Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sampan Rides (The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Singapore)

While there is the famous gondola in Venice at the Venetian Macau where you get to have a boat ride with a gondolier that sings as he rows you down the Grand Canal. Singapore has its own version, well something similar but minus the singing – the Sampan Ride at the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Singapore which is indoors and sheltered from bad weather. A sampan is a flat bottom small Chinese wooden boat and the name is derived from the original Cantonese (Chinese dialect) term for boats.

 Sampan Rides – The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Singapore
The sampans making their rounds
A ride on the sampan in the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands Singapore's canal will take you along the Canal, the Shoppes and around the Rain Oculus (a 22-meter diameter acrylic bowl set on a 90-ton...Read more>>

Pont des Arts (Paris) - a bridge with meaning

Pont des Arts

On the way back from dinner one day in Paris, we stumbled across the Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts. The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge that spans across the Seine River, linking the Institut de France and the central square (cour carrée) of the palais du Louvre.

According to Wikipedia, this nine-arch metallic bridge was the fist metal bridge in Paris built for pedestrians. The bridge served as a place for art exhibitions and is today’s platform for painters, artists and photographers who are drawn t...Read more>>