Moscow

• Gogol: Located in an underground bunker, this restaurant uses an air raid siren to alert customers when their orders are ready to be picked up.
• Petrovich: Decked out in Soviet memorabilia, this restaurant pays ironic homage to Stalinist Russia.
• The Real McCoy: This club models itself after a prohibition-era speakeasy, complete with a hard-to-find entrance and 1930s design elements.
• Shinok (Moscow): Shinok evokes rural Ukraine, circa 1600, with traditional food, music, costumes, and even real barnyard animals on display.

Taiwan

• D.S. Music Restaurant: A restaurant with a hospital theme, visitors sit around “beds” while their drinks drip from IV tubes into their glasses.
• The Jail: Keeping with the jail theme, diners here are served by waiters in black-and-white-striped prisoner garb.
• Modern Toilet Diner: As strange as it may seem, customers are flocking to the Modern Toilet Diner and its toilet-based decor.

Tokyo

• Alcatraz: Diners are led to their table in handcuffs and their food is delivered through a slot in the barred “cell” wall.
• Alice in Wonderland: Customers go down the rabbit hole to this “Gothic and Lolita” style tribute to Lewis Carroll’s heroine.
• Christon Cafe: There’s nothing sacrilegious about a Christian-themed restaurant decorated with crucifixes and featuring menu items such as the “Small Devil” cocktail, right?

USA

• Cereality: A restaurant devoted to cereal seems like a strange idea, but with its large menu of cereals, toppings, and cereal-related items like bars and smoothies, this chain of restaurants is taking off in the U.S.
• Heart Attack Grill: This Phoenix, Arizona restaurant has its own resident “doctor,” whose prescription calls for the house special, the “Double Bypass Burger.”
• Quark’s Bar and Restaurant: Part of the Las Vegas Hilton’s Star Trek Experience, Quark’s Bar serves drinks and food with names that would sound right at home on the Enterprise.

• Barbed Wire Capital of the World—La Crosse, Kansas
• Bimbo Town—Leipzig, Germany
• Boring Capital of the World—Las Cruces, New Mexico
• Cherry Pit Spitting Capital of the World—Eau Claire, Michigan
• Chimneyville—Jackson, Mississippi
• Cow Chip Throwing Capital of the World—Beaver, Oklahoma
• Curtain Rod Capital of the World—Sturgis, Michigan
• Drunk Driving Capital of the World—Gallup, New Mexico
• Indoor Foliage Capital of the World—Apopka, Florida
• Lightning Capital of the World—Tampa Bay Area, Florida
• Loader/Backhoe Capital of the World—Burlington, Iowa
• Moonshine Capital of the World—Franklin County, Virginia
• Porn and Fireworks Capital of Australia—Canberra, Australia
• Slaughterhouse to the World—Chicago, Illinois
• Slurpee Capital of the World—Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• Storm Capital of the World—Bandon, Oregon
• Streaking Capital of the World—Knoxville, Tennessee
• Swearing Capital of the World—Colorado Springs, Colorado
• The City of Blinding Lights—Seoul, South Korea
• Toilet Paper Capital of the World—Green Bay, Wisconsin

Sources: Wikipedia, Trivia Asylum, and Doug’s List of Lists

• Holi (March): This festival in India is dedicated to the Hindu Demoness, Holika, and is marked by celebrants throwing colored powder and water over each other, and the usual social distinctions of caste, sex, status, and age are set aside for its duration.
• Purim (March): Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrating the triumph of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai over the evildoer Haman, and often involves games, costumes, and joyful noisemaking. Christopher Guest’s 2006 movie, For Your Consideration, focuses on the making of a fictional film called “Home for Purim.”
• Hilaria (March 25): On March 25th, ancient Romans observed Hilaria, a day marking the resurrection of the god Attis and also honoring his mother, Cybele, on which Romans conducted games, masquerades, and other revelries.
• Poisson d’Avril (April 1): Literally, “fish of April,” this French version of April Fools’ Day involves pinning paper cut-outs of fish on other peoples’ backs, thus making them the “Poisson d’Avril,” or a fish so young and foolish that it is easily caught.
• Taily Day (April 1): Also known as “Hunting the gowk” in Scotland, those who are tricked are known as “April-gowks,” or cuckoos.

Sausage Automaton: Watch this clip from the Museum of Automatons in La Rochelle, France, to see poor porkers being made into sausages.

Skeleton Automaton: Marvin’s Marvelous Museum in Farmington Hills, Michigan is a popular destination in the area; check out the creepy insides of this macabre skeleton.

Silver Swan Automaton: At the Bowes Museum in North East England, this historic silver swan, created in 1773 and mentioned in Mark Twain’s book, The Innocents Abroad, is put into operation twice daily, at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Hookah Bar/Opium Den: One of the more gritty scenes brought to life at the Musée Mécanique in San Francisco, California, this mechanical tableau features tiny figures conducting shady business in an undisclosed location.

Bimbo Box: Also from the Musée Mécanique, these highly entertaining monkeys with maracas perform a great number from West Side Story.

Laughing Sal: Although I find a little bit of Sal goes a long way, many people love her infectious and distinctive laugh. A survivor of the long-gone Playland-at-the-Beach amusement park, Sal is now a permanent fixture at the Musée Mécanique.

1. Overhead Light Shadow Puppets: Entertain your fellow travelers with your best bunny impression.
2. Peanut Research: Follow in the footsteps of George Washington Carver as you find yet another use for this handy honey-roasted legume.
3. Airsickness Bag Origami: It’s a bird, it’s a crane…
4. Tray Table Tennis: We don’t know how it’s done either, but here’s a hint–the middle person is the net.
5. Inflight Satellite Phone Prank Calls: Fool your friends for only $10 a minute!
6. SkyMall Catalog Holiday Shopping: Find that perfect gift for the person who has everything except a gold-plated self-cleaning dog dish.
7. Peanut Package Toss: The overhead bin makes a perfect basket.
8. PA System Karaoke: Reveal your hidden musical talents to the delight of a captive audience.
9. Lavatory Stuffing: How many people can you fit before someone hurls?

• Nyepi (March 19, 2007): On this day, residents of Bali, Indonesia, remain indoors and maintain silence as a means of encouraging self-reflection.
• Songkran (April 13-15, 2007): In recent years this Thai New Year’s celebration has been marked by people throwing water on each other and on vehicles in the streets, a mostly welcome practice since April is the hottest month in Thailand.
• Rosh Hashanah/Jewish New Year (September 12-14, 2007): One of the traditions of Rosh Hashanah is to throw pieces of bread on flowing water to symbolize casting off one’s sins (known as Tashlikh).
• Hogmanay (December 31, 2007): One important aspect of this Scottish New Year’s celebration is the tradition of “first-footing;” it is considered good luck if the first person to cross your threshold in the new year is a dark-haired male, preferably bearing gifts of coal (symbolizing warmth) and salt (symbolizing flavor).
• La Festa di San Silvestro (December 31, 2007): Italians celebrate the new year with special foods and festivities, and sometimes with flying furniture; it is customary in some areas to throw old belongings out the window to symbolize making way for the new year.
• Noche Vieja (December 31, 2007): A fun custom in Spain is to eat twelve grapes, one for each strike of the clock, at midnight.
• Shogatsu/Japanese New Year (January 1, 2008): In Japan, much attention is paid to the “firsts” of the year, including the first sunrise, the first work of the new year, and the first dream of the new year.
• Chinese New Year (February 7, 2008): There are many traditions and practices associated with the Chinese New Year season, which lasts for fifteen days after the New Year begins. One custom is to buy all new clothes to wear, often red in color, as red is believed to keep away bad spirits and bad luck.

Brazil (States):

• Acre
• Alagoas
• Amapá
• Amazonas
• Bahia
• Cearà
• Maranhão
• Pará
• Paraí­ba
• Pernambuco
• Piauí­
• Rio Grande do Norte
• Rondônia
• Roraima
• Sergipe
• Tocantins

Canada (Provinces and Territories):

• Several regions of British Columbia
• Nunavut (Southampton Island)
• Saskatchewan

Mexico (States):

• Sonora

USA (States and Territories):

• American Samoa
• Arizona
• Guam
• Hawaii
• Puerto Rico
• U.S. Virgin Islands

Other Countries:

• Argentina
• Columbia
• Guyana
• Perú
• Venezuela

• Bora: Adriatic, Greece, Russia, Turkey
• Brickfielder: Australia
• Chinook: Western USA and Canada
• Föhn: Central Europe (the Alps)
• Halny: Carpathian mountains
• Hamsin: Middle East
• Harmattan: West Africa
• Mistral: Southern France and Italy
• Monsoon: South Asia
• Santa Ana: Southern California
• Sirocco: North Africa and Southern Europe

There are various explanations for these puzzling names, including the idea that early publicans distinguished their establishments from similarly-named ones by adding a unique second name. Also, as Bill Bryson points out in his 1990 book, The Mother Tongue, some of these compound names could be corruptions of the original names, such as Elephant and Castle (Infanta de Castille), Pig and Whistle (Peg and Wassail), and Dog and Bacon (Dorking Beacon). Whatever the case was in the past, there is a new trend of giving pubs self-consciously quirky names, as with the Slug and Lettuce chain of pubs in Britain.

United Kingdom:

• The Actress and Bishop (Birmingham): This is quite a scandalous pair.
• Adam & Eve (London): With a name like this, you might expect apple cider to be on the menu.
• Angel and Greyhound (Oxford): I don’t know where the name came from, but these two fleet-footed creatures seem to go together.
• The Ape and Apple (Manchester): Do apes eat apples? Try saying that five times fast.
• Black Lion & French Horn (London): This pub is not short on adjectives.
• Bull & Butcher (London): These two seem like unlikely name-fellows.
• Butcher’s Hook & Cleaver (London): At this place you’re sure to have a bloody good time.
• The Cock and Bottle (London): What else needs to be said?
• Dog & Bell (London): I wonder if this pub has any relation to Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment.
• Eagle and Child (Oxford): Nicknamed The Bird and Baby, this pub was the favored haunt of the Inklings, a writers’ group whose members included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
• Hand & Shears (London): The name of this pub describes the guild sign for the Merchant Tailors of London, sometime proprietors of the pub.
• Lamb & Flag (London): This pub is the oldest in Covent Garden (around 300 years old), and was once known as the Bucket of Blood.
• The Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower (Ashtead): Wonder what’s on the menu?
• The Lion and Lobster (Brighton): Otherwise known as the Surf ‘n’ Savannah special.
• The Newt and Cucumber (Birmingham): Quick, two things that are cold and slimy…
• The Pig & Porcupine (Manchester): Any relation to Porky Pig?
• The Slug & Lettuce: This is actually a chain of pubs, with locations all over the UK.
• The Swan and Cemetery (Bury): Sounds like a cheery place to grab a pint.

North America:

• Cat & Fiddle (Los Angeles, CA): According to author Bill Bryson, this popular pub name was originally Caterine la Fidèle. The name for this Hollywood hotspot seems apt, considering many of the staff are musicians.
• Frog & Nightgown (Coquitlam, BC): As long as it’s not “Frog IN Nightgown.”
• Frog and Peach (San Luis Obispo, CA): This spot used to be an ice cream store before becoming a pub, but I hope the name wasn’t inspired by former flavors of icy treats.

• ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden: the original and (I think) the best, it has such amenities as an ice bar and even an ice church.
• Ice Hotel Canada in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, Quebec, this ice hotel also has a chapel (for white weddings, of course) and even offers daytime tours for people who aren’t interested in spending the night on ice.
• The Aurora Ice Museum: at the Chena Hot Springs resort in Fairbanks, Alaska, can be booked for overnight stays, even though they no longer have actual hotel rooms made of ice, as they once did.
• The Igloo Village ice hotel, part of the Kangerlussuaq Hotel and Conference Centre in Greenland, is pretty minimalist as ice hotels go.
• Snow Village in Finland includes a bar and restaurant made of ice.
• Lainio Snow Village in Yllas, Finland offers both conventional and icy accommodations. Book your own ice suite!
• Snowland, also in Finland, is primarily an ice restaurant, but the property also features a handful of sleeping igloos.
• LumiLinna SnowCastle in Kemi, Finland, has the customary ice hotel, restaurant, and chapel—plus what appears to be a drawbridge. That makes (at least) four ice hotels in Finland. Wow.
• The Alta Igloo Hotel is located in Norwegian Lapland.
• The Kakslauttanen Cabins & Igloos in Ivalo, Norway, feature your choice of accommodation—log cabins or ice beds in ice rooms—and is apparently quite popular with honeymooners. Go figure.
• Hotel Ice Balea Lake in Romania is a relative newcomer, and doesn’t even have its own Web site. However, another site claims: “The rooms are equipped with matrimonial bed from ice, covered by lamb fur…” I think that description speaks for itself.
• Iglu-Dorf runs five different igloo hotel villages in different parts of Switzerland each winter.

You can read more about ice hotels at Interesting Thing of the Day, the Wikipedia, Frommer’s, and Arctic Experience.

I’ve seen “Caution: Wet Floor” signs, but never one warning me about a garden hose. Speaking of watering…

I thought it was fantastic that they actually said “call of nature” on a public sign like this. Some signs, however, were more direct…

Posted in a public park. I loved the graphic. And speaking of urination…

Posted in a public restroom. There was just one toilet paper dispenser for half a dozen stalls; if you expected to need any, you had to get enough, in advance, from that single dispenser.

In the U.S., this would be “No Vending!” or a similarly strongly worded statement.

The wording of this one made me smile.

Posted in a public park. What, without this sign there’d be sheets drying in the trees?

Posted in a zoo, the aviary of which was closed. Yes, bird flu is a big concern in Hong Kong.

There were lots of signs like this one, which was posted in the elevator of a bank building. Public hand sanitizer dispensers were scattered throughout the building. And it was a good thing, too, considering all the bird flu worries.

This was on the inside of a moving van door, and since the door was swung around to the outside of the truck, it was visible to people on the sidewalk. How weirdly polite.

Posted near a pond in a public park. Really, people have to be told not to do this?

I didn’t see any mosquitos in Hong Kong—no doubt thanks to the hard work of the public health officials, who use signs like these to scare residents into action.

• Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”): French-speaking countries and most of North America
• Shrove Tuesday: UK, Ireland, Australia
• Pancake Day: UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada
• Sledziówka (“Herring Day”): Poland
• Vastenavond (“Fasting Evening”): Netherlands
• Carnival, Carnaval, Carnevale, Karnival, Karnaval, etc.: Used for the celebration period ending the day before Ash Wednesday in various other parts of the world

However, there are also certain food items that seem to appeal uniquely to British tastebuds; marmite, black pudding, and haggis spring immediately to mind. While some may shun them, there are others who are equally passionate in their appreciation of these foods.

• British Sausage Appreciation Society: This group publishes a newsletter called “The Missing Link.”
• Everything brown sauce!: A Canadian Web site inspired by HP sauce (also called “brown sauce”), a tangy condiment popular in both Canada and the UK.
• I Love Crisps: Discussion and reviews of different kinds of potato chips (“crisps”), including British favorites Prawn Cocktail and Worcestershire.
• Marmite Fan Club: For fans of the yeasty, salty condiment.
• Sausage Fans: Another site for sausage lovers.
• Spam Fan Club: Technically an American food, it was immortalized in the Spam sketch by British comedy group Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Lowest (People per square kilometer)

1. Mongolia (2)
2. Namibia (2)
3. Australia (3)
4. Botswana (3)
5. Iceland (3)
6. Surinam (3)
7. Libya (3)
8. Mauritania (3)
9. Canada (3)
10. Guyana (4)

Highest (People per square kilometer)

1. Monaco (16,205)
2. Singapore (6,386)
3. Malta (1,261)
4. Maldives (1,164)
5. Bahrain (1,035)
6. Bangladesh (1,002)
7. Vatican City (920)
8. Barbados (648)
9. Nauru (621)
10. Mauritius (603)

Source: WorldAtlas.com

The bookstores in Hay-on-Wye are notable not only for being so numerous, but also for their large range of subject matter and unique settings. I’ve read that there are 41 bookstores in the town, but depending on how you count, you can come up with a shorter or longer list. For example, there are numerous stores not listed here that sell books but just not as their main products, at least one wholesale book dealer, and a couple of additional book binderies. Most of the bookstores in this list are from the list of bookshops on the town’s official Web site and this PDF map of the 2006 festival. Feel free to leave a comment if you know of any others.

1. Addyman’s Books: General selection with a focus on English literature and modern first editions.
2. Addyman’s Annexe: Offshoot of Addyman’s Books that, according to their Web site, specializes in “the sexier material: beat, sex, drugs, art, modern firsts, poetry, philosophy, left wing history and the occasional occult work!”
3. Antique Golf & Books
4. Antique & Book Centre
5. C. Arden, Bookseller: Natural history and gardening books
6. Backfold Books & Bygones
7. B & K Books: Books about bees and apiculture.
8. The Black Mountains Bindery: Mainly a book repair shop, they also have a small selection of secondhand books.
9. Bookends: A chain of bookstores with its main operations in Hay-on-Wye.
10. The Bookshop
11. The Book Unit
12. Boz Books: Specializes in Dickens and other 19th century authors.
13. Broad Street Book Centre
14. Castle Street Books
15. The Children’s Bookshop
16. The Children’s Bookshop (Number 2)
17. Davidleesbooks.com
18. Greenways Corner Bookshop
19. Hancock & Monks
20. Hay Castle: Bookstore located in the town’s 13th-century castle.
21. Hay Cinema Bookshop: One of the largest stores in town, and as its name suggests, it was formerly a cinema.
22. Hay-on-Wye Booksellers
23. Hay-on-Wye Books Trade
24. Kestrel Books and Gallery
25. Lion Street Bookshop
26. Marijana Dworski Books: Specializes in languages (dictionaries, grammars etc.), and books on the Balkans, Russia, Central Asia and East Central Europe.
27. Andrew Morton Books
28. Murder & Mayhem: Offshoot of Addyman’s Books, sells detective fiction.
29. The New Strand
30. Outcast Books
31. Oxford House Books
32. Pembertons: Sells new books, and is the official bookseller for the Hay Festival.
33. Rare Comics & Cards
34. Richard Booth’s Bookshop Ltd: Located in the town’s old firehouse, this bookstore is owned by the man who began the book town movement in Hay-on-Wye in 1961.
35. Rose’s Books: Specializes in rare and out-of-print children’s and illustrated books.
36. The Poetry Bookshop
37. The Sensible Bookshop
38. The Strand Bookshop
39. Westhouse Books
40. Mark Westwood Books
41. Y Gelli Auctions

This charming combination of local pride, engineering know-how, and a sense of fun are elements of many other “World’s Largest” attractions throughout the world. Here is a selected list of other enormous food-related structures.

Fruit & Nuts

• Banana (Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia)
• Lemon (Lemon Grove, California)
• Olive (Lindsay, California)
• Peach (Gaffney, South Carolina)
• Peanut (Ashburn, Georgia)
• Pecan (Brunswick, Missouri)
• Pineapple (Nambour, Queensland, Australia)
• Strawberry (Strawberry Point, Iowa)
• Tomato (Leamington, Ontario)
• Watermelon (Luling, Texas)

Vegetables

• Artichoke (Castroville, California)
• Ear of Corn (Rochester, Minnesota)
• Potato (Maugerville, New Brunswick)
• Pumpkin (Circleville, Ohio)

Processed Foods

• Catsup Bottle (Collinsville, Illinois)
• Can of Chili (Beloit, Wisconsin)
• Can of Coca-Cola (Portage La Prairie, Manitoba)
• Can of Fruit Cocktail (Sunnyvale, California)
• Box of Raisins (Kingsburg, California)
• Container of Yoghurt (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Eastern European Foods

• Kielbassa (Mundare, Alberta) Polish Sausage
• Pyrogy (Glendon, Alberta) Ukrainian Dumplings
• Pysanka (Vegreville, Alberta) Ukrainian Easter Egg (A symbolic item, not meant to be eaten)

1. Schloss Nymphenburg: Built in the 17th century by Ferdinand Maria, the Elector of Bavaria, Schloss (“castle”) Nymphenburg is now a popular tourist site in Munich. Ludwig was born in the castle in 1845.
2. Schloss Hohenschwangau: This castle was built by Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, from 1833 to 1837. Located near the town of Füssen in southwestern Bavaria, Schloss Hohenschwangau (“castle of the High Swan County”) was the childhood home of Ludwig II.
3. The King’s House on the Schachen: Technically not a castle, this mountain chalet built by Ludwig from 1869 to 1872, features a large room, the “Turkish Hall,” that incorporates design elements from the Orient, such as colored glass windows and richly embroidered textiles.
4. Schloss Neuschwanstein: Perhaps the most famous of Ludwig’s castles, Neuschwanstein (“new swan stone”) is located near Ludwig’s childhood home, Hohenschwangau. Although construction began in 1869, the castle was not completed in Ludwig’s lifetime. The design of the castle was heavily influenced by the 13th century Romanesque style, as well as the Wagner operas Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. Neuschwanstein is the model for the Sleeping Beauty castle in the Disney parks.
5. Linderhof: This castle began as a hunting lodge, but was remodeled extensively in the neo-Rococo style. Eventually the old hunting lodge was dismantled and rebuilt in the park surrounding the castle. This park also featured an underground grotto designed for opera performances.
6. Neues Schloss/Herrenchiemsee: The Neues Schloss (“new castle”), part of the Herrenchiemsee complex of buildings created on an island in Bavaria’s largest lake (the Chiemsee), is an homage to France’s Louis XIV. Inspired by Versailles, the castle was meant to be a full-size replica of that French castle, including the world-famous Hall of Mirrors. Ludwig only managed to stay in the castle for 10 days before his untimely death in 1886.
7. Falkenstein: Falkenstein (“falcon stone”) was planned, down to the interior design and frescoes, but was never built because Ludwig died before construction began. It was originally intended to be a castle in the Gothic style, but was later re-imagined as a robber baron’s castle, referring to the rulers who built castles built along the Rhine river in the 12th and 13th centuries.

But towers are not just impressive for their height; like the famous leaning tower in Pisa, towers can offer novelty, history, and an amazing view to the traveler who seeks them out.

Africa

• Cairo Tower (Cairo, Egypt—187 metres/613 feet) Made out of granite, this tower was built to resemble a lotus plant.
• Hassan Tower (Rabat, Morocco—44 metres/144 feet) Designed to be the largest minaret in the world at the time of its construction in A.D. 1195, this tower has ramps instead of stairs, allowing the muezzin to ride his horse to the top to issue the call to prayer.
• Hillbrow Tower (Johannesburg, South Africa—270 metres/886 feet) This distinctive looking tower is part of Johannesburg’s official logo.

Asia & Oceania

• Kuala Lumpur Tower (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—421 metres/1381 feet) Home to the Kuala Lumpur International Towerthon, where competitors run uphill for 800 metres before climbing 2,058 steps to an observation deck 288 metres above the city.
• Macau Tower (Macau, China—338 metres/1109 feet) The Macau Tower features high altitude activities to its visitors, including the SkyJump (similar to skydiving) and the SkyWalk X (visitors walk a narrow ledge tethered to an overhead rail system).
• N Seoul Tower (Seoul, South Korea—236.7 metres/777 feet) This tower, recently renovated in 2005, is built on a 262 metre (860 feet) peak overlooking Seoul.
• Oriental Pearl Tower (Shanghai, China—468 metres/1535 feet) This high-tech tower boasts a museum, a hotel, a rotating restaurant, various shops and an observation deck.
• Sky Tower (Auckland, New Zealand—328 metres/1076 feet) Sky Tower, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, has a variety of amenities, including a guided climb up the tower’s mast and the SkyJump experience (similar to skydiving).
• Sydney Tower (Sydney, Australia—305 metres/1001) At the top of the Sydney Tower, guests can visit OzTrek, a motion simulator ride showcasing Australia’s history and geography.
• Tokyo Tower (Tokyo, Japan—333 metres/1092 feet) Built to resemble the Eiffel Tower in Paris, this iron tower houses an aquarium, wax museum, and two observatory floors.
• Yellow Crane Tower (Wuhan, China—51.4 metres/169 feet) Symbol of the city of Wuhan, this tower was built in A.D. 223.

Europe

• Blackpool Tower (Blackpool, UK—158 metres/518 feet) Built to resemble the Eiffel Tower, the tower complex is home to a circus and a famous ballroom (the Blackpool Tower Ballroom) where guests can take high tea while listening to the strains of a Wurlitzer organ.
• Donauturm (Vienna, Austria—252 metres/827 feet) It’s possible to spend a romantic evening 152 metres (499 feet) in the air here; dinner, breakfast, and accommodation on the observation deck are all included.
• Fernsehturm (Berlin, Germany—360 metres/1181 feet) Literally, the “TV Tower,” a spherical portion of this Berlin landmark was painted to resemble a magenta and silver colored football in honor of the 2006 World Cup.
• La Tour Eiffel (Paris, France—324 metres/1063 feet) World-famous symbol of Paris, this much-imitated tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the centenary of the French Revolution in 1889.
• Näsinneula Tower (Tampere, Finland—168 metres/551 feet) The Näsinneula Tower is the tallest observation tower in Scandinavia.
• Rundetaarn (Copenhagen, Denmark—34.8 metres/114 feet) This “round tower,” completed in A.D. 1642, houses the oldest functioning observatory in Europe, where visitors can still view the night sky through a telescope.
• Tallinn TV Tower (Tallinn, Estonia—314 metres/1030 feet) Built for the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, on clear days the tower affords visitors a view of Finland’s coast.
• Tour Montparnasse (Paris, France—210 metres/689 feet) The breathtaking view from the top of this tower in the historic neighborhood of Montparnasse is well worth the visit.
• Tower of London (London, UK) This “tower” is actually a royal fortress, formerly used to hold (and sometimes execute) political prisoners, but now boasts an exhibit of the royal Crown Jewels.

North America

• CN Tower (Toronto, Canada—553 metres/1814 feet) This Toronto landmark is the tallest building in the world.
• Montreal Tower Observatory (Montreal, Canada—175 metres/574 feet) The Montreal Tower, the highest inclined tower in the world, leans at an angle of 45 degrees (the Tower of Pisa leans at an angle of 5 degrees).
• Coit Tower (San Francisco, USA—64 metres/210 feet) Built by philanthropist Lillie Hitchcock Coit to honor the fire fighters of the 1906 earthquake, the tower houses murals completed under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) project of the 1930s.

Most of the following suggestions were adapted and condensed from Navigate Without a Compass and Find True North Without a Compass (both at wikiHow), Worst-Case Scenarios: How to Find Your Way When Lost in the Woods at Popular Mechanics, and Wildwood Wisdom—Chapter 17: LOST at Shelter Online.

1. Look for moss; it usually grows on the north (i.e., least sunny) side of trees and rocks—or at least, grows most plentifully there.
2. Look for spider webs, which tend to appear on the south sides of trees.
3. Put a stick in the ground vertically, and note where the end of its shadow is. Wait a little while, and mark where the end is now. The line going between those two points should run approximately east–west; you can then tell by the direction of the sun’s movement which way is north.
4. Watch the sun, which rises (more or less) in the east and sets (more or less) in the west. But since the exact position of the sun varies by season and latitude, this is rather inaccurate.
5. In the northern hemisphere, if it’s night and the sky is clear, you can usually pick out the north star (Polaris) as the brightest one in the handle of the Little Dipper. If you’re facing that star, you’re pointing north.
6. In the southern hemisphere, find the Southern Cross. Note the direction of the long axis of the cross. Follow that imaginary line for a distance equal to five times the length of the cross and fact the point in space where it would end. You’re now facing directly south; spin around 180° to find north.
7. Hold an analog watch horizontally. In the northern hemisphere, point the hour hand toward the sun; in the southern hemisphere, point the 12 toward the sun. Either way, the north-south line runs halfway between the hour hand and the 12 (or 1, if Daylight Saving Time is in effect). To figure out which is which, note the sun’s direction of movement, or assume that the sun is in the southern half of the sky.
8. Note the direction in which the clouds move, which is generally west-to-east. (This can provide only a very rough approximation at best, and doesn’t work everywhere.)
9. If you’re in a part of the world where Traveler’s Palms grow, find one. Chances are the axis of the branches runs east-west; as usual, determine north from the direction of the sun or assume it’s in the southern part of the sky.
10. If you’re near a body of water where birds, fish, or amphibians are breeding, keep in mind that they often prefer to breed on the west side.
11. Use a compass. (You did bring a compass, right?)
12. Make a compass by carefully floating a magnetized needle on the surface of water that’s sitting in a very still container. (You did bring a needle, right?)
13. Use a GPS receiver. It’ll probably tell you the direction you’re facing without any effort, but even if it lacks an electronic compass (or the compass isn’t working), you can work out which way is north by taking two or more readings some distance apart and doing some very simple geometry. (You do remember your geometry, right?)

• Automata:
  • (1) Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Farmington Hills, Michigan)
  • (2) Musée Mécanique (San Francisco, California)—as mentioned in The Musée Mécanique at Interesting Thing of the Day
• Bakelite: (3) Bakelite Museum (Williton, Somerset, England)—as mentioned in Jackie Chappell’s article Bakelite at Interesting Thing of the Day
• Bananas: (4) The Washington Banana Museum (Auburn, Washington)
• Barbed Wire:
  • (5) Devil’s Rope Museum (McLean, Texas)
  • (6) Kansas Barbed Wire Museum (Lacrosse, Kansas)
• Bricks:
  • (7) Frank and Jane Clement Brick Museum (Orchard Park, New York)
  • (8) Haverstraw Brick Museum (Haverstraw, New York)
  • (9) World Brick Museum (Maizuru City, Japan)
• Cheese:
  • (10) Cheese Museum of the Netherlands (Het Hollands Kaasmuseum, Alkmaar, Netherlands)
  • (11) Cuba Cheese Museum (Cuba, New York)
• Cockroaches: (12) The Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum (Plano, Texas)
• Corkscrews: (13) The Corkscrew Museum (Le Musée du Tire-Bouchon, between Cavaillon and Apt in Provence, France)
• Fans: (14) The Fan Museum (Greenwich, London, England)
• Hats:
  • (15) The Hat Museum (Portland, Oregon)
  • (16) Hat Works (Stockport, Cheshire, England)
• Lawnmowers: (17) British Lawnmower Museum (Southport, Lancashire, England)
• Lingerie: (18) Frederick’s of Hollywood Lingerie Museum (Los Angeles, California)
• Medical Paraphernalia:
  • (19) Glore Psychiatric Museum (St. Joseph, Missouri)
  • (20) The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices (St. Paul, Minnesota)
  • (21) The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum (New Orleans, Louisiana)
• Pencils: (22) The Cumberland Pencil Museum (Keswick, Cumbria, England)
• Pez Dispensers: (23) Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia (Burlingame, California)
• Rice:
  • (24) Muzium Padi (Rice Museum, Kedah, Malaysia)
  • (25) Rice Museum (Georgetown, South Carolina)
• Shoes:
  • (26) The Bata Shoe Museum (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
  • (27) Deutsches Ledermuseum (German Leather Museum/Shoe Museum, Offenbach, Germany)
  • (28) Giant Shoe Museum (Seattle, Washington)
  • (29) Museo del Calzado (Museum of Shoes, Elda, Spain)
  • (30) The Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine Shoe Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
• Toilets: (31) Sulabh International Museum of Toilets (New Delhi, India)
• Water: (32) New York Museum of Water (New York, New York)