Unutterably Silly Let's Go Places!

[Phyllis41]

Santa Coloma de Gramanet - Spain

In November 2008, the city made worldwide news by installing solar panels on top of crypts in the local cemetery, in an effort to help fight climate change.

[drjd]

Taipei, Taiwan

[wodin]

Italy



Since classical times, ancient Phoenicians and Greeks, Etruscans, and Celts have inhabited the south, centre and north of the Italian Peninsula respectively, with various Italic peoples dispersed throughout Italy alongside other ancient Italian tribes and Greek, Carthaginian, and Phoenician colonies. The Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually spread throughout Italy, assimilating and conquering other nearby civilisations and forming the Roman Republic. Rome ultimately emerged as the dominant power, conquering much of the ancient world and becoming the leading cultural, political, and religious centre of Western civilisation. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the global distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity and the Latin script.

[drjd]

Yaizu, Japan

Yaizu is a noted port for commercial fishing. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force Shizuhama Air Base is located in Yaizu. The economy of Yaizu is dominated by the commercial fishing industry. Yaizu Port was first in Japan in terms of tonnage of bonito and tuna in 2002, and third in terms of mackerel.

[wodin]

Uganda,



The ancestors of the Ugandans were hunter-gatherers until 1,700-2,300 years ago. Bantu-speaking populations, who were probably from central Africa, migrated to the southern parts of the country. These groups brought and developed ironworking skills and new ideas of social and political organization.

[bshar489]

Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, is in the south-central part of the state on the Cook Inlet. It's known for its cultural sites, including the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which displays traditional crafts, stages dances, and presents replicas of dwellings from the area’s indigenous groups. The city is also a gateway to nearby wilderness areas and mountains including the Chugach, Kenai and Talkeetna.

[DebSP]

Edinburgh, Scotland

Birthplace of many famous authors including Sir Walter Scott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark, Nigel Tranter and Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows) among others. Currently home to Kate Atkinson, Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin and J.K.Rowling among others as well.
Houses the Writer's Museum which "celebrates the lives of three great Scottish writers-Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson."

[wodin]

Houston, TX



In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York—Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen—purchased 6,642 acres (26.88 km2) of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the popular general at the Battle of San Jacinto, who was elected President of Texas in September 1836.

[drjd]

Norfolk, England

Home of the Grand Mouse.

[cromag]

Kittatinny Mountain, NJ

A long ridge that runs parallel to the Delaware river along the northwest border of the state. Most of Kittatinny Mountain is publicly owned -- it's home to High Point State Park and Stokes State Forest. It's also home to Old Mine Road, which is believed to be one of the oldest continuously used roads in the United States of America.

[drjd]

Nalanda, India

Nalanda was an acclaimed Mahavihara, a large Buddhist monastery in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India. The site is located about 95 kilometres (59*mi) southeast of Patna near the town of Bihar Sharif, and was a centre of learning from the seventh century BC to c. 1200 CE. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The highly formalized methods of Vedic learning helped inspire the establishment of large teaching institutions such as Taxila, Nalanda, and Vikramashila which are often characterised as India's early universities. Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. The liberal cultural traditions inherited from the Gupta age resulted in a period of growth and prosperity until the ninth century. The subsequent centuries were a time of gradual decline, a period during which the tantric developments of Buddhism became most pronounced in eastern India under the Pala Empire.

At its peak, the school attracted scholars and students from near and far with some travelling all the way from Tibet, China, Korea, and Central Asia. Archaeological evidence also notes contact with the Shailendra dynasty of Indonesia, one of whose kings built a monastery in the complex.



Ruins of Nalanda Mahavihar

[Phyllis41]

Almere -*Netherlands

[drjd]

El Paso, United States

[cromag]

Oradell, NJ, USA

A borough in Bergen County, in the northeast corner of New Jersey. Home to the Oradell Reservoir, a reservoir formed by the Oradell Reservoir Dam on the Hackensack River. During Hurricane Irene in 2011 the water level rose two feet above the top of the dam and flooded the area.

[drjd]

Leeds, United Kingdom

Leeds has the second highest population of any local authority district in the UK (after Birmingham), and the second greatest area of any English metropolitan district (after Doncaster), extending 15 miles (24 km) from east to west, and 13 miles (21 km) from north to south. The northern boundary follows the River Wharfe for several miles but crosses the river to include the part of Otley which lies north of the river.