Did you know ... ? The Piazza San Marco is the only Venetian piazza; all other squares have names meaning field or yard. The average gondola lasts about 20 years. The word ghetto comes from the name of Venice’s 16th century Jewish section. Marco Polo left Venice for China in
Did You Know? Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent country (108.7 acres). Most of St. Peter's Basilica, Europe’s largest church, was designed by Michelangelo. The Swiss Guards have protected the pope at the Vatican since 1506. Vatican City has the world’s lowest birth rate (zero) whereas literacy is 100%.
Did You Know ... ? Vancouver has about 135 parks encompassing 2,700 acres. In its earliest days, the city was called Gastown, named for a talkative pioneer. The Capilano Bridge is the world’s longest (450 feet) and highest (230 feet) suspension footbridge. Vancouver is south of Frankfurt, Germany, and Prague,
Did you know ... ? Toronto's latitude puts it well south of Portland, Ore. More than 60% of the U.S. population lives within 90 minutes of Toronto by air. Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in1914 at Hanlan's Point Stadium. The CN Tower, at 1,815 feet, is the
Did You Know? The painter El Greco’s real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos. Toledo is in the region called La Mancha, home of the fictional Don Quixote. The Toledo Cathedral has 750 stained-glass windows. Toledo was once a Roman city called Toletum. Toledo, Spain, and Toledo, Ohio, are parties to America’s
Did You Know ... ? Tokyo’s population is three times as dense as that of Mumbai, India. Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea are among the world’s five top theme parks. Men play all the roles in Kabuki theater. The name Tokyo means eastern capital. The innards of the poisonous puffer
Did You Know….? Meant to cost $4.5 million, the city’s opera house cost $64 million and opened 10 years late. Stadium Australia, built for the Olympics, covers 39.5 acres; its roof covers 7.5 acres. It takes 10 years and 8,000 gallons of paint to cover the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Trees
Did You Know ... ? One ounce of silkworm eggs produces 30,000 to 35,000 silkworms and ultimately 12 pounds of silk. Renowned architect I.M. Pei returned to his ancestral home Suzhou to design the new Suzhou Museum. Sun Tzu wrote the famous military book, “The Art of War,” at nearby
Did You Know? Avon is a Celtic word meaning river. In the 1560s, when Shakespeare was born, only one in three children survived to adulthood. The first Shakespearean festival was organized by actor David Garrick in 1769. Shakespeare’s Birthplace was purchased as a national memorial in 1847 for £3,000. The
Did you know ... ? The Stockholm archipelago has more than 24,000 islands, islets and skerries. Skansen is the world’s oldest open-air museum, dating from 1891. The 1628 Vasa warship sailed a mile, then sank 130 yards off shore in Stockholm’s harbor. Stockholm-born Alfred Nobel left the equivalent of roughly