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World’s biggest and meanest rollercoasters
The Kingda Ka
The builders of Kingda Ka (located at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey USA) had in mind nothing less than creating the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. And they did it: the construction broke every record at the time of its creation, in 2005 and continues to be the ultimate champion. It reaches the speed of 206 km/hour in just a matter of 3,5 seconds thanks to the hydraulic launch system. At the end of the track, the train goes up to a staggering height of 139 meters from which there’s only one way: down! Passengers will get to see what it’s like at 1.67 G. and will even get to feel a moment of weightlessness.
As the ride lasts for approximately 28 seconds, the Kingda Ka receives about 1000 visitors per hour, being one of the main attractions of the park. However, things haven’t always gone so well. There have been numerous functioning problems quite from the start, problems that occured later also. Fortunately, no one was in the ride when the tests were made so, in the end, nobody got hurt. Moreover, recently the ride was hit by a lightning, which again gave a hard time to everyone at the park and spoiled the fun for thousands. Now the ride is back “on the market” and as safe as it could be, so feel free to try it!
The Top Thrill Dragster
This roller coaster was the absolute record-breaker at the time of its creation, also being the only stratacoaster. As the tagline, “Race for the sky”, suggests, height is no problem for the coaster, in fact, it’s all about height; found in the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, it is equipped with four dual strobes for air-safety reasons. The coaster is 420 feet tall and the train can reach a speed of 120 miles/hour. All it takes is 3.8 seconds and then you get to experience negative G forces.
And as you do that you probably look quite funny; in order to show that to your friends you can buy the photo 3-4 minutes after the ride. A peculiar thing about this ride is represented by rollbacks, when the momentum given at first is not enough to take the train to the top of the “hill”. This happens usually because of wet weather, strong opposing winds or other conditions of this kind. The ride is specially equipped so that no one gets hurt, so the people have 2 choices: to ride again, witout waiting in a queue( which is fabulous for some as the launch is considered the best part of the ride) or to simply leave. On a few occasions the combination of forces made that the train stopped on the top of the hill, which is not something many are looking forward to.
Son of Beast
Located at Kings Island, in Mason, Ohio, the Son of Beast was built as a sequel to “The Beast”. It soon entered all the roller coaster tops, being the tallest wooden ride in the world. Another attraction point was the vertical loop, which was one of a kind for a wooden ride. However, after an incident in 2006 when 26 people got injured, the loop was taken out of the circuit, even if it hadn’t been its fault. The ride holds numerous records, including the one for the fastest wooden roller coaster and also for the tallest of its kind at a height of 218 feet.
What is also interesting about this ride is the advertising campaign and the image created for it. As you enter the ride you will be surprised to see a box tied with chains from which you can hear growling noises as if a creature was trying to escape from it. This idea was later used in other places as well, but in a slightly different form. However, because of an incident in which a woman claimed to have suffered an injury because of the ride, even though nothing was found to be wrong with it, it was decided to keep it closed for the rest of the 2009 season.
Superman
Superman is located at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio Texas and holds the record for the tallest vertical loop(44 meters). Superman is a floorless roller coaster, also being the fastest in the park as it can reach 70 miles per hour. The coaster is now fully functional and can receive an estimated 1600 people per hour. In 2010 some painting work is planned and people are also wondering if Superman will also receive a sound system symilar to others.
Even though the second part of the ride is not as spectacular and doesn’t cause the same adrenaline rush as the first one, it will definitely worth trying this particular ride. There are definitely some details the builders are using in order to make the scare one to remember: firstly the straps are not the ones you may be used to. Even though they are just as safe as any other (no incident is related to Superman), they offer a sensation of not being tied, which can be enough to scare the most. But this is what makes a ride unforgetable, after all.
Viper
Even though it was surclassed by Superman when it comes to the tallest loop, this coaster, found at the Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Clifornia, it is still favoured by many ride enthusiasts. At a height of 57 meters(188 ft) and a length of 1170 meters(3830 ft), it reaches the maximum speed of 70 mph(110 km/h). It definitely received a lot of people looking for some new sensations as was openned in 1990, making it somewhat of a veteran, especially as it still manages to compete with much “younger” coasters.
More than being visited by thousands of people, the Viper has also been the used during the filming of three movies: Encino Man, True Romance and Space Cowboys. Some new coasters were built in the park, thus taking away the crown of the most extreme ride of the park, but the viper still alltracts tens of thousands of parkgoers. One of the main problems was related to the straps as they caused headaches. After the ride was reconditionned it seems that the situation has definitely changed for the best.
photo sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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The Northern Lights(Aurora Borealis) – an experience not to be missed
The Northern Lights, or more scientifically the Aurora Borealis( Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn, while the word “boreal” means “north” in Latin) have captivated people’s imagination since the beginning of history as they were totally different from anything encountered by them before. This gave birth to numerous myths as the people of the time were trying as much as possible to give an explanation to the phenomenon; as usually, they turned to religion and created some of the most beautiful legends.
The Inuit people of Alaska believed that the lights were the spirits of the animals they hunted; the Chinese thought that they were fighting dragons; the Eskimos believed that they were signs of the dead trying to contact friends and families and last but not least, the Vikings considered them to be reflections of dead maidens. Now, in Iceland it is still believed that if a preganant woman gazes the lights, her child will be cross-eyed.
But as beautiful as these legends may be, what does science have to say about the phenomenon? The Sun is the key; at certain times erruptions take place on the solar surface, erruptions also known as “solar flares”. They release into space large amounts of charged particles in what is known as solar wind. These particles enter The Earth’s magnetic field and are then guided along the lines around the poles. Somewhere between 60 and 400 miles, in the ionosphere, the particles strike the gases found there, which causes them to glow. Oxygen usually causes the lights to be red and green – which is also the most common-, while the nitrogen causes them to become violet. This is how the Northern Lights appear.
There are several places where the mysterious lights can be seen and all of them require extremely warm clothes and in some cases special equipment. These places are: the northern part of Greenland, the Scandinavian coast, Siberia, Iceland, Alaska (in Fairbanks you can witness the lights for 260 days per year). There is also the phenomenon called Aurora Australis in the southern part of the globe, but even though it can be witnessed in some countries (Argentina, New Zealand, Australia) its main spectators are usually… the penguins from Antarctica.
In order to add this experience to your list, it is best to try and reach these locations from October to March. In the rest of the year it is quite difficult to see the Aurora Borealis. Moreover, pick a place somewhere in the countryside as the city lights may be more powerful than the natural lights, thus making the experience useless and much less impressive. Also prepare to be patient: it usually takes some time until the light appear, and when they do, it only happens for 2 to 10 minutes, so be ready to taste every second of it!
Even though in Alaska and Canada there are numerous places where the Northern Lights can be seen with the naked eye, it is highly advisable to have binoculars or other instruments in other locations in order to enjoy the entire beauty of the phenomenon. Also pick a night when the moon is hardly noticeable as a full moon can spoil the entire show. The best hours for watching the lights are between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., when they are the brightest. Now, that you know this tips all you have to do is pick a special tour, as there are many dedicated entirely to watching the Northern Lights; some of them might be a bit spicy in price, but they will definitely worth the effort.
photo sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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The Ritten earth pyramids
Pyramids in Italy? You might say that I am misinformed. Even though the Italic Peninsula has definitely had its share of great civilisations throughout history, none of them created such constructions. However, nature decided to fix this, and so it gave birth to the Ritten pyramids. However, the name of “pyramids” is somewhat misleading. In fact, what you can see here is a group of stalagmite-shaped columns, many of them having a rock placed on top of them in what might seem a precarious balance. The landscape is just splendid as the site is located in the South Tyrol, next to the picturesque village of Ritten, so there are a lot of reasons to visit this place. But what is its story and what is it exactly?
The columns were many times associated to the image of a group of young ladies wearing hats. But what the researchers wanted to discover is who or what exactly lead to the apparition of these curious miracles of nature. Their story has begun during the Ice Age. 10000 years ago, when the glaciers retreated, numerous materials created by the errosion remained there in a thick layer. Then it was water’s turn to intervene: especially the water from precipitations erroded the layer of clay, thus creating the columns. Those having a rock on top of them survived the “attack”, as the rock acted as an umbrella.
The protection role of the stones is still to be seen today: if a pyramid loses its stone, then it will be erroded in no time. It is a process of continuous evolution: the climate destroys some pillars whilst others are created by the rain. This will continue until no more clay will be left for the apparition of some new pyramids. So there is a very likely chance that future generations will not have the opportunity to see them in reality, but only in photographs. But, until then, the pyramids still attract a large number of tourists and specialists from all around the world.
Earth pyramids are not a very common view, but they can be found in several places in the world, thus receiving different names; in Italy they are called “the earth mushrooms” or “the dwarfs” while in the French Alps they are called “les demoiselles coiffées”. The tallest such column reaches 40 meters in height so, even if they were not made to hold for a very long time, the columns are still impressive in their own way.
So, if you get to Italy, you should definitely try to see this location. Since 1907, when the railway was completed, the area has become accessible to practically everyone. Since 1971 travellers can also benefit from a paved road, especially designed for this purpose. Among the famous visitors of the pyramids you can count Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka. If you are not quite familiar with the Italian language, you should know that most of the 7000 people living in the area are of German descent. In fact, Ritten is the German name of the village, its Italian name being Renon. So, now you know what to look for on the map; the next step is no to let this voyage take place just in your imagination!
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Sibiu / Hermannstadt – one of medieval Europe’s finest cities
Whoever visits Romania is tempted to visit Transyilvania, the land where it’s believed that count Dracula lived, the fictional character from Stocker’s Novel.
Even though Dracula, the blood thirsty vampire, never existed, the land of Transilvania is a great place to be visited within the Eastern European country called Romania. Sibiu (in German refered as Hermannstadt and in Hungarian as Nagyszeben) is situated in the Southern Transylvania, 282 km North-West of Bucharest. Contrasting with the country’s recent history and issues, Sibiu is like an island of peace and culture.
The city became known to the world after being designated European Capital of Culture for that year, together with Luxembourg; it was just the publicity it needed to hit the spotlight.
If you’re visiting Sibiu, you can’t miss the Brukenthal National Museum. This Museum exists in the memory of baron Samuel von Brukenthal wich has been a governor of Transylvania during the Austrian empire. Brukenthal Museum is a complex of six museums as von Brukenthal has been a top class collector – he literally bought all the books that have been published in his times.
Also, the old bells(1700s) ringing in the Advisory Market(Piata Sfatului, in Romanian) in front of the museum and the atmosphere in this special and unique market in Romania is a place you can not easily forget.
Even though it is not one of the big cities of Romania (such as Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj Napoca, Timisoara, etc.), having only a population of a little of 150000 inhabitants, Sibiu is one of Romania’s most culturally lively cities.
Several festivals are organised yearly in Sibiu, the most prestigious of them being the Theatre Festival, organized each spring at the end of May. The Artmania Festival is held every Summer since 2006 and as of 2008 the Rockin’ Transilvania Festival is also held in Sibiu. The oldest Jazz Festival in Romania is organized here, as well as the “Carl Filtsch” festival for young classical piano players, the “Astra Film” documentary film festival, a medieval arts festival and many more smaller cultural events.
Multiculturalism is the watchword in Sibiu as along the years, because of it’s geographical position(in the center of Romanian-inhabited teritories), the city has been dominated by more nations than Romanians, Hungarians and Germans. Moreover, people from many places come to visit the city that kept the Romanian culture alive during the foreign domination. (the first book ever printed in Romanian language has been printed here, in Sibiu)
So, no matter if you’re a culture fan, a fan of modernism, a fan of concerts and chaotic life or a fan of history, Sibiu has them all and it is definitely a place you should fit in your agenda, especially when traveling through Europe.
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