Landmark sights in North America
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A
Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower
reviewed
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B
Thunderbird Lodge
Reservations are required to visit eccentric San Francisco playboy George Whittell’s Thunderbird Lodge. Tours include a trip down a 600ft tunnel to the infamous Card House, where the dearly departed George once played poker with the likes of Howard Hughes. The only ways to get to the lodge are by shuttle bus or catamaran cruise.
reviewed
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Scargo Tower
Built in 1902 on the highest spot in the area – 120ft above sea level – this 38-step, stone tower rising above Scargo Lake gives you grand views of Cape Cod Bay. On clear days you can see all the way to Sandwich and across to Provincetown. To get here, take MA 6A to Scargo Hill Rd.
reviewed
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Windmill
Eastham’s landmark windmill is the oldest structure in town, although it was actually built in Plymouth, MA in 1680.
reviewed
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C
30th St Station
Whether you're catching a train or not, be sure to pop your head into this romantic, neoclassical station while you're in the 'hood.
reviewed
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Idaho State Capitol
The joy of US state capitol buildings is that visitors can wander in spontaneously for free to admire some of the nation's best architecture. The Boise building, constructed from native sandstone, celebrates the neoclassical style in vogue when it was built in 1920. It was extensively refurbished in 2010 and is now heated with geothermal hot water.
reviewed
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D
Pioneer Courthouse Square
The heart of downtown Portland, this brick plaza is nicknamed 'Portland's living room' and is the most visited public space in the city. When it isn't full of hackysack players, sunbathers or office workers lunching, the square hosts concerts, festivals, rallies, farmers markets – and even summer Friday-night movies (aka 'Flicks on the Bricks'; details at www.pioneercourthousesquare.org/calendar).
One of Portland's grandest Victorian hotels once stood here, but it fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1951. Later the city decided to build Pioneer Courthouse Square, and grassroots support resulted in a program that encouraged citizens to buy and personalize the bricks…
reviewed
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E
Times Square
Love it or hate it, the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Ave (better known as Times Square) is New York City's hyperactive heart; a restless, hypnotic torrent of glittering lights, bombastic billboards and raw urban energy. It's not hip, fashionable or in-the-know, and it couldn't care less. It's too busy pumping out iconic, mass-marketed NYC – yellow cabs, golden arches, soaring skyscrapers and razzle-dazzle Broadway marquees. This is the New York of collective fantasies – the place where Al Jolson 'makes it' in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, where photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt famously captured a lip-locked sailor and nurse on V-J Day in 1945, and where…
reviewed
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Lake Louise Sightseeing Gondola
To the east of Hwy 1, this sightseeing gondola will lever you to the top of Mt Whitehorn, where the views of the lake and Victoria Glacier are phenomenal. At the top, there's a restaurant and a Wildlife Interpretive Centre where you can partake in 45-minute guided hikes.
reviewed
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Parc des Chutes
Short trails make the most of the small but seductive Parc des Chutes, a few minutes' walk from downtown at the end of Rue Frontenac. If you get lost, just follow the sounds of the cars and the 30m waterfalls that power a small hydroelectric power station.
reviewed
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F
Ragged Ass Rd
Named by gold-rush-era prospectors who had gone stony broke (ragged ass), this road was immortalized in a song and album by Canadian rock musician Tom Cochrane (himself the son of a bush pilot) in 1995. The street sign subsequently went missing so many times that the city authorities starting selling copies as souvenirs. Mansions now outnumber the sagging gold-rush-era cabins on the street.
reviewed
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Sir Winston Churchill Square
The subject of a controversial facelift designed to tie in with the city's 2005 centennial, this public space is a Europeanlike plaza where people can meet, hang out and relax (outside temperature permitting). The square's former green areas have been replaced with a small amphitheater, a fountain and a cafe. Around the perimeter is a quadrangle of important buildings, including the City Hall, the Provincial Court and the impressive new Art Gallery of Alberta.
reviewed
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World's Largest Dinosaur
Warning – cheesy tourist attraction ahead! In a town filled to the brim with dinosaurs, this T-Rex is the king of them all and features in the Guinness Book of Records. Standing 26m above a parking lot, it dominates the Drumheller skyline. It's big, not-at-all scary and cost over a million bucks to build, which explains the admission price to go up the 106 steps for the view from its mouth. Kids love it and, truth be told, the view is pretty good. Ironically, the dinosaur isn't even Jurassically accurate; at 46m long, it's about 4.5 times bigger than its extinct counterpart.
reviewed
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Chantry Island
Chantry Island, just 2km off the shoreline, is home to a lonely lighthouse and a sanctuary for migratory birds. The only way to reach the island is with Chantry Island Tours. Informative outings are led by the Marine Heritage Society and provide fascinating insights into the region's nautical history as well as a chance to climb the blinking lighthouse. Book in advance as only nine people can be accommodated per tour.
reviewed
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G
State Capitol
Built in 1917, but only got its dome in 2002.
reviewed
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Bonnie Springs
Bonnie Springs, the scene of countless B-movie shoots, is a touristy sideshow for the kiddies.
reviewed
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Prayer Tower
With a 200ft UFO-like tower at its heart, the campus of Oral Roberts University is as idiosyncratic as its late televangelist founder.
reviewed
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Desert View Watchtower
Scramble up the five-story stone Desert View Watchtower, the highest point on the South Rim, for spectacular views.
reviewed
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H
Old Mill
The Old Mill is America’s oldest working windmill (c 1746), as game young docents will demonstrate by grinding corn (weather conditions permitting).
reviewed
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I
Our Lady of Victory Church
The town landmark is Our Lady of Victory Church, also called the Igloo Church, with a resplendent white dome and a lovely interior (though the place is often locked).
reviewed
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J
Dime Savings Bank
At a point where DeKalb Ave meets the Fulton St Mall sits the neo-classical Dime Savings Bank building from 1908. The interiors feature elaborate coffered ceilings and Corinthian columns crafted from red marble. It’s now a working branch of the Chase bank, but you can still pop into the lobby for a gander. No pictures allowed.
reviewed
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K
Union Station
This majestic 1939 edifice is the last of America's grand rail stations; its glamorous art-deco interior can be seen in Blade Runner, Bugsy, Rain Man and many other movies.
reviewed
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L
Camera Obscura
For turn-of-the-20th-century thrills, grab a key to the tower-bound Camera Obscura for a few spins of an old captain’s wheel that gives inverted-mirror views of the Palisades Park below.
reviewed
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M
Moulin Fleming
This restored five-story windmill was built for a Scottish merchant in 1816, and a multimedia exhibit inside covers its two centuries of history. It’s a nice diversion if you’re out here visiting the other Lachine sites, and a great photo op.
reviewed
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N
Umberto's Clam House
Mulberry St is still the heart of the Little Italy ’hood and the home of landmarks such as Umberto’s Clam House, where mobster Joey Gallo was shot to death in the ’70s.
reviewed