Fulfill Your Every Needs In Mall Of America

We all love to shopping but...if shopping is not your main intention at Mall of America, visit the many attractions inside the largest shopping and entertainment complex in the United States. The newly opened Nickelodeon Universe theme park brings Nick characters to life with 24 rides geared for the young and young at heart.

Admission to the park is free. Rides and attractions require varying numbers of points. Points are available for purchase individually or in multi-point packages. Pay-one-price unlimited ride wristbands are also available.

Because it's indoors, the park is open year-round whenever the mall is open, which is pretty much all the time.

Mall of America(Mall of America,60 East Broadway,Bloomington, MN 55425 ) is a super-regional shopping mall located in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The mall is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the interstate from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. In the United States, it is the second largest enclosed mall in terms of retail space but is largest in terms of total enclosed floor area.

Design :

Mall of America has a gross area of 4.2 million sq ft. (390,000 m²), with 2.5 million sq ft. (230,000 m²) available as retail space.The mall is a nearly symmetrical building, with a roughly rectangular floor plan. Over 520 stores are arranged along three levels of pedestrian walkways on the sides of the rectangle, with a fourth level on one side. An addition planned north of the mall will allow for up to 900 stores. Four "anchor" department stores are located at the corners. The Mall is organized into four different zones, each with its own decorative style.

Notable attractions:

• Nickelodeon Universe
• Underwater Adventures Aquarium
• Bodies... The Exhibition

Nickelodeon Universe :

Nickelodeon Universe is an indoor theme park in the center of the mall, formerly known as Knotts Camp Snoopy, Camp Snoopy, and The Park at MOA. The park features roller coasters, among numerous other rides and attractions, and is the largest indoor theme park in the United States. Unlike many indoor amusement parks, Nickelodeon Universe has a great deal of natural foliage in and about the park, and its floor has a wide variance in height - the highest ground level in the park is 15 feet above the lowest. This allows for a far more naturalistic experience than would normally occur in an indoor amusement park.

The park features two new roller coasters; SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge and Avatar AirbenderIt also has a golfing section called Moose Mountain. With 18 holes, designed to create a challenge for players hoping to seek a hole in one.

Underwater Adventures Aquarium :

Guests travel through a 300 foot long curved tunnel through 14 feet of water to view over 4,500 sea creatures including sharks, turtles, stingrays, and many more. Underwater Adventures offers special events such as sleepovers, scuba diving, snorkeling, and birthday parties.Children ages 2 and younger receive free admission, while admission for ages 3-12 are $11.95, and Adult admission for ages 13 & older are $18.95.

FUN FACTS :

• Minnesota's Mall of America is the largest, fully enclosed retail and family entertainment complex in the U.S.
• Seven Yankee Stadiums would fit inside Mall of America.
• Mall of America’s 13,300 short tons of steel is nearly twice the amount in the Eiffel Tower.
• Walking distance around one level of Mall of America is .57 of a mile.
• Spending 10 minutes in every store would take a shopper more than 86 hours to complete there visit to Mall of America.
• More than 5,000 couples have been married at Mall of America since opening in August of 1992.
• The Mall of America is located on the former Metropolitan Sports Stadium which was home to the Minnesota Vikings and Twins. Home plate can be found in Nickelodeon Universe®.
• There are 30,000 live plants and 400 live trees planted in Nickelodeon Universe.

Phase II Expansion :

Phase II is the planned expansion for MOA, developing a large, empty parcel of land north of the mall which was the former home of the Met Center indoor arena and integrating an IKEA store built on a portion of the property in 2004. Phase II, in current form, includes a dinner theatre, ice rink, three hotels, and a waterpark; similar in design to the West Edmonton Mall. The expansion will not make MOA exceed the size of the WEM (itself going under expansion). The plan has been impeded by a lack of public financing.

MOA currently estimates costs of $1.9 billion for the expansion, doubling the mall's size with a 5.2 million-square-feet extension. The mall's developers have asked for $234 million in state and local subsidies, but the request was vetoed as part of a larger bill by Gov. Tim Pawlenty on its first appearance in the 2006-07 session. Questions have arisen among Bloomington city officials as to the fiscal ability of the Ghermezians to finish Phase II.

So decorates your holidays in Mall Of America and have a great experience of unlimited joy and happiness..

Amazing Stairway To The Heaven Discovered

Big brothers ... Mount Gower and its smaller brother Mount Litchbird dominate New South Wales' Lord Howe Island.

Howe fantastic ... Lord Howe Island is a natural paradise and is just a two-hour flight from Sydney or Brisbane.

Rocky road ... the 8-10 hour climb to the summit reveals clues to the island's fiery creation and is not for the faint-hearted.

Rope trick ... bolted to the stark cliff face, or attached to trees, lengths of rope are dotted along the trail to help climbers man oeuvre around ledges or pull themselves up steep inclines.

Water retreat ... Erskine Creek is a tranquil outcrop with a freshwater stream flowing from deep within the mountain, over the cliff face and out to sea.

Mountain man ... known throughout the island as "Mister", Malcolm Schik comes from a family of mountain guides.

Bird's-eye-view ... petrels follow walkers along the climb in search of any unwanted food scraps and admire the view of Mount Litchbird.

In the frame ... Mount Litchbird (777m) dominates the view from the Saddle, while Mt Eliza, North Bay and Old Settlement Beach are pushed to the background. .

Green scene ... near the summit, palms compete with flimsy ferns while moss covers every trunk, rock and patch of ground.

Top of the world ... after 5 ½ hours of battling boulders, grappling ropes and death-defying ledges – Lee Taylor pumps the air of summit.

Elusive bird ... the Lord Howe Island woodhen is one of the rarest birds in the world, so you'll have to do the climb to find one.

Picture perfect ... the view from the summit of Mount Gower will last forever for those brave enough to take the challenge. No postcard comes close to the real deal.

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World's Most Worst And Extreme Travel Awards 2008

Check out World's most sexiest, most worstest, most bizzare, most dangerous and most extreme travel awards 2008 contestants down to this post ... :)

Boobs on bikes, New Zealand

Around one hundred porn stars parading through the streets of Auckland topless... do we really need to say anymore?

CITY WITH THE SEXIEST WOMEN

Stockholm, Sweden

It was a touch job but according to a poll conducted by travelersdigest.com, Stockholm topped the poll as having the world's most beautiful women.

BEST ADRENALIN XPERIENCE

Cage of death, Darwin

There's a whole new monster of the deep experience going on in Darwin, with theme park Crocosaurus Cove offering tourists the chance to come face to face with crocs from the safety of the "Cage of Death".

Just 4cm of acrylic separates brave punters from the jaws of Choppa - a feisty saltwater croc. Tourists spend 15 minutes inside the 2.8m high cage and watch Choppa, who lost both front feet while fighting other crocodiles, trying to take a bite out of them.


BEST STREET ENTERTAINER

Subway stripper, Romania

Travellers witnessed one of the most extreme forms of busking as an attractive brunette stripped down to her knickers for cash, while pole dancing on a subway train.

It might not be the most honest way to earn a buck; it certainly made the journey through Bucharest's underground more interesting.

MOST EXPENSIVE HOLIDAY... EVER

Emirates Palace Hotel

Dubbed the world's first seven-star hotel, the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi offers $1 million holidays with private butler, day trips in a private jet and a stay in a gold-accented suite.

BEST BARGAIN BREAK

The Null Stern hotel, Switzerland

IF you're looking to get more bang for your buck in Europe, then how about staying in a Swiss Nuclear Bunker.

It has been dubbed the world's first 'zero-star' hotel, and one look inside the former bunker, it's easy to see why.

The Null Stern hotel in the small town of Sevelen swaps expensive luxury add-ons for prison-style essentials for just $14 a night.

MOST DANGEROUS TREK

Mt. Huashan, China

Described as the most dangerous tourist route in the world, Mt. Huashan in China has ramblers clinging to rusty iron chains whilst dangling over a 2090m cliff face¿ and no safety barrier.

BEST MUSEUM

Icelandic Phallological Museum, Iceland

The Penis Museum in Iceland, where visitors can get up-close and personal with the male reproductive organ, certainly stood out.

The museum, which began in 1974 with a single bull's penis that looked something like a riding crop, boasts 261 preserved members from 90 species.

BEST TOURIST ATTRACTION

Upside-down house, Germany

It may have left visitors complaining of feeling sick when inside, but the upside-door house in the northern German island of Usedom certainly turned the travel world on its head.

BEST A380

Emirate's luxury A380

Complete with an onboard bar, built-in massage systems in your very own Private Suite and shower spas, the Emirates A380 really is the most luxuries way to fly.

MOST BIZARRE FESTIVAL

Berlin's dirty food fight

Held every July since 1998, the Wasserschlacht sees Berlin districts Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg pelt each other with eggs, flour, fruit and foam-rubber clubs.

BEST FESTIVAL

Burning Man festival, US

A record 49,599 people attended this year's Burning Man Festival a week-long radical self-expression of art, music and nudity.

BEST RESTAURANT

New York's Clothing Optional Dinner

The "Clothing Optional Dinner" at a New York City restaurant is a monthly special for a group of nudists who want something a bit more elegant than the wilderness getaways and beach resorts they generally frequent.

House special is the rump.

MOST BIZARRE HOTEL ROOM

A night at the world's first sand hotel on Weymouth Beach, England, will set you back just $21. The hotel, created by sand sculptor Mark Anderson, offers a twin and double bedroom, while the roofless structure gives guests the chance to "star-gaze".


BEST EVENT

Tough Guy race, England

The annual Tough Guy race is a tortuous 13km obstacle course through energy-sapping mud and flames, while dodging smoke bombs, barbed wire and electrical charges. And that's why we prefer to watch it rather than take part.

BEST EXHIBITION

Banksy's pet store, New York

British guerrilla artist Banksy opened his first official exhibition in New York – a pet shop displaying floating fish fingers, chicken nuggets with legs and hotdogs performing a "sex act".

Created with bizarre animatronics, the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill on 7th Avenue caused plenty of controversy with its amazing exhibits.


BEST STATUE

Russia's Enema statue

A town in southern Russia erected a monument in the shape of an enema to celebrate the famous medical procedure, and visitors have been backed up ever since.

The bronze syringe bulb statue held by three angels was unveiled in the city of Zheleznovodsk, a region known for dozens of spas where enemas with water from mineral springs are routinely administered to treat digestive and other complaints.


BEST DARK TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

Raising the dead, Philippines

The Philippines has become the latest destination for a dark travel experience, with tourists flocking to see a unique burial site along the Cliffs of Sagada.

The people of Luzon Island have been burying their deceased along the rocks for over 2000 years, and now hundreds of coffins can be seen jutting out from the rocks and caves.


MOST CREATIVE HOTEL

Queen Elizabeth Elite Suite Hotel & Spa, Turkey

Situated between the legendary Toros Mountains and the sparkling turquoise Mediterranean in Göynük, Turkey's $58 million five-star luxury hotel is in the guise of a massive cruise liner.

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World's Haunted Railway Station

One of the more ornate abandoned places in the world this railway station in Abkhazia is a stunning relic from the collapse of the Soviet empire. Soviet era train stations were often overdone marble monuments to the working man and this was no exception.



Abkhazian railways consist of a 185-kilometre (115 mi) main line along the Black Sea coast and a 36 km (22 mi) branch to Tkvarcheli. It connected Russia’s North Caucasus Railway with Georgian railways prior to 1992, however the connection with Georgia was severed as a result of the War in Abkhazia. The railway is administered by the state-run Abkhazskaya Zheleznaya Doroga company. At the beginning of 2008 there was one regular long-distance train Moscow-Sukhumi and occasional freight traffic. The railway system of Abkhazia was isolated in the 1990s due to the blockade imposed by Russia.

The Russian military relies on railroads to deploy heavy weapons and armor to the battlefield. The acute military, strategic and tactical importance of the railroad system in Russia explains the existence of special Railroad Troops whose task is to keep the tracks in order during and in preparation for war and to organize makeshift armor battlefield disembarkment points.

The railway was once a busy passenger route between Abkhazia and Russia and is testament to the former Soviet’s rich past. It now belongs to nature.


In July 2008 Russian troops repaired 54 km of Soviet-built tracks with 20 tunnels and bridges south of the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi to the coastal town of Ochamchire. The railroad was out of use since the early 1990s, a period which witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Georgia-Abkhaz war. At a colorful official ceremony in Dranda, south of Sukhumi, the commander of the Railroad Troops General Sergei Klimets told journalists that the railroad operation was “purely humanitarian” to help the people of Abkhazia.


At the height of the Russian Empire buildings were grandiose, colorful and inspiring but since the collapse of the USSR some lie abandoned, as with this railway station in Abkhazia, a former Russian territory.



The ornate hallways, seating areas and stairwells are nothing like we’re used to today, which is a shame. If our railway stations looked this good, there would probably be a lot less complaining when the trains are delayed, or cancelled!

In Short : This is an abandoned railway station in Abkhazia, former Russian territory. It stays untouched since the collapse of USSR - the railway connection of Abkhazia and Russia stopped and railway station left out of demand so nature could take over the left-overs of Soviet architecture. In my opinion it reminds somehow the Prince of Persia video game scenes or scenes from the movie of the abandoned civilization after some major disaster.

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