Structures Trivia

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The Lincoln Monument in Edinburgh's Old Carlton Cemetery in Scotland was the first statue of an American president to be constructed outside the United States.

There is a house in Rockport Massachusetts, built entirely of newspaper. The Paper House at Pigeon Cove, as it is called, is made of 215 thicknesses of newspaper.

The bricks used in constructing the pueblos of New Mexico have nearly the same proportions as the bricks used in building Egypt's Temple of Hatshepsut in 1450 B.C.

The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of Copenhagen's most popular attractions, drawing about 500,000 visitors a year. Sculptor Edvard Eriksen was commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, founder of Carlsberg Breweries, to sculpt the statue after the brewer saw Danish prima ballerina Ellen Price dance the part of the Little Mermaid in the Royal Danish ballet in 1913.

There is a life-size statue of country singer Hank Williams, Sr. holding a guitar in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, the site of many of his concerts, and the site of his funeral.

The Brooklyn Bridge, in New York City was the first bridge to use steel cables.

The local taverns in Vienna are called "Beisl." Griechenbeisl is Vienna's oldest tavern, built around 1350.

There was a time that the Vatican owned shares of the Watergate complex in Washington D.C., the Pan American building in Paris, and the Hilton hotel in Rome.

The Cairo Opera House was destroyed by fire in 1970. The Cairo fire station was located inside the same building.

The majestic Habsburg's Schounbraun Palace in Vienna has 1,441 rooms, of which 40 are opened to public tours. At age six, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed for the royals in this palace.

Throughout its history, the White House has been known as the "President's Palace," the "President's House," and the "Executive Mansion." President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.

The Capitol Building is 350 feet wide and 751 feet long; that's the width of one football field by the length of two football fields. The Capitol has 540 rooms, 658 windows and 850 doorways. Each year it sees about 3 million visitors.

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota is the size of 78 football fields – 9.5 million square feet.

The Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver was inspired by the original “La Casa Bonita” in old Mexico. During the civil wars of the 1800s, Señor Garcia Serata opened his home as a sanctuary for Mexican soldiers. The soldiers were well fed, entertained, and warmed by their host's hospitality. The magnificent mansion, complimented by memories of Serata's gracious hospitality, inspired the soldiers to name it “La Casa Bonita,” or “The Beautiful House.” Ten different dining areas comprise the restaurant, each of which is uniquely furnished or created. Casa Bonita is world-famous for its indoor cliff divers, who hurl themselves from a 15- or a 30-foot platform into 14 feet of water. The lava rock-like cliffs have more than 26 million gallons of water per year pumped over the waterfall.

The marquees of the fifty largest casinos and hotels in Las Vegas use enough electricity to run more than a thousand average U.S. homes.

The cathedral Notre Dame in Paris houses a 7,800-pipe organ.

Today, the New York Public Library is visited and used annually by more than 10 million people. There are currently 2.35 million cardholders, more than for any other library system in the nation.

Tourists are being invited in to visit the horrific Kresty prison in Russia (for a steep price — 6.25 pounds per person). The prison is currently operating on a meager budget of 14 pence a day for each inmate's diet of pearl barley soup. Although the space was designed in Tsarist Russia to handle 2,000 prisoners, it now holds more than 10,000.

The McDonald's in Fort Huachuca was the first restaurant to have a drive-through window. The drive through allowed soldiers from Fort Huachuca to get food since uniforms were not permitted in business establishments.

Tourists should be aware that photography and videotaping are not allowed inside virtually all the castles and furnished historic homes in the United Kingdom.