SHIP DESIGNED TO LOOK AS IF IT IS SINKING

The Love Love was built to look as if it is sinking

French artist Julien Berthier has designed a fully functional boat to look as if it is sinking. The 6.5m (21ft) yacht was cut in half with a new keel and motor added so it remains in the sinking position while being fully functional. He describes it as "the permanent and mobile image of a wrecked ship that has become a functional and safe leisure object."

Berthier has taken the boat (or should I say half-a-boat) across the English Channel to London and has toured it around Europe, getting plenty of offers of assistance from unwitting good Samaritans, who would presumably be either very annoyed or rather bemused by the contraption. The designer and artist designed and built the floating installation in 2007. He named his creation Love Love.

SOME OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST/TALLEST TREES

General Sherman, Kings Canyon National Park, USA


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General Sherman is the name of a extremely huge Giant Sequoias tree in the Sequoia National Park. The tree is 83.8 m high and weights over 6000 tons. General Sherman is approximately 2,200 years old.

Hyperion, Redwood National Park, USA


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The Hyperion, a Coast Redwood in Northern California, at 115.5 m tall is the tallest tree in the world, but not the largest.

Lost Monarch, Grove of Titans, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, USA


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The Lost Monarch, also a Coast Redwood, is measured at 7.6 meters in diameter and 98 in height. Some biologists believes that the Lost Monarch is the largest single-stem tree in the world. The Lost Monarch Tree was discovered in 1998 and is located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The exact location has not been revealed to the public out of concern that excessive human foot traffic may upset that ecosystem.

Arbol del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico

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Santa Maria del Tule is a small town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico with its famous Arbol del Tule (tree of Tule), a ancient Cypress tree, in the chuchyard. The tree is between 2000 and 3000 years old and is approx 48 m in diameter. Arbol del Tule is Mexico's most famous tree, and some say the world's largest single biomass.

The Sunland Baobab of Limpopo, South Africa



This giant and ancient baobab at the Sunland Nursery, between Duiwelskloof and Ga-Kgapane, is the biggest specimen in the world. It has a circumference of 46,8m and carbon dating has determined its age at an astronomical 6000 years.

See THE WORLD'S ONLY 'TREE BAR'

UNBELIEVABLE SAND ART

In the Tibetan Gaden Shartse Monastery, located in India, four of the seven Tibetan monks make traditional sand paintings that are known as a sand mandala. This is a way for the monks to raise money to educate the locals about their monastery and Tibetan and Buddhist cultures. You must definitely have a steady hand for this kind of job (via).

UNUSUAL HOTEL #1: The Cap Rocat Boutique Hotel, Spain

From rags to riches

Once a 19th-century military fortress, the classic structure situated off the southeast coast of Spain, was recently transformed by Spanish architect Antonio Obrador into a beautiful, adult-only luxury hotel. This hotel, named the Cap Rocat boutique hotel is a stunning example of historic adaptive reuse.

The hotel features 24 luxury bedrooms, open air terraces, patio's and restaurants and has a private coastline of more than 2 km. The hotels also boasts a natural salt water swimming pool and also highlights some of the original defensive strategies, like a drawbridge, bunkers, and trenches that you can explore on your holiday.

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