Did You Know...? Ontario has about 250 ghost towns, way more than any other province or U.S. state. At the time of the War of 1812, more than half Ontario’s residents were American transplants. The province counts about 250,000 lakes, one-third of the world’s fresh water. The Dionne sisters, born
Did You Know...? The Yukon River Quest is the world’s longest annual canoe and kayak race (460 miles). Simple hand mining yielded $22,275,000 in Yukon gold in 1900 alone. Diamond Tooth Gerties is Canada’s northernmost legal casino. About two-thirds of the territory's people live in Whitehorse, the capital. The Yukon
Did You Know...? The Royal Canadian Mounted Police trains recruits in Regina. The province produces more than half of Canada’s wheat. Estevan averages 2,540 sun-filled hours a year, more than any other Canadian town. Saskatchewan’s official sport is curling. The original name for Regina, the capital, was Pile o’ Bones.
Did You Know...? Rostock University is the oldest university in northern Europe (1419). Lubeck was one of the cofounders, with Hamburg, of the Hanseatic League in 1241. The UNESCO-listed Wismar is at the southernmost point on the Baltic coast. Heiligendamm, on the Baltic, is Germany’s oldest seaside resort (1793). The
Did You Know...? Danish Vikings were kings of England before William the Conqueror ever saw the place. Ribe is Scandinavia’s oldest town, dating from 710. Havarti cheese is named for the farm where it was created in the 19th century. Originally, the word Viking referred to pirates or adventurous seafarers,
Did You Know? The Parthenon’s horizontal lines — stair steps, beams and roof — are curved in a slight dome shape. The eternal flame of Altis, at Olympia, is the source of the flaming torch carried to the current Olympics. Statues on ancient Greek buildings were typically painted with bright
Did You Know...? Laurance Rockefeller donated 9,500 acres to make the Virgin Islands National Park possible. The only mammals native to St. John are bats — six species of them. There are no traffic lights on St. John. The nickname for one St. John tree is Tourist Tree; it has
Did You Know? Disneyland Paris covers nearly 5,000 acres, one-fifth the area of Paris. Chartres Cathedral’s stained-glass windows, including 150-plus early 13th century works, cover 27,000 square feet. Versailles debuted with gushing outdoor fountains but no indoor plumbing for toilets or bathing. Forty-two kings, 32 queens and 63 princes and
Did You Know? President Lincoln investigated purchasing Cozumel as a home for freed slaves. The Spanish conquest and smallpox left the island virtually uninhabited by 1600. Hernando Cortes began his 1519 conquest of Mexico by making his first landfall at Cozumel. There are up to 250 species of tropical fish
Did You Know? Chocolate was a Mayan discovery, and the Maya used cacao as currency. After a Mayan ballgame, losers or their representatives were decapitated. There are more than 1,600 archaeological zones in Yucatan state alone. Campeche City is built on a village site the Maya called the Land of
