Interesting places around us - Giraffe Manor

Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya. It is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Africa. Nairobi is the destination of an interesting place which is called 'Giraffe Manor'

What is unique about his place?
Giraffe Manor offers guests the chance to interact with the rare Rothschild Giraffe. It is the place where giraffes can and do literally poke their head into open windows in the morning.
You can feed them, pet them, even give them a "kiss."

Giraffe Manor offers you a unique experience of the giraffes, with them vying for your attention at the breakfast table, the front door and even your bedroom window. 
Built in 1932 and modelled on a Scottish hunting lodge, Giraffe Manor offers a pleasing mixture of traditional and modern elegance. There are six double bedrooms with large four poster beds, antique furnishing, striking art decor and spacious bathrooms. The Karen Blixen suite is ideal for families and has direct access to the courtyard which opens onto the giraffe sanctuary .

Manor House is also home to many characters including warthogs, bushbuck, dik dik and more than 180 species of birds and has a striking view of the Ngong hills.

Built in the 1930, the property turned into a giraffe sanctuary after it was purchased by Betty Leslie-Melvilles in 1974 and she learned that the last remaining Rothschild giraffes in Kenya were in danger; the manor was transformed into a boutique hotel by her family in 1983.

Interesting places around us -Waterfall restaurant

We prefer to have food at restaurants with nice environment or decoration. Having meal at open air restaurant (with natural scenery) is also a good experience.
How about having traditional meal under or next to a waterfall?

At Villa Escudero resort you can eat a traditional Filipino meal in a river next to a waterfall, with your feet cooling off in the water. The restaurant is actually designed in such a way that the water flows across the floor of the restaurant and over the feet of diners.                                                              


Restaurant at the Foot of a Waterfall

Located in the Quezon province of the Philippines, Villa Escudero is a resort with cozy rooms and an exotic atmosphere. But what brought its international fame is the waterfall restaurant that allows tourists to enjoy a nice meal at the foot of a small waterfall.

At Villa Escudero restaurant, tables are situated below the spillway of the hydroelectric dam (or the 'Labasin waterfalls') where diners enjoy their lunch dipped in the flowing calf-deep water.

People are encouraged to take off their shoes and get as close to the falls as possible. Set right at the foot of Labasin Falls, this special place invites customers to taste popular Filipino dishes, while fresh spring water from the falls flows under and over their feet, making this an unforgettable experience.

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Interesting places around the world -the shoe house

The Shoe House at Lincoln Highway Pennsylvania: 
The design of the house is really extraordinary! It looks like a real shoe! High-topped design of the shoe looks really cool and fashionable.
The Shoe House was built in 1948 (and completed in 1949) by Colonel Mahlon M. Haines, a colorful "Shoe Wizard," to help market his business. Although it does not advertise for a shoe business anymore, you can buy ice cream here and take a tour.

The width of the shoe house is 17 feet and the height is 25 feet. There are 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen located on 5 various levels.

This giant structural advertisement was originally used as a guest house. In the first year after its completion, elderly couples were invited to stay for a weekend and live like "kings and queens" at Haines' expense.
In the spring of 1987 the Shoe House returned to the Haines family when a granddaughter of the "Shoe Wizard" (Ruth Miller) purchased the building.

Shoe house, Branddraai Mpumalanga , South-Africa 

More shoe houses around the world:


The ‘shoe house’ of South Africa is the work of artist and hotelier Ron Van Zyl, who built it for his wife Yvonne in 1990. The shoe houses a little museum of sorts, showcasing Van Zyl’s wood carvings. The shoe is part of a complex that includes an eight-chalet guest house, camp site, restaurant, pool and bar.

Shoe house at Mumbai, India:

Shoe house , Mumbai , India

This shoe house is built in Kamla Nehru Park, opposite of Hanging Garden, Marine drive, Mumbai. Children like to go up & stand in the balcony to have fun. The Shoe House is supposedly inspired by the nursery rhyme “The Old Woman who Lived in the Shoe”.

More links:

* Shoe house from different places

* Top five shoe statues

Interesting places around the world -library hotel

If you are a book lover and don't  mind spending your holiday in a hotel where you can have unlimited access to books belonging to all literary genres then 'Library Hotel' should be your favorite place at Manhattan.

What is unique or unusual about this hotel?

Luxury library hotel in Manhattan is different. This hotel  is designed like a library with luxury boutique hotel concept.
This hotel is like any other hotel on the inside, having nice interiors, the only difference being the presence of books all over the place. There are lots of fine bookcases in the rooms, in the hallways, even in the lobby and the restaurants. They are very in perfect condition and belong strictly to the category in the decimal system.

The hotel is a ten story boutique hotel with 60 rooms. But its most interesting feature is the fact that the floors are organized after a unique principle: the Dewey Decimal System, meaning the system that organizes the literary genres. For example the fourth floor is the correspondent for the fourth Dewey category – Language, and each room deals with a different sub-category , for example Ancient language, Germanic language , etc.                


It has more than 6,000 books, which is the largest collection of rare book in New York City.
Each of the Library Hotel's richly appointed luxury rooms are individually adorned with art and a collection of books that relate to the room's unique theme.

The Library Hotel New York is regarded as one of the top rated luxury boutique hotels in New York City.

Source: 'Library Hotel'

Interesting places around the world- Kansas City Public Library

The Kansas City Public Library is considered one of the most unusual buildings in America and in the world.
What is the specialty of this place?
It has an exterior that replicates your bookshelf at home on a much larger scale.
This is not the front view of the building, but it is actually the front of the parking lot area. It looks like as the building exterior was created to remind and attract people towards 'books'. These “books ” show only the cover where you can clearly see the title and the author, all being famous books.

 

Kansas city public library is located in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

The people of Kansas City were asked to help pick highly influential books that represent Kansas City. Those titles were included as ‘bookbindings’ in the innovative design of the parking garage exterior, to inspire people to utilize the downtown Central Library.

Interesting places around us - Prettiest village in England

Exciting, interesting and a little bit strange are elements that travelers are currently seeking in their vacations, travel experts say.

'Castle Combe' is one of those destinations which is exciting and interesting as it has been called 'The Prettiest Village in England'. 
Castle Combe is a tiny village in Wiltshire, England, with a population of about 350. It is renowned for its attractiveness and tranquillity, and for fine buildings including the medieval church.The village has twice played host to the Combe Sunday event, a music extravaganza which attracted 4,000 visitors to the village in 2006.

Visitors have been coming to enjoy its charms for at least a century and the small street leading from the Market Cross down to the By Brook is as picturesque today as it ever was. Castle Combe is situated on the southern-most edge of the Cotswolds and is approximately 12 miles from the Georgian city of Bath. Nearby there are many sites of historical interest such as Avebury, Stonehenge and the Wiltshire White Horses. There are also many wonderful walks in the area.


Castle Combe, Britain Known for its picturesque scenery, Castle Combe in Britain's Wiltshire County about 20 miles east of Bristol was named the country's prettiest village in 1962 in a national poll conducted by British Travel Assn., precursor to the British Tourist Authority.

Brief History of 'Castle Combe':
Castle Combe's long history extends back to Roman times when its namesake, of which little remains, served as a fort. It played a role in the cloth industry in the 16th century. In the 1940s, it was put up for auction. Today, the village has a luxury hotel and a motor racing venue.
This tiny typical English village is one of those place where it seems that the time is still and that the people live exactly like they did some centuries ago. All the houses are made of stones and the atmosphere is really unique.

More at: http://www.castle-combe.com/
*    'LA times'

Interesting places around us - The Broken Crockery House

We throw away the broken crockery and it is the only way to get rid of this kind of trash because recycling of broken crockery is difficult or impossible. How about using this broken crockery for the decoration of house?
In France a farmer used this trash to decorate his home. Following pictures say the amazing work he had done with his home.


The Broken Crockery House or La Maison a Vaisselle Cassée , is a very special place located in Louviers, France. This was the home of Robert Vasseur and his wife, who abandoned wallpaper and painstakingly decorated their home with mosaics made from broken crockery, seashells, twinkling china and glass.
Vasseur was a milk transporter and also worked in textiles. His strange passion for mosaic decoration started in 1952 when he first got the idea while doing repair work in his kitchen. He embellished an old cement kitchen sink with broken crockery mosaics. Starting with that old sink, he expanded his idea to the interior of his house, the backyard, then the garden and later even the dog house. This went on for the next 50 years or so.

How the broken crockery was collected?
In order to keep up with his decorating hobby, Vasseur requested the local garbage man to put aside broken pieces of crockery from the collected trash. After cleaning the pieces thoroughly, they were put to use in his home décor ideas. Neighbors also helped Vasseur and his wife by bringing them empty bottles and broken crockery that they could no longer use.

Vasseur died in 2002, but the unique broken crockery house is still being looked after by his son Claude, who likes to work on restoring and developing the creative work of his father. He has even made tours of the house possible to those who are interested in viewing the unique property. The colorful Maison a Vaisselle Cassée has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Louviers, and even all of Normandy.

Source: 'Oddity Central'

Interesting places around us - Magic Mountain Lodge

I am starting a new series which is about 'travel' and it is about interesting places around us. Internet is doing the good job of 'tourism development' as by the click of the mouse, we can get a glimpse of unique, interesting, unusual as well as attractive destinations around  the world.

I am selecting the places or destinations which are unique or attractive like today I have selected 'The Magic Mountain Hotel' which is located in Huilo Huilo, in Los Rios, Chile'. Unique feature of this hotel is it's design which resembles to fairy tale place.

The hotel was built by traditional artisans who used locally-sourced materials and was voted “Most Sustainable Tourism Destination in Chile."

Visitors enter the hotel on a suspended rope bridge and are greeted by a cascade of water coming down from the cone shaped green roof. From the top of the Magic Mountain Lodge, a waterfall streams down past the bedroom windows. Not only do guests get the experience of living inside of a mountain, they also get to peer out from behind a waterfall. This is how the hotel rightfully earns its title as a Magic Mountain.

The hotel is cone shaped with dormer windows peaking out of its vegetated and stone façade. A water spot on top pours over the roof, drenching the plants and anyone at the base of the building.

Inside the logde                           
The 13 guest rooms are simple and cozy. This design of the building is connected with a local legend about the existence of these forests, magic mountain, performing the requirements of any who would be on it
Wood and stone spiraled staircases as well as wooden walls and furniture are just some of the natural decorations you’ll see in and around the hotel.

All of the rooms have large windows that overlook Chile’s majestic rain forest and its wildlife so you have a constant reminder of your peaceful surroundings.

Seeing as the hotel’s design is based on the shape of a mountain, this is what dictates the interior layout. The size of the nine rooms, each named after a local bird, gradually decrease in size as you move toward the top, or peak, of the hotel. Guests access their rooms via a spiraling central staircase built with local stone and wood, while the main access to the hotel is a suspended wood and cable bridge. The interior of the rooms are in keeping with the hotel’s blend of elegance and ecotourism, and feature rough-hewn planks along the walls, as well as other finely crafted wooden furniture.

Read more: 'Entertainment Designer'