Did You Know? Eighty percent of the world’s Atlantic humpback whales mate and give birth in Dominican Republic waters. Silver Banks, a marine sanctuary, was named for the coins recovered from a 17th century galleon wreck. One in five Major League baseball players is Dominican. Playa las Flechas (Arrows Beach)
Did You Know ... ? The first Salzburg Cathedral was consecrated in 774. The oldest child in the von Trapp family was not a “16-going-on-17” daughter named Liesl, but a son. Salzburg’s Stiegl brewery is the oldest (1492) and largest (25 million gallons yearly) private brewery in Austria. World War
Did You Know? Salisbury Cathedral is home to one of four surviving Magna Cartas, written in 1215. Educated estimates suggest it took 30 million man-hours to build Stonehenge. Longleat was the first drive-through safari park outside of Africa (1966). The builders of Stonehenge did not have the wheel. The cathedral
Did You Know? The famous White Terrace, formed by thermal waters, covered seven acres and was 98 feet high. Rotorua’s Bath House is New Zealand’s most photographed building. Lady Knox Geyser can be prompted to erupt by dumping soap down its throat. When a Maori warrior sticks out his tongue,
Did You Know ... ? Rome’s main street, Via del Corso (Way of the Course), was once a horseracing course. Visitors toss roughly $220,000 a year into Trevi Fountain. The famous city on seven hills today sprawls over about 20 hills. About 2,000 gladiators died in the festivities celebrating the
Did You Know? In 2016, Rio de Janeiro will become the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. Hans Stern founded the H. Stern jewelry chain in Rio in 1949. The original design for "Christ the Redeemer" envisioned Christ holding a cross and a globe. Celebratory processions in
Did You Know...? The average January temperatures in Reykjavik are higher than those in New York. Reykjavik is the world’s northernmost capital city. Iceland continues the old Norse tradition of using patronyms rather than surnames. It is the same distance from New York to Reykjavik as from New York to
Did You Know? Quito is South America’s oldest capital, having first been an Incan capital. The city’s Metropolitan Park is the largest urban park in South America (1,376 acres). A ton of gold was used to decorate the interior of La Compania Church. Quito was the world’s first city to
Did You Know? Shotover River in 1862 was the world’s richest, yielding up to five ounces of gold per shovelful. The first commercial bungee site, opened in 1988, was at Kawarau Bridge near Queenstown. There are 82 registered wineries in Central Otago where Queenstown is located. Queenstown got its name because
Did You Know ... ? Samuel de Champlain founded the city, Canada’s first permanent European settlement (1608). Quebec City stages the world’s largest Winter Carnival (17 days, 300-plus activities, 1 million visitors). During three weeks at the Chateau Frontenac in 1943, the Allies laid plans for the 1944 Normandy invasion.
