The center was in a big bleak house built in the early nineteenth century, isolated in a dip in the middle of the moors, beside a river.

NEWYORKER: She��s the One

That's how witnesses described feeling after three people slipped into the foamy waters of the Big Sioux River, in the middle of a Sioux Falls park.

CNN: March 16, 2013 -- Updated 0041 GMT (0841 HKT)

While Pakret has little to detain the traveller, it is the jumping off point for Ko Kret, a sleepy island in the middle of the Chao Praya River.

BBC: Take the boat out of Bangkok

The further they are from the river banks, the lesser their chance of getting attacked, so the sandbars in the middle of the river fill up first, with the birds jostling for a good place.

BBC: Nebraska��s awe-inspiring crane migration

To ease congestion at London's Heathrow Airport, the architecture firm Gensler recently unveiled plans for a floating airport that would be built right in the middle of the River Thames.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: fluorescent bulb moon, fuel-efficient supersonic jet and a toxin-eating oyster park

Set on a man-made island in the middle of the St Lawrence River, the circuit also hits the brakes hard.

BBC: McLaren distractions can boost Schumi

For those who prefer to travel by boat, Wailua Kayak Adventures and Kayak Wailua offer tours that begin with a slow, two-mile paddle down the calm Wailua River, pass an old Hawaiian village along the banks and end in the middle of a tropical rain forest.

BBC: Kauai��s hidden adventures

Three middle-age blowhards (a supercilious retired soldier, a dull canon and the puffed-up owner of a river bathhouse) vie for the affections of a comely magician's assistant, who seems open to dalliances despite a relationship with her milquetoast employer (wonderfully underplayed by Mr. Menzel).

WSJ: Pearls of the Czech New Wave | Before the Spring Was Gone | By David Mermelstein