing and while it’s practiced everywhere from Russia to Wales to parts of the U.S., it is most common in Scotland. While the gifts brought for the occasion are important as they represent the type of luck the recipient will receive, it is also important who brings the gift. Ideally, the first person to enter a home at this period will be a tall, dark man, as this will bring the most luck.

Swing a Fireball Above Your Head

Scotland’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are known as Hogmanay and the celebration is responsible for introducing the “Auld Lang Syne” song to the world. But the festivities vary from place to place and while some areas celebrate by singing and linking arms at the appropriate point in the song, other celebrations are much more dangerous.

In Stonehaven, locals make up balls of chicken wire filled with newspapers, sticks and rags that sometimes measure up to two feet wide. Each ball is attached to a chain or nonflammable rope about three feet long. At midnight, the balls are then set on fire and swung around the heads of their creators as other revelers watch the spectacle. Eventually, the fireballs are put out or thrown into the harbor. Despite the dangers, the event has drawn in many tourists and the small town now sees around 12,000 people standing in the city streets to watch the fire balls spin. If you want to see the action without risking life and limb, the celebration is now streamed on the internet.

Image Via MrPurple [Wikipedia]

Burn Effigies

If you just can’t get enough burning out of your New Year’s experience and you’ve already visited Stonehaven, then perhaps it’s time to purchase a ticket to Ecuador. That’s because on New Year’s Eve, locals line the streets with effigies of people who have made a negative impact on the last year, most commonly, unpopular politicians. Thousands of dummies are lit up at the stroke of midnight in an effort to prevent the negative events associate with those people from impacting the new year.

Image Via lowfill [Flickr]

Munch Some Grapes

In Mexico, Spain and a number of other Latin countries, it is popular tradition to make a wish and eat one grape for each bell that chimes the sound of midnight. That means you must be a really fast eater or you’re bound to be stuck with a dozen grapes in your mouth all at once. If you are able to swallow them all, then your dreams are said to come true.

This tradition is actually fairly new, starting in 1909 when grape growers in Alicante thought up the idea as a way to help get rid of some of their extensive grape surplus from the year’s harvest. It quickly took off though and now people across the globe think of grapes as a must have for New Year’s Eve. As quickly as the tradition swept through Latin cultures, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see Americans adopting the tradition in the future.

Wear Colored Panties

In many countries, including Spain, Italy, Bolivia, and a variety of other countries, it is also traditional to wear certain colors of underwear on New Year’s Eve in order to bring good luck in the next year. While red is the traditional color in Spain and Italy, colors vary from country to country. In Bolivia, red is for love and yellow is for money…presumably that means you’re in for both if you wear red and yellow polka dots.

Image Via PinkLens [Flickr]

Chase Away Devils

For many cultures, the New Year is a time to wash away the old year and prepare for good fortune in the upcoming year, but in Puerto Rico and the Philippines, it’s a time to chase away the demons that have been haunting you and your home.

Revelers honk car horns, blast boat whistles, bang drums and ring church bells all in an effort to chase away evil spirits and demons. In some areas of Puerto Rico, they also throw pails of water from the windows in order to chase away further evil.

In Puerto Rico, those that aren’t on land throwing water from their windows or making noise instead fall backwards into the ocean waves as the clock strikes midnight in an effort to bring in good luck for the upcoming year.

In the Philippines, it is tradition to wear clothes bearing circular patterns, as they should attract wealth, as will throwing coins in the air at midnight and serving circular fruits with dinner. Those who wish to be taller should jump as the clock turns to twelve.

Eat a Ton

While many cultures have a traditional feast on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, Estonians take it to a whole new level. It is considered good luck to eat seven, nine, even twelve times on New Year’s Eve and for each meal eaten, the diner is said to gain the strength of that many men in the following year. It’s not totally gluttonous though. The meals are never supposed to be finished entirely, as the leftovers are to be provided for the spirits who visit that night.

Image Via Raasiel [Flickr]

Predict the Future

Many people like to set goals for the upcoming year, but some people take it a step further and actually try to predict what the year will bring. In Germany, fortunes are sometimes told by dropping molten lead into water and then evaluating the shapes of the drops.

In Romania, fortune tellers take to peeling, salting and reading the skins of 12 onions. It is said that someone who is particularly good at this skill can evaluate the weather of the upcoming year.

Image Via OnTheBorderLand [Flickr]

Excessively Clean and Cook, Then Relax

In Japan, New Year’s Day is one of the biggest holidays of the year, so locals spend the majority of the day cleaning their home to prepare for the first day of the year. They then have the largest feast of the year, featuring noodles that represent the crossing over from one year to the next. Traditionally, New Year’s Eve would require extensive cooking, not only to prepare the meal for that night, but also three days worth of non-perishable dishes, as the local shops would be closed. But this tradition is less common now that refrigeration is widely available and more shops are open in the days following the holiday.

At midnight, many people visit a local Buddhist temple, where monks ring bells 108 times, representing the different defilements people have in their head. The ringing of the bells is meant as a means of repentance for these naughty thoughts.

Finally, on New Year’s Day, residents are expected to rest and no work is to be done that day. Children often receive small gifts of money in celebration and hard working adults get the day off from the office –it’s a win/win.

Copy Times Square

While most of China doesn’t celebrate New Year’s Eve because locals still base their holidays on the Lunar calendar, Hong Kong is a notable exception. What makes their celebration different from the rest of the world’s is their replica of the Time’s Square ball dropping ceremony in the Times Square shopping mall. While it might not be as big of a deal as the original event, it’s certain to have less crowds and will probably be at least a little warmer than the celebration in New York.

Image Via ellesil [Flickr]

Do any of you celebrate less common New Year’s Eve traditions? What was the strangest holiday tradition you ever witnessed? I want to start doing the grape thing myself, although it certainly sounds like a challenge –especially if I still want my New Year’s kiss and a sip of champagne when the clock finishes chiming.

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, Mental Floss #1, #2, Infoplease

It may be a slum, but it's a slum with an escalator! Officials in Medellin, Colombia, have inaugurated a giant outdoor escalator in one of its poorest slums:

For generations, the 12,000 residents of Medellin's tough Comuna 13, which clings to the side of a steep hillside, have had to climb hundreds of large steps authorities say is the same as going up a 28-story building.
Now they can ride an escalator, in what the mayor of Medellin said is the first massive, outdoor public escalator for use by residents of a poor area. [...]

Comuna 13 residents came out to celebrate and study the $6.7 million escalator which officials say will shorten the 35-minute hike on foot up the hillside to six minutes. Use of the escalator is free.

2012 may be the end of the world, but that won't stop Mexico from cashing in on the whole Mayan apocalypse prophecy thing!

The country's tourism agency, which stressed it does not itself believe the world will end, hopes to attract 52 million visitors to southeastern areas that were the heart of Mayan territory over the course of next year. The whole of the country usually attracts 22 million visitors annually.

More than 500 Mayan-themed events have been planned including ceremonies with Mayan priests performing rituals, burning incense and chanting.

In the jungle near Cancun messages and photographs will be placed in a "time capsule" and buried.

The town of Chiapas, on the Guatemalan border, is installing an 8ft digital clock in its main park which will count down to the much anticipated date.

Link

Love colors? Then staying at a boring ol' hotel simply won't do! Thank goodness Pantone came to the rescue!

Behold, the Pantone Hotel, a seven-story, 59-room hotel in Brussels by architect Olivier Hannaert and interior designer Michel Penneman. The colorful hotel utilizes a lot of colors from those color chips designers love so much.

The Bunny Museum was born on Valentine’s Day, 1993 when Steve Lubanski gave his then girlfriend (now wife) Candace Frazee a white plush bunny clutching a heart, an homage to her nickname for him, “Honey Bunny”. It became a “thing” for the couple, and according to Candace, who is also an expert on angels and Swedenborgian theology, they have been giving each other bunny gifts daily ever since. The couple won the Guinness Award in 1999 when they hit over 8,000 and have never looked back, turning their modest Pasadena home into a bunnicopia of collectibles, all painstakingly dusted and organized by theme. They share their bunny palace with 5 live rabbits, the freeze dried remains of pet bunnies past, and some regal looking cats, including a friendly bengal cat named Benji.

There are lots of pictures of the Bunny Museum at Atlas Obscura. Link

Big Majors Spot, a tiny island in the Bahamas, is inhabited by a herd of feral pigs. The food supply on the island is limited, so the little porkers will gladly swim out to boaters off the shore to beg for scraps.

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Of course you want to visit Pandora! We all do! But since it’s a fictional planet, maybe the next best thing would be to visit the location where Avatar was filmed. You can do that, because it was in the Keahua Arboretum in Hawaii. The arboretum is chock-full of lush and exotic plant life, just like Pandora -without the Na’vi or the man-eating monsters. Find out eleven more locations where your favorite sci-fi movies were shot at TravelSupermarket. Link -Thanks, Danny!

The town of Júzcar in the Spanish province of Andalucía got an offer they couldn’t refuse. Sony Pictures approached the village for an opportunity to promote the 2011 movie The Smurfs. Would the citizens be willing to have their whitewashed homes and public buildings painted blue? The local government would receive a nice cash payment, and the buildings would be painted twice -once blue, and then restored to their original white. It was a win-win situation. But… the villagers and tourists liked it so much that Júzcar will remain blue! See lots of pictures of blue Júzcar at Kuriositas. Link -Thanks, RJ!

(Image credit: Flickr user manuelfloresv)

The Eisriesenwelt is an enormous cave system south of Salzburg, Austria. It’s forty-two kilometers long, the first kilometer of which is covered in wondrous ice formations. The cave is open to visitors during the summer, so visit if you’re in the area. Check out more pictures at the link.

Link -via American Digest | Official Website | Photo: Eisriesenwelt GmbH