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Even a Druid would feel at home with no complaints at this stoic Stonehenge replica, set on a tufted hillside in the Shenandoah Valley. Baffling perhaps, but the towering industrial foam blocks make for a mystical roadside diversion.
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America's most famous mythical lumberjack, capable of felling entire forests with his powerful ax, has a long reach. There are monumental statues of Bunyan in Akeley, Minnesota; Bangor, Maine, and Portland, Oregon. His trusty sidekick, Babe the Blue Ox, gets in on the action with colossal statues in Klamath, California, and Bemidji, Minnesota (pictured above).
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This towering donut, built in 1952, has earned celeb status by appearing in films (Mars Attacks!), videos (Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”), and Hollywood dreams of sweet treats.
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America’s oldest example of zoomorphic architecture, this 130-year-old, 65-foot pachyderm is actually a building that once served as a summer cottage. Lumber up the spiral stairs to Lucy’s towering howdah for elephantine views of the Atlantic Ocean.
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Walk through a modern cave home with 14 furnished rooms carved out of Utah sandstone. If the excavation, which removed 50,000 cubic feet of stone, doesn’t move you, take in the petting zoo.
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Seven sensational scrap metal sculptures line this 32-mile stretch of highway in southwest North Dakota, including artist Gary Greff’s massive “Geese in Flight,” listed in the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest scrap metal sculpture.
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Circling a patch of lonesome prairie, 38 old cars painted gray form a replica of England’s Stonehenge. Additional sculptures made from Detroit iron include “Ford Seasons,” representing seasonal changes to the landscape.
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Climb to the top of a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex for an up-close view of its teeth at this real-world Jurassic park. Purchase souvenirs at a museum shop located inside Ms. Dinny, a 150-ton Apatosaurus considered the largest concrete dino in the world.
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Existing rules to prevent bill shock for those using the internet via a mobile phone while abroad remain: operators must apply an automatic €50 (£45) cut-off limit on accounts unless the customer explicitly agrees otherwise.
Monique Goyens, director general of the European Consumers' Organisation, said: "These new caps are slowly chipping away at the extortionate roaming prices some telecoms operators have been driving for years. These high prices need to be brought down so European phone owners' confidence can rise.
"A remarkable 72% of travellers still limit their roaming calls because of high charges. Such pricing is a denial of the very idea of the EU single market and free movement. It's logical legislation."
Nick Wright of billmonitor said: "While any reduction in extortionate roaming prices are of course welcome, the latest price cuts will leave few regular roaming customers rushing to make calls while on their summer holiday.
"The 10% cut in outbound roaming call prices will certainly help, but as the 40% of us who make roaming calls well know, it will be a drop in the ocean relative to already very high costs."
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The European commission has ordered mobile telecommunictions companies to cap the cost of making and receiving calls while abroad.
From today customers should pay no more than 32p a minute for calls made – a 3p reduction – and 10p a minute for calls received while within the EU.
However there are fears that firms are passing on the EU costs to UK consumers in the form of domestic price rises, with Orange and Vodafone introducing increases of up to 66% in pay as you go costs for calls and text.
The move is part of the commission's goal to narrow the gap between domestic and overseas call rates to virtually nothing by 2015. New regulation on data pricing and competition practices is to be announced on Tuesday 5 July.
Compulsory maximum roaming rates were first imposed on mobile network operators four years ago to tackle what the commission called the "roaming rip-off" – network operators were said to be making profits of more than 200% for mobile calls made while in another EU country, and 300% or 400% for calls received.
Today's additional price drop means mobile roaming charges are about 75% cheaper on average than they were six years ago when the commission first urged operators to cut their rates voluntarily.
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Foreign Office research shows that a third of people do not take out travel insurance when staying with family and friends overseas. Photograph: Digitalknight/Alamy
Britons planning to visit friends and family abroad this year are being urged to take out full travel insurance to help them should things go wrong.
An estimated 12 million British nationals are expected to visit friends and family abroad this year but new research published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as part of its Know Before You Go campaign shows that young people are more likely to buy a present for their host than take out a travel insurance policy.
The survey shows that a third of people did not take out travel insurance the last time they stayed with family and friends overseas. More than three-quarters (77%) of those who stated that they were visiting friends and family this year and were not intending to buy cover said that saving money was a key factor in this decision.
However, the FCO warns that not taking out comprehensive travel insurance can be a false economy as people can face serious financial difficulty if they need medical treatment or lose valuable possessions.
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Britons urged to take out travel insurance if visiting family abroad
Foreign Office Know Before You Go campaign highlights risks to uninsured travellers
Foreign Office research shows that a third of people do not take out travel insurance when staying with family and friends overseas. Photograph: Digitalknight/Alamy
Britons planning to visit friends and family abroad this year are being urged to take out full travel insurance to help them should things go wrong.
An estimated 12 million British nationals are expected to visit friends and family abroad this year but new research published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as part of its Know Before You Go campaign shows that young people are more likely to buy a present for their host than take out a travel insurance policy.
The survey shows that a third of people did not take out travel insurance the last time they stayed with family and friends overseas. More than three-quarters (77%) of those who stated that they were visiting friends and family this year and were not intending to buy cover said that saving money was a key factor in this decision.
However, the FCO warns that not taking out comprehensive travel insurance can be a false economy as people can face serious financial difficulty if they need medical treatment or lose valuable possessions.
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Turkey is an intriguing country with a unique identity straddling both Europe and Asia. In a place where familiarity merges with the exotic, we find a magical blend of the ancient, Christian and Ottoman worlds where the jewel in the crown is the incredible city of Istanbul.
A city of great diversity, Istanbul is a combination of tree-lined boulevards, cafés and cosmopolitan restaurants set against a backdrop where little else has changed for centuries. You still see the thriving street market-stalls, groaning with immense displays of produce and even live poultry for sale, with noise and atmosphere in abundance. High-class jewellery and fashion shops equalling the best Paris or London can muster jostle with hawkers selling freshly prepared food, shoeshine boys and the largest covered bazaar in the world. Consecutive capital to both Christian and Ottoman Empires, you can at once admire a fascinating Byzantine church whilst listening to the haunting chant from the mosque calling the faithful to prayer.
During its 3,000 years of turbulent history it has been home to Greeks, Romans, the Crusaders, Ottomans and finally the Turks themselves - all leaving their mark. Originally called Byzantium, it became Constantinople after the Roman Emperor Constantine made it his capital and finally, Istanbul. We are taught the Roman Empire fell in 410 AD when Attila the Hun sacked Rome, but rarely told is that the Eastern and wealthiest half lasted another 1,000 years. This has lead to amazing preservation with perhaps the greatest legacy being the 6th century Haghia Sofia built as the largest ever church - for over a thousand years the largest covered space on earth. During the Middle Ages the Ottoman Empire held sway and built another range of monuments to match: the Blue Mosque, taking its name from the intricate blue tiles lining its interior and the amazing Topkapi Palace which was the seat of government of arguably the greatest empire of the medieval age.
